The World of Aviation By Al Malmberg For 38-years, I've often thought of Lou Gehrig's inspirational speech to the masses at Yankee stadium when he said, "I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth." He said this in the face of an illness that was taking his life.
Over the past (nearly) four decades, I've said the same thing regarding my choice of career. What other job could a person have where you get to talk with the world's most interesting people? Each morning, for the past twelve years, as I've walked out of the CBS building I would glance over at the WCCO call letters on the wall and thank my lucky stars. On December 28th, 2008, WCCO Radio dropped overnight local programming, in favor of a syndicated broadcast from outside Minnesota. Since this decision was made, one of the most frequent questions I've been asked is, "when will the World of Aviation return to radio?" I'm happy to report that it is back, beginning this week with our first podcast, available exclusively on Thunderbird Aviation's website, www.thunderbirdaviation.com. I am also working to find a home for this local institution on syndicated radio. With such great listeners and intriguing guests, I'm sure we will find a nationwide audience for The World of Aviation. The listeners really do make the difference, and I love their responses to guests like Cris Christenson who was shot down in the Pacific theatre after attacking a Japanese held island. Both Cris and his rear gunner were able to bail out. Once in the water, they lost sight of each other because of the ocean swells. When night came, Cris felt something brush against his leg. He thought, "Sharks!" Instead, it was a pod of dolphins, which proceeded to push him to an island! The next day he ran into his gunner. He too had been pushed to the island by a pod of dolphins. It should be noted the island they were on was the one they had attacked a day earlier. Another guest I get a lot of questions about is John Hansen. As a 747 Captain with NWA, his crew fought a "hard over rudder" situation that would have brought down most aircraft. But, because of the experience and expertise of the crew, they were able to safely land, after fighting the controls in five-minute (rotating) shifts for over an hour. It took every ounce of strength they had to keep this plane in the air! It should be noted, since being laid off, I'm also doing the 8pm to 11pm air shift on AM1500 KSTP. I'm looking forward to having the courageous crew of flight #1549 on the show soon. The ditching of their A-320 in the Hudson River is one of the most remarkable examples of an experienced crew successfully working together. Thanks for your continued support of The World of Aviation, and Safe Flying!
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