[Note: For your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while I'm away.
This one was a comment, one of my favorites. I had mentioned a book I like, the late Kent Reno's Ground Time. Kent was a pilot who photographed during his layovers. He was also a reader of my magazine articles and sent me a copy of his book as a gift. I thought his style was similar to that of John Loengard, the famous LIFE magazine editor and photographer.
The post was called "B&W Tonality Part II: Examples," from April of 2017.
By chance, one of our readers, who signed himself only as "brad," was a friend of Kent's, and told this story about him. What the drunk lady screams when she grabs him by the lapels makes me laugh every time I read it. —Ed.]
"Kent Reno was a very cool customer. Picture Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff. Kent had been a Flight Safety Officer in the Air Force, and was an excellent pilot. He was DC-8 Captain and had thousands of hours flying for Trans International Airlines out of Oakland, California. When I saw Kent, he might mention something about one of his flights. He had a great sense of humor. His delivery was almost emotionless, like he was just recounting a humdrum event.
"So, Kent says, telling me of a flight from Europe to the States: 'We were out a few hours and a flight attendant came into the cabin. She said a women in seat 17F is causing quite a commotion. She's handing out large amounts of cash to the other passengers. She's up and down the aisle giving out money.'
"Kent said the crew was always playing little jokes on each other, so he smiles at the attendant and says, 'nice one!' Then the attendant showed him a fistful of large bills saying, 'She says this is for us.' Kent answered, 'I'd better go back and talk to her.'
"So, he takes the cash and goes back to her seat. He said she was well dressed but looked a bit ruffled and had been drinking. He sat in an empty seat next to her and introduced himself. Returning the cash, he said, 'we can't accept gifts. It's company policy.' The woman just looked at him and was quiet for a bit, then grabbed him by his coat and began screaming, 'who's flying the plane? Who's flying the plane?!?'
"He told the women the co-pilot was a very good pilot and that the aircraft was in good hands. He got her calmed down and they landed safely.
"He figured the women had some illicit cash in her carry-on, and had gotten through screening at the departure airport (this was the 1990s) but then, en route, she figured Customs in New York would find the money and she'd be in trouble. So she decided to give it away rather than be detained in New York."
(Thanks to brad)
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