– Words by Mark L Berry & Music by John Cooperider
– Performed by John Cooperider
Ode to the Flight Engineer
Words by Mark L Berry & Music by John Cooperider
Airplanes today
All have two pilots
Two pilots are more than enough
One pilot flies
If the other one dies
Two pilots are more than enough
But I flew in an era
When three pilots ruled
Two faced forward and flew
The third one sat sideways
In front of a panel
With more than enough work to do
The flight engineer
Had no way to steer
He had no controls but a desk
Computers do now
What he only knew how
Every miniscule task
He balanced the fuel
Controlled the cabin temp
And managed electrical power
Turned on hydraulic pumps
Maintained cabin pressure
And balanced the fuel every hour
When engines failed
Or hydraulics were lost
Or any of the systems went away
It was the flight engineer
Who flight after flight
Made things always work out OK
If the gear didn’t come down
He had to crank round and round
And do things the old fashioned way
Three cranks to the left
Or three cranks to the right
Were just another part of his day
But this is the age
With computers the rage
There’s no turning back to the day
When the flight engineer
Would hand crank the gear
And make sure everything stayed OK
He balanced the fuel
Controlled the cabin temp
And managed electrical power
Turned on hydraulic pumps
Maintained cabin pressure
And balanced the fuel every hour
Airplanes today all have two pilots
Two pilots are more than enough
One pilot flies
If the other one dies
Two pilots are more than enough