irrational fear of flying

[thollandpe]

An old boss recently passed away. He was Polish, and was sent to a Siberian gulag after the Nazis invaded. He escaped to England and joined the RAF. He was initially a tailgunner and then flew Lancasters. Fuck you, Nazis!

Roman Golicz Obituary - Clinton, CT | New Haven Register

PS Those four Merlins did a job on his hearing.

[GeneK]

When I read an obituary like that it makes me feel small.
The greatest generation indeed.

[rwsaunders]

Saab...there are some side hustle piloting opportunities for you in Karachi...

Nearly a Third of Pilots in Pakistan Have Fraudulent Licenses, Government Says - WSJ

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/w...ary-Report.pdf

[72gmc]

PS Those four Merlins did a job on his hearing.

I know what you mean, but still ... at the right distance ... a Merlin is pretty good on the ears.

[Saab2000]

Saab...there are some side hustle piloting opportunities for you in Karachi...

Nearly a Third of Pilots in Pakistan Have Fraudulent Licenses, Government Says - WSJ

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/w...ary-Report.pdf

This is one reason folks have made comments about some parts of the world's aviation that have occasionally been taken as prejudiced at best or racist at worst. It was recently discovered in India that one airline had all kinds of pilots with falsified documentation. This is almost unheard of in North America and Europe. I've also never heard of this coming out of Japan. Record keeping in these places is immaculate. Some places are in fact more reputable than others.

This Pakistan accident appears to be almost unbelievable in 2020 in terms of terrible human factors and bad judgment.

[TMB]

An old boss recently passed away. He was Polish, and was sent to a Siberian gulag after the Nazis invaded. He escaped to England and joined the RAF. He was initially a tailgunner and then flew Lancasters. Fuck you, Nazis!

Roman Golicz Obituary - Clinton, CT | New Haven Register

PS Those four Merlins did a job on his hearing.

An uncle of mine was a research scientist (satellite wave analysis), he spent far too many years hopping back and forth across the Atlantic as a passenger on military airlift craft. Prop jobs and unpressurized jets.

In his later years he was essentially as deaf as a post.

[rwsaunders]

Just when you thought that it might be safe to fly again...Jetpack spotted flying at 3,000’ over LAX.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/fli...r-lax-airport/

[thollandpe]

Seriously?

The seven-hour flight to nowhere departs from and arrives at the same airport. “The 134 available seats on offer quickly vanished at prices that ranged from $787 to $3,787 in Australian dollars, the equivalent of $575 and $2,765, according to Reuters.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...mains-stalled/

[Matthew Strongin]

Seriously?

The seven-hour flight to nowhere departs from and arrives at the same airport. “The 134 available seats on offer quickly vanished at prices that ranged from $787 to $3,787 in Australian dollars, the equivalent of $575 and $2,765, according to Reuters.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...mains-stalled/

That is offensive on multiple levels.

[jclay]

Just when you thought that it might be safe to fly again...Jetpack spotted flying at 3,000’ over LAX.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/fli...r-lax-airport/

That’s all you need; hit an object that isn’t supposed to be there!

Happened to my father in the FL1 Sabreliner on approach to Miami in the late ‘70s. Popped out of a cloud and whistled by a VFR Bonanza flying IFR conditions, close enough to make out the rivets. Probably happened more than once since he used to note a preference for crap weather because "the amateurs are the ground".

It's fine to do stupid things for fun, just do'em so you don’t kill anybody else if you screw up.

Some time after the Eastern 401 disaster Mrs. Askew said “Bob, if you ever have any problems up front I’ll watch the ground for you”. No guarantees but early gray hair on someone who’s been shot at is my preference for the left front seat; it's old school and hard to come by anymore.

Hmm...Suddenly a sobering thought; Florida once had the likes of Rubin Askew and Bob Graham as governors; now we have DeSantis, on the heels of Rick Scott. You can sure come down in the world if you're not careful.

[busdriver1959]

“No guarantees but early gray hair on someone who’s been shot at is my preference for the left front seat.”

