lol

What are your thoughts on skydiving? I feel that skydivers and the aviation community are very closely intertwined and we (I'm a skydiver) greatly look up to and are thankful for the proficient pilots.

What are your thoughts on the state of the commercial aviation industry currently and its recent troubles? Are all the cuts and layoffs beneficial or are there obvious things the companies could be doing behinds the scenes to greatly alleviate the problems.

Thanks

P.S. Private license is on my to-do list in the next couple years!

One more question, what is the most desirable piloting positions? Chartered private jets? Commercial airlines? Cargo shipping pilots?

all the jump run pilots ive met were skydivers and a bunch of skydivers are pilots

ever had a UFO experience?

this post.

how painful is it when someone farts in a closed cockpit with no circulation

OP,
Have you died in a plane crash since starting this thread?

I'm (optimistically) assuming he posted the thread, went to bed, and is going to answer questions when he gets up today.

Probably, but it's more fun to bust his chops this way.

Brand new OOT guy, I'm willing to cut some slack as this has some excellent thread read possibilities.

also, he provided a shining example of how to make a good OP for an ask me thread.

Although there are varying degrees of competence (as in any job I suppose), I've never flown with anyone whose skills were so bad that I was overly concerned. I remember one instance, however, when I was checking out a new First Officer (that's what we call them, not "co-pilots") for my airline. Before we went flying he was making small talk with me and asked if I had ever been scared while flying this particular airplane. This question seemed very odd coming from another airline pilot. I considered and told him, honestly, that I could think of any such instance. Then we went to fly our 5 scheduled flights for that day.

It was a windy, gusty day and I flew the first round trip while he handled radios, etc and got a feel for line operations. Then I let him fly to Cleveland and told him that if at any point during the approach he was feeling uncomfortable to let me know and I was assume flying duties...it really was a windy day for a first time in the plane.

His approach was ok, but at about 25 feet in the air, over the runway, he chopped power which is the way you would do it in a light general aviation airplane, but definitely not in a larger transport category aircraft. We were falling like a rock for what was sure to be an extremely hard landing, if not an accident, when I shouted "I've got it" and applied some power to smooth out the landing, which ended up to be very acceptable due to this action.

As we taxiied, my mind was a cascading torrent of possible comments but I held it until we got to the gate and the passengers were getting off. Then I turned to him and said "NOW, I've been scared".

BTW, judgment is a completely different arena from skill and there have been a handful of guys who I wouldn't fly with as a passenger and wouldn't let anyone I cared about on their plane either. And I'm not the only pilot who feels this way about some of them.

Sorry to disappoint on the flight attendants (the new name for stewardesses), but I'm married and have been a good boy. Had a few opportunities but passed. Usually not hard on my airline as hotties as very few and far between. I do know of several other pilots who have "indulged".

This is so there won't be obstacles to a smooth evacuation in case it becomes necessary.

Might have helped with my wife, but that's it.

It might have scored me a suite at Caesar's once. I took my wife to see Cher's opening night there 2 years ago (that's how much I sacrifice for this woman) and because we flying non-rev (i.e. for free) and the flight were looking full, we couldn't be sure which flights we would get. Not wanting to check my wife's bag and it containing items that wouldn't get through TSA security, I wore my uniform so that I could take her stuff with me through the security checkpoints (pilots are allowed liquids, etc).

We made it to Vegas and there we are on line to check in at Caesar's, me in uniform. When we were about #4, a lady came over and took us out of line and led us to a door labeled something like "Platinum Members" (can't remember what it said for sure). I had no idea what this was about, but once inside they told us they were giving us a 2,200 sq ft suite for no additional cost. I wanted to know why, but didn't want to screw this up so I just happily accepted without a word excepts "Thanks".


Might have been the uniform or, as my brother later pointed out, might have been my last name which is not that common and is the same as one of the top guys at Harrah's (at that time).

Yeah, sucks doesn't it? At least on international flights we still get decent food. They have a menu in First Class that usually has 4 choices of entree and the pilots choose from this. Out of JFK, the steak is usually pretty good.

This is a result of cost cutting efforts. Ticket prices are much lower today than 20-30 years ago...something has to give so that airline management can make their million dollar bonuses.