Episode 62: Pan Am and the Art of Storytelling with Al Gilbert Artwork

The Pan Am Podcast

Experience the legacy of the world’s most iconic airline, Pan American World Airways! This award-winning history and humanities program brings Pan Am’s 64-year history to life through engaging storytelling and insightful interviews from Pan Am employees, passengers, historians, authors, fashionistas, and aviation enthusiasts! Hosted by historian Tom Betti, the program has won the following awards: Platinum 2025, Gold 2024 & 2023, Silver 2022 - Muse Creative Awards; Platinum 2025, Gold 2024, Silver 2023, Arcturus 2022 - Vega Digital Awards; Gold Award from the 2023 Hear Now Palooza of the National Audio Theater Festivals; and Arcturus 2022 Vega Digital Award (Best Host). The Pan Am Podcast is brought to you by the Pan Am Museum in Garden City, New York and is sponsored by the generous personal support of Mr. Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres and President of the Pan Am Historical Foundation. The Pan Am Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and would appreciate your consideration of tax-deductible donations to support our work.

All Episodes

The Pan Am Podcast

Episode 62: Pan Am and the Art of Storytelling with Al Gilbert

March 04, 2026 • Pan Am Museum Foundation • Season 5 • Episode 62

0:00 | 1:04:34

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, we are joined by Al Gilbert, known by his friends and family as Ace, a former Pan Am reservations employee and the author of Pan Am Stories: You Can't Make This Up.

Al's career at Pan Am gave him a front-row seat to one of the most remarkable chapters in aviation history, and the stories he collected along the way are as funny, surprising, and human as the airline itself.

After leaving Pan Am, Al channeled decades of memories and experiences into his book, a collection of firsthand accounts and tales based on true stories that capture the personality, culture, and spirit of an airline unlike any other.

This episode is a celebration of storytelling, what it means to preserve history through personal narrative, why the Pan Am story deserves to be told, and how even the most unlikely moments can become the ones that stay with you forever.

Over five years and 62 episodes, host Tom Betti has built one of the most distinctive independent history podcasts available, earning nearly 200,000 downloads, a perfect five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, several awards, and listeners in over 180 countries. He did it with no budget, no staff, and no paycheck, driven entirely by a passion for Pan Am history and the belief that great storytelling can make anyone care about a subject they never knew they were missing.

And we open with one of the best: the true story of Felix the cat, who in December of 1987 disappeared into the cargo hold of a Pan Am 747 and didn't surface for 29 days and nearly 180,000 miles.

From the sales and reservation offices of Pan Am to the pages of a book that refuses to let the legend fade, Al Gilbert's story is a reminder that history is best kept alive by the people who lived it, and by the ones who loved it enough to make sure it wasn't forgotten.

Support the show

Visit Us for more Pan Am History!
Support the Podcast!
Donate to the Museum!
Visit The Hangar online store for Pan Am gear!
Become a Member!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!