Utsjekk på B787 som 64-åring!

Grapevine pilot to finish his career at the controls of the Dreamliner

Posted Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2012Updated Thursday, Apr. 12, 2

By Barry Shlachter, Scott Nishimura and Sandra Baker

By Barry Shlachter, Scott Nishimura and Sandra Baker

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

Fresh out of the Marine Corps in 1978, Jim Hodgson joined Continental Airlines as an engineer on the Boeing 727.
Over the next 33 years, he moved into various left seats and right seats on the 727, then the 737 and the 777. He expected his last assignment to be as captain on the 777, flying long hauls to India and China.
Then the Dreamliner came along, giving him a shot at one more plane before mandatory retirement. Hodgson, who lives in Grapevine, believes that he'll be the first area resident to pilot the Boeing 787, simply because Continental pilots are the only ones who will fly it.
"I just turned 64," Hodgson told staff writer Chris Vaughn. "I've only got 12 months. I wasn't going to have another chance to do this, so I volunteered."
The 787 is a long-range airplane built almost entirely out of lightweight composite material, making it extremely fuel-efficient.
Hodgson starts 787 training in Houston next week, but won't fly it until September. The merged United-Continental airline is due to have six of the planes by year's end and will spend the first few months flying big domestic routes, such as Houston-Los Angeles, Houston-Chicago and Houston-Newark, N.J. (The plane will have United colors but will be flown by Continental pilots.)
In 2013, though, Hodgson will resume his trips to Beijing, Hong Kong and Delhi, India.
"I'm really looking forward to it," he said. "It's going to be fun to fly it around the system and introduce the plane to people. The 787 is the real leading edge. It's so sophisticated and so simplified at the same time. You sometimes wonder why the airplane needs a pilot."
Hodgson is a fixture in North Texas aviation circles, leading the OV-10 Bronco Association and Veterans Memorial Air Park.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/11/3876722/grapevine-pilot-to-finish-his.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy