Balkan Boeing 737-53A while in flight

Zagreb, Yugoslavia - July 6, 1991  Being invited inside the cockpit while the plane was in flight was quite a thrill not only for this kid but also for me.  At the age of 6, when I left Bulgaria, the country I was born in, I flew from Sofia to Amsterdam on a KLM Lockheed L-188C Electra.  There are two things I remember about that flight: One of them was that the plane was almost empty.  The only passengers in it were me, my mother, my uncle Boubi and three other people who were all with us.  The other thing I remember is that the pilots invited me inside the cockpit while the plane was flying!  29 years later, on my first trip back to my native country, by some twist of fate, I was invited inside the cockpit again!  And by some strange coincidence, the captain of this airplane happened to live on the same street in Sofia where I lived right before I left that city, and only a few blocks away.  If I remember correctly, I believe the captain’s first name was the same as mine: George.  Sometimes, I wonder if coincidences really happen for a reason. (Photo by SuperGeorge)