The flight bag and those 'odd' items ....

Are you ever tempted to unscrew that pop-off crown over the antenna, just
to see if it's REALLY there? That's got to be as tempting to fiddle with as
the big red button on the wall with the sign that says "Don't ever push this
button."

Not trying to pry into your personal situation, all the more power to you!,
but for years I've been trying to figure out what the heck real people do in
the world in order to earn that much "mad money" discretionary income, that
many kilobucks in the spare change fund, to be able to spend that much on a
watch?!?!?!?! Sure seems like there's a lot of you out there. LOL


"GKgloc" wrote in message
...
In article , "Steve House"
writes:

Seen the super aviator's watch from Breitling (starting at a mere 6+
grand)
that has an ELT built into it?

Actually, I bought mine at OSH 02, for a mere 3.5 grand.

Hi Group,

I most humbly state that, I'm not putting anyone "on". I actually purchased my
Brietling Emergency chronograph at OSH 02, after lusting after one for several
years. I don't have the urge to unscrew the antenna cover to see if it works,
they give you a test box for that, actually, there are two antenna's to unscrew
and extend (for longer range).

FWIW, when you purchase a Brietling Emergency, you;
1. Have to show your Pilot Certificate to prove you're a pilot.
2. Sign a contract with Brietling that you won't use the Emergency function
except in a real emergency, thus preventing "stupid bar trick's".
3. The contract you sign also requests you have your watch serviced annually
at an authorized Brietling dealer, which is free! Free batteries for life!

Each year, Brietling sends me a Christmas card, and they send my wife a small
box of chocolates. As a small watch "collector", I think that's a nice touch,
hey Sector, Seiko, Rolex, are ya listening? I know that you can buy a lot of
cards and chocolates, or a shiney new avionics box for your airplane, for what
you pay for a Brietling. But having the piece of mind that my family can be
rescued when aviating, boating, hiking, etc., in my mind, is worth the expense.

I think of myself a real person, and I'm sure everyone in this group works very
hard for their income. During the week, I work for a company that builds
flight simulators and human centrifuges, on the weekends, I'm a skydiving
instructor. So I use my skydiving income to pay for my aviation addiction. So
essentially, except for rainy weekends, I work 7 days a week.

To put some of this "discretionary income" in perspective, I once witnessed a
Lear 35 land at Marathon, FL, not to disembark passengers, or refuel, or for
what I would consider a "normal" reason for landing, but, as they taxied to the
FBO, they radioed that they would like to borrow the courtesy car to fetch
limes from the local store. Apparently they had no limes for their
margaritas!! And there I was, counting change out of my pocket to pay for my
fuel, geezh!!

Sorry for the long post, slow day at work!

Blue skies.......

Are you ever tempted to unscrew that pop-off crown over the antenna, just
to see if it's REALLY there? That's got to be as tempting to fiddle with as
the big red button on the wall with the sign that says "Don't ever push this
button."

Not trying to pry into your personal situation, all the more power to you!,
but for years I've been trying to figure out what the heck real people do in
the world in order to earn that much "mad money" discretionary income, that
many kilobucks in the spare change fund, to be able to spend that much on a
watch?!?!?!?! Sure seems like there's a lot of you out there. LOL

"GKgloc" wrote in message
FWIW, when you purchase a Brietling Emergency, you;
1. Have to show your Pilot Certificate to prove you're a pilot.
2. Sign a contract with Brietling that you won't use the Emergency
function
except in a real emergency, thus preventing "stupid bar trick's".


Can you use the standard test procedures for emergency beacons listed in
the FAR/AIM? A beacon whose function can't be confirmed isn't too
useful. Who is a party to this funky contract, and is it a legal
document or a corporate responsibility campaign?

