[Rhodes22-list] On a different, different note

[brad haslett]

Apoligies to all who may have taken offense to my
posting on the Florida Syndicate Boat.  I've been
running in ten different directions this week and
haven't had my sensitivity meter dialed-up very high
on e-mails, etc.  The boat ended up in the best hands
to make the deal happen.

In other news, here is an article published this week
in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.  These are
co-workers of mine and I've had the pleasure to work
with "older" Glenn on several occasions - a real
gentleman and fine aviator.

Brad

=========================

Father and son pilots share FedEx cockpit 


If pilots earned stripes for emotional highs, Anthony
Glenn, 27, would have had them running down his arm
Friday.

At 9:39 a.m., he touched down at Memphis International
Airport in a FedEx MD11. Next to him was his father,
Capt. Albert Glenn, 52, easily the proudest man on the
runway.

The two flew their first trip together, joining an
elite fraternity of father-son teams piloting
wide-body jets for major airlines.

"I've been waiting a lifetime for this day," said
Albert Glenn. "When he got his commercial license,
that's when I knew the opportunity could present
itself.

"Let me tell you, 27 is awfully young. I'm not saying
that as a father, but as a pilot."

At FedEx, the Glenn pilots are likely the first
African-American father-son team, a feat of ambition
and age.

"Other guys could have done it, but their fathers
retired before they got to fly with them," said
Anthony Glenn, an MD11 first officer at FedEx for 23
days.

"Today is the pinnacle. I've been thinking about this
day all my life," he said over laughter at a
celebration lunch of hot wings (what else?) near
FedEx's corporate headquarters in Collierville.

The younger Glenn finished his MD11 flight training at
FedEx Dec. 15, representing a wave of 400-plus pilots
the company hired this year.

"Anthony is a good, young aviator," said FedEx
spokesman Maury Lane. "That's allowed him to move to
the right seat. It doesn't happen every day.

"We understand how proud they are to be flying with
each other. It's not a very big club who can say
they've flown with their fathers or sons or mothers or
daughters."

Albert Glenn, a 31-year employee at FedEx, said "it
took a village of pilots and my family to raise this
boy," as he gestured down the table at a half-dozen
graying African-American pilots, most in uniform.

Not only were they at the airport when the plane
landed, in many cases, they're part of an effort to
promote aviation careers to African-American children
citywide.

"I remember when Al Jr. came to the day camp put on by
the Memphis Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen and the
Organization of Black Airline Pilots," said Jim
Griffin, longtime FedEx pilot and member of both
organizations. "He later came back when he was
completing his education and training and told the
kids, 'This is where I got my start.' It meant so much
to us," Griffin said.

"Kids tell us they've never seen an African-American
pilot," said Rory Mitchner, a Northwest Airlines
pilot, liaison to the Air Force Academy and regional
vice president of Organization of Black Airline
Pilots.

"They can drive down Winchester and see the planes
overhead, but they have no earthly idea how to make
the connection from Winchester to the flight deck."

According to OBAP, African-American pilots make up 3
percent of all commercial airline pilots. Less than 1
percent are African-American and female.

"The numbers have improved, but not to the exponential
rate you see in other fields," said Mitchner, who
recommends parents enroll their children for an
introductory flight at a local fixed-base operator.

"We've got to expose our kids early on to industry,
whether they want to be pilots or air traffic
controllers. These are jobs with six-figure incomes.

"It does take higher math and science skills. We've
got to push them for that. We can't accept
mediocrity."

Part of the problem has been a historic "starting
over" with each generation, beginning with the
Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, he said.

"Believe it not, none of the original Tuskegee Airmen
were hired with commercial airlines.

"In some companies, new pilots have to have a letter
of recommendation from another pilot. If they don't
know another pilot, it's tough," he said.

Jane Roberts
Memphis Commercial Appeal

01/07/2006




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