Freight dogs, the lads - and occasional lassie - who pilot today's cargo flights in oft-ancient birds, are getting some long overdue attention. Men's Vogue is running a particularly fabulous feature by writer Michael Walker about what he calls "the renegade airmen who keep the global economy aloft".
In his piece, Walker captures the joys and pains of a job that gets little recognition but requires the heartiest of constitutions to perform day after day and year after year.
Says Walker: "Brutal labor relations, increasingly automated aircraft, and the dispiriting post-9/11 environment have torched whatever adventure and romance remain in aviation. But freight dogs never got that memo.
"Yes, they bitch endlessly about the hours, the food, the lack of sleep, the death-trap airports of Asia Minor and West Africa. But talk to true dogs for more than five minutes and they betray themselves as hopelessly, permanently, passionately in love with flying and the particular esprit that hauling cargo allows."
As record fuel prices, soaring quarterly losses and other airline industry challenges dominate the headlines, Walker deserves kudos for pointing out the humanity behind the machine.
(Photo from Sept 2000 Air Line Pilot article as featured on ALPA web site)
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