FT022822

#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE

Vol. 21 No. 9	Monday February 28, 2022

     The year of the Tiger has also ushered in the fifth wave of COVID in Hong Kong.
     Having worked long and hard at maintaining zero COVID it was perhaps inevitable that at some stage or other it would creep in and once through the door would take hold very quickly in spite of the best efforts to contain it.
     Just today nearly 5,000 new confirmed cases are reported and another 7,000 of what they call preliminary positive, and the experts tell us that these numbers will double every 2 to 3 days.
     Although Hong Kong has a vaccination rate of well over 80% there is one section of the population, the over 80s, who have been very reluctant but who are now coming out in their droves for the vaccine so this is kind of a race against the virus if the City is to protect the more vulnerable.
     Beyond just the medical statistics the bigger question is the effect on Hong Kong as a global financial center.
     Hong Kong has labored under one of the most restrictive quarantine measures in the world.
     HK always likes to stand out but this is one trophy the city might rather not have.
     Not only was there a mandatory hotel quarantine of three weeks on arrival in Hong Kong, now reduced to 2 weeks, but also for the last couple of months a complete ban on flights from eight countries including the UK, the U.S. and Australia has been maintained.
     Furthermore, flights from any country that turns up to have had several detected during testing on arrival is then banned from flights from the originating airport for two weeks.
     This as February ends, is leading a lot of airlines to simply give up on flights to Hong Kong as it's too difficult to play stop, start stop, start.
     And of course it goes without saying that Cathay Pacific is carrying the biggest burden, for much of last year the cargo side of things was booming but unfortunately after some breaches of quarantine arrangements for flightcrew by cargo crews, and with Omicron raging around the world, the government imposed some fairly dramatic quarantine requirements on cargo crew, (who had been subject to a lower quarantine requirement) which is now having a very significant effect with virtually no flights by Cathay Pacific to Europe as far as I understand. How long this will be maintained is anybody's guess but there is undoubtedly a massive impact.
     Stepping away from the airline industry there is of course no shortage of negative press reports highlighting the business challenges faced by various sectors in Hong Kong, including of course the tourism industry and more recently the food and beverage industry with a 6 pm closing of all restaurants and bars.
     And it is not difficult to find people who are planning to up stakes and leave Hong Kong claiming they've had enough, and to be fair I can't blame them, for anybody trying to bring up children it's been a nightmare of almost 2 years of some form of homeschooling not to mention of course the inability to easily travel to friends and relatives around the world. But on the other hand it's also not difficult to find people who remain very optimistic about the future of Hong Kong and who see this is just another of those challenges to be overcome and are in fact taking to heart the Chinese saying that in every crisis there lies an opportunity. I would have to say I am extremely thankful to neither be bringing up children nor running a business, and I have every sympathy for those who are struggling to get by but I think it would be extraordinarily shortsighted to write off Hong Kong at this stage of the game as all the fundamentals that make this place so successful remain unchanged. There are a great many positives for Hong Kong, we have extraordinarily large financial reserves and live at the centre of Asia when it comes to logistics and communications something which nobody can take away.
     And coming back to the airport I see enormous expansion projects taking place, the third runway is close to being fully operational I believe new terminals are under construction, and a massive Alibaba fulfilment centre is under construction in the cargo area, and of course behind all this is the integration of Hong Kong into the Greater Bay Area which incorporates about 70 million people with the GDP roughly the same as Canada.
     What’s not to like about that?
Bob Rogers

  You might think with the on again, off again of COVID variations still cropping up in the world, as example Hong Kong appears to be up to its ears in the COVID variant that terrorized the U.S. earlier this year right now, despite a few start ups, most purveyors of cargo industry trade shows should be cutting the companies that signed up for shows some slack until at least 2023, when if the creek don’t rise and prayers for no more variations of the pandemic cropping up, are answered.
  That would be the timeline, as safest to inch back into life as we once knew it.
But when it comes to industry trade groups and especially industry publications there is no respite and also for some trade shows like Air Cargo Americas Show & Supply Chain Americas Conference upcoming in Miami March 8-10.
  We are not doctors, but what we hear and have been told, is that if nothing else happens things will be fairly well open by mid-March in New York, but as you might also note things are not going well right now as mentioned at the top in Hong Kong one of the three most important money markets in the world amongst other things.
  Indeed, COVID has declined worldwide but this week alone Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, France, Japan and a dozen other countries are setting records for infections.
  Should you go to Miami?
  Try and remember history as an important lesson.

