Back to Primary

The first officer I flew with two weeks ago is big into radio controlled (RC) airplanes and talking with him rekindled my interest in this hobby. Things have come a long way since I was flying RC in college and my early years with the Navy. Back then it was all nitro-burning engines and dubious range on the analog radios. Now, over 30 years later, brushless electric motors power the panes and 2.4 gHz radios provide incredible range. I ordered a ready-to-fly (RTF) T-28 done up to look just like the Navy birds I learned to fly in primary flight training. The picture on my den wall is one that hung in the Whiting Field barber shop that Michelle made a copy of for me. It was taken in 1980, the same time I was there. So far, two flights and no crashes...

Cooling off

It's finally starting to cool off in Phoenix and Fort Worth after a long hot summer. Here's a picture of the tube (fuselage) almost loaded. The floor has rollers on it to facilitate loading. The loader broke last night in El Paso, causing a delay getting to Phoenix. One more night for this week's flying.

9/11

I'm deadheading to Phoenix tonight on Southwest. The tone is somber as everyone remembers ten years ago (can it really be that long?). I was mowing the yard in Bryan Texas when our neighbor Kay came running over to tell me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Everyone still thought it was an accident until the second tower was hit as well. Truly a horrific day seared into every one's minds, changing the nature of travel in this country. As with two World Wars and several "police actions," a little bit of our national naivete slips away, and this little piece was, I think, the romance of easily traveling by air. It's such a pain now that many of us dread what was once fun. And even though Bin Laden is now dead, things will never ever go back to the way they were. That's a shame, but pales in comparison to the lives we've lost in Iraq, but don't get me started...

Evidently, pilots ain't too bright

Thank you Boeing, that's most helpful!

This morning, pleasantly giddy with sleep-deprivation and last-night-of -the-trip anticipation, I found the label on the outside of my sliding side window particularly humorous. The thing is, this warning explicitly means that someone, sometime, somewhere tried to takeoff with the window wide open. How embarrasing that must have been! Also included is a picture of the massive American Airlines depot level heavy maintenance hangar just across the taxiway from our ramp at Fort Worth Alliance.