Tuesday, September 11, 2012

PAN AM FLIGHT ZERO


Well, driving down US441 through Zellwood, and saw this plane over near what passes as Zellwood Airport. Reminded me of when Pan Am used to be one of the big airlines, even had a building in NYC named after it. Now it's the Metlife Building. Back in the day, businessmen (like my Dad), could take a helicopter from there to Idlewild Airport, name later changed to JFK. I used to fly to London and back on Pan Am flight numbers 1 & 2; one circled the globe East to West, and the other vice-versa. Of course, back then I flew on a 747, what a great plane that was, and the flights were never crowded like they are nowadays. Used to love flying to London, you would leave in the evening from NY and arrive in London Heathrow in the morning. The best part was watching the sun come up - first it would be pitch black, and then a red line on the horizon would appear and pow! there was the sun, really cool. And flying back to NY, you would pretty much arrive the same time you left London since there was a 6 hour time difference and it was a 6 hour flight. How cool was that?
 So it turns out, this plane probably didn't belong to Pan Am; couldn't match the picture up to an online guide to Pan Am aircraft, and it may just be an ad for the Pan Am Flying School.
 Pretty neat plane though, and in the early 60s, I may have flown on planes quite like this one...

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