December 1968

“Continental 427, You are cleared to land”

“Continental 427”

“I sure hope they did not lose my bags this time”

“Yeah me too”

“United 56 Heavy, descend and maintain one, two thousand”

“United 56”

“Ladies and Gentleman, On Behalf of Braniff let me be the first to welcome you to Denver, Colorado”

“Lear 25 November Bravo, taxi to the Combs Gates ramp”

“November Bravo”

“Do you see that Convair at four O’clock?”

“Sure would not want to land there”

“Winds calm, Aspen you are cleared to land”

The conversations between the tower and the aircraft were as easy to understand as the passengers talking to one another.  Keeping it all straight was a mystery to everyone in the camper that night, except for me as I was the one saying it all.

Some people just “ramble” when they talk in their sleep but not me, at least not when I was young.  Every year around Christmas my family would load up the car or camper and go to Denver for a Christmas shopping extravaganza.  Sometimes we would stay at the old Hotel Denver on Speer Boulevard and other times we would stay in an RV park out on West Colfax.  In 1968 we took our pick-up camper and stayed on the west end.

As my mom used to like to tell the story, that night in the camper I started talking in my sleep and proceeded to “control the skies over Denver.”  Not only was I the control tower but I was also the pilots and the passengers.  Over the span of my rant I successfully landed a number of aircraft, lost no baggage, kept an eye out for other aircraft in the pattern and prevented a few “near misses.”

In looking back on my life, I spent considerable time listening to the aircraft scanner as a child.  From our house I could pick up the Aspen Airport Tower as well as Denver Center which controlled the airspace over Colorado and parts of Utah.   I even picked up the airline’s private frequencies and listened to the pilot’s conversations.  I guess if you listen long enough you begin to pick up the “lingo.”

Sleep tight, the skies are safe tonight!