Bumping into the Flying Pencil

Vision on an early morning ramp
Fort Lauderdale, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s 5:23 on a steamy hot morning at an airport in south Florida.

My wife and I are heading into the terminal when something catches my eye. Since this is me we’re talking about, that something is an airplane. And before we know it, I’ve stopped walking so I can take a quick photo.

This isn’t just any plane. It’s a Boeing 757, and for folks with a weak spot for planes, it’s a bit of a legend.

Long and lean, it’s sometimes called the Flying Pencil. It has a delicate stance on its tall landing gear, and that elegance betrays some insane performance capabilities that have made it a fan favourite of pilots and passengers alike since it first flew 40-plus years ago.

It’s also a sign of a time when Boeing could do no wrong, when engineering excellence mattered. Alas, the company is now run by bean counters, and we’re left with debacles like 737 MAXes that need secret software to stay in the sky and 787 Dreamliners that can’t be delivered because workers keep leaving junk in them.

Sadly, time is running out on these svelte symbols of a lost era, and airlines are quietly pulling these masterpieces from service and replacing them with more efficient - and more anonymous - airframes.

So I felt a strange need to remember this humid moment on a dirty sidewalk. Because I don’t know when - or even if - I’ll get to bump into one of these lovelies again.

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