General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry

On 03 Feb 2004 15:19:24 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

I think the parsing is coming from your side. And, piloting military
aircraft isn't an "entitlement." It's an earned privilege.


Yeah but once you earn that privilege you are damn well going to fly whether
you like it or not. (grin)

Arthur Kramer

Well, I earned the privilege, but haven't flown as pilot in command in
many years. I never had the urge to go to work for the airlines and
there's nothing (short of maybe "warbird" ops) that would equate with
flying tactical jets.

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Well, I earned the privilege, but haven't flown as pilot in command in
many years. I never had the urge to go to work for the airlines and
there's nothing (short of maybe "warbird" ops) that would equate with
flying tactical jets.

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"



Ed Rasimus

Same with me. Never could get offered a pilot slot, bad timing, and the
thought of airline flying just does not do it for me.

Looks like I might just end up flying a DC-4 on fires this summer...




Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter

(Ron) wrote:
Ed Rasimus wrote:

Well, I earned the privilege, but haven't flown as pilot in command in
many years. I never had the urge to go to work for the airlines and
there's nothing (short of maybe "warbird" ops) that would equate with
flying tactical jets.

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"

Same with me. Never could get offered a pilot slot, bad timing, and the
thought of airline flying just does not do it for me.

Looks like I might just end up flying a DC-4 on fires this summer...

Haven't flown fighters like Ed but I have flown single pilot IFR
under Part 135 like you and no offense, but that DC-4 position
sounds like just another uneviable, low-pay, low-prestige yet
high-risk flying job. No thanks.

"Mike Marron" wrote

Haven't flown fighters like Ed but I have flown single pilot IFR
under Part 135 like you and no offense, but that DC-4 position
sounds like just another uneviable, low-pay, low-prestige yet
high-risk flying job. No thanks.

On top of that, very little is done to tame the fires. In most cases
the fires just keep burning until the weather changes. Water and
Retardant bombers are like ****ing on a house fire.

Haven't flown fighters like Ed but I have flown single pilot IFR
under Part 135 like you and no offense, but that DC-4 position
sounds like just another uneviable, low-pay, low-prestige yet
high-risk flying job. No thanks.

On top of that, very little is done to tame the fires. In most cases
the fires just keep burning until the weather changes. Water and
Retardant bombers are like ****ing on a house fire.

Well it depends on the situation. Retardant is rarely dropped on a fire
anyways. Its main use to to help get a fire under control so the people on the
ground can get a handle on it. On smaller fires, it definitely makes a big
different, but on larger firestorms like what was in San Diego last year and
Yellowstone in 88, they do not always have a big impact.




Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter

Subject: General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry
From: 362436 (Ron)
Date: 2/3/04 4:52 PM Pacific Standard Time

Looks like I might just end up flying a DC-4 on fires this summer...

Hey be careful. That can be dangerous.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Subject: General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry
From: 362436 (Ron)
Date: 2/3/04 4:52 PM Pacific Standard Time

Looks like I might just end up flying a DC-4 on fires this summer...

Hey be careful. That can be dangerous.



I certainly will. No fire is worth dying for.



Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Well, I earned the privilege, but haven't flown as pilot in command in
many years. I never had the urge to go to work for the airlines and
there's nothing (short of maybe "warbird" ops) that would equate with
flying tactical jets.

I dunno Ed, I know a few guys who flew fighters and this is what one
of them (a former A-7, F-106 and F-16 jock) had to say:

Q: So Jim how does flying a trike compare to flying a fighter on
the fun scale?

A: Equal, but different. Way different. I like all types of flying,
but they are all fun in different ways. Flying trikes is probably the
most natural sensation of flying like a bird, like you dream about,
of any form of powered flight I've ever experienced. Flying
fighters is like flying a Formula I race car with wings, except even
more physically punishing. There's nothing like being at 100' and
seeing the electrical line poles go by at 600 kts +, and there's
nothing like cruising along at 50 mph waving at people and
smelling the new cut hay and feeling like a puppy with your head
out of the car window. I'm happy to have had the opportunity to
experience both. I'd rate them both as 10's, but different forms
of fun. If I had to pick one to experience in life and couldn't do
the other, I'd pick fighters. Fortunately, I didn't have to pick just
one.

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"

I can understand that but I think there may be something else going
on there. In other words, maybe guys like you whom have pushed the
envelope so many times in combat sense deep down that it's simply
time to quit?

From: Ed Rasimus


On 03 Feb 2004 15:19:24 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

I think the parsing is coming from your side. And, piloting military
aircraft isn't an "entitlement." It's an earned privilege.


Yeah but once you earn that privilege you are damn well going to fly whether
you like it or not. (grin)

Arthur Kramer

Well, I earned the privilege, but haven't flown as pilot in command in
many years. I never had the urge to go to work for the airlines and
there's nothing (short of maybe "warbird" ops) that would equate with
flying tactical jets.

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8



But Ed, just think of the fun you could occassionally have had flying a
tactical profile with a fully loaded 747 as a way of brightening the day. Just
think of the screaming passengers as the noisemaker on your old 105.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On 04 Feb 2004 02:00:52 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

From: Ed Rasimus

People often ask, why I didn't go with the airlines and my answer is
always the same, "would you ask Mario Andretti why he didn't start
driving for Greyhound when he retired from racing?"

But Ed, just think of the fun you could occassionally have had flying a
tactical profile with a fully loaded 747 as a way of brightening the day. Just
think of the screaming passengers as the noisemaker on your old 105.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Got a ride of a lifetime in a VC-9 while at Hq USAFE running
exercises. Took a site survey team of twenty guys to Ovar Portugal to
look at the base for an F-111 deployment. On departure the F-111 guys
wanted to get some airfield photos, problem was a 500 foot ceiling in
light rain.

Sitting in the big leather first class arm-chair after takeoff with
the steward handing me my first scotch on the rocks, we took off (the
base is right on the Atlantic Coast) stayed low over the water, bent
around and return to overfly the base. Did three circuits, all below
the 500 foot ceiling. Thought he was going to put the wingtip in the
water, but that guy could sure make that ol' heavy dance.

The only part attractive about the 747 run came up when I was asking
ex-F-105 type Cal Tax, now Delta Captain what he grosses. The answer
was about $375K per year, but he does some extra on-call flying for
time-and-a half so it goes up nearer to $450K. I could do that, yes I
could! Nahh, too old now.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8