In article , "Jeff Cook"
writes:


"GKgloc" wrote in message
FWIW, when you purchase a Brietling Emergency, you;
1. Have to show your Pilot Certificate to prove you're a pilot.
2. Sign a contract with Brietling that you won't use the Emergency
function
except in a real emergency, thus preventing "stupid bar trick's".


Can you use the standard test procedures for emergency beacons listed in
the FAR/AIM? A beacon whose function can't be confirmed isn't too
useful. Who is a party to this funky contract, and is it a legal
document or a corporate responsibility campaign?


Hi Jeff,

You're not able to activate the watch on 121.5/243.0 as a check using the
standard test procedure for ELT's. Extending the antennas, which then
activates the beacon, is a one shot deal. Brietling provides each owner with a
test box, onto which you mount the watch, and listen to the beacon.

Also, I'm not sure about the legalities of the contract you sign. I believe it
to be both a corporate and personal statement of responsibility to prevent
those stupid "Hey Bubba, watch this" scenairos. I, like most others, have a
deep respect for SAR personnel, and don't want to send any on a wild goose
chase.

So the next question in my mind is...what assurances do you have that the watch
will work in an emergency situation? Well, other than the test box, and the
reputation of the company, I have several testimonials from pilots who have
used theirs, and they worked. That's enough proof for me.

Blue skies......

Glenn

Can you use the standard test procedures for emergency beacons listed in
the FAR/AIM?

I have a feeling that Brietling is the only place that can put the
antennas back in the case.
Also, the low power output of the transmitter means that SAR is going
to have to be very close to pick up the transmission and or affect a
rescue before the batteries go TU.

"GKgloc" wrote in message
...
....snip

I think of myself a real person, and I'm sure everyone in this group works
very
hard for their income. During the week, I work for a company that builds
flight simulators and human centrifuges, on the weekends, I'm a skydiving
instructor. So I use my skydiving income to pay for my aviation
addiction. So
essentially, except for rainy weekends, I work 7 days a week.

Of course, and I really do hope you don't think I meant to imply otherwise
or take any offense at my post. My work has recently hit a late summer
doldrum that has really forced us to severely economize, including putting
my flight training on hiatus for a couple or three months. Relative incomes
are a frequent topic of discussions my wife and I have been having,
comparing our current income with the things we want to do and I'm perplexed
by the apparent income indicated by the lifstyles of many of our
contempories. There sure seem to be an awful lot of people out there that
can afford $250,000 homes and $65,000 SUV's and summer cottages by the lake
and etc etc etc and to my perception such assets are so common as to pretty
much define "normal," the middle of the middle class, the "average" suburban
dweller. Driving through the suburbs outside of a city like Toronto they go
on for miles and miles and there are far more people there than can be
accounted for by the number of surgeons and big business senior managers -
most of these people have got to be are just ordinary college-educated
white-collar working people like me. Drive past the developments and you
see the signs that read "Semi-detached 3 bedroom town homes starting at ONLY
$329,000" outside a subdivision with hundreds of units under construction.
But the census bureau tells us that middle class households gross somewhere
on the order of 35 kilobucks per year. Uhhhh, you don't by a quarter
million dollar plus house on a 35 k income and I don't believe those
numbers. So something doesn't jive and I've come to the conclusion that I
really don't have a clue what people really do or earn and how to go about
negotiating similar situations for myself. I'm not jealous that you can
afford a 3.5 kilobuck watch (well, maybe a little g) -if anything I don't
consider it to be all THAT unusual, they must sell enough of them to be able
to tool up the production line - but it's certainly a stratospheric expense
according to my chequebook, as are the house and the SUV and the cottage
that most of the people I think as my peers seem easily to afford, and I'm
trying to figure out what h**l I've been doing wrong the last 30 years
grin.

In article , "Steve House"
writes:

Of course, and I really do hope you don't think I meant to imply otherwise
or take any offense at my post.

Hi Steve,

No offense taken. Good luck with your flight training. I hope you'll be back
in the air very soon.

Blue skies........

Glenn