September 1, 2026. Transport.
There’s something of a paean to the Boeing 747 — a plane I never got to fly — in chapter two of my book. A section of it goes like this…
In the 1990s, Boeing ran a magazine advertisement for the 747. It was a two-page ad with a nose-on silhouette of the plane against a dusky sunset. “Where/does this/take you?” asked Boeing across the centerfold. Below this dreamy triptych, the text went on:
“A stone monastery in the shadow of a Himalayan peak. A cluster of tents on the sweep of the Serengeti plains. The Boeing 747 was made for places like these. Distant places filled with adventure, romance, and discovery. The 747 is the symbol for air travelers in the hearts and minds of travelers. It is the airplane of far-off countries and cultures. Where will it take you?”
Perfect. I so related to this syrupy bit of PR that I clipped it from the magazine and kept it in a folder. Whenever it seemed my career was going nowhere — which was all the time — I’d pull out the ad and look at it.
I was rummaging through some files the other day and was happy to discover I still had the advertisement. It’s from a 1995 issue of Air Transport World magazine. The sentiment more or less encapsulates what drew me to commercial flying from the start.
