It's a Pilot Thing!
Hi, Sandy!
Here is a beginning form many beginnings for something you might want to use(or not) at Bob's service.
A lot of pilot things in there, but that part is for Bob who knew it every day, and responded to it in the hospital, and it's for you and your kids and grandkids to maybe get a better sense of some of the things he went through on a daily basis for years,all over the world so you all might have good, and better and perhaps more fulsome lives.
Sometimes, we know so little about our parents and grandparents -- particularly their professional lives.
Hope it helps, if only to bring you some smiles.
I enjoyed trying to write it.
Sincerely,
Tony
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McConnell Airline 85 Alpha, this is San Francisco Approach Control
You are cleared for a Precision Approach to Runway 28 Right
The Winds are from the North at 7 knots gusting to 13. Altimeter is 29.92
Visibility is a Quarter Mile in smoke and haze, the haze being caused by an outpouring of gratitude by the ten of thousands of people you have flown safely through the world’s skies of Pan American World Airlines.
McConnell Air 85 Alpha, please Squawk IDENT. Thank you, 85 Alpha. IDENT received. I show you, 13 miles East on the 280 degree radial on a heading of 283 degrees.
Turn right to 288 degrees to intercept the runway approach path.
McConnell Air 85 Alpha, this is your final approach controller. How do you read me?
I understand you read me 5 by 5. You need not reply to my instructions from this point on.
If you do not hear my voice for 10 seconds during this final approach you are to execute a missed approach.
You are presently 10 miles from the Touchdown point on San Francisco Airport’s Runway 28 Right. Check your aircraft landing configuration.
Your altitude should be 3,000 feet. Your Dad and Mom are directly ahead and above you. Smiling. Glad to see you again.
85 Alpha, you are intercepting the glide slope. Begin your descent now at 400 feet per minute.
You are now 8 miles from Touchdown on Runway 28 R. If you check your 2 o’clock position to the right, you should be able to see your son, Dan and his wife, Chris. They are waving. Smiles. Pride. Goodbye Tears. And love.
,
McConnell Air 85 Alpha, you are slightly above Glide Slope. You are still left of the Center line but correcting nicely.
You are 5.5 miles from runway Touchdown. Your altitude should be 1,800 feet. Call the middle marker inbound.
85 Alpha, one mile off your left wing at 9 o’clock, your son, Larry, and his wife Renee and their daughter Genevieve are there. Waving. Smiles. Goodbye Tears. Pride. Love.
85 Alpha, You are on Center Line. On Glide Slope.
Maintain heading 280.
5.0 miles to Touchdown.
You are passing down through a low dust cloud caused by hundreds of your old friends, driving vintage cars and wearing strange clothes. Waving. Smiles. Tears. Picnic baskets. Beer.
McConnell 85 Alpha, you are dropping slightly below Glide Slope. Increase airspeed. Decrease your rate of descent.
You are on Glide Slope and on Center Line 3.5 miles from Touchdown.
You are now passing off the right wing at 3 o’clock your son, KEN, his wife MARICAR, and their children DYLAN (who is coxswaining a long boat) and COLLIN and daughter ELLA just below. Waving. Smiles. Goodbye Tears. Pride. Love.
You are 2 miles from Touchdown. You are on Glide Slope and on Center Line.
Now you should be able to see all three of your sons, DAN and LARRY and KEN, and their families, and together they are all pointing up at your aircraft and yelling: “There goes GRENNY!” Love. Appreciation. Gratitude. Respect. For their DAD and their GRANDAD and for GRENNY!
You are 1.5 miles from Touchdown. Your kids and grandkids and thousands of Methodists, friends and other unspecified denominations are waving along both sides of the runway ahead. No sign yet of your wife.
You are on Glide Slope and on Center Line. One mile to Touchdown. Captain McConnell, you have this approach wired.
Still no sign of your wife. Half mile to Touchdown. Where could she be?
Ah, well. 85 Alpha, check your flaps, landing gear is down, locked and you have three green, for landing.
McConnell Air 85 Alpha, you are approaching airport minimums. If you have the field in sight, take over visually and land.
BEAUTIFUL landing, Captain McConnell. Welcome home!
Contact ground control on 118.5 and follow the guide truck with the lighted sign that says:
“Welcome home, Captain Bob, Follow Me!”
Uh, Captain McConnell, it appears that the airport “Follow Me” truck is being driven by your wife, Sandy.
Wouldn’t you know it? You fly planes successfully for millions and millions of miles and certain things don’t really change that much once you land the plane again. J
Ah, well, Captain McConnell, just follow the truck. You are in pretty good hands. But then again, you always were. Ever since you met her.
Have a good day, Sir! You are cleared to Gate 3:16.
Oh, and thank you for being you : Robert McConnell: a wonderful son, a loving and caring husband, father, grandfather, pilot extraordinaire, and one-of-a-kind one-in-a-million friend.