Capt. Martin Gerhard (United)
‘Ich Fliege—I Am Flying!’
It was September 1971 when my mother packed up my older sister, age 6, younger brother, age 3, and me, age 5, to join my father in America. He had left six months prior for an assignment as a medical doctor in the Philadelphia, Pa., area. I remember the drive from Siegen, Germany, to Frankfurt International Airport. My Uncle Albrecht dropped us off, and it would be the last time we saw him, as he passed away at a young age a few years later.
I had all of my worldly possessions packed into a small rucksack. With wide eyes I followed my mother and siblings through the endless corridors of this huge airport. In the boarding area, I could see the TWA B-707 through the large glass window at the gate. The service vehicles looked like toys running around this huge flugzeug, or airplane. Today we were going to fly to America to be with Papa. I missed my Papa, and I had a special present for him in my backpack—his favorite pocket knife. My, how times have changed!
We boarded the airplane with what seemed like hundreds of people. I wanted to sit by the window. I remember staring at the huge wing as we rolled down the runway, engines screaming. We suddenly lifted off the ground and a strong force pressed me into my seat. Ich fliege! I am flying! I am actually flying! The earth sank away below, and we headed west over the vast Atlantic Ocean to America. I don’t recall much more of the nine-hour flight to Philadelphia, except that I was happy to be in an airplane for the first time. On arrival, we were met by my father and my aunt, who picked us up in a huge Country Squire station wagon. The cars in America are almost as big as airplanes, I remember thinking.
My mother said when we landed that I declared I would become a pilot when I grew up. I don’t ever remember wanting to be anything else.
Decades later, I would fly into Frankfurt as a B-727 flight engineer on my first international flight as a United Airlines pilot. With fond memories I recalled leaving my homeland as a five-year-old boy to a country where dreams could become a reality. Here I was walking the Frankfurt Airport corridors once again, this time in a pilot uniform, smiling at wide-eyed children as they walked with their parents to a flight that also might take them to a new world of new discoveries, and with dreams in their hearts.