by Robyn Carr
Of all the different jobs she’d held in the airline business, she’d never participated in hiring. She’d done work in training and standards, in engineering and flight control; she’d been on scheduling and compensation and work-rules committees, but never hiring. And now the pilots she chose would be the first in this new airline…all captains…the leaders of this work force.
She sat on the edge of the bed, April still gently snoring in the bed across from her. She resisted the urge to reach out and gently brush her pretty brow.
She was counting the days until they could get into the new house; they were climbing all over one another in this little suite. It was impossible to keep the place neat, and Nikki had never been all that good at housework under any circumstances. She could change the points and plugs on the Stearman with her eyes shut, but she’d never quite figured out how to fold sheets so they didn’t look like they’d been rolled up in a ball.
After showering quickly, she stood in front of the mirror, smiling. She was getting pretty good with the blow dryer and curling iron, and even with her makeup. Ha! Who’d have thought?
When she went back to the bedroom, April was sitting up, holding a cup of coffee toward her. “Well,” Nikki said, “what a nice surprise.”
“I made it from the hotel pot instead of the one you brought,” she said. “I can’t screw up with those little packets.”
“Delicious,” she said, taking a sip.
“Your hair looks good—aren’t you glad I made you do that?” her daughter asked.
“Absolutely. Without you I’d be a hag,” she joked. “And I have to compete with the office dishes.”
“Mom? How did you feel when Grandma left you and Papa?”
Nikki was brought up short. She stealthily glanced at the clock, hoping April wouldn’t notice. Why was it her kids never had major life problems at a reasonable time of day? They either waited until after ten at night when she was nodding off, desperate for sleep, or caught her as she was walking out the door, already late.
“Honey, we’ve talked about that.”
“I know. Just tell me.”
Patience. Kids come first. Besides, she thought, sitting a little taller in her robe, they will wait for the chief pilot.
“Okay, here’s the deal. Opal was not cut out to be married to a guy like Papa. I might not have realized that until later, when I was much older, but even when I was nine I knew on some level that she wasn’t happy. You know Papa—he’s kind of gruff, not very fancy, and God knows he’d never think of taking her out for a nice meal. He wanted to fly, work on planes. Opal didn’t even like taking a commercial flight. She still doesn’t.
“And Opal is very fancy, very chi-chi. She’s also very high maintenance and…well, you know…she requires a lot of attention. She doesn’t entertain herself very well. And ever since I can remember, she’s been dying. ‘I’ll never make forty’ and then ‘I’ll never make fifty’ and ‘The doctor didn’t exactly say it was cancer, but he said I shouldn’t start any serial novels.’”
“Yeah, what’s that all about?” April asked.
“I’m not sure.” Nikki shrugged. “Her mother did die young, but it’s probably just an attention-getter. I called her doctor after one of these little comments and he said her health was great. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s awfully spry for a dying woman.”
“I noticed,” April laughed. “She can shop me to death, and that’s saying something.”
“Well, Buck and I could be happy just messing around with the planes all day, every day, but Opal likes to have fun, to go dancing. Can you imagine Papa trying to dance? Lord,” she said, and that even made April chuckle. “I must have been a huge disappointment to her. She couldn’t get me in a dress at the point of a gun. And when—”
“But did that make you feel bad?” she asked.
Where is this going? Nikki wondered. “Well, no, that didn’t. Did I feel bad when she left us? Yes, I remember being so angry with her that when she called, I wouldn’t even talk to her. And then she came to visit,” Nikki said with a laugh—a laugh she didn’t have when she was nine, but one that came easily now. “She picked me up, took me straight to her hotel and told me to get in the tub and scrub. Then to the beauty shop to get my hair cut and styled, then to the department store for girl-clothes, then to the photographer to take a mother-daughter picture. I didn’t smile for those pictures for at least the first five years. Later, we’d go out to dinner with Dr. Gould, my neurosurgeon stepfather, with whom I never did have a relationship. Finally, I’d go home to Buck, where I could fly, work on engines, play rough with the boys and have a great life.”
She touched April’s soft cheek. “If I had to be with one of my parents and not both, they picked the right one for me. In your case, I always felt you’d be better with me than your dad, but that might have just been selfishness on my part.”
“No, you were right. We shouldn’t have been with Dad. He was too strict and hard to please. But I understand there was nothing you could do about that. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
“That’s nice of you to say, April. Letting me off the hook like that. I wonder if I’ll ever let myself off the hook.”
“Did you ever look forward to Grandma’s visits?” she asked.
Nikki sighed deeply. “I missed her, I wanted to see her, I wanted a mother so badly sometimes…But Grandma and I have never had a single thing in common. The things I was most proud of appalled her. The things I cared the least about were very important to her. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“I know,” April said. “I miss Daddy. Sometimes I even cry about it, about him. But really, what a load,” she groaned, making Nikki almost laugh. “So you love Grandma?”
“Of course, honey. All daughters love their mothers. Even when they can’t stand them.” She grabbed April’s chin. “What’s all this about, honey? Questions about Grandma so early in the morning?”
“Oh. I called her,” she said. “I wanted to tell her all about the house. I invited her to come to Vegas as soon as we move in.” Her lips curved into an innocent little smile.
