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My Last Flight at American Airlines
August 27, 2010     DFW-SJC

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Aileron's Retirement Resolution 7:00 A.M. in Austin, TX. Carol flew out to meet me for my last layover. We had dinner with my F/O at the Airport Hilton then met up with a San Jose crew the next morning for the two legs home via DFW. Getting my paperwork/flight plan at the gate in AUS. I am NOT a morning person!
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Well, it still hasn't set in quite yet - but the end is drawing near. Arriving at my airplane. One nice thing about that day was that we got to keep the jet for both legs. My last Crew. Me, Gregg Phillips, Les Pierce, Sheila Schroder, Connie McIntire - a good bunch!
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This will be the last time I get to see a Super 80 like this. Clean and quiet. Carol and I in the cockpit. Guess who.
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Here we are starting to get ready for the day. Gregg and I waiting for the cattle - oops, I mean the passengers. I do have to admit that I enjoyed the quiet of the airplane before everyone comes down the jetbridge to trash the place.
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Gregg was one of my favorite F/Os. We always had a fun time together. He traded with another fellow to get on this trip with me. Glad he did!
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Carol Koch, our admin. lady in SJC Ops asked if I wanted the traditional fire truck salute in SJC when I got home on the last leg. I had told her not to bother. I came into the company with nothing and I wanted to just fade away quietly. When Gregg asked about it in AUS I told him that it wasn't in the plan for the day. He snuck off to talk with the agent and got it set up for me on taxi-out in AUS. I have to admit - it was pretty nice and I'm glad Gregg did that. Once Gregg set up the fire trucks the word was out. Every controller all the way up to DFW congratulated me and wished me a great retirement. That was a nice touch and totally unexpected. When we got to DFW Margy Gore came out to say "Hi." I really appreciated her coming out for a quick visit. Bill was off on a fishing trip but sent his regards. Bill and I had a couple of fantastic trips to Comox, BC. in the T-bird back in the early 80s. He and I were at F-106 school together anf flew together alot once we got back. Bill did threaten to not fly with me anymore at one point because I had a string of emergencies and he thought I was "snakebit" and he didn't want it to rub off on him. :)
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Here's a guy that just wanted to complain about something on the flight to SJC. We hadn't even boarded yet, and yet we were already doing something wrong. Geez!!! I knew I was ready to retire because I was getting my job satifaction by looking forward to tossing folks with bad attitudes off the jet. After 9/11 passengers were very grateful that we flew them safely from A to B. Then the pedulum swung way to the other side. I actually had a fellow tell me to fuck-off when I told him he had to turn off his phone. He didn't fly with me that day. They just don't get it. It was time for me to go. :) We got back to SJC and as we taxiied off the runway I saw that we had another fire truck salute. My Chief Pilot, George Tucker went ahead and did that for me even though I had said that I didn't need it. We had some through passengers and they got to get two showers that day.George was a great boss. He normally spent most of his time dealing with the same handful of pilots with authority issues. Whenever I had a problem or needed time off George would always take care of it. He told me he appreciated that I only bugged him with "real" issues. He even sent flowers when my dad passed away. Thanks George.
Here's my last crew change briefing in SJC. 		When we got back to SJC my old friend Terry Neff came out to wish me well. I kind of followed Terry in career progression. He was a B-727 F/O when I was an engineer. I then plumbed for him when he was F/O on the DC-10. Then we moved to the MD-80 where I was his F/O. We go way back. We suffered through some pretty crappy captains and learned how to be good captains (I hope). He even snuck a bottle of Champagne through security :)
Gregg Phillips, Ron Yelton, Terry Neff.
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Finally got home and got into some comfortable clothes. There's one of my telescopes next to the fireplace. Strange that both my flight suits and airline uniform have shrunk considerably while just sitting in the closet. Relaxing out on the deck. I got 25 years of service with AAL without bending any metal. I did have some exciting emergencies, though. And the folks I worked with were a lot of fun (with an occasional exception). Overall I loved the flying and I'm grateful for all the opportunities that my career at AAL has given me! But with all things, they change. Now I'm enjoying my retired life doing astronomy and astro photography. Having a blast just learning new things!!! Now that I'm retired I'm a lifelong member of the Grey Eagles, our retired-guys-sort-of-union.
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Here's what I got from American for 25 yrs. I have NO idea what to do with a big hollow bronze eagle :) Retirement has been great - sleeping in, having fun with my hobbies and seriously low stress!
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