![]() “It was a dream come true moment.” Family affairĪlso on board the older Flowers’ retirement flight was his brother and his cousin, who both work for Southwest too. “It was just great to be able to recreate that moment,” says the younger Flowers. “To look over there and see my son, next to me, for my last landing.”Īnd, naturally, they recreated the 1994 photo, both grinning happily in the 2023 version. “That was an awesome feeling,” says the older Flowers. ![]() His son was by his side, as his first officer. Not just as father and son, but as colleagues and co-pilots.Ĭut to March 2023 and the older Flowers was flying his final Southwest flight, piloting an aircraft from Omaha, Nebraska to his home city of Chicago, Illinois. (Courtesy Southwest Airlines)Īfter rediscovering the old photo, the two Flowers men added a coda to the goal: not only did they want to fly together, they wanted to recreate the 1990s flight deck photo, over two decades later. “It was a dream of mine to make it to this point to fly with my dad, it was probably my number one aviation goal,” the younger Flowers tells CNN Travel.Ĭaptain Ruben Flowers and First Officer Ruben Flowers recreating the 1990s photo in 2023. The two men were excited to briefly overlap at Southwest and hoped they’d get an opportunity to fly together. Meanwhile Flowers’ father – also called Ruben Flowers – was nearing retirement and readying for his final Southwest flight as Captain. He’d beamed with pride when his dad talked about his job at the school careers day.Īnd the timing of the rediscovered photo was perfect: Flowers, now 30, was just about to follow in his father’s footsteps and begin flying as a First Officer for Southwest Airlines. He’d loved their trips to the airport, tagging along to the training center, taking a go on the simulators. His father smiles at the camera, ready to fly the plane.įlowers had forgotten the photo existed, but seeing it again, he was flooded with memories of growing up, inspired by his father. In this picture, Flowers is looking at his dad in admiration. ![]() 5 Things to Know newsletter: Sign up to start your day with the biggest stories.Suddenly, there it was: a snapshot from 1994, taken in an airplane flight deck, depicting him as a toddler, sitting next to his pilot dad. It was early 2023 and he was thumbing through photo albums at his grandmother’s house. Ruben Flowers stumbled across the photo by accident.
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