Nikki’s features froze. At that moment she felt like strangling her beautiful daughter. “Oh,” she finally said. “And it never occurred to you to run it by me?”
“Heck no,” April said, bounding out of bed and heading for the bathroom. She turned around. “Do I look dumb? You’d have said no.”
“I might not have said no….”
April didn’t bother closing the door. “No,” she called out. “You’d have said something like, ‘Let me get everything settled and then I’ll phone her, honey.’ But you would keep putting it off and off and off.” She flushed the toilet then stuck her head out. “I don’t blame you, Mom. But Grandma and I are alike. We like all that chi-chi foo-fooing. I want her to see our new place. I want her to take me shopping. She loves to dress me.”
This was enough to ruin her day, Nikki thought. “Fine. You take care of her, then. Because I don’t have time to answer to all her little whims and wants. Understand?”
“Oh, totally,” she said. “And Mom?”
“What?” Nikki demanded, no longer feeling like putting her kids first.
“I think she’s going to really like your hair.”
“If she says one thing about my hair, I’ll shave my head.”
“Whew. I think you have some issues.”
Yes, Nikki had issues. No one knew it better than she did. Simply put, she and Opal had nothing in common. Even the fact that they were both divorced women whose husbands got custody didn’t give them any shared ground.
As far as Nikki was concerned, all the wrong things were important to Opal. When April was born, the very first words out of Opal’s mouth were, “Oh, thank heavens, she has good skin.” Was she concerned about the baby’s health? Her mind? Her hopes and dreams? “Of course I’m concerned about all that,” Opal had said. “If she has problems, I’m sure you’ll
tell me!”
Opal was superficial. Completely shallow. She wanted nice clothes, nice vacations, nice friends. It was clear to Nikki that you could have a fine appreciation for such things and still not come up empty. Both Carlisle and Dixie were good examples of that—people with good taste, great style and substance to boot. Not so with Opal. She had found herself someone with way more prestige and social standing than Buck and made the switch, never mind that Buck probably could have bought and sold Mayer Gould five times over.
But perhaps the deepest issue was this: Opal never could accept Buck and Nikki as they were. She never appreciated their gifts and talents, which were considerable.
“I placed in the Reno Air Race in my category, Mom!”
“Oh, Nicole, when are you going to do something about those nails! They might as well be on a boy’s hands!”
But April loved her grandma; Opal was the only one she had with Drake’s mother and father long gone. So why couldn’t Nikki just suck it up and get along with her mother for her daughter’s sake?
Well, maybe she could. But it was so difficult…because Nikki had these issues.
The six applicants were waiting in the first-floor lobby, all looking obviously needy. The applicants were all men in the first batch. Nikki had looked hard for some highly competitive women pilots, but in that collection of twelve thousand résumés, only a few had risen to the surface, and they’d be interviewed tomorrow and the next day. There were more in the pile, she had no doubt, but as always the women were way outnumbered by the guys.
One fellow wore a leather blazer with his hair in something of a pompadour. Another was in a pin-striped suit and wingtips, and a couple wore herringbone sport coats with patches on the elbows—the pilot’s civilian uniform. One guy was so stiff and military-looking, Nikki nearly saluted him. They ranged in age from thirty to fifty-five. Taking on a fifty-five-year-old was not as dicey as it seemed. At least he wouldn’t go looking for a better, higher-paying airline after New Century spent twenty-thousand dollars training him. The thirty-year-old with all that youth and vigor and years ahead of him, he was the greater risk.
But that was old thinking. That was back in the day thinking, when there was still a United Airlines paying senior captains close to five hundred thousand to work ten days a month.
The pilots assembled here did have one thing in common—they were all early for their morning interview.
Nikki checked with the security guard to make sure she hadn’t falsely labeled anyone, and he confirmed they were all pilot applicants for New Century. So she cut them a break and went over, which was when she spotted Sam Landon.
“You’re all here to interview with New Century Airline?” Nikki asked. Nods all around. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Captain Nikki Burgess. Why don’t you come upstairs with me and we’ll get everyone started.” She stuck her hand out to Sam. “Good to see you, Sam.”
“And you, Captain.”
A couple of the guys smiled, but a few looked confused—could it be? A woman chief pilot? And the stiff guy with the high-and-tight buzz cut looked like he’d just gone into shock.
Nikki shook hands with the men. A pilot name Dick Cleary pushed forward, all confidence and smiles. There was Chris Wagnon, Ken Spencer, Jeff Hayden and Rob Knowles.
“Glad to meet you all. Right this way.”
She might have led them, but Dick was quick to get to her side and walk with her. “Is this still the first class hire?” he asked. And, “How close to certification is NCA? How many planes do you have to start? What’s the projected expansion? How much was the initial funding?”
Here’s a guy interested in starting with an airline that’s going to last, Nikki thought. Ambitious. Strong. And kissing up a bunch.
Of the six, two were very talkative, almost giddy. Three were mute and appeared almost scared, but Sam seemed just plain easy in his skin. Comfortable. Almost like he could take it or leave it. He had the kind of confidence that came across as total peace of mind.
