Up Front
Churchill calls it a day withCayman Airways after 23 years
Capt. Churchill Bodden
A few days after the big send-off bash atRoger Terry Smith's place on the night of Saturday, October 21,he was too busy savouring the novelty of having nothing to doall day for the enormity of his retirement to really sink in.
"I don't think it has registered onme yet. When the time comes, then I guess I'll have to sit downand face reality", said Churchill Bodden, former Cayman AirwaysChief Pilot who called it a day two days shy of his 60th birthday,on Monday, October 23.
His last flight was the Cayman Brac/Miami run on Saturday, October21, the same day he retired. As is the standard procedure withmost airlines in most countries when a captain is retiring, Churchillsaid, the guys on the fire tenders gave him a good dousing ashe taxied down the runway for the last time, both here and inMiami.
He was also given a rousing send-off by staff at Cayman Airways,which he served almost from its inception 23 years ago.
"All the pilots were there in uniform... and their co-pilots...all the flight attendants... the maintenance representatives...the ramp people... the personnel at the ticket counter,"he said, a catch to his voice. This was around midday, he said.
"It was very, very, very touching; tears came to my eyes,but it is a good feeling when you look at most of the pilots thereand know that 90 percent of them you have had some dealing todo with their training. And they're all a very, very good bunchto work with."
Later in the evening it was the guys' turn, and they came fromas far as Trinidad and Jamaica to send the old slugger on hisway.
Churchill's love affair with aviation goes way back to High School,when he and his chums would cycle all the way up to the airportto help fuel-up the planes, which was done by hand pump at thetime, in exchange for a run with the pilots when they went outto test the plane.
Those were the days, he recalled, when Lacsa Airways, which operatedout of Costa Rica, used to service Cayman. "In those days,it was the old C-46, and, quite often, they came in here withengine failure and what have you."
"Anytime we got a break out of school, we always went upthere", Churchill said, meaning the airport. "Just gettinginto that old airplane was all the payment we asked."
It was not until he was 23, when he began training, that he wasable to realise his dream of one day becoming a pilot. Instead,he took to the sea like every able-bodied male Caymanian did backthen, starting out at the tender age of 17.
By the time he quit, five to six years later, he said, he hadrisen to the position of second engineer.
He earned his flight instructor's licence in 1964 from the EmbryRiddle Aeronautic Institute, which was then located in Miami buthas since moved to Daytona Beach. On his return to Cayman, helanded his first job with Jamaica Air Service, which in thosedays was closely affiliated with BWIA.
He subsequently moved on to BWIA as co-pilot on first the Viscountsthen the 727s. Then in 1977, when Air Jamaica initiated what wasto become known as 'The Dirty Dozen' - a cadre of 12 crack pilots- he was the only foreigner amongst them.
His tenure with the 'Dozen' was, however, short-lived becauseit was around the same time that then Minister of Tourism thelate Mr Jim Bodden decided to separate Cayman Airways from Lacsa.
He recalls that when Cayman Airways first started up there werejust three captains - himself, Bing Thompson of Thompson Shipping,and Harrison Bothwel.
The three co-pilots were Chris McLaughlin, who now flies withSaudi Arabia; Captain Eugene Ebanks, who recently ran for elections,and David Black, who is a First Officer with the US Air Force.
Today the airline boasts 15 captains and 15 co-pilots, or FirstOfficers as they are called these days. The son of a constructionengineer, Churchill admitted that the field of aviation does seemto have an attraction for his family, since he has a sister whohas the distinction of being Cayman's first female air trafficcontroller, and a brother, 'Ernie', who trained in Beruit andwas the island's first licensed dispatcher.
Asked whether he has ever had any near brushes with death, Churchill'sresponse was: "I think the Lord has blessed me in more waysthan one," because, even though he did have a few "closecalls", he'd schooled himself over the years not to dwellon it because doing so could have proven detrimental.
One of the high points of his career, however, was taking takingAir Jamaica's first passenger flight into Frankfurt, with thelikes of then Governor General, Sir Florizel Glasspole and MissJamaica Farm Queen on board.
He still rates Air Jamaica's pilots, who were all RAF (Royal AirForce)-trained, to be among some of the best he has ever workedwith.
Unfortunately, he said, they don't meet anymore for one reasonor another. A lot of them have died, he said, whilst others havelost their licence. When last he heard, Ronny Aldrich was stillflying somewhere in the UK and Mike Pacheco was with Air Singapore.He was not sure, however, what Simon Roach was doing. All threehail from Guyana.
Asked what his plans were for the future, Churchill said he hashad job offers locally and from abroad.
He's had one from as far afield as the South Pacific, but wouldn'tbe taking it up because of his mother's frailty. "I don'twant to be too far from her," he said.
Meantime, he plans taking things easy; maybe he'll go to Jamaicaand enjoy some good polo. His face lights up at the thought.