Souls On Board

From 1970-1985 I would do remote video and photography shoots as part of my responsibilities at Borg Warner Corporation in York, PA. I recall one trip when a few engineers and I did a video shoot in the Detroit area.  We took the corporate plane which was stored at the Thomasville Airport. I enjoyed this kind of "intimate" flying, since you got to watch the pilot do his thing.

When I arrived at the airport I recall the pilot's reaction when he saw how many cases of video and lighting gear I brought to the plane. "You want to take all of that gear?" Anyway, we stacked the video and lighting gear in the aisle between the seats and away we went. 

After the shoot, we drove back to the Detroit Airport for our return flight to York. It was storming and the pilot wasn't sure if he should take off. I recall him calling the tower and saying, "I have six S.O.B.'s on this flight".  

When he got off the phone I asked him why he called us S.O.B.'s?  He said it meant "Souls On Board" which wouldn't be what he would say if he had a "Corpse On Board".  I didn't ask if that would be C.O.B. but I thought it was interesting. From this conversation, I also concluded that the airline industry believes that the soul leaves the body when we die. 

Anyway, the pilot took off and tried his best to fly above the storm.  It was an interesting flight, since my gear was literally falling on us as the plane fought the turbulence. But eventually all of the S.O.B.'s finally landed safe and sound and were happy to be back in Thomasville, PA.