After a short rendezvous with friends at the TWA Ambassadors Lounge on June21, 1998, at Saint Louis Lambert Field, we headed for Gate 25 on Concourse C. We were metby a frenzy of news reporters stalking the gate area. Several Saint Louis area televisionstations eagerly awaited the arrival of a father and son, who would pilot TWA flight 347together this Sunday afternoon, Father's Day. My brother Brian Schiff, a 30-year-old firstofficer at TWA was my dad's co-pilot on this meaningful flight. He had been a FlightEngineer since 1989 and upgraded to first officer in 1994. My father Barry Schiff, a60-year-old captain has flown everything in the fleet from the Lockheed Constellation, tothe Lockheed 1011. He was displaced to the 757/767 when TWA's aging L-10ll's were retiredfrom the fleet last year. Like the L-1011, he too would retire to warmer confines where hecould enjoy the dog days of summer. Just four days earlier, I passed my commercialcheckride and joined the family's ranks of commercial pilots. Akin to a father eaglepassing on the gift of flight to his eager fledglings, Brian and I earned our wings.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/a-bittersweet-fathers-day-barry-schiffs-retirement-flight