  It was The World Trade Center venue just off the main runways of MIA that hosted an Air Cargo Americas in 2009 attended by then Head of TSA Ed Kelly (pictured) who died shortly thereafter of Legionnaires Disease. (Why Did Ed Kelly Die?).
  We are not suggesting anything more than, that people in the face of a deadly global pandemic cannot ignore warnings and that a tragedy like Ed Kelly should not be forgotten.
  When you think about it, getting back to regular rhythm meaning the natural every other year schedule of Air Cargo Americas could mean the next one would be held in 2023.
  At the very least, FlyingTypers thinks that the Air Cargo Americas show organizer and every other air cargo trade show held this year should consider canvassing attendees with a simple questionnaire, asking people of any health issues occurring post attendance that can then be accessed by attendees.
  A good protocol to follow in the current environment.
GDA

imma, Lionel, Ilonka and Amy van der Walt

The van der Walt family, left to right—Imma, Lionel, Ilonka and Amy.

There is nothing surer, something terrible happens, someone stands up and everybody gains strength. Heroic people in Ukraine with embattled Kyiv being likened to The Alamo.
Here is the story we have been following for the past few days of the faith and courage of Ilonka and Lionel van der Walt and their 24 year-old daughter Imma.
Imma van der Walt

    Imma checked into Duke University Medical Center in Durhan North Carolina on Monday February 21 and underwent dangerous radical brain surgery with long odds for survival in any kind of state, let alone word up that she checked out of the hospital less than four days later on Friday February 25th after nine hours under the knife.
    Imma right now is at home beginning her recovery.
The operation left her hearing and vision challenged and the resulting need to recalibrate her balance when walking.
    Imma has a massive headache but she is fighting that pain, which is lessening.
    Doctors suggest that she could regain vision and that balance will be a learning exercise.
    The hearing is another matter.
    Eventually medicine could develop technologies that might restore her hearing.
    But never say never.
    In one week of devastating change, Imma has thoroughly beaten the odds and now this young girl has picked herself up, and with determination and courage beyond imagination is fighting back even harder, surrounded by family and friends to continue her life. Call it an angel on her shoulder or simply a miracle of someone almost overwhelmed by a bad thing, who beats the odds with a little help from her friends.
    “What an incredible brave young lady! Dad Lionel exclaimed last Friday
    “Today she was on linkedin, another sign how well she is doing!”
    Words from a beleaguered father, who on Monday asked for prayers for his daughter and received an outpouring of love and affection from air cargo people all over the world that stopped counting kilos long enough to move heaven and earth!
    Needless to say, Lionel and all the van der Walts have gone from that smallest place of hope to jumping over the moon.
    Include many of you readers, who have been wearing your heart on a sleeve in moments of prayer, faith and inspiration for Imma.
    “Thanks to everyone who prayed and expressed concern for Imma and all of us, with words of love and support,” Lionel said
    That is the truest sentence I know right now and it sure feels good to write it connected to people in air cargo.
GDA

