ABSTRACT
In the course of my career, I probably walked through various airline terminals thousands of times and as I did I would observe all kinds of people. In so doing, I noticed people waiting in the gate areas for friends and relatives that were arriving on incoming flights. The one thing that struck me was the happiness that these people usually expressed in seeing the one they were waiting for come through the door of the Jetway. As you well know, there are all types of people arriving on those airplanes. There are passengers such as businessmen, returning fathers, grandparents, fiancées, and even young children traveling on their own to meet a parent or maybe just returning from camp. In any event it began to impact on me how much all of these people were counting on a safe arrival. Of course I knew that. But I had not dwelt on the thought very much and as I did, I began to think about all the responsibilities a pilot in command has, responsibilities that go beyond simply making a good takeoff and landing. Oh yes, good takeoffs and landings are important but so are many other things.
