1960’s UNITED AIRLINES PILOT RECRUITMENT & TRAINING FILM “OFFICE IN THE SKY” DC-8 MAINLINER XD13974

[@billlawrence1899]

This takes me back. I went through United's new hire program in Summer, 1966. Right there on Denver's Stapleton Airport. Those photos sure bring back memories. Of buildings and facilities and airport all long since vanished. The training center is still there, in different buildings and no sign that there was ever an airport there. Old images in my head brought back by this video. That was the beginning of.a 36 year career. sigh

[@pragith]

Nice to hear your story. If you are interested, you can get into Flight Simulation. Vatsim and IVAO can give you the ATC realism.

[@juliocaesardarsonevi6928]

Back then Stapleton airport only had two concourses based on the 1966 photo in google And the old close runway were very visible and not completely wiped

[@gabrielle-AV-n-PFloyd]

By any chance did you know my father Captain James M. Hykes? He had a 34 year career with UAL

[@billlawrence1899]

@@gabrielle-AV-n-PFloyd The name doesn't register. Where was he based?

[@serge933]

If you were around in the late 70s, early 80s with United, you'd probably remember sim 767#2, Installed in 79-81 I believe, its still there, our oldest sim around. Still a workhorse to this day. I'm a United sim tech and its my primary sim. That training facility has so much history in it. I wish there were more photos/videos of what the place was like back in the day. The main (1968) buildings are still there, we've just added more buildings over the years.

[@blueseanomad7435]

I love 60s library music, so whimsical and hopeful.

[@stephes999]

What a wonderful video! While technology has progressed in spades since this was made, the motivation to be a pilot is the same. Things have changed so much since then but ya still have to fly the airplane. The technology is advancing so fast these days, and that's both a good thing and a challenge. Technology is good only if it is realized that it is a tool and not a master......I think some folks today have gotten that confused. Love the DC-8 footage!! I flew the DC-8 for 14 years and have been flying the 747 for 21 years now and I can say that I loved every minute of it. I will be retiring next year and I will miss flying the big jets around the world.

[@davidweston9115]

Well, you have to take off and land. Very little flying is needed or even allowed. That is why so many crashes occur when autopilot fails. You have pilots trying to climb out of a stall, just because the sound says "pull up. pull up" So he keeps pulling up, as altitude decreases, and Before you know it they hit the ground and all are dead.

[@USNVA11]

Sounds like you’ve had an amazing career Captain. I can only imagine the stories you could tell. The DC-8 is a beautiful gal … and fast ! Wishing you much happiness in your retirement. I’m sure you’ll still be soaring around in your GA aircraft for many years to come.

[@JulioHernandez-gw2bp]

I did it for 40yrs. Miss all of it but its time for the young ones.

[@gabrielle-AV-n-PFloyd]

My father was a UAL pilot 1960's-1994..retired in Honolulu. Captain James Hykes. 1932-2019..I miss you Papa.

[@davewitter6565]

I retired as a 777 Captain in 2018. The big difference today is you will find women and people of every color, contributing to the safety of flight. It was an amazing career thanks to the great people I had the privilege to fly with and everyone else who worked for United on the ground.

[@davidweston9115]

Yes, well this was a pilot recruitment video, and it was at a time in history that today's population doesn't understand. I doubt they'd want to show women or non white men as pilots, it might make the job seem less prestigious. I am sure there were people of colour in the United Airlines janitorial recruitment videos. We didn't see coloured doctors in TV until the 1970s, and even then they sometimes showed white patients refusing to be served by them. In a way, I believe the situation is worse today, because today we pretend that the minorities have a fair chance, and they are systematically kept down in more ways than before. Subtle ways, but it still happens.

[@allen480]

@@davidweston9115 Knock off the racial division crap! People like you are always stirring crap up.

[@ZackFrisbee]

Contributing to the safety of the flight by screaming and fighting on the plane? :P

[@moriver3857]

That was back when a pilots career was a glamour job. No more. Shown here is one of the reasons why the "pilot shortage ", the third crewmember. That's where many pilots, myself included, started out, ga8ning experience before moving up. Passengers and crews had class then. Hardly seen a pilot wearing his hat today. The golden years of aviation.

[@DirtyLilHobo]

I lived only a few blocks from Stapleton Airport. Many weekends I spent there walking the concourses. I witnessed the expansion of the terminal building in the early sixties. I learned to fly at Stapleton in 1966, Clinton Aviation, and was set on making the airlines my career goal. But, Vietnam intervened and by the time I was out of the military and getting my ratings; commercial, instrument, multi-engine, the airlines became inaccessible because the Vietnam war was winding down and hundreds of military pilots with thousands of hours of jet time grabbed all the vacancies. In 1974 I became an Air Traffic Controller at ZAB, a thirty-six years career. I worked at both ZAB and ZDV en route centers. Now, I'm too ancient and obsolete!

[@RKOAviation]

Great oldie......lots of history

[@brucecanmore3788]

I loved the DC-8,40. The bar and club seats were prized rewards flying up front. Carved roast at your seat anyone? First Class on trans continental was really comfortable. Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua were some of the best flights until the stretched 8’s flew. Thanks for the memory jog.

[@ReneBuret]

I just retired from United Airlines , great video...

[@jimandmandy]

Douglas "Diesel Eight", toughest bird ever.

[@Oliverdobbins]

That does it! I’m going to be United Airlines pilot when I grow up!

[@2lefThumbs]

🤣🤣

[@geoffreybradford]

Gee whiz , me too!

