Pilots

[Bullaholic]

How many pilots are on the 3ADL---private, commercial, or military---retired or veteran? fixed wing or rotary?

I am not a pilot, but if I was younger I would have had a license years ago. I just love airplanes--period.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
How many pilots are on the 3ADL---private, commercial, or military---retired or veteran? fixed wing or rotary?

I am not a pilot, but if I was younger I would have had a license years ago. I just love airplanes--period.

here's the two that I know of...


http://bbs.3adownlow.com/vb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=7337

http://bbs.3adownlow.com/vb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=7044

[Bullaholic]

I think Chief Woodman is a really active pilot too, Red.

I will never understand how those guys can drop a plane thru a solid cloud cover and line up perfectly with the end of the runway. I know it's all instruments---but, wow--what a leap of faith that is.

[JasperDog94]

There are two pilots for Continental Airlines in my ministry at church. As a matter of fact I just had lunch with one of them. That's not to mention the numerous air traffic controllers we have at the church as well. I like listening to their stories of some of the conversations that take place over the airwaves.:D

[ronwx5x]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
How many pilots are on the 3ADL---private, commercial, or military---retired or veteran? fixed wing or rotary?

I am not a pilot, but if I was younger I would have had a license years ago. I just love airplanes--period.

Bull, I received my private license at the age of 62. I'll wager that is older than you are now. All those young guys kept asking me how many hours of flying time I had thinking it must be 1000's. I do regret not doing it at an earlier age, but better late than never!

[waterboy]

The real question I have is how many of these pilots have seen UFOs.......:D

[JJWalker]

I was a pilot with North West airlines, until I accidentally shot a hole in the cockpit.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by waterboy
The real question I have is how many of these pilots have seen UFOs.......:D

Or could land a plane in the Hudson? :thinking: :D

[Bullaholic]

Originally posted by ronwx5x
Bull, I received my private license at the age of 62. I'll wager that is older than you are now. All those young guys kept asking me how many hours of flying time I had thinking it must be 1000's. I do regret not doing it at an earlier age, but better late than never!

Nope---I'm 62 and trying not to count.....:D You give me great hope, ronwx, but I've got some more working years before I quit and i don't know when I would find the time to get a license, much less fly.

[waterboy]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Or could land a plane in the Hudson? :thinking: :D
:clap: Those pilots there were SKILLED! "The Miracle on the Hudson" I will never forget!:clap:

Seriously, it seems that pilots seem to have seen more in the way of unexplained phenomena than your average joe, so I just wonder how many of them have actually seen something out ot the ordinary.:D

[JJWalker]

Originally posted by waterboy
... Seriously, it seems that pilots seem to have seen more in the way of unexplained phenomena than your average joe, so I just wonder how many of them have actually seen something out ot the ordinary.:D
No doubt ... one time on this layover in the Caribbean this sista flight attendant showed me a lil summin summin that was outta this world! ;)

[waterboy]

Originally posted by JJWalker
No doubt ... one time on this layover in the Caribbean this sista flight attendant showed me a lil summin summin that was outta this world! ;)
Really? That's definitely an unexplainable phenomena...:D Was she from the galaxy of Alpha Centauri?:D

[DDBooger]

Originally posted by waterboy
Really? That's definitely an unexplainable phenomena...:D Was she from the galaxy of Alpha Centauri?:D The Last Starfighter? great movie

[waterboy]

Originally posted by DDBooger
The Last Starfighter? great movie
I remember that movie......vaguely, but I do remember it....:cool:

[SintonPirateFan]

i fix what the pilots screw up....and i've flown in the back seat of an F-15 once....does that count?

[Halestorm]

Originally posted by SintonPirateFan
i fix what the pilots screw up....and i've flown in the back seat of an F-15 once....does that count?

I love stories of maint write-ups... "will not operate in the OFF position." don't get the weather guy started on pilots!

[ronwx5x]

And don't get the pilots started on the weather guys!

[gatordaze]

I use to have my lighter than air (Balloon License) when I lived in California.

