Loretta

As I fly on my routes in New South Montucky, I often monitor the Common Traffic Advisory Frequencies (CTAF) of the airports that I fly over or go to. The CTAF is a frequency that will allow pilots to self announce their positions and intentions at airports that are not served by control towers.

For months now I have been hearing transmissions from one of our competitors’ pilots (I’ll call him Maverick) a couple times a week, on the CTAF frequency, that have baffled me to no end. They seem to me to be random and out of the blue. They go a little something like this:

“Good morning Loretta! Looking like it’s going to be a wonderful day. The forecast is calling for lots of sunshine today and not too hot. There might be some showers later tonight. It might be a great day to get out and work in the yard. I hope you have a great day. Take care now, and we’ll chat with you tomorrow!”

There is never any sort of reply. No voices, no transmissions or Morse code. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Some mornings there is poetry, songs, commentary or a comment on local and current events. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I looked forward to hearing “the next episode”.

Hmmmm. Interesting.

I have contemplated long and hard about who this mysterious woman might be or what these transmissions might mean.

I wonder if she is Maverick’s mistress/girlfriend. Maybe it is the code for them to rendezvous at some undisclosed predetermined location, and she listens for him on her hand held scanner.

Or maybe she was a past lover or maybe a daughter that was tragically killed in a vehicle accident on a portion of highway that he flies over daily and this is his way of remembering her.

It could be simply that he is just bored and makes these transmissions to add a little spice to his trip and make guys like me ponder it on my trip to pass the time.

I asked my chief pilot, Sven, if he had heard Maverick’s on air morning salutations. He in fact had, and when queried if he knew who Loretta was, he was no help either. He did say that the comments were always interesting and they gave him something to think about as he flew.

I did some more detective work by asking a few guys in the crew room if they had heard the snippets and if they knew who Loretta was. Many had heard them, yet nobody knew who she was.

I guess I’m going to have to ask Maverick myself. Unfortunately, Maverick flies for a different Big Box Hauler and as a result has a different base than I do. His outstation, Dogtown, is at an airport about 50nm northwest of my outstation. I really can’t just walk up to him and say ‘Hi’. I rarely go to Dogtown, and when I do, Mav is usually not there. He has either gone to his crash pad or has not arrived.

It may be months before I run into him again. I guess time will tell. Until then I guess I’ll just listen for the ‘next episode’.