Fini Flights [69 second read]
If you want to master high-performance, avoid missing Fini-Flights!
A pilot’s last flight marks the end… and a new beginning.
Keep reading and I’ll let you know what happened to my nugget after my 1st Fini Flight.
As a young pilot, I made the mistake more than once, missing another pilot’s Fini Flight. A final flight is an important milestone in a pilot’s career that deserves celebration. This is a good time to pause and take a break... stop doing things, and go shake their hand.
The ‘Fini Flight’ is a tradition that started towards the end of World War II. A pilot or flight crew member who is leaving the unit or retiring receives a welcome from a group of people after landing. Pressurized fire bottles filled with water, champagne, and shaking hands are a few of the traditional gestures.
The “splashdown” that is now called the “Fini Flight”, was a milestone for Wester Pacific flight crews after completing their 100th mission over Vietnam. Those welcoming back the crews would splash the lucky pilots with at least “one airborne bucket-measure of water.” The coveted 100 mission patch served as a reminder to all that the wearer had crossed an important milestone. Getting shot down or crashing during a flight in the past was common! Taking the time to celebrate someone’s accomplishments and dedication to a unit is not only a way to say thank you, but also part of an important tradition.
As a go-getter, it is easy to forget to celebrate the small wins. Being so overly engrossed in the busy-ness of daily life can lead to burn-out and you will miss a lot of the small nuggets of fun that come your way. I wish I could say that my inclination was to get out to the jets and welcome those individuals that put hard-work into the unit, but I didn’t. Because I was so driven, the temptation to get more done overwhelmed my decision-making process and I would prioritize study and work over thanking someone for their contribution by being present when they landed after their last flight.
If you aren’t a pilot, this concept can apply to members of your team that are leaving. Although traditions have shifted slightly throughout the years, the congratulatory gesture remains the same and is no less important. Celebrate and congratulate those that put their time into the organization; it’s important.
Dominic “Slice” Teich
P.S. I forgot to finish my story from above... after landing, I crawled out of the ejection seat and jumped down off the ladder. It felt good when my feet hit the tarmac and I enjoyed the group of pilots and support personnel that had gathered to see me off after several years of flying together. My wife’s excitement overwhelmed her. She popped a bottle of champagne open and emptied the fizzy contents into my eyes. As she shook the bottle over my nugget, the opening of the bottle ricocheted off my head, leaving me with a nasty bump and a headache!
I’ve seen much worse!
