Another Aviation Story

(B25flyer) wrote snip

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

Know what you mean. At SBW/FTL we had a bunch of PFE's, and most of
those guys could build the airplane with a pocket knife. One old salt
says to us "Let me explain something to you flyboys: I don't do
throttles!" So I had to be the auto throttle all trip - what a pain.
The capt got up to go to the reading room after stowing his bag, and
this character shouts this complaint at me: "MY FIRST NAME IS COFFIE,
AND MY SECOND NAME IS LOGBOOK!" Then he pulls the curtain across and
disappears into his own little country back there.

But later on the 10 had a bunch of re-treads (former career cpt's) who
were so slow and clueless, when you called for a checklist, it would
be faster to watch paint dry on the wall. They could tell you all
about how to do your job, but were semi-helpless and out of touch on
the panel. But just as many of them were good at their jobs, old
friends and real gentlemen to work with.

But I have to agree with Doug. Three crew is a lot more fun.


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

Good post Walt. Where was NPA?

pac

Good post Walt. Where was NPA?

pac

Pensacola Naval Airstation. It was on a Quicktrans flight, the Navy version of
Logair.

Walt

(B25flyer) wrote in message ...
Good post Walt. Where was NPA?

pac

Pensacola Naval Airstation. It was on a Quicktrans flight, the Navy version of
Logair.

Walt

O.K. I've flown over that a bunch, didn't recognize it. Thought it
was going to turn out to be Niarobi or New-people's-army airport or
something in Africa. :-) Duh.

Note: The following is fiction and any resemblance to persons living
or dead is purely coincidental.

Old chief pilot was a lectra Log Air guy before and had some great
stories about that flying. L-188 I think? He said he used to fly
with this wine-o engineer and hippie co-pilot with ear-rings who'd
only stay awake until climb out and say "turn them knobs boys" and
then collapse on his little table. No matter what he'd say to his
stoner co-pilot the response was always "Cool daddy bear, Cool." Said
that was quite a shocker after having flown for Air Cal for 14
years(where he got canned for among other things: bringing the union
on the property, and doing the wild thing with a drunk stew in the aft
lav!) The guy was a legend among Air Cal pilots, and trained a lot of
them over the years. This guy was one of my mentors and friend and
somebody told me he was killed in one of those flights. But "Jack"
always had the "radar" on, if you know what I mean!

pac

Pensacola Naval Airstation. It was on a Quicktrans flight, the Navy version of
Logair.

Walt

Hey Walt, are you announcing at Sun and Fun again this year?

BWB