I was in the window seat of a Piedmont 737, taxiing out at Washington National that morning.I was in the window seat of a Piedmont 737, taxiing out at Washington National that morning. My destination was New Orleans with a change of planes in Atlanta. As we passed the transient ramp in front of Butler Aviation, I saw my old airplane. It had been repainted, but bore the same numbers along each side of the fuselage. The sight of it brought back a memory from the 1960's that marked the highlight of my brief career in commercial aviation. Officially, the airplane's registration number --- and radio call sign -- was N-5558B. But to my two partners and me --- and to the tower crew at her home airport in Opa Locka, Florida --- Beech Travelair N-5558B was "Triple Nickel 8-Ball." She was a outside business venture of three lawyers -- my two partners and me -- who shared a criminal-law practice in Miami, and a love of flying. Sherlock -- the name my father, an Arthur Conan Doyle fan, gave me --- earned the law firm some early publicity, and we were doing well enough to afford to buy Triple Nickel 8-Ball. |