Isaac~ Do you know who the guy behind the camera is? Just wondering if he was still around and knew this was up on KZfaq.

@@susannaregister9317 First officer Rex Little At 38.10?

Shouldn’t he cut his hair ? Don’t think his captains hat would look too professional under that mop !!

@@britbyname3620 It was the 1980's everyone had longish hair

@@rayg9069 It was the 'BIG HAIR GENERATION'! 😆

It was my baby too.

Right on, so true the last of the good days!Enjoyed it!

Fun fellers!lol lol man you could talk so easy with all these pilots back then while they waited for there plane to come into the gate as they sat!i miss em dearly each n every one!Thought of all, the time when I look upo to the sky!

Back in the days when flying was still relatively fun! My dad (the Captain) always made it fun!

I agree. This is when I fell in love with aviation and made it a career until it was unbearable and I left it. When I see this video I miss these days.

@@lawrencefreeman3803 I’m in the airline industry as well, it is terrible. It doesn’t come close to what it used to be.. it’s all about the almighty dollar, we employees are just a number in their system

@@jonahair747 agreed 100% worked in the aviation industry for 4 years and counting, keep up the hard work , stay strong!

YES MAYYMPHIS

I'm a pilot and fully understand what you're saying, but pilots are human too, and a lot of mistakes were made in the cockpit, costing a lot of people their lives, just because of unnecessary chatter and distractions, hence sterile cockpits at takeoff and landing. No comparison to flying a 152!

It was a totally different era- we call it “The Golden Age”- very family-oriented, small regional airlines got sucked up by the larger ones after Carter’s Deregulation Act. Everyone knew each other back then, and when bad things happened (Southern hijacking, Flight 242 & Marshall State) it affected us all. My dad actually bid on the latter two trips and was outbid by seniority. He knew everyone on those 3 flights so it was very personal. Nowadays, you’re just a number. The days of actually hand-flying an aircraft are few- too much automation and sometimes when the chips are down, it’s man vs. machine and debating on whether a computer knows your job better than you. I was working on my commercial when 9/11 happened, then my flight school got “struck by lightning” a couple of weeks later and burned down (many of us suspect it had some help). With my dad’s health in decline by that point, I went a different route. Do I wish I had finished and gone on to ATP? Sure, I do. But I also saw many fellow classmates and instructors furloughed. It changed aviation dramatically. I could have stuck it out, came out ahead when the pilot gap opened up, but some things just don’t work out the way you want. I still enjoy general aviation, both brothers went on to do commercial and corporate. Sometimes change really sucks, but at least there are a few “golden” videos like this one out there to remind us of a time when flying was fun, and not everyone got uptight about being PC and by the book. Cheers! 🍻

"What's that thar T and D mean?" "Aw shucks, honey, that's time and date! {advances throttles}"

That’s great info! I’m the son of a retired NWA DC9 captain and sent him recent footage at MSP of an old NWA DC9 that is used for fire training and it had a history about as far back as the ones you mentioned; another former Republic bird brought into the NWA fleet. I can’t help but wonder if he had flown it when it was still operating…

ACA1419 no, you see, when the instruments are round and complicated looking it equals “big pilot energy” but when the instruments are on a screen and easy to read equals “boo bad pilot”

yupppppppp and the work was more harder back then!lol and man what happy folks they were!lol

I've flown steam gauges and glass, and there were great pilots on both, also the opposite.

@ACA1419 You're a fucking moron. These "pilots" fly with glass cockpits and just about 90% of their job is automated - including the paperwork! I would challenge these new pilots to hand fly an aircraft like this for several hours without any of the help from automation of today's aircrafts.

@ACA1419 trust me, they really aren’t anymore these days. Glorified computer systems operators now...

She and m,any others died as a result of a super blunder from taxiing on one engine. I miss the old days of flying, but I don't think those types of mistakes could happen anymore

Nancy was great. Wendy took over for her and did well too.....

