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A R C H I V E S

BOOKSHELF

A Tale of Two Carlins

Incident On Runway 31L, a new book written by Walter Carlin, who most of you may remember from TWA and recently at American is an insider’s look at the aviation industry.
     Runway 31L, for you nimrods out there is the JFK daytime strip.
     Walt’s book is a contemporary tale of greed, hypocrisy, ego, airplanes and other things, folks in air cargo get to enjoy and deal with every day.
     The book is available from (www.iuniverse.com). Walt can be reached at (858) 481-2283 wcarlin1@san.rr.com.
     George Carlin is the stand up comedian who challenged the ban on the use of explicit and vulgar language in his monologues. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Mr. Carlin won.
      He also has played the part of “Mr. Conductor” on the award-wining children’s program, Sesame Street.
     So you pick up this book called Napalm & Silly Putty (published by Hyperion-New York) not quite knowing what to expect, except that this guy has been at the center of American humor and social comment ever since he first popped up on TV as Al Sleet, the Hippie Dippy Weather Man nearly 40 years ago.
     But right away if raw, foul language offends, do not under any circumstance spend the $23.95 for Napalm & Silly Putty.
     That Mr. Carlin speaks and writes about the airport and airplane experience should be of some interest.
     Often his observations are enlightening even downright hysterical, but as mentioned, language is quite foul and base.
     Here are a few printable excerpts.

     On Airline Announcements:
     “Listening to announcements, they pretend the language is English. Doesn’t always sound like it to me.”
     “We’d like to start the boarding process.”
     Extra word.
     “Process.”
     Not necessary.
     Boarding is sufficient.
     “We’d like to begin boarding.”
     Simple. Tells the story.
     People add extra words when they want things to sound more important than they really are.
     Boarding process sounds important.
     It isn’t.
     It’s just a group of people getting on an airplane.
     Flight deck is the latest euphemism for cockpit.
     I can’t imagine why they would want to avoid a colorful word like ‘cockpit”, can you?
     Especially with all those lovely stewardesses going in and out of it all the time.
     On Getting High On the Plane:
     “Airlines disappoint me. Why don’t they have an attendant whose job it is to hand out drugs? They are certainly aggressive enough when it comes to alcohol.”