Pilots

[Bibs]

I know about a dozen active or retired pilots on TLF, and that's just the commercial ones. I'm sure many people on here fly for fun.

Who are you and what do/did you fly?

[Roger 912]

Way back in the 1980s I had a Cherokee 235 (ZS DTF) and sold that to purchased a Beach Baron B 55. Parted with that when I sold my company in 1985.

[Whirlybird]

10 years ago sold up a computer business and decided to have a trial flight. DON'T DO IT !

I was hooked, carried on and got my PPL(H) after 48 hours and then did all of the commercial exams, then became very ill for 6 months and didn't feel like carrying on when I was well again.

Just a fun thing for me. Can only fly a Robinson 22.

[Gonzo]

I used to fly hot air balloons - and had a Cameron V77 (if that means anything to anyone!) Did a lot of flying in the UK and France - and also flew in Canada (Ontario and Alberta).

I had a Pilot's Licence for Balloons and Airships - which has now lapsed through lack of flying hours (sigh...)

[arbell9]

I take the ladies to heaven and back occasionally with no auto pilot, does that count lol

I am stealing a black adder joke here:

Flashheart: The first thing to remember is always treat your kite [Whacks diagram with his pointer.] like you treat your woman [Whips the air. Hard.]

George: Ho-how do you mean, sir? You mean, um... you mean, take her home over the weekend to meet your mother?

Flashheart: No. I mean get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back!

Blackadder: I'm beginning to see why the Suffragette Movement want the vote.

Flashheart: Hey, any bird who wants to chain herself to my railings and suffer a jet movement gets my vote!

[73JPS]

I have been encouraged many times to look up Blackadder... I think this might just be the final push to do so!

[B1 RMA]

I went over to Fort Worth and got mine on an all inclusive two week holiday for about £1500 in the early 80's came back did a few hours to convert my FAA to CAA but didn't bother keeping it up.

[Bazza 907]

I landed a Boeing 777 at Heathrow a couple of weeks ago.

Shame it was only one of the amazing BA flight simulators though...

[Steve1]

I was a Ryanair Trolley Dolley for 2 years .. does that count. Just tell them hosties you've got the same car as in Pretty woman...Happy days

[73JPS]

Apparently professional pilots are notoriously cagey. For my part, I work in "high pressure aluminum tubing".

Actually, I'm the President of a company, and together with the CEO we manage roughly half a billion dollars worth of liability on any given day, though admittedly only on the days in which we are actually fully engaged with our company. This company is one of several hundred subsidiaries of a much larger concern.

The decisions that the CEO and I jointly make can determine whether or not our little concern makes money on a given day. Furthermore, should we make an egregious error, not only could we destroy our own company, but we could also impact the viability of the parent company and all of its subsidiaries; this of course pales in comparision to the idea that the same mistake could kill in entirety all of the customers engaged with our company at the time we made the mistake, not to mention ourselves.

Really, it's all about managing threats and errors, and to lesser extent risk. Good hands-on and technical skills are also helpful, and years of experience add to one's competence.

...not that anybody asked

I think I may have posted something like this before

[Shark Sandwich]

Apparently professional pilots are notoriously cagey. For my part, I work in "high pressure aluminum tubing".

Actually, I'm the President of a company, and together with the CEO we manage roughly half a billion dollars worth of liability on any given day,

... and if your CEO is anything like ours, I assure you that he does not see you as anything near his equal in this pursuit.

Cheers, from a 757/767 driver of the ones with the big blue tails out of Newark/NY.

Art

PS, Bibs, great seeing you at NEC last week.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Shark Sandwich

[wytco0]

I learnt to fly in 84, over the years I owned a ms880 on my own and later shared in 2 Cessna 172s and finally a TB20, I loved flying but it was expensive and with limited time it was often difficult to decide where to go so I would find myself flying somewhere for a cup of tea and then flying home.

I last flew on 11/9/2001 when I was ordered to land at the nearest airport on the way back from goodwood.

Now more interested in sailing ....

[ramjet]

I wanted to get my pilots license, but never did. Did pilot hang gliders though.

