The Kid at the Airport

A recent drive along Quebec St. in Denver past the old Stapleton Airport, triggered a flood of fond childhood memories. A McDonald's restaurant and a shopping center now sit in the place where United used to park their old retired DC-8’s with their tails sticking out over the fence. A Home Depot store now stands in place of the large United Airlines hangar.

            On a gray, cloudy day in the summer of 1978, at the age of 12, I got my courage up and boarded the #38 RTD bus with “AIRPORT” on the destination sign.  I was so scared being by myself as the bus traveled through some of the worst parts of the city for the hour long trip. It was so exciting for me to see the first glimpse of the tails of the old DC-8’s through the front of the bus as it neared the airport. Getting off the bus, I recall hearing the airplanes, the smell of jet fuel and hurrying into the terminal to see the airplanes on the other side. I walked for hours through the terminal and the concourses, watching the airplanes and all the activity.  To me this was more fun than an amusement park.

Friends would come with me on later trips, and together we explored almost every publicly accessible place in the airport. It became routine after awhile, and we started searching for other things to do, like picking up the white paging telephone and asking them to page someone with a fictitious name. “Mr. Dover, Mr. Ben Dover, please come to a white paging telephone”. We were always checking for coins in a bank of pay phones. We would dare each other to walk past the Hare Krishna's. They were so aggressive at begging for money.

 At the bottom of the control tower there was a black telephone call box and we dared each other to open the box and pickup the phone.  Each of us took a couple of turns going over to the box and opening it to see what was inside, then turning back scared.  Eventually, we both picked up the phone and it started ringing.  We asked the man who answered if they ever allowed tours of the tower.  He never really answered the question, but the lock on the door started buzzing and he said “take the elevator to the third-floor”. My heart was racing as we got on the elevator and pressed three. The elevator doors opened to a man standing in the hallway.  He said “we really don't have tours here, but I can show you around if you like”.  He took us down the short hallway and into a darkened room which was the approach control radar room. We stayed awhile as he explained everything that was going on in there. It was so cool to see all of the airplanes on the radar screen.  This was exciting enough, but then the man brought over a couple of headsets and said put these on. We plugged in, and got to sit with one of the controllers.  I can’t explain how exciting this was for me to sit and listen in with the controller in front of the radar screen.  I lost track of time in there and soon it was time to go. The man took us back to the elevator and I thought he was escorting us to the door, but instead, he took us to the top floor. We took a few steps and climbed a spiral staircase up into the tower cab. There was an amazing view from there. The man again explained everything that was going on.  I remember the controllers were very busy, and down below, you could see airplanes, vehicles and people going in all directions.  As we left, rode down the elevator, and out the door, I recall a feeling, kind of like shock and disbelief about we had just seen and done. As it turned out, this was the first of many more exciting adventures to come over the next few years.

Another airport trip with a friend marked the beginning of some of the most enjoyable and memorable visits to the airport.  We were walking along the concourse and stopped to watch the arrival of the Continental 727.  We watched as the gate agent opened the door for the arriving passengers.  A crowd of passengers came through the door and into the terminal. As the last few passengers were coming out, the door was still open and my friend and I dared each other to walk down the "Jetway" ramp.  Well, we did, and when we got to the bottom, there was a pilot in the doorway and we asked him if we could come on and look at the cockpit. He said “sure, come on and have look”. He showed us all around the cockpit, answered all our questions and even allowed us to sit in the pilots seat. This was just awesome. And so began another set of adventures.  Through trial and error we perfected the art of getting aboard airplanes. We learned to avoid the gate agents, and always go straight through to the flight crew. Once we stayed too long and they started closing the door! We almost went along for the ride to Houston.  After awhile, it became such routine that I would even go by myself. It was quite an educational experience going aboard just about every type of airplane from each of the airlines. Almost all of them would allow me to sit in the pilots’ seat and ask all kinds of questions. Continental and Frontier crews were the nicest and most friendly and United crews were the least friendly and, it was more difficult to go aboard United airplanes.  At 12-13 years old, it was a privilege to get to do that and meet so many interesting people.

 Carrying a discarded boarding pass was often useful is gaining access and avoiding questions.

          There were some very memorable visits including the United 747 where I was amazed when the pilot showed me they can tune in a standard AM radio station and a needle on the panel would point directly to it. Aboard a Braniff DC-8, I saw how the radar would show almost every cloud for miles around. (All of the airplanes had a certain, unforgettable smell as you would enter, jet fuel, coffee, and something else). It was a thrill to sit in the sheepskin covered copilot seat of a brand new Republic 727 that had only been in service for a few days, everything all shiny new.  Went aboard a Southern Airways DC-9 were the pilot with a giant belly was eating a giant ham sandwich. I remember meeting Capt. Emily Howell at Frontier Airlines, and not knowing at the time, that she was the first female airline Captain in the US.  There were so many unforgettable experiences.

In all of these visits there was only one time when there was trouble.  I was by myself sitting in a waiting area where there were also some baggage handlers sitting there on break.  One of them was staring at me and when I looked over a second time he winked and started raising his eyebrows at me.  I never had anything like that happen to me before and it made me uncomfortable so I got up and started walking away.  The guy got up and started following me and when I looked back he started winking again. I didn't know what child molesters were back then, but I knew this guy was up to no good.  I started walking faster and got into the largest crowd I could find. I told my mom and dad, all about it,  but I was afraid they wouldn't let me go back to the airport by myself again. I'm glad they did

It's really unfortunate that the terrorism acts have resulted in a loss of so much freedom in our lives and opportunities like these will never return. It's also sad that the old airport was torn down and shopping centers, neighborhoods and warehouses now take its place. I will continue to cherish the fond memories of that long lost era. SA  (keenbug)