Who was the Cunumunu (or Cunumunus!!) --- who got rid of the Pan on the Plane @#!$#!

[wmlpan]

 

Lord,

 

I always wonder exactly WHO was the Cunumunu in the government authority, who decided that there was no need to put back the Pan on the fleet of aircraft owned wholly and solely by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.  It is so painful, to see the legacy of the instrument that many 'got licks' for playing, (and used to get an extra week or so in jail for, years ago, if they went before a judge in Trinidad for any matter, and someone threw in the information that they 'was a panman'), discarded by the government of the day, when they got their new fancy fleet of the re-branded airline, Caribbean Airlines. 

The new fleet could not carry a bold and re-designed Steelpan icon?

How many panmen took pride in being associated with this symbol internationally recognized on a fleet of aircraft?  Especially with some people today still referring to steelpans as 'garbage cans'?   Even the smallest planes in the fleet boasted the Pan!

Anywhere a plane from that fleet flew, so many knew right away where it was from or asked if they in the minority who did not recognize the insignia.  The instant it made its appearance in the distant sky, coming in for a landing, it stood our from every other single aircraft that happened to be in the nearby sky.  Wow.

There was a movement afoot by one individual in particular to get the Pan on the national flag of Trinidad and Tobago. To say that is dead in the water, (with the Pan gone from the planes,) is an understatement.

WOW.  How sad when a country does not understand its own place in history, and its ability and right to dictate and document its own place and accomplishments in said history.

Some truly ache for this sight.  Sad.

Came across the two links when WST first put the pics up, there was a lot of hoopla on the board when the decision was coming down.

http://whensteeltalks.multiply.com/journal/item/846/Pan_vs_No_Pan_On_Plane

http://www.panonthenet.com/articles/global/caribbean/tnt/airlinelogo.htm

[Noah]

I also miss seeing the pan on the aircraft and think it's a shame that it's been replaced. But given the situation at The Village, the minister's verbal siege on pan's biggest stage, panmen and women not making money, and the sorry state of the pan headquarters in Trincity, I'd be more concerned about pan on the ground than in the air. Maybe this change in plane livery is symptomatic of the problems facing pan, but to me it seems that tackling the problems themselves is more important than tackling their symbolic representative.

If we expect the livery of an airline (whose service region is relatively limited) to be the international ambassador for pan, then this music is in serious trouble.

[Dika]

Noah symbolism is a large part of it. If the name Noah was placed on the TnT plane tomorrow a conversation on who Noah is and what is his importance to TnT would begin immediately. Regardless of what I feel about Noah, as a citizen of TnT, one has to be able explain who is Noah and why is he important. As a foreigner I would want to know who this person that this so important to have him painted on the country's planes. Having Noah on the national airline would be of significance. It immediately elevates the pan to a certain level of importance.

[Pan Woman]

Some people just don't know when they have gold.