Just settling into my seat for the 4 hour 20 minute flight from Reagan National to SLC an announcement sounded throughout the plane. The perky flight attendant wanted all of us to know that this was our captain's final flight. After 24 years as a Delta employee, this was it. A last glorious flight across country into the setting sun.

Great! Was this to me my last 4 hours on earth? All the fuss over this occasion made me certain that the flight would be cursed.

I didn't think much more about this until we were about 30 minuted from landing. That's when our captain took the opportunity to tell us thanks, keep flying Delta and then a description of the final few minutes of our flight. We should not be concerned about the fire trucks that would be meeting us as we taxied into the terminal. That's when I found out about the Delta tradition.

On a captain's last flight the plane is met by fire trucks and escorted to the gate. At the last moment the trucks would stop and spray the plane as we passed by. The flight attendants, captain and crew were all very excited. At touch down the aforementioned flight attendant announced one more time that we should not be concerned with the fire trucks that were waiting with lights flashing.

The captain stood at the door and shook hands with every passenger. We all wished him well. We made it safely back to SLC without incident. Catastrophe avoided. Now I know about the Delta tradition.........
9:00:04 PM    comment []