Thanks for the memories.

I interviewed with Pan Am at their training center on 36th Street in Miami on a Saturday, back in September of 1988, got back to Connecticut on Sunday morning, got a call from Pan Am at about noon that Sunday, asking if I could be in class at 9 AM the next day. Of course I said Yes. So bright and early Monday, myself and 15 other new hires sat in a classroom in that training facility and one of the first things they did, after a short "welcome to Pan American World Airways" speech from the System Chief Pilot, was to show us the film (on YouTube) entitled "Pan Am 747 over Florida." I remember, like it was yesterday, the pride I felt at being a Pan Am pilot. What a feeling to wear that white hat.

A few weeks later, I was home for the weekend and was talking with one of my neighbors, who sold copier equipment and the like. I told him I'd been hired by Pan Am, and how great a company it was. He told me that he wouldn't sell them a ream of paper for anything other than cash. A crushing blow.

A few months later we had the horrific loss of Pan Am Clipper Maid of the Seas on December 21, over Lockerbie, Scotland. Shortly thereafter the airline folded up and went away. Very, very sad.