Why do you fly?

[facthunter]

Thanks Tecky. Using an alternate with only a single runway and no way of clearing it quickly is questionable. In Europe there are runways everywhere. Australia has few that are close. . I was going Gove Darwin in a DC9 when a Mirage took out a few runway lights at Darwin. The runway is one of the longest in Australia, but they put an alternate on it.

 

Alternates for Alice Springs are Mt ISA or Adelaide. the Company want Mt Isa, but it's a single runway with only an NDB (at the time) No maintenance there. ADL is much better but a few more NM's. People in OPS Control are not pilots and often cannot see it through the eyes of pilots.. Nev

 

 

[dutchroll]

I have found the posts by Dutch and FH interesting and informative.

Thanks mate.

I know my posts - particularly those answering certain questions - are occasionally guilty of being a bit long, but the issues around the questions are often more complex than meets the eye, and I hate "editing" the info to dish out only part of the story!

 

 

[facthunter]

Posts here...? Mine don't impress me much but they just might point someone in the right direction here or there. In my early days I used to hang on the words of the instructors I respected and think carefully about the others opinions. I've been lucky to have the experiences I have had which are now unobtainable. A lot of money has been spent on training, and I've met a lot of people, in the game, some terrific and some full of BS. Perhaps that is a bit hard, but they should probably have done some other line of work It would only be a small.% about 5 perhaps. That's one in twenty. though. Nothing's perfect. We share the air and flying is something really different. I like the concept of "Airman" because that is the medium we operate in, and it really doesn't matter what type of aircraft you fly.

 

My association with my recent avatar "Dusty Crophopper' is that HE didn't belong in the company he went into either so we are both sort of misfits...Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Thanks mate.I know my posts - particularly those answering certain questions - are occasionally guilty of being a bit long, but the issues around the questions are often more complex than meets the eye, and I hate "editing" the info to dish out only part of the story!

Dutch, . . . occasionally, your posts are longer than MINE. . . . . only difference is that yours are informative and worth reading . . . . (. . .slinks back into the shadows. . . . . .)

 

 

[dutchroll]

Dutch, . . . occasionally, your posts are longer than MINE. . . . .

Geezus.....that's not a bar I was ever intending to leap!

 

 

[jeffd]

well im learning to fly so that 1 day i will get my raa certificate and then hope to meet a gorgeous young rich girl who is looking for a young hunky good looking guy who she will fall in love with. And if she doesnt then she could always consider going out with me.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Geezus.....that's not a bar I was ever intending to leap!

Dutch me boy, . . . . . . . .

 

I'm sure there was something about you that I liked,. . . . . . . . . . . but I can't remember what it was . . . . . . . .

 

 

[facthunter]

Blimey Geoff d. IF you aren't tongue in cheek you will need wiper blades on the INSIDE of the windscreen. Things have changed. You NEVER tell anyone you are a PILOT at Parties even. Even the little kids want to drive earthmoving equipment. IF you want to mix it with RICH ladies become a Gynaecologist or a GYM personal instructor . Nev

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Blimey Geoff d. IF you aren't tongue in cheek you will need wiper blades on the INSIDE of the windscreen. Things have changed. You NEVER tell anyone you are a PILOT at Parties even. Even the little kids want to drive earthmoving equipment. IF you want to mix it with RICH ladies become a Gynaecologist or a GYM personal instructor . Nev

I've got a nice tee shirt which has "The Aviator's Six Pack" on the front of it. . . . with a pictorial representation of same. . .( for all you non pilots,. . . I'm NOT going to tell you what that is. . . ) but since SWMBO bought it for me at Christmas six years ago,. . . . I've only ever worn it ( Visibly ) twice. This was at a couple of flying club bashes, and this is OK, because all the other people were either Pilots,. . .or their Husbands were. . . . . the rest of the time, it remains in the bottom drawer.

 

What was the old saying ? ? ?. . . .how do you know there's a pilot in the room ? ? ? ? ? . . . . . . He will TELL you. . . . ! ( ? )

 

I agree with Nev's post above,. . . . . in my experience, most kids want to be a copper, or a fireman, or a bus driver, a soldier, or BIG truck driver. . . . . I've yet to hear ONE kid say. . .when I grow up,. . .I wanna be a. . . . . . Pilot ? ? ? ? at my high school in the early sixties,. . . . EVERY MALE CHILD wanted to FLY FOR A LIVING. . . . . Wot the 'eck happened ? ? ?

 

Just doesn't figure . . .dunno why . . .any ideas ? What does the team think ? ? ? ( I shudder to ask. . . )

 

 

[ben87r]

Bit late to this thread, haven't had the time to keep up, but, as I type I'm sitting in a storage room in the office of one of our lovely aboriginal communities ( one of they fancy ones with interweb), about 10'by10' packed with all the stuff that has been broken, just finished a $7 pie that is guaranteed to make its presence known again on a 6hr wait and split shift.

 

I'll do a duty of 13hrs today to earn my wage which I found out yesterday puts me below the poverty line (which is $800 per week I read) after my previous income being more a day then I earn a week now, and it's will be 40 something in the shade. And I wouldn't change it for the world, I can't remember the last time I went to "work" I just see a day of being able to FLY!

 

It's great to read everyone's stories and remember that beyond everything we do this for fun! Even tho sometimes it has its moments.

 

 

[facthunter]

That sounds like risky stuff. eating a remote area pie. It's usually 2 degrees cooler each 1,000 ft you climb. If you like what you are doing that's the greatest reward. We all hope to get some pay for doing what we would pay to do. Nev

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Phil, when we were kids everyone's dad had been in the war. If they weren't Air Force, they had looked up and wished they were. This soaked into us without anyone noticing. I learned all the main types of aircraft from both sides from both World Wars and never stopped to think whether it was useful information. Now it is all long ago, most kids never met a pilot and dont think about flying at all. Out of five children and five sons/daughters in law I don't have one that considers flying as a hobby. That is zero out of ten, although the eldest first flew with me in a Cherokee in a bassinet when she was six weeks old. They come with me, rarely, to keep me happy I suspect. Some of them rode motorbikes in their twenties but gave it up in their thirties, none now rides. I'm lucky my wife rides motorbikes and is a happy flying passenger. She draws the line at caravaning, not the Grey Nomad type. And will not eat an Aussie meat pie.

 

 

[jeffd]

gynaecologist hey.hmmmm not qualified but i can take a look at it for u.i will keep that in mind

 

 

[Jabiru Phil]

gynaecologist hey.hmmmm not qualified but i can take a look at it for u.i will keep that in mind

Not all its cracked up to be

 

Phil

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

I've yet to hear ONE kid say. . .when I grow up,. . .I wanna be a. . . . . . Pilot ? ? ? ? at my high school in the early sixties,. . . . EVERY MALE CHILD wanted to FLY FOR A LIVING. . . . . Wot the 'eck happened ? ? ?

I'm going to quote a line from my favorite movie The Right Stuff, ......"no bucks, no Buck Rogers"

 

This only applies to flying as a civilian career not flying for FUN....