The Final Flight ✈️
Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen, In February 2019, I underwent open-heart surgery. As I was preparing to return to flying for Delta, COVID arrived and everything stopped. My last flight before surgery was to London in December 2018. I had no idea it would be my last, Amanda wasn't with me, and I was copilot— that is not the way to end a flying career. Last November, after years of jumping through hoops, the FAA finally restored my First Class Medical. When I submitted my fresh Medical to Delta for a return, they called:
Delta assigned me 245 online training modules ranging from ten minutes to an hour and a half each. I then dove into the manuals... reading one 1,040-page behemoth in two days. I stepped away from the Winery and immersed myself completely. Then came simulator training in Atlanta. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I hadn't flown in seven years. The last time I flew, I sat in the right seat flying with my right hand. Now I was in the left seat flying with my left hand. Everything was backwards. Procedures had changed. Charts had changed. The cockpit had gone completely paperless; flight plans, weather reports, manuals were all now on iPads. After three passed simulator checkrides, Delta released me to the line. Simulator:   My very first flight: Captain, Detroit to Amsterdam... with a Check Airman as my copilot and 300 passengers aboard. My final line check was Minneapolis to London and back. I passed. That left me with only two weeks before mandatory retirement. Amanda accompanied me on what was to be my last trip: 1. Detroit - Paris, where we enjoyed Notre Dame, the Seine, the Latin Quarter, and dinner with my crew at my favorite restaurant, Le Coupe-Chou. 2. Paris - Salt Lake City, a passenger became unresponsive. We declared a medical emergency and received priority handling. She lived. 3. Salt Lake City - Amsterdam nearly required a diversion to Germany because weather was hovering near autoland minimums. Fortunately, sunrise burned off the fog just in time. 4. Amsterdam - Detroit, as we entered Canadian airspace on the flight home, Air Traffic Control called. "Is there a Captain Lorenzo on board?" My First Officer answered yes. The controller replied: "On behalf of everyone in this Air Traffic Control Center... congratulations on your career, and happy retirement." From there all the way to Detroit, every controller offered congratulations. It was incredibly touching. I still had six days available before retirement, so I volunteered to fly anything, anywhere. Scheduling called. Could I ferry an empty A330 from Detroit to Atlanta? Absolutely. No passengers. No flight attendants. Just two pilots flying an empty airplane that climbed like a rocket. Everything was non-routine. Delta then assigned me one last trip with a Phoenix layover. It happened to be Valentine's Day... and Amanda's and my wedding anniversary. I flew us to Phoenix; we had a great layover, and my First Officer flew us home the next day. He made a beautiful landing. As we completed the final checklist, the lead flight attendant announced to the passengers that it was my last flight. Three hundred people applauded. I chuckled that I would now have to go say Bah-Bye 300 times. The First Officer laughed, said he would come visit the Winery, and left. As passengers filed off, many complimented, "Nice landing!" I simply smiled and replied, "Thank you." Someday, when that First Officer visits us at the Winery, I'll let him know I took credit for his landing lol. After that last flight, I posted this photograph on my personal Facebook page:  "Thirty-three years. Five airlines. Nine airplanes. No failed checkrides. No scratched paint. No bent metal. No procedures named after me." To my amazement, the post went viral. More than 6,600 people clicked "Like," and Comments topped 1,000 before Facebook stopped counting, arriving from every continent as the post went around the world three times. I was astounded. It turned out our travel privileges continued through the end of February, so Amanda and I decided to take one last adventure while we still held top priority on Standby Lists. New Zealand. Summertime in the Southern Hemisphere. We toured wineries on the North Island before flying to Christchurch. While boarding an Air New Zealand flight, I stopped by the cockpit to say hello. The First Officer had seen my post, and knew who I was. To be on the other side of the world and be recognized ~ I was speechless. Then came perhaps the craziest part of the trip. On Saturday morning, February 28, we walked across the street from our Auckland airport hotel and boarded our flight home. We flew 13 hours to Los Angeles, connected to Detroit, and got to the car, whereupon I said: "We have our Bob Seger tribute on stage tonight! Let's go!" Amanda panicked, to which I responded "Starbucks, baby! You'll be fine!" And so we grabbed Starbucks coffee and headed for the Irish Hills. We walked into our Tasting Room at 5 pm Saturday February 28... 24 hours after we left our hotel in New Zealand. Blue Skies, Lorenzo |
Comments