You might be interested to hear that Captain Ballard recently presented the story of UA929 to the members of the Commerical Aviation Safety Symposium in Dallas Texas. The Symposium, hosted by the Aerospace and Defense Division of the American Society for Quality, was attended by over two hundred aviation professionals from around the world, all with an obvious interest in the UA929 saga.

I must admit to a certain amount of skeptism when I first read the brief introduction to Captain Ballard's talk. I thought, "What could be interesting about a flight that made it home safely?". Captain Ballard quickly and convincingly changed my mind by bringing the entire audience back in time to that day, when we were all unsure as to what had happened, who had done it, and just if it was over or not.

Captain Ballard stressed three points during his talk which will always stay with me. First was his pride in his crew and company for their behaviours in a very difficult situation. Second was the support and cooperation of the passengers of UA929. Last but not least was his appreciation for the peoples of Gandor, Gambo and the Canadian authorities for all that they did for all the flights and stranded passengers of those days.

Yours is an inspiring story well told by Captain Ballard. It was a priviledge to be in the audience to hear it.