If only we had some new-hire
flight engineers to haze......


Never had that chance at SAT. All the FE's were old salts that would harrass
the rest of us.

My second flight as a newbie Capt was a real thrill. The FE and I had flown
together alot when I was an FO and we got along great. His sense of humor was a
little on the bland and dry side. We were sitting in the Herc at CHS waiting
for some paperwork and he made a remark about congatulations on making Capt and
since I was a newbie he wanted to make sure that we had an understanding about
a few things. His remark was," There are three things on a Herc that can kill
me. Props, bleed air, and pilots. I can take care of two of those items if you
take care of the third."

I could grasp the meaning of his statement as I knew that he had over 15,000
hours of panel time on the Herc with 5 different airlines.

He was also involved in one of my biggest embaressing moments as a FO. On a
layover at NPA I was taking the time from my "Red Book" and transfering it to
my master log book. After adding up the totals, low and behold I had past
10,000 hours total time with 550 in the Herc. Bonzo, the Capt and Bud the afore
mentioned FE were the rest of the crew. I proudly announced the monumental
numbers and was just feeling like I had set some kind of record. Capt. Bonzo
layed down the paper he was reading, removed the pipe from mouth and announced,
"I have over 12,000 hours of Herc time." Bud chimed in with the " I have over
15,000 hours of panel time on the Herc." So I just closed the books, put them
back in the flight case and went out for a walk.

Lesson learned was that in Aviation no matter what you have done or how much
you have done, someone else can probably top it.

Walt