Fly High and Fast – Vol. II Chapter 21: Dallas Texas and Chattanooga, Tennessee

JJ Meehan
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It was a quiet Wednesday morning in the fall of 1988 when I got a call from Dick Novetzke to fly a group of executives to Dallas, Texas and then Chattanooga, Tennessee USA.  Their schedule was to have meetings with their Key Managers in Dallas and Chattanooga on two separate nights, (I believe Wednesday and Thursday nights.  They would meet with the Dallas Managers on Wednesday and the Chattanooga Managers on Thursday and be home by Friday night.  I checked my schedule and gave the go ahead.   We would be going into Love Field in Dallas and then Chattanooga International.  Love Field had been the major Dallas airport until they built Dallas – Ft. Worth International Airport.  Today it handles Southwest Airlines and Corporate Aircraft.

I checked the weather and filed a flight plan for a 3:00 pm departure out of the Eastern Iowa Regional Airport (Cedar Rapids).  The path of our flight is shown below.   The first leg was 3.2 hours from Cedar Rapids to Dallas.  The flight was smooth and as I recall nothing stood out as being unusual or exceptional.

Ken Turner’s son, Ken Jr. and daughter, Kathy were living in the Dallas Ft. Worth area.  Ken offered their services as my guide for the Dallas Trip.  Ken Jr. is Dr. Ken Turner and Kathy is a nurse with a Master’s Degree.  They took me out for dinner in Dallas, Texas and then showed me the Billy Bob Honky Tonk Bar in Ft. Worth, Texas.  I couldn’t drink because I was flying and I don’t believe they drink because of being good Baptist.  We still had a fantastic time.

The next morning, I was on my own so I had time to do a little more sightseeing.  I started with Dallas where President Kennedy was shot and killed in 1963 and finished at the South Fork Ranch which was made famous by the TV series “Dallas”.

The spot where President Kennedy was shot	The spot where President Kennedy was shot

We departed Dallas around 4:00 pm on Thursday for Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The picture above was taken as we climbed out by one of my passengers.

We had a very good tailwind from Dallas to Chattanooga and the flight time was just short of 3 hours.  I can still remember the approach into Chattanooga with the Smokey Mountains to the west and south.  You came in over the mountains and made a long approach to runway 20.

Chattanooga is noted for the song “Chattanooga Choo Choo”.  During the Civil War it was the center of a major battle for control of the railroads in the south.  The Battle of Chickamauga was fought in September of 1863.  The Battle Chattanooga was fought in October and November of 1863.   Early in 1864, the Battle of Rasaca was fought south of Chattanooga near the town of Dalton, Georgia.  My Great Uncle Michael O’Connor took part in this battle.  The area around Chattanooga is now a National Battle Field.  I was lucky enough to be able to visit the parks during another trip in 2008.  Most of following pictures where taken at that time.

We departed Chattanooga around 5:00 pm on Friday evening.  The flight time was just under 3 hours and 45 minutes to Cedar Rapids.  Because we were going from the Eastern Time Zone to Central Time Zone we gained an hour and landed in Cedar Rapids at 7:45 pm.  What a wonderful experience.

Hope you have enjoyed this blog on flying and travel in the USA.  Please visit my Flying WEB Site for more stories at “FLY HIGH AND FAST”.