[Bibs]

PS, Bibs, great seeing you at NEC last week.

And you Art - you inspired this thread!

[Shark Sandwich]

And you Art - you inspired this thread!

Wow, I am honoured. Up to this point in my life I've really only ever inspired adolescent behavior and drunken debauchery.

For those that weren't at NEC, the TLF area was the best of the lot. Nice work and thanks.

Art

[Iconic Ride]

After routinely lowering the published runway touchdown zone elevation of numerous worldwide military airfields, utilizing the very obliging C-5A Galaxy over a period of several years, I convinced the apparently highly gullible personnel office of a large U.S. commercial carrier that they needed my talents to deliver their clients to destinations near and far, some quite exotic, others not so much. This I did for 27 years, in various aircraft (B-727, B-737, MD-88 and 90 (now technically a Boeing product by virtue of merger), B-757, B-767 100/200 (original and "Extended Range"  versions), moving about from S/O ("engineer") position to F/O ("copilot") to Captain ("El Jefe") as increasing seniority ("years of service") permitted. Eventually the fools in the home office allowed me to officially manipulate the controls from the left seat of a B-777, the closest thing to aviation nirvana that a commercial pilot will ever experience.

 

My final landing was a reasonably pleasing touchdown (no one was killed, and all baggage was accounted for) in the B-777 at Charles de Gaulle, Paris, France, in late October of 2005. I miss the profession fiercely, but will be forever grateful that I was granted the realization of a boyhood dream.

[basalte]

I took the controls of a Tiger Moth for ten minutes (well it semed like ten) at Duxford last year....looked down at the traffic below which was errr..travelling a trifle faster than the plane.

[Bibs]

John, is this you?

 

[ramjet]

That's the nose of a plane Bibs. (and they let you be the boss of this place?)

[Bibs]

specsavers.com

 

[Iconic Ride]

On way to airport for final retirement flight...

 

[ramjet]

Don't those canes for blind people fall under the same rule as using a mobile phone whilst driving? I would think that it would distract you from vehicle control? No?

[Iconic Ride]

The car is a piece of cake. It's the really looooong aircraft cane that is the greater challenge. And the wind noise is very annoying.

[ramjet]

Also how do you keep on using the cane after take-off?

Does it automatically lengthen by bluetooth connection to the aircraft altimeter?

Doesn't the drag on the length make it awkward to keep forward of the plane?

[Iconic Ride]

For those and many other reasons aircraft takeoff and landing canes are very expensive to produce and maintain. Among other things their design incorporates multiple "mini-thrusters" to keep them stabilized during flight. Very tiny internal computers, utilizing inputs from laser ring gyros, are constantly calculating relative wind forces and commanding the appropriate correction values to the thrusters, which run on hydrazine fuel stored in a hollow tube fuel tank within the cane itself. Lithium batteries are required to run the fuel control units and computers.

The unique reqirements of flight (i.e., altitude changes during takeoff and landing) impose the necessity for changing length "on the fly" as it were, neatly solved by the cane's telescopic feature, activated by small dedicated internal servos and elaborate gearing mechanisms.

As you can see, a great deal of technology is involved, with consequent manufacturing and maintenance costs. This is one of the many reasons that airfares keep creeping up. Highly sophisticated algorithms are employed by air carrier bean counters that constantly monitor the financial cost tradeoffs of keeping "seasoned" pilots in the cockpits, canes and all, versus hiring and training new (and younger, non "cane-dependent") pilots instead. This is where union dues play a major part in the shifting landscape of labor vs management issues.

It is a point of pride for a retiring pilot to bequeath his cane to a favoured junior pilot for that pilot's future use. Special "Cane Presentation" ceremonies are normally held at local taverns just prior to the senior pilot's retirement flight, though great care is taken to ensure that the ceremony is concluded well before departure time for legal reasons.

This is but a brief description of just some of the cane story. Much cane lore is purposely kept under wraps, as it is felt that the general public is not quite ready to accept some of the more interesting details.

Hope this helps.