Captain Thomas Murray, member of St. Paul Parish, Princeton, and pilot for American Airlines, knew from a very early age that he wanted to be a pilot – proving his determination by flying in gliders at age 12 and single-engine planes by 16.
He could have never anticipated, however, being asked decades later to be second-in-command aboard a plane carrying the Holy Father.
Like his predecessors, Pope Francis’s transportation from state to state during his first visit to the United States would be aboard a flight chartered by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from American Airlines.
Flown by American Airlines personnel, including Murray, the Boeing 777-200 aircraft traveled under the Federal Administration Aviation-approved call sign “Shepherd One.”