It's all about the people!
The airplanes are great, the layovers exciting and the restaurants wonderful, but without the crews for friendship it's all pretty boring. Yes, I had a few that I'd rather not have flown with, (they probably didn't care much for me either) but they were very few and far between. Most everyone had a story and if you dug a little it was usually interesting.
The airplanes are great, the layovers exciting and the restaurants wonderful, but without the crews for friendship it's all pretty boring. Yes, I had a few that I'd rather not have flown with, (they probably didn't care much for me either) but they were very few and far between. Most everyone had a story and if you dug a little it was usually interesting.
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Frankfurt to Detroit with Ernie (3/14/11) & our Annual Check
Jumpseating on Hawaiian Airlines, 1/8/07
Captain Dick Mott's last flight
Hughes Airwest, Republic, Northwest
Hughes Airwest, Republic, Northwest
I heard it all the time... "there are no women pilots out there." There aren't?
Succeeding as an airline pilot has nothing to do with gender; but everything to do with attitude, work ethic, self esteem and a desire to excel. Everyone pictured throughout this entire site shares these attributes. Or they wouldn't be here!
Succeeding as an airline pilot has nothing to do with gender; but everything to do with attitude, work ethic, self esteem and a desire to excel. Everyone pictured throughout this entire site shares these attributes. Or they wouldn't be here!
To the left is a copy of the May 1979 NORTHLINER, the employee newsletter at North Central Airlines. This came out just as the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board, now defunct) approved the merger between Minneapolis based North Central Airlines and Atlanta based Southern Airways. The newsletter announced the first all female crew to fly at NCA in a Convair 580. The crew consisted of captain Barbara Wiley, FO Ramona Larsen and FA Karen Klein.
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Running into Ralph Freeman in Guam.
Thanks to yet again another Southwest Airlines crew who got me home
Wes and I were hired at Air New Eng in 1974
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And our careers have taken the same path.
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A last flight is a bittersweet event. (Believe me, I know!)
Captain Tom Hale: Air New England, North Central, Republic, Northwest and finally Delta Air Lines.
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A family photo album: My dad's retirement, January 1980 (NEA/DAL)
Dad in his NEA uniform in 1952 as a DC-3 and Convair 240 captain. Above in 1957, he's with captains Don Graf and Claude Cox. They're going through DC-6B training after NEA won Florida routes from Boston and New York from the CAB, shocking Eastern and National Airlines. Jets are just around the corner.
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N8953U, NEA 1st DC-9-15, Dec 1966. Former Iberia aircraft on loan to NEA for training as they awaited their brand new, Yellowbird DC-9's to arrive. Note the DC-6B and the old NEA hangar in BOS. Hangar is now being used by jetBlue. The 1st DC-9-31 arrived in 1967 and the fleet would grow to 14. This was an exciting time at Northeast Airlines.
My Dad enjoyed a fabulous airline career from 1946 through 1980 with NEA and Delta. Looking at these pictures, is it any wonder that I grew up to be an airline pilot? As an 10 year-old I stood by my bedroom window, every morning at 8 a.m., my mother calling me downstairs for breakfast. But I couldn't leave until NEA flight 57, a Douglas DC-3 flew Past enroute from BOS to MPV.
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Do you believe in fate? No, me either, but this is pretty interesting so pay attention. In the pic above to the left, taken in 1980, do you see the fellow next to my Dad in the white shirt? That's Ron Pach his flight engineer on his last flight. In the photo above to the right, do you see the pilot in the DAL uniform standing to the right? You do... good, because that's DAL captain Ron Pach in 2000, exactly 20 years after my fathers retirement flight. And that's me in my NWA uniform with Ron. I was standing in line next to this pilot at the restaurant in the Marine Air Terminal, when I noticed his name tag (DAL pilots wear name tags) that said Ron Pach. "Ron I said, "my name is Rand Peck." We spent the next hour talking about my father and where our careers had taken us. This was a lot of fun for me, I hope that you enjoyed this brief trip down memory lane.
