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Just came across your ONA web site and have 
to tell you it's fantastic! As I open each 
section the memories just flowed through my 
head as I recalled all the great times I had 
with all those fantastic people I flew with. 

This was the first real job I had after 
graduating from college and have to say it 
was by far the best time of my life. Those 
days will never come around again and I 
consider myself to be blessed to have 
experienced working for ONA.
 
Life jacket demonstration by Gene


 
BTW, senority # 204, Anamaria Urso, wound up 
being my first wife, which unfortunately 
ended in divorce in 1985. We met at ONA 
training at the JFK Holiday Inn and it was 
love at first sight. 

When the DC10 went down at JFK, 
I had just dropped her off at Ops 
to get on the plane for the Hadj. I heard 
about the crash on the car radio on my way 
home to NJ and immediately turned around 
and drove back to Ops. Geez, what a day that 
was. Thank God Stinky Davis was flying 
that thing!


Crews mostly flown with (Flight Crew) 
The "ONA Legends", Stinky Davis, Ron Rogerro, 
Jack Gold, Tom Ahern, Ted Secola, Carroll Jones.

(Cabin Crew) 
Mostly with my graduating classmates- 
Anamaria Urso, Rosa Garza, Steve Thalmann, 
Neal Graumann, Hector Sierra, Stephanie Chin, 
Wanda Jenkins, "Cookie" Jefferson, and Zach Hobbs.

Most enjoyable destination? Hawaii!!!  
There's no place like home!!

Based at JFK.

Preferred aircraft DC-10
Loved that DC10! Used to take naps in the cargo 
hold. Ooops, did I say that?

One amusing story I remember is a time we were 
going through security in Malaga commercialing 
to Rome. On the crew bus to the airport, Capt 
Ron Rogerro was trying to stuff his captain's 
uniform hat into his carry-on bag, but wouldn't 
fit, so he asked me if I had room in my bag. 
I said I did and packed the hat. When we reached 
security, the inspector asked me to open my bag 
to check contents. When I did, he saw the 
captain's hat and turned to me with an ashened 
face and said, "Commandante?" (Captain?) I said, 
"Si, como no!!" (Yes, of course!). He just stood 
there with a frozen expression of disbelief that 
a snot-nosed kid of 22 could be the captain of 
a airline crew! When we got through security, 
I told Ron what happened and he just burst out 
in laughter!!  He laughed all the way to Rome!

As a side note, I was taking flying lessons
during my ONA days and did go on to finish all 
my commercial pilot ratings. After ONA, 
I concentrated on a pilot career, flight 
instructing and flying charters for small 
commercial companies.

In 1981, I became an Air Traffic Controller 
and worked at many different facilites accross 
the country, including, NY TRACON, LaGuardia 
Tower, Islip Tower, and FAA Southwest Regional 
Headquarters in Fort Worth, TX. I retired in 
2008 after 27 years of Federal service. 
Today, I'm doing something I truly love - 
I am a Captain on an air ambulance Citation 
Jet for a local hospital in the Dallas, TX. area. 

My most treasured ONA possessions are my ONA 
uniform wings; a couple sets of those small 
aluminum tongs we used take entres from galley 
ovens; my original passport; old ONA photos, 
and last but certainly not least, all the 
wonderful friendships I made working for ONA!
 
Thanks again for the great web site 
and please let me know of any future 
ONA gatherings.
 
Sincerely,
 
Gene Kasson
Fort Worth, TX.
817-721-3293
gkasson@sbcglobal.net