[@debeauti2877]

Come on! We have a training academy!

[@jeffb6786]

That clearance to FL310 flying westbound for a better tailwind seems like a recipe for disaster. Unless the rules were different then, eastbound flights use odd flight levels and westbound flights us even flight levels. Good video overall though. I used to go to Stapleton airport when I was a kid to watch the planes takeoff and land. The shriek of the 727's and early 737's with low-bypass engines was awesome! Favorite is still the RR RB-211's; that growl at T/O thrust just gives ya chills. Good times.

[@andresbarcelocuartero8726]

Amazing video documentary. I’m airline captain and instructor in Europe and what I watched is exactly what we deal today , more advanced of course nowadays.🤣 Thank for sharing it!

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Glad you enjoyed it! Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

So flight engineer Harrison got started with a UAL Douglas DC-6A Cargoliner (United introduced the DC-6A (built to haul cargo) in freight service in 1956).

[@greenbeenie2]

I am a instrument rated pilot....I also believe that you should NEVER STOP learning....

[@gunslinger4203]

This is a DC 8 ! I used to fly this out of JFK ! I would go from JFK New York to LAS , Las Vegas every Sunday for years !

[@Gomendio]

Quite frankly. Seeing those pictures reminds me that Ernest K ganns's "Fate is the hunter" was more than a simple book. Was a Om Part A and B of a modern operator.

[@babbar123]

What a nostalgic music...

[@wrightmf]

Before you fly for United Airlines, you first have to get past Sgt Foley. Then spend the next six years of your life with the Navy. Interesting window layout of the DC-8 windows. Cockpit of all analog, you gotta be a real multi-engine pilot.

[@kcindc5539]

Don’t you eyeball me, MAY-OH-NAYZE

[@outlet6989]

OMG take a look at the size of those seats! UNITED exec., Paul to BOEING exec., Tom. "Surely you know that if you made those seats smaller that we could cram, I meant to say accommodate, more passengers." Tom, "Yes we could do that, and please quit calling me Shirley."

[@Hubjeep]

7:44 "...answering cell phone message"

[@johnl3239]

That's "Selcal", selective calling.

[@silvereagle2061]

7:47 he actually say "Cell Phone" message?

[@777skycaptain]

I spent many hours on all the aircraft depicted.

[@simonf8902]

7.45. Captain says answering cell phone message.

[@LJDRVR]

SELCAL message. Selective calling.

[@Mark_Ocain]

flew like a truck but was tough as nails

[@alternateangel]

people looked so much older back then. guys in the classroom are probably 30s but look 50s. what's with that?

[@georgeconway4360]

That looks like a class of long time employees going to a different airplane. The max age for a new hire in the 1960s was Age 32 with most in their 20s. Many were hired with around 200 hours and a brand new FAA Commercial Certificate. UAL had a program that would hire Zero time with a four year degree and assigned a future class date with the requirement to pay for their own training for the FAA Commercial. TWA had a similar program but required a FAA Private.

[@countdown2xstacy]

What a contrast. Today people board planes wearing their pajamas and throwing punches at the flight attendants because they served them Pepsi instead of Coke.

[@simonf8902]

The great days of early jet travel.

[@ZackFrisbee]

No sight of 300 pound hippos fighting in the terminal or the plane, that's a nice contrast to today.

[@TylerFord-e7p]

No Walmart walruses wearing gigantic headphones and neck pillows tapping on ipads

[@3holer01]

The annoying ads every 30 seconds are getting really old and make me want to end watching what should be a great video.

[@I-Libertine]

I wanna be a pilot!

[@bbt305]

U recruited me!

[@johnbuch8143]

From flight instructing in college to being a bush pilot in Alaska to retiring off the B-787 at United after 45 years in aviation. That was a ton of sitting! Very worth it. Captain JB

[@paulazemeckis7835]

Bush pilot! Did you ever land into the wind like a helicopter would land ? I saw a clip on Utube of a bush pilot who "plopped" down onto shore. Those people are as crazy as skydivers!

[@vladilenkalatschev4915]

If I compare this hiring and developing in the USA with those in the USSR, it was much easier in the USSR to become a pilot. My dad joined his education as s pilot in 1965 in the Soviet Union and already in 1972 he became a captain of AN-24. Not to forget that nobody talked about costs of this education because it was the question and care of the country and government. In this movie you just see white men being educated but back in the Soviet Union all ethnics of the country took part in the education.

[@JDAbelRN]

Didn't realize you have a lot of colored folks in USSR. Weren't aptitude tests required for higher education? And don't tell me you weren't required to train in your air force of USSR, because your country never carried nearly the passengers not freight the United States carried since WW II, not ever will.🇨🇳🤪🤯😂 I've seen group pictures, USSR propaganda films, etc and look pretty much all white to me.

[@mitchjohnson9240]

This is pretty cool. Too bad people don’t have that mindset anymore. Things were looked at as a privilege with an attitude of gratitude.

[@DavidHembrow]

Ads, ads, ads, ads, ads, and a short piece of stock footage.

[@The56strat]

Not one black

[@tomservo56954]

Different era...

[@JDAbelRN]

Minimum qualification to be FAA Certified. Honestly, there are statistics somewhere in US archives that indicate the number of black certified pilots, since population of blacks in USA in Sixties was 11 percent.

[@greenbeenie2]

Great system, too bad it WAS GOOD....

[@mitchmaverick7491]

When men acted and dressed like men.