Yet Another Nickname

Another from the nickname department. First you have to understand that we didn’t need all that much provocation to stretch a connection into a nickname—witness Ingemar Joe Hinson. It was 1969. Richard Nixon had just been elected and inaugurated along with his vice president (and eventual convicted felon), Spiro T. Agnew (he of the “nattering nabobs of negativism,” and “effete intellectual snobs”).

One of the lads was named Jack Arnau. It wasn’t much of a stretch therefore when we quit calling him Jack and started calling him Spiro T. Arnau—Spiro T. for short.

Spiro once jokingly gave me what I took to be a good piece of advice—“keep low, keep moving—that way no one can draw a bead on you.” That's good advice in the FAA—however no one has ever accused me of being subtle or surreptitious.

Last updated: 06 April 2009