by the way, the guy that got the tail skid on me was on probation at the time. he was scared to death that he was going to be terminated. i had to take him to the casino at the hotel and feed him adult beverages to get him to calm down. i told him i was responsible anyway and let me handle it. to the company's credit, they just asked him what happened and let it go at that.

i just ran in to him in EWR about a month ago. although this happened in 1999, he never forgets to mention it to me when we see each other. he's flying the 757/767 now and will probably be coming up for upgrade in the next year or so, so HE'LL be sitting in the hot seat and get to do all the 'splainin'...