[waterboy]

....and don't tell the tower about them alien encounters....:D

[Tired ole Bobcat]

I was not able to finish my privat pilot license, due to a little bundle of joy that came along before I took the check ride. I thougt I could survive the financial aftershock, but i could not weather the storm. I think the most scared you can ever be is about 10 or so hours into the lessons is when you taxi up to the hanger after a lesson and the instructor gets out of the plane and tells you to go take a couple of touch and goes by yourself. That is true hickey the seat time. Makes you see what you are really made of. Took my lessons in Piper Cherokee 140, call I. D. Cherokee 4578 Romeo, back in the late 60's. Wish I would have been able to have finished, but the joys my son has given me was worth it.

[SintonPirateFan]

Originally posted by Halestorm
I love stories of maint write-ups... "will not operate in the OFF position." don't get the weather guy started on pilots!


i was having to change a part in the cockpit on a redball once (pilot in the seat with engines running)... so i went to take the plug off the old part and it shocked me (115VAC 400 Hz). I jerked a little, and i hear the pilot giggle in the headset...."hehe, did it getcha?"

"yeah, it got me"

so i went down the ladder and got the new part, back up the ladder, and go to screw the plug on the new part and it zaps me again. more giggles. so i put my elbow down on the pilots knee and plug it back in again. he nearly jumps out of his seat, screaming bloody murder. "WHAT WAS THAT?!?!"

"hehe....did i getcha?"

[ronwx5x]

A story to warm the hearts of the aircraft maintenance guys.

I put in about 1100 hours in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom in the late 60's, early 70's. On takeoff once, shortly after liftoff and before the gear and flaps were retracted, there was a tremendous explosive noise and the left tachometer (2 engines) began bouncing between 50-75%. I immediately recognized it as a compressor stall due to some sort of engine damage and yelled at the front seater to clean up the gear and flaps and to shut the engine down. A couple of seconds later, I looked up to see the right engine rather than the left going to 0 on the tach and the compressor stall still booming in the other engine. I grabbed the throttles, yelled "wrong one" and shoved the right throttle back into full power. By now we were level at about 500 feet and turning back toward the runway. We sorted it all out, landed without further incident and the pilot asked me not to mention what had occured.

We later found out that the last maintence crew had left a speed bit in the intake and when we took off the engine ingested it, almost coming apart. Pure addrenaline rush, and watching what was happening, saved us from walking home from work. I have always wanted to keep my landings equal to my takeoffs and this one was too close for comfort.

I do appreciate all those guys who spend long hours out in all kinds of weather to keep 'em safe and flyable but it is not always the pilots who bang up the aircraft!

[SintonPirateFan]

Originally posted by ronwx5x
A story to warm the hearts of the aircraft maintenance guys.

I put in about 1100 hours in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom in the late 60's, early 70's. On takeoff once, shortly after liftoff and before the gear and flaps were retracted, there was a tremendous explosive noise and the left tachometer (2 engines) began bouncing between 50-75%. I immediately recognized it as a compressor stall due to some sort of engine damage and yelled at the front seater to clean up the gear and flaps and to shut the engine down. A couple of seconds later, I looked up to see the right engine rather than the left going to 0 on the tach and the compressor stall still booming in the other engine. I grabbed the throttles, yelled "wrong one" and shoved the right throttle back into full power. By now we were level at about 500 feet and turning back toward the runway. We sorted it all out, landed without further incident and the pilot asked me not to mention what had occured.

We later found out that the last maintence crew had left a speed bit in the intake and when we took off the engine ingested it, almost coming apart. Pure addrenaline rush, and watching what was happening, saved us from walking home from work. I have always wanted to keep my landings equal to my takeoffs and this one was too close for comfort.

I do appreciate all those guys who spend long hours out in all kinds of weather to keep 'em safe and flyable but it is not always the pilots who bang up the aircraft!

i've been told the F-4 is proof you can get a brick to fly as long as you put enough thrust behind it.

and you're right...its not ALWAYS "stick actuators" who break the jets. i can remember spending many nights cringing when i heard which crew chief was doing an engine run on a jet....because i knew he would turn on every system and "play" with them.

[ronwx5x]

The glide ratio of the F-4 without power is 3/2. Three feet forward for each 2 feet of altitude. That's probably very close to a brick. It was a great airplane, though. It might burn out from under you, but they rarely exploded. Enough power to "correct errors" and it could haul more ordinance than a B-17. Not very good weapons delivery system compared to today's high tech beasts, but state of the art for it's time.

