Pan Am's Flying Again

But only on Sunday nights on ABC at 9 PM CT.

As a former airline employee, I was definitely looking forward to seeing this show when it started on September 25 but was tied up with other more pressing business in DC.  

Caught the tail end of the 'We'll Always Have Paris' episode last Sunday and finally took some time to sit down and watch the pilot and the full first episode and fell in love with the show.

Pan Am is set in 1963 and follows a group of Pan Am pilots and flight attendants as they live, love and work at 30,000 feet and on their layovers.  In some cases they are front line covert soldiers in the Cold War. 

It tells some of the story in flashback form, as it did in the pilot episode when we see Captain Dean Lowery flashback to a 1961 flight from Cuba in which they flew out the released Bay of Pigs invasion prisoners with Bridget showing up at the last moment.   There was another in which Laura is shown leaving her fiancé Greg at the altar on her wedding day with big sis Kate's help..  


We get to watch Maggie Ryan, sisters Kate and Laura Cameron, and Colette Valois endure all the hassles of being flight attendants during that glamorous era of jet travel such as weight checks, sexism, the no marriage rule and the joys and pains of dealing with the public such as drunken businessmen who think grabbing the flight attendant comes with the price of their ticket as happened to Maggie in the 'We'll Always Have Paris' episode .



Trilingual Kate finds herself being recruited as a covert intelligence operative while dealing with the fact her fresh out of training baby sister has become a celebrity due to a LIFE magazine shot of her in her Pan Am uniform.  

Maggie is on probation for not wearing a girdle and was reinstated when Bridget quit.  She isn't afraid to test the rules and her Pan Am supervisors last nerves. 

Colette is a French flight attendant with a tragic past that has yet to be revealed, but we do know from the pilot episode she discovers that a former lover of hers is on her New York to London flight with his wife and child.   

Oops.  Can you say awkward?

Captain Dean Lowrey is in love with his girlfriend Bridget Pierce, a British flight attendant who was the purser on his crew until she had her MI6 cover blown on an undercover assignment.in which she failed to follow orders and was forced to quit Pan Am and vacate her London flat. 

Dean is searching for her and is mystified as to what happened to her.   In his search for answers to the mystery,  he isn't getting any straight answer out of the people that can shed light on what happened to Bridget or her current whereabouts.

Interestingly enough, the Association of Flight Attendants released a statement after the Pan Am pilot episode aired:     

"The premiere episode of the new Pan Am drama on ABC may be a nostalgic escape to the days before deregulation, but it also highlighted the myriad of social injustices overcome by the strong women who shaped a new career. Weight checks, girdle checks, the no marriage rule, sexism, gender discrimination, racism – all of this was challenged by intelligent, visionary women who helped to usher in the call for social change throughout the country and around the world." 

That they did, and I have much love for the flight attendants of mine and any airline and what they had to endure during my Air Marshal days and now.

But I'm still going to chill out and watch this drama that gives us a glimpse of what pre-deregulated air travel was like on not only one of the iconic airlines in the United States, one that has a deep impact in our popular culture as well.  .

Operation Yellow Ribbon-Thank You, Canada!

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the US closed its airspace at 9:45 AM ET to prevent any more attacks on skyscrapers across the country because the extent of the attacks wasn't known at the time.

That was a major problem for the aircraft traversing the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific air routes from Europe and Asia at the time.  239 planes with over 35,000 passengers had to divert to Canadian airports and stay there indefinitely in the wake of the closure of US airspace.   

Canada closed its airspace as well with then Transport Minister David Collinette ordering Canadian airports be opened only for outgoing military, humanitarian and police flights and incoming Canadian and US bound international flights.  NAV CANADA was given permission to allow flights to land at Canadian airports based on destination and remaining fuel that were more than halfway from their origination points. 

The Atlantic Canada airports got the bulk of the flights and in coordination with the US Federal Aviation Administration and NORAD Operation Yellow Ribbon was initiated.  

