The original Cincinnati Frisch's Big Boy restaurant, which opened in the 1930s, even today sports a somewhat modified but still charming version of the original retro airplane on its large outdoor sign. This popular hamburger joint (and much more) is on a busy street, about 2 miles north and slightly right of Lunken Airport's southwest parallel runways. Last week, having lunch with my sister and half listening to her prattle on about her spoiled mutt, Ben (named for aviator Carl Ben Eielson), I was munching on a Big Boy and thinking about an aircraft accident that happened some years ago - very nearly in this restaurant's parking lot. It was back in my misspent days working on the dark side, posing as an FAA operations inspector while surreptitiously trying - whenever possible - to advocate for the pilot. In this case, while the screw-up may have been understandable, advocacy was simply impossible.
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