There was no mistaking their awe when they saw Dixie. She was in charge of their paperwork, which would include a five-year background check and an FAA research for valid licenses and any violations. Also, she would escort them down to Shanna’s office, where the head of HR would have her procedural way with them. All through the morning Dixie would do what she did so well—make small talk with them, draw them out, get an idea what kind of pilot each was. Maybe the word was out that the chief pilot was a woman, but the fact that her right arm had been a flight attendant for fifteen years was surely not common knowledge. Perhaps if Dixie were looking for a guy to date, her judgment might not be so sterling, but she had plenty of experience when it came to judging a pilot’s personality. She’d taken a lot of cups of coffee to the flight deck, after all.
Nikki, Danny, Eric and Bob Riddle assembled in the small conference room in Flight Ops. One at a time the men came in to be interviewed. “Why do you want to work here?” they were asked, and the answers were varied.
“I’m real impressed with the innovative business plan Joe Riordan has proposed.”
“This is the best opportunity going in this business environment.”
“Looks like this is going to be a great company.”
“I’ve always wanted a chance to get into a new airline at the beginning, be there from the start.”
“You’re hiring.”
This last came from Sam, and it brought a giant smile to Nikki’s lips. It was impossible not to like him. She looked at his résumé. “Tell me about Pacific Air,” she said.
He leaned forward, elbows on knees. “It was a good little company. It should have done well. But it faced 9/11, didn’t get any of that promised government help from the ATSB and sank like a rock. It was gone in four weeks. A terrible loss. People loved flying Pacific Air.”
“What have you been doing the last couple of years?” Danny asked him.
“Not a whole lot,” he answered. “I put out a couple of résumés, but it was just as well I didn’t get hired. I put the time to good use. I have my air force retirement…money wasn’t the issue.”
“What was?” Eric asked.
He took a breath. “Two years ago, when my daughters were aged seventeen and twenty-one, their mother…my wife…died suddenly. They needed me. I was actually on a leave from Pacific when they went under.”
Everyone around the table expressed sympathy.
“Thank you. The three of us, we moved on pretty well, I think. My older daughter graduated and was recently married, the younger one is just getting started in college.” He grinned. “They’d be very grateful if I’d move to Las Vegas. Or Hawaii.”
“Are you ready to get back into the cockpit?” Danny asked him.
“Oh, yeah, I miss it way more than I thought I would.”
“And what can you bring to New Century Air that makes you our ideal job candidate?” Eric asked.
“Gratitude and humility,” he said without missing a beat. Nikki felt the warmth that he inspired spread through her as he spoke, his voice so gentle but deep, kind and strong. “I never thought I’d see the airline industry fall apart as it has. This company, and more like it, will reshape the whole commercial aviation industry. A lot of us who thought we were indispensable will be left behind. Those of us who have jobs at all should be very grateful. And I am humbled by what I’ve seen the last few years.”
Nikki, Danny and Eric exchanged looks. They were all thinking the same thing—they hoped he could fly like a bird because they wanted thirty just like him.
Bob Riddle’s phone chirped in his pocket. “I apologize,” he said, “but I really can’t turn the phone off. I’m basically on call twenty-four/seven.” He flipped it open. “Riddle.” He paused to listen.
Nikki grimaced unhappily. Her phone was turned off, as were Danny’s and Eric’s.
“You’re right,” Bob said. “You have a serious problem there. I’ll get on it immediately. In fact, I’ll set up a meeting with the presid
ent of Boeing and make sure we all understand one another. Don’t worry about a thing. I know they’ll see it our way.” He flipped the phone closed and stood. “I’m going to have to take care of that aircraft issue or it could cost us millions.” He shook Sam’s hand dramatically. “Nice to meet you, Sam.” He gave a half bow to the others. “Gentlemen. Captain Burgess.”
Everyone waited while Bob left the room. No one said a word for a moment. Finally Nikki shook Sam’s hand and thanked him for interviewing. She promised to call him within the week.
But what weighed on her mind was Riddle’s phone call. She couldn’t prove it, but in her gut she thought he had somehow contrived that call to make himself appear important. To what purpose, she couldn’t imagine.
Nikki saw to it that Danny was awarded the director of training position, which he ecstatically accepted. This was exactly what he had hoped for. Eric was asked to select a couple of pilots from the first thirty hires to help him form a hiring committee. Both men would be check airmen if the FAA gave its blessing to their check rides.
Danny immediately set about the task of hiring instructors, both ground school and simulator. As in other areas of the industry, there was a surplus of talent available. He had the cream of the crop to choose from.
Once the interviewing process and background checks were complete, the training for both pilots and flight attendants commenced. The number of bodies in and around New Century was growing by dozens…dozens that soon would turn into hundreds.
The first class of pilots, no matter how vast their experience, had to go through FAA-approved training in every new company. That involved three weeks of ground school, two weeks of simulator training and twenty-five hours of IOE—Initial Operating Experience. That meant check airmen would ride along to observe how the pilot carried out operating procedures for that particular aircraft and airline. NCA didn’t have simulators, so they booked their sim time at, of all places, Aries.