I was about to be drafted when I graduated from Tech, so I decided that flying over jungles was better than walking through them, and I was correct. Even though I had the privelege of spending 365 days, 10 hours, and 21 minutes in Southeast Asia, it was better than a grunt's job for sure. Afterwards, I spent 3 years in Germany, accompanied by my wife, and I have never had more fun.

Makes me want to be young again!

[SintonPirateFan]

Originally posted by ronwx5x
The glide ratio of the F-4 without power is 3/2. Three feet forward for each 2 feet of altitude. That's probably very close to a brick. It was a great airplane, though. It might burn out from under you, but they rarely exploded. Enough power to "correct errors" and it could haul more ordinance than a B-17. Not very good weapons delivery system compared to today's high tech beasts, but state of the art for it's time.

I was about to be drafted when I graduated from Tech, so I decided that flying over jungles was better than walking through them, and I was correct. Even though I had the privelege of spending 365 days, 10 hours, and 21 minutes in Southeast Asia, it was better than a grunt's job for sure. Afterwards, I spent 3 years in Germany, accompanied by my wife, and I have never had more fun.

Makes me want to be young again!


japan still uses our old F-4s...they had a few at Kadena, Okinawa while i was stationed there. they got the job done, and made great innovation for future planes (we still use "F-4 tape"!!)

[ronwx5x]

Originally posted by SintonPirateFan
japan still uses our old F-4s...they had a few at Kadena, Okinawa while i was stationed there. they got the job done, and made great innovation for future planes (we still use "F-4 tape"!!)

USAF and Navy still use them, but as unmanned aerial targets. Some lucky guy gets to shoot down a perfectly good airplane for practice. There is actually a privately owned F-4 , belongs to The Collings Foundation, and it is available for airshows. Just too expensive for most places, though.

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tx_f-4dphantom.htm

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/in_airshow-f4.htm

[SintonPirateFan]

Originally posted by ronwx5x
USAF and Navy still use them, but as unmanned aerial targets. Some lucky guy gets to shoot down a perfectly good airplane for practice. There is actually a privately owned F-4 , belongs to The Collings Foundation, and it is available for airshows. Just too expensive for most places, though.

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tx_f-4dphantom.htm

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/in_airshow-f4.htm


yeah we used them as drones at Tyndall. pretty neat how they can do that.

[Ranger Mom]

Originally posted by SintonPirateFan
i was having to change a part in the cockpit on a redball once (pilot in the seat with engines running)... so i went to take the plug off the old part and it shocked me (115VAC 400 Hz). I jerked a little, and i hear the pilot giggle in the headset...."hehe, did it getcha?"

"yeah, it got me"

so i went down the ladder and got the new part, back up the ladder, and go to screw the plug on the new part and it zaps me again. more giggles. so i put my elbow down on the pilots knee and plug it back in again. he nearly jumps out of his seat, screaming bloody murder. "WHAT WAS THAT?!?!"

"hehe....did i getcha?"

LOL!! I liked that story!!!:)

[Bullaholic]

During WWII my dad was working on a radial engine whose mag was supposed to be switched off, but wasn't. The engine fired, the prop tip grazed the back of my dad's head cutting a gash, breaking his arm, and throwing him clear.

[waterboy]

You Marines out there will probably appreciate this story. I got it off another blog site and thought it was hilarious.
_______________________________________________

Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar . One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then it turned off.


Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location


Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander. The reply came back in true USMC style:


Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident.




You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down.




Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location.




Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.






The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech.




Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster.




Thank you for your concern.

[Halestorm]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ronwx5x
And don't get the pilots started on the weather guys! [/QUOTE

Tu che!

[SintonPirateFan]

just one of many great stories about the SR-71 blackbird... arguably one of the most amazing aircraft ever built.


One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. "Ninety knots," ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. "One-twenty on the ground," was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was. "Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground," ATC responded.

The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, "Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground." We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

[ronwx5x]

The "Blackbird" was an amazing aircraft, almost a spaceship. One of the oddest things about it is that when sitting on the ramp, the aircraft leaks fuel profusely. The root cause is that due to the extreme conditions it flys in, the various parts have to have room to expand and contract. The plane usually takes off, then immediately refuels while airborne.

People who flew it, loved the aircraft, but it was a very tedious, long, flight.