There are special days that mark milestones in an airline pilot’s career. Of course, the pilot’s first solo flight is worthy of celebration. The first flight as an employee of the airline is also a noted achievement, as is his or her first flight as a captain. Therefore, you can be assured that the final flight of an airline captain is both unique and memorable as well.

My last trip as captain involved flying my family members (in business class) to London, England, and then back to Philadelphia, PA. The trip had to be completed prior to my mandatory retirement age of sixty. (The mandatory retirement age has since been raised to sixty-five.) So two days before my sixtieth birthday, my family flew with me to London, via a stop in Shannon, Ireland, on our return trip to Philly.

At Shannon, on departure, the airport’s fire trucks gave our airplane a “water cannon salute,” spraying the airplane in honor of my last flight. En route from Shannon to Philadelphia, the flight attendants passed around a journal, which the passengers and crew kindly signed with congratulatory notes for me.

Upon our landing in Philadelphia, we were greeted once again with a water cannon salute as we taxied to the terminal.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

My final act as an airline captain was to set the parking brake at Gate 23A in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and shut down the engines at 6:38 p.m., October 3, 2003.

I was truly grateful to God for a thirty-six-year career, safely flying passengers and cargo over the course of twenty-five-thousand flight hours. I remain grateful as well for the passionate professionals with whom I worked. And I am grateful to God that I was able to finish right…and thereby to finish well.

As I recently remembered these events, I was reminded of Paul the apostle. It was his goal to “finish [his] course with joy” (Acts 20:24, KJV). Paul would later write to Timothy (his “son” in the faith): “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, KJV). By God’s grace and with His help, we should all finish right, accomplishing what God desires for us to do with our lives.

If we finish right, we will finish well and receive God’s acclamation of praise, “Well, done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, ESV).

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