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Note Left by Delta Pilot Serves as COVID-19 Time Capsule

When a Delta Air Lines first officer assisted on a flight to park an Airbus A321, he may never have imagined it would sit there for over 400 days. Discovered when the carrier called the aircraft back into service, the letter now serves as a beacon of hope for a disrupted aviation industry.

A letter written by a Delta Air Lines first officer is being heralded as a time capsule piece, bringing employees back to the beginning of when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the aviation industry. On social media, the airline shared the brief letter written by pilot Chris Dennis, which now reads as a beacon of hope for both the airline and flyers.

“If you are here to pick it up then the light must be at the end of the tunnel”

According to the airline, Dennis wrote the short letter on March 23, 2020, after delivering the aircraft from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to Southern California Logistics Airport (VCV) in Victorville, California. The airfield is well known as a storage facility for aircraft out of service, but not necessarily decommissioned.

Once he realized where he was going, Dennis realized the potential impact of the pandemic. With Minneapolis talking about a two-week total shutdown, the pilot understood how COVID-19 could truly affect not only his job, but the entire travel and aviation industry.

“I thought about how many people’s jobs rely on just one of those airplanes,” said Dennis in a Delta press release. “From the Reservations agent, to the ticket agent, to the pilot, flight attendants, mechanics, the ramp crew. Then you go a level deeper: the rental car agency, the hotels, the tourism companies.”

The aircraft was scheduled to be parked for only two weeks. Dennis wrote the note with that hope, and stored it in the first officer’s tray table. There, it sat for 435 days – a reminder of how the pandemic created uncertainty for everyone, and how the entire aviation sphere has changed over time.


“If you are here to pick it up then the light must be at the end of the tunnel,” Dennis wrote in the short letter. “Amazing how fast it changed. Have a safe flight bringing it out of storage!”

Now, the letter is being heralded as a beacon of hope that the world may someday return “back to normal.” Delta first officer Nick Perez, who found the letter in the aircraft, said he was encouraged by the words left by his fellow employee.

“I kept thinking about my mindset now compared to his when he left this note,” said Perez in the Delta press release. “[Back then], we were getting good at landing empty airplanes, now we’re going in the right direction. I’m in good spirits. I’m very optimistic. I feel like how I felt in 2017 again – ready to get going.”

Airlines See Encouraging Signs in Bookings and Daily Travel Numbers

Even though the pandemic isn’t over, airlines are starting to see their own proverbial light as more flyers feel comfortable flying once again. The Transportation Security Administration screened over five million flyers during the weekend of June 11, 2021 – the first time daily numbers went over 2 million since the COVID-19 emergency was announced.

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