Scudrunners

[quote]those "real" pilots were in the [i]minority[/i] in the day[/quote]

Sure, but they are virtually zero percent today.  There
might be one or two from hated aviation families (mason,
hinton), but that's it.

I just read about an FTU student taking 300 hours
to PPL.  That's (300-50)=250 x $200/hr = $50,000
extra.  That's a problem.

People don't get trained to be pilots today.  They
get pieces of paper which are nearly worthless in
my opinion, because airplanes can't read.

Aviation isn't about airplanes.  It's about paperwork
and the people who push it.

Shit, both you are I were [u]Authorized Persons[/u], for
God's sake.  I used to issue type ratings on Russian
ex-military jets.  How insane is that?

Funny paperwork story for you.  After I left, a bunch
of guys wanted their L29 type ratings.  They brought
in the [i]one guy[/i] in Canada that could do it, as far as
they could tell.  He issued them their L29 type ratings
and a while later, TC phones up and says that the
guy who did their type ratings, at his last medical,
even though the doctor renewed his category one,
TC disagreed and [i]retroactively downgraded[/i] his
medical to category three, even though his booklet
was stamped category one.

So, too bad, so sad, those L29 type rating don't
count (need CPL/ATPL signoff), you have to do them
all over again with someone else.  Good luck finding
such a person.

What a great "fuck you" from TC.  All that money
and time down the drain - an extra tax, if you will
and there's nothing Canadians love more than big
government and high taxes.

Paper-pushing penguins.

I shouldn't do this but...


Sounds kind of like they don't want the L -29 flying in Canada anymore.

[quote]today's pilots suck at stick & rudder, at least compared to my father's generation of pilots.

Those guys could [i]fly[/i][/quote]

[img width=500 height=332][/img]

[img][/img]

[img width=500 height=292][/img]

The last guy:

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Gr ... n.22_F-104]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Gr ... n.22_F-104[/url]

1000 mph at low altitude, world record, still stands.

Civilian, built an F-104 out of spare parts from junkyards.

It sounds so incredible, like a cheesy Disney movie.

You think today's generation of facebook four bar
candy asses could ever do anything like that?  Build
your own 1000 mph jet out of spare pieces and fly it
to a world record?

[quote]He built the Starfighter by collecting and putting together a myriad of parts over a 13-year period.

The cockpit side panels and some control column bearings of the Red Baron came from the very first production F-104A, which crashed in Palmdale, California 22 years earlier.

The tail of the Red Baron, minus stabilizers, came from a junkyard in Ontario, California.

The stabilizers and some nose wheel parts were from scrap piles in Tucson and Homestead, Florida.

The idler arm for the elevator controls, the ejection seat rails and some electrical relays came from an F-104 that crashed and burned at Edwards Air Force Base on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

Greenamyer got his throttle quadrant from a Tennessee flying buff he met at the Reno National Air Races.

The trunnion mounts for the nose gear, some of the cooling-system valves and a few relays on the Red Baron came from a 25-ton pile of junk that Greenamyer bought at Eglin Air Force Base.

In a swap with NASA, he obtained the nose of a Lockheed NF-104A, with its reaction controls[/quote]

They didn't call them "The Greatest Generation" for nothing.

[quote]But there may never have been a generation when the ratio of honorable men to slackers was higher than the one born between 1914 and 1929.

These were the men that grew up during the Great Depression.

They’re the men who went off to fight in the Big One.

And they’re the men who came home from that war and built the nations of the Western world into economic powerhouses.

They knew the meaning of sacrifice, both in terms of material possessions and of real blood, sweat, and tears.[/quote]

Fast-forward to today, when some hero takes 300 hours
to get a PPL in a 152.

NB  Just the [i]photographer [/i]of the F-104 ... Tom Delashaw,
F-4 fighter pilot, 300 missions over Vietnam.

I suspect Greenamyer is the only person who ever did that with a 104. I also don't think he could do it now, I am certain there is an even bigger lack of scrapped 104 parts than there was back then. "Traded parts with NASA." That was awesome!

Having said that, I sort of see your point.

I met a young pilot, who worked in the wash bay part time where I was working a couple years ago. Have not seen him for a while but I like him. He was saying he would rather work in the office at his flying job because a few of their King Airs did not have auto pilots.

Nice guy, but I even asked, "Why are you a pilot if you don't love flying?" Obviously the money is not great, he was working part time in a second job where the pay is horrible. To be honest I don't remember the explaination.

[quote]I also don't think he could do it now[/quote]

Times change.  Some things get better, some things
get worse.

I'm sure the [b]Good Canadian[/b] experts would be frightened
and disagree, but I think I have enough L29/L39 time
to start looking at a MiG-21.  I have always wanted to
go supersonic under 50 feet.

If you think about it. that's kind of the purpose of the
L29/L39 - a stepping stone to MiGs and Sukhois.

I'm told the cockpits are even laid out the same,
for that reason.

One of the clients I did a type rating for had an awesome collection of aircraft including a Mig21, it is a fearsome looking beast.


He also had four F 86's and a F 100 Super Sabre another awesome looking machine.


But the one that really gave me a hard on was his Huey Cobra.

[quote author=Chuck Ellsworth link=topic=6263.msg16730#msg16730 date=1495391497]
One of the clients I did a type rating for had an awesome collection of aircraft including a Mig21, it is a fearsome looking beast.


He also had four F 86's and a F 100 Super Sabre another awesome looking machine.


But the one that really gave me a hard on was his Huey Cobra.
[/quote]


Chuck -- remind us. How many types flown, and how many countries flown again?

[quote]Chuck -- remind us. How many types flown, and how many countries flown again? [/quote]


I can't remember.


But I was based at that airport where the Colonel posted the picture of the 747 landing on that narrow runway.


It is the Rand airport in South Africa.


And yes that runway is narrow, real narrow.

[quote author=Chuck Ellsworth link=topic=6263.msg16732#msg16732 date=1495393231]
[quote]Chuck -- remind us. How many types flown, and how many countries flown again? [/quote]


I can't remember.


But I was based at that airport where the Colonel posted the picture of the 747 landing on that narrow runway.


It is the Rand airport in South Africa.


And yes that runway is narrow, real narrow.
[/quote]


You were based there.  He posted the picture.


Think the point is clear, anyway.


I suspect your types, and countries are just a few more than the Pitts experts.


Let me ask you this: Does being an expert Pitts pilot make one completely experienced and the sole word on all things and all types of aviation, from the jungles to the Antarctic?


Don't have to answer.


On another note, I don't get why safety , and safe operations is ever equated with being a pansy ass as is promoted on this blog.


I've got friends, like you have done Chuck, who are doing flying in the worst bad ass places. They are not pansies. One of them did around 900 hours in PNG. This year.  Let me know who else is doing that, single engine. 




And their number one message is safety. They use checklists (quickly, to be sure) and do weight and balance. 


Not Cowboys. Not pansies either.


I really despise the message being sent that to be a REAL pilot, you throw safe ops out the window.