Via Flight Level 390:
“Airborne… Christmas Eve [2010].
Against the advice of the Company, I made the Santa has been sighted crossing the Canadian border at 50,000 feet announcement. I’ll probably get a call from the Chief Pilot’s office wanting to know if I read the memo, and if I did, did I not understand the spirit of the message?
There is a bunch of kids in the cabin tonight… I would have been thrilled at their age to hear an airline captain say Santa had been sighted. I figure that is spirit enough…
Nevertheless, I can see the headlines:
“Insensitive, middle-aged, conservative airline pilot frightens children with claim of seeing Christian holiday figurehead. Authorities are investigating. Airline representatives have no comment on the matter.
“Last year, I chickened out. This year I decided to go for it. So far, the flight attendants report no one has complained or is crying… Maybe I will get away with it.”
Geez.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 