ATL was so awesome to me as a little kid in the 70’s before the new terminal. Dad would take me with him to the SOU crew lounge to turn in his bid sheets. Listening to his friend Earl Scruggs on 8 track in a Dodge Adventurer, riding the crew bus, the crew lounge full of strong coffee & cigarette smoke, the shrill of jet engines, the tugs in everywhere and the rumble of takeoffs- oh the “goodle days”! Golden Age of Aviation! It will never be the same 😢

​@@susannaregister9317Your dad was friends with Earl?

@@1930Granada Yes, he was. They met around 1970 and remained friends until my Dad’s passing in 2007. Earl & Gary called the house when he was in his final days so Earl could speak to him (he was sedated but they say hearing is the last to go- a tear slipped out, so we knew Dad heard his friend). I remained in touch with the Scruggs family, particularly Gary until his passing on December 1, 2021. In fact, we had a nice conversation via text the night before Thanksgiving, lighthearted and cutting jokes. Earl was one of the nicest, most down to earth people you’d want to meet, super humble with a dry sense of humor, much like my dad’s. They are both greatly missed. 🩷

JA Mack Haven’t heard anything on Bubba in awhile. Will have to check up on that.

Susanna Register Thank you. I recall his name from my father’s memory and then I read about him in a book on the hijacking and put the two together. That’s all I know of him. Some folks on FB said he lived outside of Atlanta last they knew.

Loved Southern Airways Flew them A lot Out Of Mobile To Msy And To Atl

Unfortunately, Bubba Shanahan passed April 17th of this year from Alzheimer’s. Blue skies and tailwinds to one of aviation’s finest. ❤️

@@susannaregister9317 I’m so absolutely sad to hear but I’m very glad that he’s in Heaven, where this no more pain.

Air Eh? lol

HOW OLD WAS HE MAY GOD BLESS HIM ?

Solomon Pilot - He passed in May 2007 at the age of 72. Retired in ‘95 the day before his 60th birthday.

@@susannaregister9317 That’s too bad, seems like a nice guy and great pilot.

@@susannaregister9317 72? Very sad and Isn’t that still a bit young? Deep condolences.

they also crashed a lot more.

@@cmulder002 Lost my Aunt from a Northwest DC9 because of a stupid mistake

@@catadjusterZ do you know a link to the reports of that flight?

@@cmulder002 they still crash these days but for the opposite reasons - pilot’s haven’t got the slightest of clue how to fly the moment the autopilot and FMS has even the slightest malfunction

@@HDTokyoAviation So true!!

In the DC9 at Northwest we wore custom molded Telex ear pieces and used hand mics. In fact, in those days we had only single head com and nav radios so every freq had to be written down in case we had to go back a freq change. Lots of hard work, but the best times of my airline career. Memphis 1991-2009, with 17 years of that on the mighty Douglas. Great guys, great plane, wonderful memories.

Not true Jon, Sterile Cockpit was implemented in 1981, this was filmed in July 1989. Still a cool video though.

@@6862ptc It has gotten more sterile every year though ;) Especially when you consider today...

Actually, no. The Sterile Cockpit Rule was enacted in 1981. This was 1989.

It wouldn’t fly with some guys, others would think it was hilarious. He wouldn’t simply ask if he wants his gear if it wasn’t down, he’d say “go around” first, then they’d worry about the why and all that.

@@Spyke-lz2hl In today's part 121 (or even 135) environment, it would be a violation of their op spec.

aviatortrevor What would be a violation, to ask if he wants his gear?

@@Spyke-lz2hl Yes. Sterile cockpit rules. You can't crack jokes on approach, especially a joke that could be misinterpreted as a safety of flight issue, causing a forced go-around (costly), and which could also lead to an accident.

aviatortrevor Ok Captain... Like I said, SOME guys would freak out, others would think it was hilarious. I don’t need to guess which group you’re in.

😂😂😂

Lynda White what did you do for TI? Did you move to CO after the merger?

ted It was My first Airline Job I worked at the Corpus Christi station at that time we did everything one day Ramp one day on the ticket counter.next day operations sometimes all in one day if someone called in sick, then in 1983 I went to work for SWA where I did 26 years before I retired.

reverse thrust Good to hear from you RT, it was a pretty good company to work for.