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Comment by cam_l | Hacker News Reader

I remember the first time I flew in the mid eighties. The plane was a twelve seater, the pilot asked for one of the passengers to sit up front and 'be' the copilot. When it came time to hand out the refreshments, he would get the copilot to pull drinks out of the eski, and pitch the plane up so they could roll the drinks down the aisle.

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I wasn't asked to be co-pilot, but I flew on Cape Air which is a small airline based around, you guessed it, Cape Cod (well, mostly connecting small airports in MA, ME, NH, VT, etc to Boston Logan).

It was a 6 (maybe 8) seater and one of the seats is next to the pilot in the co-pilot seat, which I was lucky enough to get.

Landed in a snowstorm which was a bit nerve wracking as I got total spatial disorientation with the light reflecting off the snow passing the windshield.

Five years ago, in between the Guyanas, also a 12 seater: My lighter gets confiscated by security, while all other passengers put their handguns and magazines into ziplock bags, which are thrown into a postbag, which ends up, open, next to the pilot, just in front of me. During take-off the pilot lights a cigarette for himself, passes me the lighter with the word "open the window, please".

Please let it be a gun shaped lighter.

It makes me sad that we've sacrificed many genuinely human moments like this to modernity.

What do you mean? I remember the pre 9/11 days, and they were fun. I was a kid that would sit with the pilots on the jumbo jets and take pictures with them and the flight attendants, who would give me extra tomato juice. Didn't happen after 9/11 though.

When I was young (before 9/11, I was 12 or so) the pilot crew of my EasyJet flight from Amsterdam to Geneva invited me to the cockpit to see. I was flying with my grandma and it was my first flight ever. I love flying and the machines, being in the cockpit as a 12 year old boy was so staggering and inmense.

Then I didn't fly for years, and about a year ago (while being 24) I started traveling more. Suddenly while being delayed at Amsterdam airport the cockpit crew of my EasyJet flight to Split invited people to the cockpit if they wanted to see. I waited 2 minutes to see if any children would come up and then decided to relive my childhood memory and go to the cockpit.

Another time while on a KLM flight to Bangkok I gave the cabin crew a bag of chocolates as a thank you gift for the good service. I did the same thing when flying back from Bangkok to Amsterdam as a thank you to get me home during the pandemic (this was end of march). Both of the times they personally thanked me, the first time I even got one of the little houses they give away to business class passengers [0].

My point is, those human moments do exist. It is just that most people don't 'want' them anymore because that means that it should come from themselves. (No one was standing up to go to the cockpit, nor was anyone else giving candy to the cabin crew). I am sure something changed after 9/11, things like being in the cockpit while flying isn't an option anymore. But with what is going on these days, I can't complain about that.

I have to admit, maybe I am a bit biased. If it weren't for my small stutter in intense situations I would've probably been a pilot. :-)

[0] https://blog.klm.com/klm-delfts-blue-minitiature-houses-ever...

That was a beautiful image you painted. Thank you. I must seek them more earnestly now, being in the cockpit during the flight was so cool but I would still like to see it even not in flight.

Unrelated but when I started drinking kombucha my stutter went away. Try probiotics!

I assume most pilots will let you into the cockpit if you are delayed and while being on the ground. But I have to admit that the last time it happened was a complete surprise for me. I didn't know they were allowed to do that. But maybe they aren't or it is up to their own discretion? I guess, if you really want it you could ask the cabin crew if it is possible to check it out. I don't think a pilot would have anything against it personally because they are proud of their jobs too.

Haven't tried Kombucha and didn't know about it. I will look for it and try it out. Thanks! :)

9/11 was almost nineteen years ago now, so you'd have been much younger than twelve for your copiloting experience.

i am trying to picture this in my head. the food cart is empty. we need to bring it back to the front for a refill. nosedive...

eski?

Esky - it's a brand of cooler. Or just a generic term for "eskimo cooler".

yuk, that sounds racist.

Cooler. Some folks refer to this as an Eskimo, a non PC term for the Inuit.

What makes "Eskimo" not politically correct?

https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php

> Although the name "Eskimo" was commonly used in Alaska to refer to Inuit and Yupik people of the world, this usage is now considered unacceptable by many or even most Alaska Natives, largely since it is a colonial name imposed by non-Indigenous people. Alaska Natives increasingly prefer to be known by the names they use in their own languages, such as Inupiaq or Yupik. "Inuit" is now the current term in Alaska and across the Arctic, and "Eskimo" is fading from use. The Inuit Circumpolar Council prefers the term "Inuit" but some other organizations use "Eskimo".

It's a rather demeaning term and means "meat devourer" or "meat muncher" (loosely translated).

That doesn't seem to be accurate. First, Eskimos and Inuits are not necessarily referring to the same people, and Eskimo seems to come from Algonquian and means "snowshoe-netter" or "to net snowshoes", at least as far as I gather from some quick searching.

If you would’ve read the whole NPR article, you would’ve realized that the “snowshoe-netter” is relatively new theory and does not suddenly remove the racist connotations the word itself used to have.

FWIW, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/4751295...

> But now there's a new theory. According to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, linguists believe the word Eskimo actually came from the French word esquimaux, meaning one who nets snowshoes. [. . .] But the correction to the etymological record came too late to rehabilitate the word Eskimo. [. . .] Many Native Alaskans still refer to themselves as Eskimos, in part because the word Inuit isn't part of the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia.

So it’s considered non-PC because for a while an incorrect etymology of “meat muncher” was used

>Edmonton to drop 'Eskimos' name

https://www.tsn.ca/edmonton-cfl-franchise-to-drop-eskimos-na...

>Reports: Edmonton CFL club will drop 'Eskimos' name

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/29482242/edmonton-cfl-c...

Not sure if I'm missing something, but the article never outlines what actually makes "Eskimo" offensive, just that sponsors think it is.

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