     Today Airbus A-380 is by considered by some to be too big an aircraft.
     How about an airplane that was thought to be too big in 1938?
     The first prototype DC-4 flew on June 7, 1938.
     Developed by Douglas for United Airlines, the airplane was basically an enlarged, more robust four-engine version of the DC-3 and could carry 42 people.
     But the airplane designated DC-4E was withdrawn because it was thought to be too large with too much capacity for that time.
     The first DC-4 A flew February 14, 1942 and the rest is history. Alitalia, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Pan American, KLM, SAS, Iberia, Swissair, Air France, TWA, Buffalo Airways, National Airlines, and Western Airlines were all key operators of the aircraft.
     Today in 2022, Buffalo Airways, an all- cargo carrier based in Yellowknife is supplying remote villages in Northern Canada via DC-4 aircraft.
     Happy 80th birthday, dear Douglas DC-4
     Here EI-APK of Aer Turas is parked at Liverpool, October 5, 1967.
     Aer Turas operated the aircraft for Alitalia Cargo.
     This DC-4 was painted in full Alitalia regalia until (what else) AZ high flying DC-9-33F's arrived.
     Sweet.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Requiem for a Nun, 1951 by William Faulkner
A native of New Albany, Mississippi, William Faulkner’s words written more than seventy years ago have retained all their relevance after decades of being quoted by academics and statesmen – in consolation, reconciliation, desperation, and exasperation.
My mother was born and raised in a Mississippi Delta town (Cleveland) about 115 miles south of Memphis on Highway 61. I spent summers there in the 1960s and early 1970s. My grandfather owned a scrap metal yard on Main Street. My aunt and uncle owned a hunting goods store next to the highway. When I say “y’all”, it’s muscle memory and not affectation. I am wary of people who dislike grits. I started my aviation career in the early 1990s working for the airport authority in Jackson, so my experience in Mississippi was formative personally and professionally.

Until 1963, Jackson’s principal airport was Hawkins Field, which has the distinction of being the destination for Delta Air Lines’ first commercial flight in 1929. Hawkins Field also served as the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School for the Dutch government-in-exile during WWII. It still serves general aviation but on 600 acres in an urban setting, Hawkins was insufficient for the coming “Jet Age”.
Groundbreaking for a new land-rich airport occurred in August 1959. Jackson’s then-mayor, Allen Thompson thanked “taxpayers who are going to pay for it”. Senator Robert Kennedy

Indeed, they would but not before U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy successfully tied federal funds to prohibitions against segregated bathrooms, dining areas and other public facilities. Local governments actually claimed segregated facilities would be improvements over Hawkins Field where no “colored” restrooms existed at all.
     The Kennedy Administration used the Interstate Commerce Commission to integrate bus and rail stations, as well as airports. “During 1962, we surveyed 165 airports in 14 states and found 15 airports in six of those states which were still segregated. All of these desegregated during the year, 13 voluntarily and two after the Department brought legal action. At present, then, there are no segregated airport facilities in the nation. There is only one city in the nation, Jackson, Mississippi, in which systematic segregation at interstate rail and bus facilities – as exemplified by signs directing the use of separate facilities – is still attempted. Even in this case we have taken legal action, now on appeal.”
     The new airport opened on July 1, 1963. For decades, it was known as Allen C. Thompson Field honoring a segregationist mayor who usually preferred closing public facilities to integrating them. A member of the fervently racist White Citizens Council, Thompson purchased an International Harvester Loadstar 1600 (dubbed “Thompson’s Tank”) outfitted with armor, metal bars, grating, searchlights, sirens and mounted machine guns.
     “Thompson’s Tank” had its first use at the local HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) Jackson State University in February 1964. It would appear again at Jackson State in May 1970 when Jackson police and Mississippi Highway Patrol fired 460 rounds into a dormitory under the pretense of observing a sniper on the dorm’s upper floors. An FBI investigation found no evidence to support that ruse for murdering two college students and injuring twelve more. It took local law enforcement more than fifty years to finally apologize. “Thompson’s Tank” was borrowed by Memphis Police to provide safe transport for James Earl Ray, following his assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
     Medgar Wiley Evers was a decorated U.S. Army combat veteran of WWII and a graduate from HBCU Alcorn State University. Evers was the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi and organized a boycott of downtown Jackson businesses, demanding more equitable treatment for Black employees and customers. “Radical” demands included use of identical common courtesy titles (Mrs., Miss, and Mr.) for Black peers as used for White peers, as well as first-come, first-served service.
     Just after midnight on June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers was murdered in the driveway of his family home. The murderer was Mayor Thompson’s fellow White Citizens Council extremist Byron De La Beckwith who openly bragged about the murder and yet two all-White, male juries failed to convict. Mississippi’s racist governor, Ross Barnett (for whom the reservoir outside Jackson is still named) appeared in court to shake the murderer’s hand. De La Beckwith escaped justice until 1994 when new evidence allowed prosecutors to retry the case with a jury amenable to justice.
     Medgar Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Evers’ widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, has led a noble life of service to causes once championed by her late husband. Evers-Williams later served as chairwoman of the NAACP and delivered the invocation at the second presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
     As “White flight” filled the suburbs, Jackson’s demographics changed. In 1997, Harvey Johnson Jr. was elected as Jackson’s first African American mayor. On January 22, 2005, the airport’s name was changed to Jackson-Evers International Airport and then in October 2011, to Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport – honoring a man assassinated less than a month before the airport opened in 1963. “The past is never dead”, indeed, but the present allows for improvement.
     Mississippi’s current governor and state legislature are attempting to wrest airport governance from the Black-majority city but are content to leave the state’s other airports in White-majority cities to local control. Many Black Mississippians still can recall being prohibited from using public restrooms in Mississippi. The governor and many legislators were raised by people who sustained segregation and ensured the freedom of murderers who’d killed Black citizens. Apparently, having Black governance of the Capital City airport is just more than they can endure. At least for now, there is a Civil Rights collection displayed at the airport’s Medgar Evers Pavilion. I strongly recommend visiting that collection now before Mississippi’s leadership buries the evidence again.

