On July 10, 2021, my beautiful wife and soulmate Brittany Brown passed away due to colon cancer. Now, that is a sentence that I never thought I would be writing on AirlineReporter… or anywhere, for that matter. She was diagnosed on December 13, 2019 with Stage 2 (just two months after our wedding and three days before her 31st birthday), and she fought with all her might, but this cancer was unbeatable. #fuckcancer
As I make my way through the different stages of grief and remember all of our time that we had together, I have realized how much of a perfect travel partner she was for me – and how I was for her. During the year and a half that Brittany battled cancer, I was not very public about our situation — only some close friends and family knew. So, why share this very personal life experience on the blog? There are a few reasons.
To honor some of the great travel memories that we experienced. To share some stories that will have a home on AR. It will be therapeutic for me. And I trust you. I have been doing this airline blog thing for over 13 years. This website is a passion for me, the other writers and hopefully for many of you. When our lives get complicated, content slows down (or stops), and that is okay. Many of you have been through your own ups and downs and I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am for the love and support of the AvGeek community through everything.
There are too many stories out there that promise new kinds of airplanes, amenities, and airports. We are not going to lie… when we see these stories, we get pumped.
”Radical…we can”™t wait until we fly in an electric airliner that flies at three times the speed of sound and takeoffs and lands at an airport racetrack!”
We are told that these things are coming “very soon,” but we wait and wait and wait. Nothing. We have gotten sick and tired of getting emotionally AvGeek hurt (that is a thing) because these technologies never come through. Instead of just sitting around, we decided to do something about it!
INTRODUCING THE SlingPlane 5001-200NWN (No Wings Needed)
We knew this endeavor of building our own plane was not going to be easy, but we have made such tremendous progress. We didn”™t want to make the same mistakes of the others who had tried before us, so we quickly skimmed all their business plans (aka looked at the photos) and made solid assumptions on what went wrong. Here are the most common issues we found that led to failure:
There are many people right now questioning if it is safe to fly. It is a valid question, but I do not have the answer. For me personally, I have decided not to fly and I probably won’t be in the air for quite some time. Let me share some of my thoughts about the current situation, explain why I am not ready, and provide some advice for those who end up flying.
I love the airline business and it has pained me to watch the industry suffer. Hearing about the financial losses and seeing aircraft lined up in the desert is one thing, but employees losing their jobs is devastating.
For the most part, I think airlines and their employees have done an amazing job tackling this unprecedented situation. They have kept passengers informed on new safety procedures and have promoted the quality of the cabin air. No question this builds trust.
I am less worried about the airlines, but more concerned about the uptick in COVID, the other aspects of traveling, and most importantly: other passengers.
Here is something that I wasn”t expecting: staying up from 1:30 am to 5:30 am on a Saturday morning to take an online class, from British Airways, that helps people overcome their fear of flying. However, when I learned about their Flying With Confidence program, I couldn”t help but be curious.
I have never really feared flying much. Sure, there might be some hairy moments, but I typically enjoy when the flight gets a little turbulent. However, I know this is not the case for many people.
A fear of flying has always been rational to me. Not only are you in a tube flying 35,000 feet in the air, but when an airliner crashes, it becomes an international story. Sure, one can share data about the safety of flying and use the classic line ”you are more likely to die driving to the airport,” but those sorts of things rarely have a major impact.
Some passengers with flying phobias are able to painfully push through it, but others write off flying altogether. For those looking to overcome their fears, there are some legitimate ways to get help.
I was excited to see what the British Airways Flying with Confidence program had to offer, and I was interested to get more insight. I actually learned a few things that would not only help me with with future rough flights, but also some other phobias that I might or might not have (*cough* gnarly spiders *cough*).
British Airways has been offering the Flying with Confidence course for about 35 years, and they have helped over 50,000 people. They claim to have a 98% success rate, and I can believe it. They offer a staff of over 40 people who assist from a number of different angles; from pilots to flight attendants, to air traffic controllers — all able to answer questions about the flying process.
Historically, they have only offered in-person courses at London Heathrow & Gatwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Dubai, and Johannesburg. However, due to COVID, they started providing an online option. I felt lucky enough to participate in the first online class.
There was still an in-person session that took place in London, which had about 40 attendees safely spread out among two rooms — they typically have over 100 participants. The course was completed over two days. The first day was a presentation that went over the different aspects of flight and the psychology of flying phobias. On the second day, people boarded a British Airways Airbus A319 and took a flight to nowhere. How cool is that?
I have a soft place in my heart for Northwest Boeing 747-200s. My first time flying in a 747, my first time flying as an unaccompanied minor, and my first time being able to ride in the nose section was all on one of those birds. Even though that was at the age of five, it was very exciting and has stayed with me.
Anytime I see a photo of one of these aircraft, I wonder if it is the one that I flew on. I have no way of knowing, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to get to know more about the life of every Northwest 747-200 that I come across.
Not long ago, I documented the life of a Lockheed L1011 (which I named Martin). I have fun tracking down the lives (and often the deaths) of classic airliners and I enjoyed sharing Martin’s journey with you all (and many of you seemed to get a kick out of it as well). When I came across N642NW, a Northwest 747-200, I thought her history was pretty interesting and worth sharing.
I have decided to name this classic beauty Madison for two main reasons. During my trip (explained above), I flew from Seattle to Minneapolis to visit my uncles and we spent some time in Madison, WI. I might have also had a boyhood crush at the time on Madison from the movie Splash (played by Daryl Hannah). Either way, we can say that I like the name and I like the plane, so it works!
Now, let’s take a look at Madison’s birth, how she lived, and if she is still around today.
