Hawaii, 1967

   When I visited the United States for the first time in 1967 — sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (US AID) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — I encountered certain things that I was still unfamiliar with. According to the plan, I was going to attend courses at the Institute of Aerospace Safety and Management, University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, the USAF Jet Engine Accident Investigation Course at Chanute AFB, Illinois, and the USCG Search-and-Rescue (SAR) School at Governors Island, New York. Also included in the program, an On-the-Job Training (OJT) with the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), New York Office, at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, and a Seminar on Communication conducted by Michigan State University.

   Initially, a Boeing 707 PANAM flight flew me from Jakarta to Honolulu via Bangkok and Tokyo, before proceeding to Washington, D.C. with another flight. Arriving in Hawaii early in the morning, I was met by an AID official at Honolulu International Airport. He told me that he had made reservation for me at Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, where I was planned to spend three nights on transit for the purpose of orientation and familiarization.

   I was in my hotel room shortly after checking in, and I realized that I was still unfamiliar with the room door lock. I knew I hadn't seen it before even during the time I was studying in Eastern Europe. The round shiny handle had a push button on its center, seemingly to lock the door from inside the room. While the door was closed, I pushed the button in to check its locking. But when I turned the handle, the button popped out at once. I knew that the door was again unlocked as I could pull the door open.

So I then assumed that if someone turned the handle from outside the room, the button would also pop out(!). Therefore I was then quite curious to know how to secure the door without being easily unlocked from the outside. I was wondering why the button seemed to automatically pop out over and over again each time I turned the handle. Instead, I was still expecting that it would be impossible to turn the handle while the button was pushed in; I was only thinking that in order to unlock it I should pull out the button manually.... (But how?)

   Being somewhat frustrated, I decided to contact the reception desk to let them know that my room door handle seemed to be out of order. I was just afraid someone could get inside my room while I was deep asleep. When I was about to use the phone and before I lifted the handset from its cradle, I turned back to look closely at the door handle again. Then all of a sudden I pulled the door wide open and held it in that position. I pushed in the button again, and this time tried to turn the opposite round handle on the outside of the door which only had a keyhole in it!

   When I tried to turn it to either direction, it was so stiff and my hand only slipped while turning it. This fact has indicated to me that it was impossible to unlock the door by just turning the handle from the outside. And this should only mean that one have to use the corresponding door key, of course. To convince myself, I then turned again the handle on the inside of the door. The button popped out instantly and the door was unlocked at once.... A haa.... There you are!

   I smiled at myself for my foolishness, but I was satisfied enough to have found out how the door lock actually worked. (Shame on me!)

   Well, that was really something to get familiarized with, indeed.

Note:
Later development for such type of door locks seemed to have some other variations, in that the push button had been replaced with a turnable knob as a lock.