Bob Reardon's 90th Birthday Party ~ Thanks for the Photos, Richard Moody!

A gathering of former Pursers to mark the occasion.
l-r  Bruce Retrum, Bob, Richard Moody, Lou Reynolds 

Look at the blaze!  That's a lot of candles, Bob.

I love the message on Bob's cake:  "Robert is 90! Happy Birthday! Otherwise All is Lovely & Serene"

All the well-wishers at Bob's 90th . . .

. . . plus Lady Skywriter and countless others who have flown with you 

and admire your style, as you continue your 63rd year in the air, Bob!

Keep Flyin' High and Having Fun

As Northwest Airlines In-Flight Food Service Manager, Al Carriveau Knew How to "Dish"

I am sad to report that Al Carriveau passed away May 3.  Al was a retired 38-year employee of NWA, former board member of Wings Financial and at the time of his death, still serving as a Director for the NWA History Centre, which he co-founded in 2002.

Third Anniversary of the NWAHC in 2005
Directors John Peterson, Pete Patzke,  Jerry Nielsen and Al Carriveau; in the
middle is Geoff Jones, author of Northwest Airlines, the First 80 Years 

You Dined the Best when you Flew Northwest! Al traveled the world for Northwest, setting up airline food service in far-flung destinations.  "Northwest had flight kitchens where meals were prepared from scratch in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Billings, Seattle, Anchorage and Tokyo," Al recalled. We also operated bars and restaurants in several airports."

Visitors to the History Centre may peruse a 238-page food service manual that Northwest used during Al's era when Northwest passengers actually complimented servers after the meal.  Affectionately nicknamed the "Bullwinkel Book", after a vice president of the airline, you can scan almost 500 recipes in twelve food categories.

Some tempting offerings include Veal Scallopine with Marsala wine, "Garden of Eden Pie," and Swedish Cardamon Bread.  My all time favorite was, of course, the Fujiyama hors d'euvres tray, which I served on the Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser with champagne and scented Oshibori Towels before the prime rib dinner in the 1950s.

Fujiyama Tray made by Anne and her son Rick for her book launch at the NWAHC
Al said it was "pretty close to the original," high praise, I felt.

Al and Anne speaking at the book launch of Fuiyama Trays & Oshibori Towels in 2009

Al welcomed me warmly in 2009 when I became a Director at the NWAHC.  He was a gentleman who had vast knowledge of our dear departed airline and it's people. I loved his stories, his ideas, and especially the twinkle in his eye.  I will miss him.

Happy Birthday Robert Reardon! 90 Years Young Today. And Still Flying !!!

Bob Reardon and Bonnie Vork in B-377 Stratocruiser galley 1950s
Photo taken in flight by Anne Billingsley, Lady Skywriter

After 56 years of flying, featured in American Express  magazine, Departures, Mar-April 2008

Bob and Anne at "Remembering Donald Nyrop" event at NWA History Centre, June, 2011
See Summer Special Edition 2011 Reflections page 2

Mary Ann Gallagher, Bill Marchessault, Bob Reardon, Fay Kulenkamp and Maggie McMahon
NWA flight attendants in vintage uniforms at "Remembering Donald Nyrop", June, 2011

To mark Bob's 60 years of service, a huge celebration was held at the Officer's Club at MSP.  Pictured here,
Mitch (Radisson Narita) and Bob with event planners extraordinaire Richard Moody and Lori Rothmund
See Fall, 2011 Reflections, page 9

Jean Carlson Schreier, Bob and Anne at 60th

NRT Earthquake Flight Crew with Bob at Center back
See story in June 2011 Reflections, page 3

So what's next, Bob?  Are you up for another party?  Your 65th Anniversary is coming up in 2016.

Happy, happy birthday and many more.  I loved flying to D.C. with you, first eating lunch at Bassins and then doing the town.  That was back when Ike was president and Elvis was "king."  And we got to work on the Stratocruiser.  Grand Memories.

Best wishes for many more from your old flying partner, Anne (Lady Skywriter) Billingsley Kerr

Laptop Oblivion

I've been there.

No, not on a flight deck working on my laptop while 149 souls are cluelessly confident that I am flying the airplane. But I've experienced what total absorption in a computer screen can do.

It can cause a flood in your kitchen, that spreads down the hall to your bedroom and renders kitchen and bathroom cabinets waterlogged and hazardous. Admittedly not as serious as forgetting to land an Airbus 320, but serious, nonetheless. And very expensive. And really embarrassing.

One morning last spring I was trying to do too many things at once. I had a busy day planned. I wanted to clean up a few dishes in the kitchen before moving on to other things. I started filling the sink with water. "I'll just quick check my e-mail while the sink is filling," I said to myself. One thing led to another.

45 minutes later a background noise that sounded like a waterfall nudged my consciousness. It WAS a waterfall. As I ran to the kitchen, my shoes made squishy sounds in the hall carpet. Rounding the corner, I witnessed my dishwater cascading down the cabinet to the floor, as pretty and as destructive as you please.

Several days of industrial fans running 24/7 followed. I almost checked into a hotel. Blessedly, the fans were finally silenced by workers who determined they could now proceed putting me back together. Three large bookcases had to be emptied. Furniture moved. Cabinets cleaned out. Did I mention that I live in a 1200 sq. ft. townhouse? Every dry surface was covered with stuff. And I lost all my cookbooks!

Several weeks later, the $7,000 ordeal was over. The condominium association insurance has a $10,000 deductible per incident. Thankfully, by the grace of God, I had purchased "gap" insurance so my personal exposure was only a $500 deductible. However, the insurance company was not pleased that I had done such a stupid thing (my words, not theirs) and sent me a letter saying if I had any more claims they would "review" my coverage and possibly terminate it. You'd think I was a frequent claimant, to use airline parlance. This was the first and only insurance claim I have ever had!

So you see I can relate to the conundrum these two hapless Northwest pilots find themselves in. My consequences pale in comparison to theirs. But I can see how it happened.

I've been there.

Just a minute . . . I've got to go check on a noise.

An Airline by any other name . . .

I wasn't going to comment on the most viral story since last week's home-made weather balloon, and yet I find myself propelled (no pun intended) to my computer to add just one more comment to the noise.

Isn't it interesting, that in virtually every account, the errant pilots are identified as Northwest Pilots, and the flight that overshot the Twin Cities as Northwest Flight 188?

It is clear that Delta, the biggest airline in the world, who became that big by gobbling up Northwest, wants no part of this.

Delta, Northwest's owner, the same airline that can't wait to erase every last vestige of Northwest identity from the public view, is not identified until the ninth paragraph of the story, if at all.

I just find that interesting.

P.S. I guess this event proves I really do live in "flyoverland" after all. Sorry, this time the pun is intended.