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On 12 March 2014 I drove to Acton, Mass to visit NEA/DAL retired captain Bob Mudge. Bob is 94 now but is truly an airline pioneer. Hired with NEA in 1941, he flew the North Atlantic in DC-3's, retiring in 1979 as an L-1011 captain. If you go to my "BOOKS" tab you'll find two books authored by Bob concerning the history of NEA and meteorology. He was one of the first in the industry to champion Cockpit Resource Management, (CRM) and served many years in the training department.
This was my neighbor in Mont Vernon, NH, Mary Backus, born in 1921. I'd see her around town at the dump or General Store and make the usual neighborly conversation until one day, I learned that she had been a "stewardess" for Pan American World Airways in 1945. She flew in the "North Atlantic Division," based at "North Beach Airport." Today we call it LaGuardia and the Marine Air Terminal. American born, Swiss educated and married to Naval Commander Paul Backus (USNA '41) she had lived throughout the world until settling in rural New Hampshire. The things you don't know about your neighbors!
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Her first trip was from North Beach, (LGA) to Bermuda in a Boeing 314 Flying Boat, pictured to the left. From there she spanned the North Atlantic on 12 and 14 hour flights in DC-4's and later Lockheed Constellations with
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fuel stops in either Gander or Goose Bay, Labrador. I spent several afternoons in her home learning of her experiences as a "Stewardess" for Juan Trippe's, The Chosen Instrument. Fascinating!
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Another Southwest crew to the rescue. Commuted home thru BWI on this brand-new 737
Meet the Real Jack Ryan!
The best part of my long, 38 year airline career, that which I have my fondest memories of, are my relationships. Pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, chief pilots, executives and passengers all added something to the picture. Here's another good friend, Hook Hamersley. Funny name huh?
James Hooker Hamersley, better known to us as "Hook," from Tuxedo Park, and S. Hampton, NY was a descendent of a signer of our US Constitution and an early US President. Bitten by the aviation bug, he not only flew for several US airlines but articulately chronicled his adventures, including photography. He was once hijacked off the Florida Keyes by the Dry Tortugas in a seaplane and forced to fly to Cuba. And the stories only got better from there.
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Hook was unique. He was truly an aristocrat, but moved freely between the drawing rooms on Madison Avenue and an airline cockpit. Like another of his station, Antoine de Saint-Exupery he was a pilot and aviation writer of the highest order. On a night flight from BOS to AUG in 1978, I enthusiastically related a story to Hook. He pensively studied my face, rubbed his chin and replied through his headset with, "Rand, you do know that there is no such word as irregardless."
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Off to Bangkok Thailand from Narita. Only problem is there's a little revolution going on, the red shirts vs. the yellow shirts and when we arrived at 0100, downtown was under fire. We hung around the airport hotel with several other crews until they could make arrangements for us. Join Hank and me as we await accommodations.
Hank and I have flown a lot together over the years and here he is just completing his walk around inspection in Narita for our flight to Bangkok.
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This is Hanks leg and he's just finished loading the computer. I'll check his work in a while, but first we need to get a crew picture back in first class. This is a 757 flight.
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Meet Mr. Grey an honorary NWA, now DAL crew member.
We were about 15 minutes from pushback at Frankfurt, headed to Detroit when the Purser came into the cockpit and said, "Rand, Mr. Grey is on board." "Thanks" I replied and headed back to Business class to greet Northwest Airlines, number 1 high milage passenger. The company created a classification just for him. Diamond Class. He's a businessman who flies with us as often as weekly from DTW to FRA and other world-wide destinations. A gentleman of the highest order, he's always a pleasure to have on board.
This next section is soley AIR NEW ENGLAND personel. To see these and approximately 400 other ANE pictures click here.
Join along as Greg and I fly DAL 298 from Narita to Saipan in a B-757.
The place to be on the first Tuesday of each month is the Hampton Airfield.
On our way home, Wes and I stopped to visit retired UAL captain Ken Perkins, hired by Capital Airlines as a DC-3 copilot in 1955. Ken retired from United as a 747 captain in 1989 where he flew the -100, -200 and the SP models. Above he revealed just a very small part of his extensive airline collection including a very impressive assemblage of wings and hat badges that would impress Stan Baumwald, a preeminent wing collector. Formed in 1930 as Pennsylvania Airlines, the corporation changed its name to Capital Airlines in 1948 before merging with United Airlines in 1960.
