Planes

My first job out of college required me to travel by plane. Most of the time I flew on Douglas DC-9s (later called McDonnell-Douglas) and Boeing 727s. In 1970, the Boeing 747 was introduced. I remember the first time I walked on board a 747. It was huge!

Over time, airliners evolve and different series and sub-variants of the plane are produced. If what I describe is different from your experience, it may be that we flew on different variants.

The jets I usually flew on had a single aisle down the center of the plane. A DC-9 had two seats on one side of the aisle and three seats on the other side. Some DC-9s had a first class section with two seats on each side of the aisle.

A 727 had a first class section with two seats on each side of the aisle and a coach section with 3 seats on each side of the aisle.

The 747s had 3 classes of seating: first, business, and economy. Two seating aisles ran the length of the plane. In economy class where I usually sat, each row of seats had four seats in the center, an aisle on each side, and three more seats between each aisle and window, for a total of 10 seats per row. If economy class was sold out, my employer allowed me to bump my seat up to business class. The seats in business class were wider, farther apart, and more comfortable. The center row held 3 seats, and there were only two seats between each aisle and window, for a total of 7 seats per row. This was before Congress deregulated the airlines, and I never flew on a 747 that was crowded. In fact, I flew on 747s that were almost empty. It boggles my mind that I could fly three thousand miles across the country on an airplane that held between 400 and 500 seats but carried only two or three dozen passengers.

I once flew to Los Angeles to spend three weeks at the McDonnell-Douglas facility in Huntington Beach (they were in the process of moving to Long Beach – now both plants are closed). I was a design engineer for the Sprint missile guidance system. M-D had a problem with the missile’s wiring. When squibs were fired, the detonator current created transient voltage spikes on adjacent wiring. A bunch of engineers were working on the problem and I was one of them. I was just thinking about that trip and I wondered if I had flown to M-D on one of their jets. Aside from that small irony, I got my first close-up look at a Sprint missile on that trip.

Sometimes I had to get off a jet and finish the trip on a commuter plane like the de Havilland Twin Otter (18 seats in 9 rows) or the Beechcraft 99 (12 seats in 6 rows). The commuter planes (I have a friend who calls them “buzz bombers”) flew low and slow so passengers had a good view of the terrain below them. Video: Watch a Twin Otter land. Set the video to HD and Full Screen and you’re almost on the plane.

When I was a kid, my father and my brother and I would go to a local airport and pay a pilot to take us on a 10 minute joyride over the city. I enjoyed flying and wanted to be a pilot. I subscribed to Flying magazine. My favorite column was called “I Learned About Flying From That.” Every month a pilot wrote about a flying mistake that almost killed him and what he had learned from it. At one point in time I took flying lessons, but other issues cropped up and I never completed the lessons. (I did learn a few things, like taking off is easier than landing, and never run the flaps up until after the engine has been started.)

But if ever there was a time to enjoy flying, it was that era. No airport screening. Comfortable seats. Amenities like meals, snacks, soft drinks, and mini-bottles of liquor to enhance your soft drink, if you wanted your drink to be a real drink. Want to take a nap? The flight attendant would bring you a pillow and blanket. Now, flying is much cheaper but passengers are packed like sardines and every convenience costs extra.

Have luggage? Extra.
Need water? Extra.
Seat to sit on, air to breathe? Extra and extra.

Soon passengers will be standing and hanging onto straps like subway riders.