One of the best captains I’ve worked with was a woman with a civilian background and no gray hair.
I’ve worked with former U-2 pilots, SR-71 pilots, presidential pilots, Elvis’ pilot, Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and an Astronaut. Great pilots in either seat don’t look a certain way. They don’t share a certain age, race, gender or type of background.

[Scott G.]

Great pilots in either seat don’t look a certain way. They don’t share a certain age, race, gender or type of background.

But they all sound like Chuck Yeager in an emergency, they talk nice and slow.

[Saab2000]

I’m out of flying for the moment (please remove the thing below my name - it’s how I feed myself, not who I am). But I’m still current, for the next 60 days or so. I expect to lose my currency and have to go through a full re-training at the end of my sabbatical, which is, thankfully, for the moment, voluntary.

Yesterday the administrator of the FAA took to the skies at the controls of a 737 MAX, the sub-variant I don’t know. This was referred to me by someone who is at the periphery of our industry as a publicity stunt. I reminded him that this FAA administrator is a graduate of the USAF Academy, formerly an F-15 pilot and also formerly a pilot at Delta and was a qualified 737 pilot while at Delta, making him perfectly qualified to take the controls of this aircraft, even if it is a publicity event. If ever a public servant is highly qualified to do a job, this may be that time. It’s not just smoke and mirrors here. Of course the work to recertification needs to continue but I am optimistic it will happen and I can again sit at the controls of a MAX-7 or -8. I enjoyed flying them for the few months I did so.

I’d like to get back to my job eventually participating in creating irrational fears about it. Overall it’s been a great ride though the last year was challenging at times. I hope to get back at the proper time.

[jclay]

“No guarantees but early gray hair on someone who’s been shot at is my preference for the left front seat.”

One of the best captains I’ve worked with was a woman with a civilian background and no gray hair.
I’ve worked with former U-2 pilots, SR-71 pilots, presidential pilots, Elvis’ pilot, Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and an Astronaut. Great pilots in either seat don’t look a certain way. They don’t share a certain age, race, gender or type of background.

Re my comment: That was merely my imperfect way of opining that lots of experience including dealing with serious problems aloft tends, on balance, to be a good thing...assuming they didn't generate the problem in the first place. Race, gender and "looks" obviously mean nothing.

Of course there are exceptions as amply demonstrated by the B-52 driver who's history of poor/dangerous judgement led him crash at Fairchild AFB in '94; and perhaps I overrate the judgement of ex military pilots in general. I do get tired of commercial pilots who like to show that they can load the wing.

[Saab2000]

I do get tired of commercial pilots who like to show that they can load the wing.

Can you give examples of this? In every job I’ve had people fly the profiles and procedures, flying the flight director pitch and roll commands. Never greater than 30° of bank or more than 20° of pitch. This is light wing loading.

[jclay]

Can you give examples of this? In every job I’ve had people fly the profiles and procedures, flying the flight director pitch and roll commands. Never greater than 30° of bank or more than 20° of pitch. This is light wing loading.

Occasional roll rate exuberance; not often but every now and then. Not a safety concern, just enough effervescence to wonder if that little bit of snap into a turn was really necessary or are y’all just having a little fun?

[busdriver1959]

“Of course there are exceptions as amply demonstrated by the B-52 driver who's history of poor/dangerous judgement led him crash at Fairchild AFB in '94.”
As a former BUFF pilot, that video pisses me off every time I see it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you can’t roll into 90 degrees of bank that close to the ground in an airplane with a 2G limit and no ailerons. The Air Force has a history of tolerating the behavior of dumbasses until they kill others and then wondering why it happened.

[rwsaunders]

KC135T Stratotanker doing some low altitude maneuvers over my house this evening...I thought that someone was going to land in my yard.

[rwsaunders]

They’re baaaaaack....I think that I saw black helicopters too.

[gregl]

They’re baaaaaack....I think that I saw black helicopters too.

There used to be some aerial refueling tracks over central PA. One of the coolest sights I ever saw from the flight deck was a KC-135 refueling a B-52 over central PA. I was in a Sabreliner enroute to Burlington, VT. We were well above the KC-135/B-52 and about 3-5 miles to the south, but our courses and speeds were nearly the same. We were able to watch them for several minutes before our paths diverged. Just an amazing display of piloting skill for us mere mortals.

Greg