     From 1993 to 1997, I started my airport career as the Director of Marketing & Economic Development for the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority - governed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the Mayor of Jackson and confirmed by its City Council.
     Among the Commissioners for whom I worked were Booker Taliaferro (“B.T.”) Jones - a native of Chulahoma, Mississippi. B.T. enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1961, serving as a navigator on aircraft carriers USS Oriskany and USS Kitty Hawk in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War. After his honorable discharge, B.T. received a degree in sociology from Indiana State University. B.T was President and CEO of MINACT, Inc. – a national job training firm which became one of the largest Job Corps contractors in America. The company received many awards, but none would mean more to B.T. than preparing so many Americans to make a living. B.T. passed away on July 27, 2019.
     Born in 1927, Cornelius (“C”) Turner (right) was one of twelve children born on a farm in Edwards, Mississippi. Still legally a minor during WWII, Cornelius joined the Merchant Marine to sail on Liberty cargo ships. In 1963, Mr. Turner established Major Associates Inc., becoming one of the first Black contractors in Mississippi to be bonded. In the early 60s, Mr. Turner shared an office with Medgar Evers and was close friends with Vernon Dahmer – president of the Forrest County Chapter of the NAACP. Dahmer (left) suffered fatal injuries protecting his family when the Ku Klux Klan attacked his family home with gasoline bombs and shotguns. Dahmer’s four sons were away on military duty. The ringleader of Dahmer’s murder would not be convicted for twenty-five years.
     Cornelius Turner passed away at the age of 91, on June 7, 2019, having been married to his beloved Marian for more than seventy years. Marian passed away in April 2021 at the age of 96.
     It took years of hindsight for me to fully appreciate the airport’s Dutch-born executive director – Dirk B. Vanderleest (right) – who hired me for my first job in airport marketing. Dirk’s unfailingly even disposition was critically necessary for an organization in a transformative place and time. I learned a lot about airports working for Dirk but even more about managing people. He is now the Aviation Director for the City of Concord (NC) at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport. Thank you, Dirk.

