My Grandmother Insisted on Flying Economy Instead of First Class, Then I Found Out Why a Pilot Needed to See Her

out the window.

I kept twisting around, trying to see into economy.

A curtain blocked everything.

As we climbed above Boston, I imagined Grandma all the way back in row 34.

I began wondering about something I should probably have asked years earlier.

Why had she stopped flying?

I knew only pieces of the story about my grandfather.

His name was Frank Walsh.

He had worked as an aircraft mechanic at Logan for thirty-four years.

According to Mom, he could listen to an engine and know something was wrong before