Blog Alumni

blusk
Author Since 2006

Brian Lusk

Of all our bloggers, I am probably the oldest, but I don’t feel my age. I was born in 1952, just a couple of blocks from the Santa Fe Railway’s main transcontinental line in Clovis, New Mexico to an airline father, so transportation (planes and trains) got in my blood at an early age. As a child, my fondest memories are spending days at work with my dad on the ramp in Amarillo, Texas and on the old observation deck at Dallas Love Field. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in Dallas as a journalism major, I got my first airline job with Delta in 1976. During my time at Delta, I worked at Dallas/Fort Worth (during three separate occasions), Detroit, Oakland, Atlanta (at the old terminal), Portland, Oregon, Paris Orly, and Dayton, Ohio. My 18½ years with Delta were split between ramp/operations and ticket counter/gates. I joined Southwest (thankfully!) in 1995, as a Reservations Sales Agent, but then I moved to the communications group in the Executive Office, where. I corresponded with our Customers on a wide variety of topics, but I also got to work on different projects like this blog. About five years ago I moved into the Communication & Strategic Outreach Department and worked primarily in our social media area. Then in 2011, I got my dream job as Southwest's Corporate Historian. I enjoy sharing and preserving Southwest's past with our Employees and the public at large.

Fun Facts

Languages

English and Blog

Hobbies

Aviation and Railroading

Pets

My basset, Annabelle

High School

El Segundo High School, El Segundo, Ca and WT White in Dallas

College

Southern Methodist

Favorite Sports Teams

Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, Dallas Mavs, SMU, Cowboys

Favorite Travel Destinations

Scotland

Your Favorite Southwest Story

The current week's Flashback Fridays

Recent Activity:

Recent Activity Posts

Eat Your Livery, part deux

May 05 2006
Here's a quick TGIF post for everyone interested in our special liveries. Hank Greenburg, one of our Customers, sent in this photo of a radio-controlled model of a vintage DC-3 painted in Lone Star One colors. The kit is from Top Flite, and it is powered by two Saito .40 engines, and it made its maiden flight on April 29. Obviously, Southwest never flew DC-3s, although I filled the barf bags... read more

A Quick Look at Winglets

Apr 28 2006
For those of you who read Gordon's post about bees, you will remember he mentioned winglets. One of our Customers recently sent us these stunning inflight views of these fuel-saving devices, and we thought that they would give you a big lift! Thanks to Paul von Heeder in Dallas for sharing these with us! read more

The Tail Number Game

May 15 2006
Airplanes are like cars, each one has a specific and unique license plate number, but on aircraft the number is painted on the aircraft, usually near the tail. (Hence, the term "tail number.") Each country has a registration prefix set aside for their exclusive use. Aircraft registered in the United Kingdom carry the "G-" prefix, France has the "F-" prefix, and... read more

Eat Your Livery

May 03 2006
If you are like me (and hopefully, for your sake, you aren't!), your mother was always telling you "Eat your liver; it will give you the iron you need." Gee Mom, I thought, why can't I just eat a pail of rusty nails because they would taste better. Well, an airplane's color scheme is called a livery. For our first 30 years, we kept the same basic livery (thank goodness, he finally tied... read more

LUV and the Blogosphere

Apr 21 2006
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated Southwest Airlines is going to do it–to [mis]quote that old song. Since there are, no doubt, blogs about the birds and the bees, and since airplanes also have wings, we decided to do Nuts About Southwest, a blog about Southwest Airlines. For us, the experience is a lot like going on a blind date–will our readers like us? Can we find something to... read more