This was Ken's Stinson 31, Model S that he restored and flew from Hampton Airfield for many years. It's 1st owner however was E.L. Cord's Century Airlines who sold it to American Airlines.
In August 1974, Colonel Charles Lindbergh convinced his doctors in NY to let him fly home to Maui to enjoy his final few days of life. He flew home, non-stop on flight 987, a United DC-8 flown by First Officer Ken Perkins. |
International Flight Planning
As you step aboard your int'l flight, have you ever wondered of the preparation required to find your way from point A to point B? Just what goes on behind the scenes anyway?
As you step aboard your int'l flight, have you ever wondered of the preparation required to find your way from point A to point B? Just what goes on behind the scenes anyway?

And all of our planning pays off as we go visual and have found a runway. I've barely scratched the surface here and haven't shown the large cast of "others" who participated in creating a safe and efficient flight. They include dispatchers, crew schedulers, crew planners, mechanics, fuelers, caterers, FAA controllers, gate agents, ramp personnel, aircraft cleaners, reservations and many others. Most only notice the person with the four gold stripes, but he or she has a tremendous support system in place.
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The prestigious, 1986 "Daedalian Civilian Air Safety Award"......
The prestigious, 1981 "Daedalian Civilian Air Safety Award"......
...... went to ANE pilots Stan Bernstein and Tom Doherty who landed their DHC-6, IFR, in a Maine field after a complete flight control failure. Using power to control pitch, they broke out at 300' and landed in a small field where Stan walked to the nearest farm house to use the phone to call dispatch. Now, how many 160 pilot airlines do you suppose have three Daedalian Award winners?
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I took these eight photos while flying as a DC-9 FO in 1988.
Renee and Ward Dunning stopped by recently for a visit. We haven't seen one another since our Orion Air days in 1984 but they were in Gloucester, MA for a family reunion so swung by New Hampshire on their way home.

Ward and me in MHT on an Orion/UPS, 727 layover. Ward and I met at Air New England where he'd been hired in 1973 and flown the Twin Otter, B-99, DC-3 and FH-227. Ward was flying as a 727 captain/check airman at Orion while on furlough from United Airlines, where he'd been hired in 1979. With a quick phone call he got me on board at Orion in 1984 as a 727 FE. There's probably no one around who remembers them, but Ward and I each flew a few flights for Green Mountain Airlines (C402) from Montpelier, VT to LGA. That was interesting!

Ward and me, front row of course, with our wives Renee and Linda at our home in Amherst, NH, 8/17/14. If you still have any questions as to why I enjoyed my airline career so much it's because of good friends like the Dunnings and others that you've met throughout this site. Not a bad career for a couple of local Mass guys who started out in Beech 18's. They live on the Cape, that's Cape Cod to those from away and we plan to visit them in October with a quick side trip to Nantucket. Ward by the way is a former Army Huey pilot.
The Road Less Traveled, Sydney & Tom Hale:
Air New England - North Central - Republic - Northwest - Delta
Air New England - North Central - Republic - Northwest - Delta
Friends hanging out with airplanes
One of my most memorable flights.
I enjoyed having kids visit the cockpit, in fact encouraged the flight attendants to bring kids up as I always had a pocket full of kiddie wings and my camera ready.
I enjoyed having kids visit the cockpit, in fact encouraged the flight attendants to bring kids up as I always had a pocket full of kiddie wings and my camera ready.
The Narita laundry room ladies. I can't say enough good things about them.
John McAndrews retirement flight, DTW - NRT 2007
I didn't know John, but do recognize him as a DTW based pilot. His son James created this video, did a wonderful job and you'll enjoy his efforts I'm sure. Click on the pic of the two 747's below on the right to view the video.
I didn't know John, but do recognize him as a DTW based pilot. His son James created this video, did a wonderful job and you'll enjoy his efforts I'm sure. Click on the pic of the two 747's below on the right to view the video.