Planes landed at CFB Goose Bay, Halifax, Moncton, St. John's and Stephenville airports as well with 34 trans-Pacific ones landing at Vancouver.      

Gander, NL. got many of the Atlantic airbridge diversions because it's the first of the Atlantic Canada airports that planes traversing the trans-Atlantic air routes to US airports from Europe encounter.  

Despite the town's size, Gander International Airport was well suited to handle the task because it had been a major airbase during World War II.   It not only served as a refueling stop for airplanes being shuttled to the European theater and transatlantic flights, the airport was the jumping off point for U-boat hunting flights  

The town of 10,000 people suddenly found itself dealing with 39 widebody aircraft with 6,600 stranded passengers and 473 crewmembers aboard them and only 500 hotel rooms in town.

The residents of Gander and the surrounding towns opened their schools, churches, homes and hearts to stranded travelers as local businesses donated supplies to help the effort until flights resumed on September 15.   

Besides the Atlantic Canada airports such as Gander serving as diversionary destinations and Vancouver International serving in a similar capacity for the trans-Pacific flights, planes were diverted to other Canadian airports such as Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal-Mirabel, Toronto Pearson, and Hamilton. 

But it was a stressful exercise at times.  Operation Yellow Ribbon not only had to determine where to land the planes, but coordinate efforts between Transport Canada, the FAA and NORAD.   They also had to coordinate the efforts of Canadian customs officials, police, security, intelligence, relief and military efforts in terms of clearing the unexpected spike in passengers .  There were several incidents in which airplanes were escorted to various airports by US and Canadian Armed Forces fighters.. 

This occurred in the backdrop of the frosty relationship between President G.W.Bush and Prime Minister Jean Chretien before 9/11.  Chretien had a warm relationship with President Clinton and wanted to see Vice President Al Gore win the 2000 election.  There was an added layer of testiness because Bush broke a longstanding tradition and made his first international presidential visit outside of the US to Mexico instead of Canada which was seen as a snub.

Gasoline was poured on that testy relationship when Bush mentioned other nations by name in thanking them for post-9/11 help but failed to mention the then ongoing efforts of our northern neighbors in a September 14th joint speech to Congress.
 

But on this 9/11 tenth anniversary the Obama White House didn't forget, and neither did the US Embassy in Ottawa.   This was a letter sent from President Obama on Thursday to Prime Minister Harper.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
It has often been said that the United States and Canada are great neighbors, trading partners and the best of friends. Friendship gives us comfort and it gives us strength, but can be tested in difficult times. In one of the darkest moments in our history, Canada stood by our side and showed itself to be a true friend.

On the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, we remember with gratitude and affection how the people of Canada offered us the comfort of friendship and extraordinary assistance that day and in the following days by opening their airports, homes and hearts to us. As airspace over our two countries was shut down, hundreds of flights en route to the United States were landed safely by Canadian air traffic control in seventeen Canadian airports from coast to coast. The small city of Gander, Newfoundland, population 9,600, received 6,600 diverted passengers, while Vancouver received 8,500 people. For the next 3 days — before our air space was reopened — those displaced passengers were treated like family in Canadian homes, receiving food, shelter, medical attention and comfort.

Ten years later, we continue to be grateful for Canada's friendship, and for the solidarity you continue to show us in our shared fight against terrorism. The United States is fortunate to share a border with a country that understands, in your words, "There is no such thing as a threat to the national security of the United States which does not represent a direct threat to this country."

On this anniversary, we recognize all the gestures of friendship and solidarity shown to us by Canada and its people, and give thanks for our continuing special relationship.

Sincerely
Signed Barack Obama

It also bears repeating that 22 Canadians were among the 3000 people who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks.  It's also often said by politicians on both sides of our long shared border that we have a special relationship between the United States and Canada.   Our Canadian neighbors proved that and then some in the wake of 9/11.  

Thank you, Canada.

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