MANY years ago, our son's first civilian aviation job was with a regional carrier at a small airport. His "primary" job was as an A&P mechanic but he was also trained and expected to work as a GA, baggage handler, general rampie, and even give the safety briefings on some of the smaller aircraft which didn't have FA's.

Early one morning, the scheduled GA had called in sick so he checked everyone in, loaded the baggage and boarded the passengers. The Captain asked him to check something which required that he get into the left seat. He took care of the problem and as he came out of the cockpit one of his regular passengers said to him: "If someone started to close the door, I was getting off the plane!"