     Working at airports provides opportunities to meet local and national celebrities. During my time there, Jackson was unusually interesting, as three Hollywood films – “Ghosts of Mississippi”, “A Time to Kill” and “The Chamber” – filmed locally and used JAN for airport scenes. “Ghosts of Mississippi” depicted historical events (the murder of Medgar Evers and trial of his murderer), but all credibly addressed Mississippi’s racial strife with the other two films based on novels by Mississippian John Grisham.
     Close proximity to HBCUs provided frequent opportunities to meet legendary athletes like Walter Payton whose brother coached the golf team at Payton’s alma mater, Jackson State. I occasionally guest-lectured at JSU and hired an intern from there.
     On another occasion, I met Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier who were marking the 30th anniversary of Freedom Summer (first called the “Mississippi Summer Project”) for which they had raised and delivered critical funds to Mississippi in 1964, even as the KKK prowled around. In June 1994, we also received the families of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – three martyrs abducted by police and murdered by the KKK in June 1964 in Philadelphia, MS.
     None of this is ancient history. I am grateful to have worked for men like B.T. Jones and Cornelius Turner. These extraordinary men were born into a society that prohibited them from even using public airport restrooms, but they became airport commissioners, in recognition of their professional achievements. I mourn their passing but their impacts will outlive the unworthy politicians now desperately trying to reverse the achievements of the Civil Rights movement.
     Additional U.S. airports named for Civil Rights leaders include: Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport which in 2003 amended the name to honor former Mayor Maynard Jackson; Alabama’s Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport named for Fred Shuttlesworth who was instrumental in founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and planning the Birmingham Campaign in 1963; and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. UPS has its global hub at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The main terminal here in Austin, TX is named for the great Barbara Jordan whose statue overlooks the baggage carousels.

Mississippi Soundtrack:
Here’s a cross-section of Soul, Blues, Gospel, Country and Rock that provides more than enough evidence that Mississippi has no peers in its impact on the bedrock of American music:
“I’ll Take You There” (The Staple Singers, Winona and Drew, MS)
“How Blue Can You Get” (BB King, Indianola, Mississippi)
“Hoochie Coochie Man” (Muddy Waters, Clarksdale, Mississippi but may have been Rolling Fork, MS)
“Love In Vain” (Robert Johnson, Hazlehurst, MS)
“Mule Skinner Blues” (Jimmie Rodgers, Meridian, MS)
“All I Have To Offer You Is Me” (Charley Pride, Sledge, MS)
“It’s Only Make Believe” (Conway Twitty, Friars Point, MS)
“Bo Diddley” (Bo Diddley, McComb, MS)
“Jailhouse Rock” (Elvis Presley, Tupelo, MS)
“Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” (Tammy Wynette, Tremont, MS)
“The Lord’s Prayer” (Leontyne Price, Laurel, MS)
“Misty Blue” (Dorothy Moore, Jackson, MS)
“When I Rose This Morning” (The Mississippi Mass Choir, Jackson, MS)

Michael Webber

FlyingTalkers

Air Cargo Delivers Prayers for Imma

     The great annual celebration that we so dearly love and have celebrated in our publication for the past 45 years occurs tomorrow.
     March 1 marks Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday. Also known as Shrove Tuesday, the events celebrate the Christian feasts of the Epiphany that culminate on the day before Ash Wednesday.
     Mardi Gras in jazz-rich New Orleans is like nowhere else in the world.
     Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual sacrifices and fasting of the Lenten season that continues until Easter Sunday.

If You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers Access complete issue by clicking on issue icon or Access specific articles by clicking on article title
Vol. 21 No. 6 MSC ITA LH Acronyms Chuckles for February 1, 2022 Will Tata Watch Air India Time? Sometimes Smelling The Flowers The Kelly Act Beth Was Confection Goodness Knows	Vol. 21 No. 7 PayCargo Soars Can Glyn Save TIACA? Chuckles for February 7, 2022 The Owl From a Shot Glass Letters for February 7, 2022	Vol. 21 No. 8 A Clear & Decent Kuehlewind ATC To The Heart Chuckles for February 14, 2022 NOLA Straightens Up and Flies Right Think Fast Not Twice Something About Nothing Valentine From Benji

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