Captain Dennis, a check airman for American Airlines, recruited a group a current and former American captains, extracted considerable sums of money from each and acquired the airplane. Amazingly, the aircraft was airworthy and, better yet, for sale. The ship had led a long and sometimes checkered life. During its ten years of service with the airline it was known as the “Flagship Detroit.” Why are they standing in line to fly an airplane that retired from their airline before they were born, or at least long before they ever took their first flying lesson? Why would a senior B777 captain be satisfied to serve as an apprentice copilot, never mind his 16,000 hours of flying time, patiently waiting his turn at the left seat? What drives them, and all of the other members of the Flagship Detroit Foundation, to devote their time, their money and dedication to an airplane that is barely big enough to carry the crew of their airliner?Ī little over two years ago, George Dennis, an American Airlines B-777 captain, located one of the original 20 DC-3s ordered in 1936 and delivered to American Airlines on March 2, 1937. They fly the big Boeings for American Airlines. They work at the very pinnacle of the airline industry. They measure the range of their aircraft in continents, not miles.

They have tens of thousands of pounds of thrust at their fingertips. These pilots fly, by many standards, the greatest airliners ever built.

Detroit city airport executive hangar