Merry Christmas to my Aviation Brethren!

Just wanted to make sure that I took the time to wish each and everyone of you a "Very Merry Christmas" and a "Healthy/Happy & Prosperous New Year." 

Your friendship, camaraderie and brotherhood have meant so much to me this past year.   

Addtional INTEL to "Hang'in with the EG"

 Well, to say that I enjoyed hav'in my buddy come all the way out to the Left Coast, away from his kin in Charlotte, is an understatement. He helped me out of a jam regarding adequate Safety Over-site on the Hot Ramp during the Pacific Coast's - Wings Over Wine Country" Airshow this past August. I couldn't have done it without his safety expertise.  As you can see, P-51's put a smile on his face too. 

But, I have to tell ya that I was completely taken aback when I learned that he was a closet "Charlie Brown" fan as well.  We had a great time time checking out the Charles M. Schulz Museum, and then took sometime out to have lunch at the "Warm Puppy Cafe" which has windows overlooking into Snoppy's Home Ice skating rink. The lunch wasn't half bad either. 
    

Here's one we both got a big chuckle out of too.

Jellystone Air Park: Hangin' With The EG

Jellystone Air Park: Hangin' With The EG: I love small town airports.  One thing I always look forward to when I visit the EG in sunny California is spending time at the Petaluma ...

Ole' Colleagues

Here's a short story for ya,

Well I was just laying around the house these few past evenings; yeah I'm still nursing that stubborn head cold. Anyway, idle hands are dangerous as you know, so here's my short story.

Last month I began teaching a Human Factors course to the AIRBUS pilots of the San Francisco base, and in one of my very first classes, there was a colleague of mine from Eastern Airlines sitting in attendance that day.

Now, some of you who follow the life and times of a Safety may have heard me say this before, but there aren't too many Eastern guys left at UAL, so I just had to get a picture of fellow United Airlines A320 Captain Tim Donohue. Let me just say right off the bat; he is an awesome guy and didn't seem to mind this "wet behind the ears" younger buck trying to facilitate Human Factors and Change Review to a well seasoned airline veteran like himself.  According to Tim, and a few other Eastern folk at United; I may very well be the last EAL pilot to leave United if/when they say I must go from the cockpit. It's suppose to be 65, but who knows for sure anymore by the time I get there.

The telling of stories

     This past weekend, my bride of twenty two years and I were talking about some of the past characters in our lives that we both have flown with over the years. For those that may not know/remember, my bride was a Pan American Stewardess.

That's right, a Pan Am Sky Goddess to be exact; check her out. Ain't she a beauty? 

    Anyway, we were reminiscing about those folks we worked with over the years; especially at PAA.  Seems like there just aren't enough characters in the airline buisness any more.

There were people such as Father O'Malley, Brent Justice, Kenny Terrell, Dan Linden, and Vance Warren. Each of these individuals brought something to your day; like Father O'Malley - he had a new dirty joke for you every time he saw you, it didn't matter how little time had gone by since the last time he had told you one. Now the NSEG may have flown Father O'Malley when he was flying as an Engineer on the AIRBUS A-300, so he might be able to provide more details for us what a great character he was back then.

So over the next several months, you may see a post pop up about someone we feel made a difference in our our lives; safe to say though, we'll try and write about them in a interesting and humorous manner.         

Ya'll be good now, ya hear! 

 

Strange place for an Out House

This past August, my family and I went on a road trip up the Northwest Coast line to Seattle to visit my wife's Sister. Needless to say, we had a great time visiting with our In-Laws.  I got to so the Boeing Everett Aircraft Plant tour,which included seeing the first two United Airlines 787's.  One was sitting outside getting its last set of flight tests I presumed and the other was number three in line to the exit, very cool. 

Anyway,  on the way back down south we took a detour off the big I5 highway somewhere right outside Eugene, OR for our last adventure.  We stopped in at Crater Lake, a lake that has only been in existence for about 850 years. What an awesome place, the water was crystal clear; cold as hell, but you can't have everything.  I took this shot as we were heading up the trail to where we had parked, because I thought that was a funny place to put an Outhouse. So I figured my friends from the Right Coast might get a kick out of it as well. What a view to do your best thinking I'd say; of course with all those people hanging around so close by, you'd have to keep the door closed for sure.   :))

Thanks for reading,   

the EG

The First Pilot Fee pay check

Well, I was rummaging through the Safety Pilot's treasure trough of stuff again, and came up with this little gem. This is the very First pay check that I received for services rendered; note the Pilot Fee notation. For the low low price of just a dollar a jumper, I was paid $11 on my first day.

I flew four flights that day consisting of three flights of four passengers and one of three passengers.

Now,... I know your scratching you heads right now trying to figure out whether my math is off, and I'll bet that you're even talking to the computer, trying to tell me in your own words "Hey EG, ya big dope - or least I know the Not So is, that three flights of four and one flight of three far exceeds $11.

The catch is, and I even didn't understand it until I got my first check, but as it turns out, I wasn't getting paid for the Jump-master which accompanies each flight.  But I figured that; where else could I get a half hour of flight time for each flight, and get Short-field takeoff experience associated with power-lines at one end and high trees at the other and get paid for it too.

So I stuck around for the weekend flying all summer. And NO, I never tried it. Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane, even if the engine quits.