“Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is James Barr, and I am your Captain on this flight to London Heathrow from Glasgow this morning …”

I’ve been saying that line, every day, for the past ten years.  All of a sudden, as I sat in the Flight Deck of my Airbus A319 the words keep ringing through my head:

”This Is It.”

Taking the decision to retire was not one that was taken lightly.  I gave it much consideration in the summer months of 2005, and eventually, I bit the bullet as they say, and came forward to be considered for an early retirement package.

It’s quite a surreal thing for me to be in my position right now, in many ways.  For a start, I am only 52, and as I hear all the problems that Government Workers are having with their retirement age at the moment, I think myself exceptionally lucky to be retiring so early.

Retirement to me is an experience, which makes you contemplate and reflect, and allowed me to think just how far I had come in my life.  Throughout my teenage life, all I ever was was a normal guy from Clydebank in Glasgow.  I went to the normal school, and left at 16 having had as fair an education as anyone else.

I never really knew where I wanted to be in my life at that time.  My father ran a few fruit shops in the town, so, as it was there, I was absorbed into the family business and had chief control over one of our wee shops. 

The opportunity arose for me to join the Royal Air Force, and when I was 18, I decided, that as this seemed like a good opportunity, I would take it.  In 1971 I joined the RAF and was trained on flying military aircraft.

Thankfully, I got out before I actually had to go out and fight in any war.  I left the RAF in 1974, after a fantastic experience, which I found immensely character building.  Above all else however, I was a trained Pilot.  I could fly an aircraft. 

This I knew was my ticket to the rest of my life … and of course the opportunity to dress up in a uniform and attract various women!

In 1976 I joined a major airline, flying in the First Officer’s Capacity.  The first aircraft I flew was a Boeing 707.  At this time I lived in London, in a place called Acton, not far at all from Heathrow Airport.  As I was a fresh face to the company, I was responsible for flying the routes other people didn’t want to.  I never liked this, as this meant that I wasn’t consistently flying any one aircraft for any great length of time.  At that time I was fond of the 707, but, well, you went where you were told, or you received the proverbial boot in the jacksy!

Alexis & I had a shared interest in exploring the world, and in the spring of that year, I managed to get put into longhaul.  This meant that I would finally get to see more of the world that I desired, and, would get to grips with jumbo!

We enjoyed travel across the world, Asia, Africa, America, Australia.  It was a fantastic jet-setting experience.  However, it wouldn’t last!  In 1980, Alexis fell pregnant (as if by magic) with our first son.  We knew that we had to drop the jet-set lifestyle, and set up home.  And we both knew this had to be back in Glasgow.

In the summer of 1980, I bought one of the most challenging developments of my life, in the shape of an old farmhouse.  I had to turn it around and fast!  With my friends, and father’s contacts, we managed to move in later that year, with one new son, the first of our three children!

I was lucky enough to watch the key stages of my children growing up, as between 1980 and 1987 I flew pretty basic Glasgow – London routes.  This was fine, until in 1987 I became Captain.  I had to spend 4 days of my week in my flat in Acton, flying European Routes out of Heathrow.  The equipment, mainly in the shape of the Boeing 737, was not a problem, and indeed, I could label the 737 among my favourite aircraft to fly.  The challenge was the strain that this put on my family life. 

I put up with this for a few years until 1993, when I went back to flying Glasgow – London routes, which I flew until my retiral in December 2005.  I was appointed Senior Captain in 1996, and remained at this designation until my retiral.

I took the decision to go for my retiral in August of 2005, but remained fairly quiet about my plans, until I knew I was going to be granted retiral toward the end of October.  By November 20th I knew that my last flight would be flown on Friday 16th December 2005.