ARE RAMP CHECKS RAMPING UP?

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:57:53 -0000, Jim Logajan
wrote:

In all fairness, I'll post a follow up...

I had a "friend and we're from the FAA and we would like to help you!"

His name was Bill Whitmore.

Let me put this in context first.

Bob Hoover had given a demo flight a few weeks before in an Aero
Commander Shrike where he shut down both engines and did some really
cool stuff before he rolled to a stop in front of the crowd at the
Smyrna Tennessee airport.

Very shortly after that (a few days), a couple of flight instructors
landed at Murfreesboro and shut off the engine on the runway and had
enough speed (energy) to coast to a stop at the fuel pump.

Mr. Whitmore had driven down from Nashville, and was just chatting
with us and talking flying. It's important to know that Bill Whitmore
was "THE FAA". He was a wonderful man who had our respect.

The next thing was a learning experience for me and the rest of us.

He took them in for a "talk" in a back room at the airport shack.

We were standing outside, and sort of wondering what he was going to
do to them. We were as quiet as we could be, and sort of laughing,
but you could hear a muffled voice booming out every few minutes.

You can't believe how those two guys looked when they came out of
there.

That, to me, was the epitome of how the a senior FAA man should handle
things.

Mike Weller