easy max

I was sitting in the middle seat of row 19 on a Gatwick to Edinburgh flight as the captain introduced the flight crew. I burst out laughing when our son's best friend from school was announced as first officer.  I had watched him mature from a 7-year-old in the junior football team that I coached for five years to a fun-loving teenager who sometimes came on holidays with us. Max had spent many a night at our house after various teenage events and finally put paid to the old VHS video recorder by throwing up over it - "to save the carpet" he said. He was always laid back and easy going and now he was in charge of 180 passengers.

It was a relaxed flight and Max announced that we had made good time and would be landing 15 minutes early. I clapped as we landed not out of relief but in delight at his matriculation as a pilot who sounded cool and confident.  I asked the cabin crew if I could say hello to the first officer. They seemed slightly in awe of Max but when I popped my head into the cockpit to say thank you, he gave me his usual cheery smile and high fived me. I embarked feeling pleased that he might not have made it as a footballer under my coaching but he had gained wings instead. We had joked with him when he was training to be a pilot that if we ever heard him say "This is your captain speaking" we would rush for the exits, but not today, 'easy max' seemed a more apt testimony.