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-   -   Captain Vic Calay - Eastern Airlines (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/memory/65353-captain-vic-calay-eastern-airlines.html)

Tomcat 02-12-2012 07:16 PM

Captain Vic Calay - Eastern Airlines
 
Tomcat
Captain Victor Calay- Retired Eastern Airlines Pilot took his last flight west this morning. Vic was the uncle of my new family and I had heard about him for years before finally meeting him for the first time this past Thanksgiving at the famiy gathering of 75! We immediately bonded and spent many hours talking about his life flying for Eastern Airlines based out of Miami. My fiance's aunt was Vic's wife. She was in charge of training FA's for Delta out of Miami initially. They met in a time when political lexicon was not in anybody's vocabulary and people just wanted to have fun. Them meeting in Miami was a wonderful story of how the airlines grew through the 70's as did their relationship and love. I only knew him for a short time but wish I had known him in his Miami days.
Please feel free to share any stories you know about Vic and his wife as I think he was quite a character.

Feel free to share like stories.....

V/R, Tomcat!

We sat down to dinner before anyone else and were still talking when the dishes were cleared. A good man and A pilot any of us would have liked to been of a 4 day with, one great story after another.

Thanks for the time my friend. TC

Tomcat 02-12-2012 07:35 PM

Say Good bye to my friend.... Nobody's getting out of here alive!

TC

80ktsClamp 02-12-2012 07:42 PM

RIP :( It's always sad to hear about losing another great aviator.

cubguy 02-13-2012 05:07 AM

Sorry about the loss of your friend.

Being the son of an Eastern pilot I remember as a kid closely witnessing the golden age of our profession.

Like you, I can listen for hours to stories from that era. Pilots in those days were united as a group, stood their ground and loved their company's as well. My how things have changed.

Back then, if pilots from different companies saw each other in a coffee shop, they would sit down and have breakfast together. Today most pilots from our own company won't even make eye contact in the terminal.

Very sad!

Tomcat 02-13-2012 05:21 AM

Thanks Clamp.... Really kind of drove it home over Thanksgiving. Vic's wife (a former long time Delta Flight Attendant Manager) was asking about our retirement. I said, "it's handled by a quasi govermental agency called the PBGC, but you've guys have probably never heard of them." She said they were quite familiar because of the bankputcy at Eastern Air Lines, they handled Vic's retirement..... It's a tough business.

Vic told me how he met his wife in 1972. She was a "Stew" at the time. Vic said he and his buddy (another Eastern Pilot) were out washing their brand new Trans Ams at their apartment complex close to the Doral Country Club and a hot looking girl pulled up in her new Dodge muscle car. Vic said he walked up to the car and said, "Honey, that's an awfully nice looking car, but dirty, so why don't you go up to your place and fix the three of us a drink and we'll clean up your car". The rest is history.....

Fair Winds Vic!

Tomcat 02-13-2012 05:48 AM


Originally Posted by cubguy (Post 1134150)
Sorry about the loss of your friend.

Being the son of an Eastern pilot I remember as a kid closely witnessing the golden age of our profession.

Like you, I can listen for hours to stories from that era. Pilots in those days were united as a group, stood their ground and loved their company's as well. My how things have changed.

Back then, if pilots from different companies saw each other in a coffee shop, they would sit down and have breakfast together. Today most pilots from our own company won't even make eye contact in the terminal.

Very sad!

Thanks Cub.... I'm sure it's been fun to talk to your old man about flying the line.

Vic had a great career, like most of us, good times and the tough ones. The thing that has kind of hit me is that we will likely just have a small, quiet memorial service for Vic. Made me think about how unique is our profession. We spend over half our lives on the cockpit with one another. Most of our friends and family don't really know that part of us.... They just see us walking out our driveway with our bag and in our uniform, coming back a few days to a week or so later..... occassionally, growing a beard or goatee because we had 10 days off in a row, but the thing they don't think of is that we just came back from working nearly three weeks straight. Most people really have no idea how much time and effort we put into staying current, healthy and thought we put into keeping their loved ones safe. We all have friends spread all over the country and the world, some of whom we stay in contact with all of our days and others we have lost track.

It is a unique profession and even for the furlough, bankruptcy, merger, seeing 9/11 unfold in front of my eyes, the 20 people I knew while on active duty in the Navy that lost their lives, I'm thankful I chose it. The best part of the job has been the people that I've worked with. And the thing I'm most thankful for today is that even at a Thanksgiving dinner with 75 people, I had the chance to sit for a couple of hours with Captain Vic Calay and hear a little about his years at Eastern Airlines.

TC

cubguy 02-13-2012 06:25 AM

Tomcat,

As a group, we tend to absorb ourselves with the deterioration of our own profession and not take time to look around and notice that we are no more oppressed than the rest of corporate America.

Throughout the years, looking forward there has always been threats but looking back I have lived a dream.

Would I do it again? H E L L yes!!!

Tomcat 02-13-2012 07:19 AM

Completely agree!

Golden Bear 02-13-2012 08:29 AM


Originally Posted by Tomcat (Post 1134156)
Vic told me how he met his wife in 1972. She was a "Stew" at the time. Vic said he and his buddy (another Eastern Pilot) were out washing their brand new Trans Ams at their apartment complex close to the Doral Country Club and a hot looking girl pulled up in her new Dodge muscle car. Vic said he walked up to the car and said, "Honey, that's an awfully nice looking car, but dirty, so why don't you go up to your place and fix the three of us a drink and we'll clean up your car". The rest is history.....

Great story!

Cheers to you in that great overnight in the sky, Captain!

ATCsaidDoWhat 02-14-2012 05:07 AM

Tomcat, I'm so sorry to hear about Vic's passing. He truly was one of the good guys. I got to know him down at the old EAL / Pan Am MEC field office on Madiera Avenue in the Gables during the 87' through '89 timeframe. He truly was a gentleman and a great story teller. And what a smile...

The car wash story made me laugh...back then he was driving a Ford Taurus and raved about how much he liked the car...who knew he used to tool around in a Tranny?

He, "Big" Jimmy Robertson (there was a Little Jimmy" too), Bob Tully and some of the other guys were quite a crowd to work with and at the end of the day, tip a few sasparilla's at the MIA Airport Marriott. He also tipped me off to an old bookstore down the street from the office that had tons of old flying books. I found an autographed copy of Dick Merrill's book, "Wings of Man" that is still front and center on my shelf down there thanks to him.

He was at the office with all of us the morning after Clipper went down at Lockerbie...sad and stunning for everyone.

Vic was a true Eastern pilot and a credit to the profession. I'm still in touch with one of the office gals and will pass on the sad news. He will be missed.

Fair winds Vic.


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