Scudrunners

I told Chuck I’d write this down so here goes.  The story itself is nothing special but the story of the story always makes me chuckle.


I was probably twenty one or twenty two and was at the Bushplane Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, certainly near the Fox Moth they were restoring but I forget if I was actually involved with the project at that point.  I don’t think I was yet.  Anyways, it seems most people in biplane restoration circles are in their seventies and if you’re not it’s hard to be credible among folks you’ve never met before.  There was a fellow from out of town talking to the main restorer of the Fox who had done some old airplane work of his own and he was clearly name dropping a bunch when he dropped the name of a fairly prolific restorer I also knew.  Trying to gain some credibility I mentioned I knew him too.


I just get a look back that screams, [i]No you don’t, kid.[/i]


So now I’m trying to back up my story with the situation and clearly without thinking what that situation was before I opened my mouth.  I told him I had seen him just the weekend before.  He looks at me like I’m a pathological liar, because that’s exactly what one would say.


I tried to expand on it with, “No, really, I flew up to his farm.”  Another look of doubt.


“I flew up in a borrowed Tiger Moth.” I think eyes were rolling by this point.  You know, because who wouldn’t lend a seventy year old airplane to some dumb kid?  Then I went for the truly surreal.


“I was delivering a pot of chilli.”


At that point I probably wouldn’t have believed me either.

There is more BS in aviation than in any other human activities
that I have participated in, with perhaps the exceptions of child
rearing and offshore boat racing.

It is nearly an epidemic, how pilots with just a [i]little[/i] bit of skill,
tell you that airplanes that they fly are [b]FIRE-BREATHING DRAGONS[/b]
in order to try to raise themselves in some pilot hierarchy that exists
only in their brains.

What BS.  They're fucking [i]trainers[/i], for God's sake. I take great
pleasure in debunking bullshit artists, who hate me for it.

The pilots who have the real skill to fly true fire-breathing dragons -
Bob Hoover, Steve Hinton, Rob Holland - never lay that bullshit
on you when you talk to them.

Learn about different flight control responses.  Learn about aircraft
systems.  Fly more.  Fly more types.  This isn't fucking rocket science.

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=8631.msg23742#msg23742 date=1529937866]
It is nearly an epidemic, how pilots with just a [i]little[/i] bit of skill, tell you that airplanes that they fly are [b]FIRE-BREATHING DRAGONS [/b]in order to try to raise themselves in some pilot hierarchy that exists only in their brains.
[/quote]
I'll be the first to tell you that most idiots can do the stuff I do.  If it was impossible I wouldn't be doing it.

Probably one of the funniest reports I have read on this subject ....

A pilot had a landing gear actuation failure, so he resorted to
pumping the emergency landing gear handle  As per his training
(on another type) he pumped the handle around 50 times or so,
and he was exhausted from the exertion.

Turns out though, that [i]each throw[/i] of the handle actually lowered
the landing gear, so our muscular hero actually raised and
lowered the landing gear 50 times as he was frantically
pumping away.

Learn your aircraft systems.  Or you might end up landing NORDO
at SFO without a clearance.  No names mentioned, but AC's reputation
isn't exactly the best around here.

As long as the gear was down and the plane was landed safely I'd say it's better that he cycled it 50 times. Excercise is good.