Wayne T Mathews

I find carrying an empty oil bottle helps (some may need the big mouthed type, of course) One old engineer I knew reckoned he had to leave a little oil in it for some reason. Something to do with lubrication, perhaps? The bragging bastard...

Would it be fair to say, airplane/aeroplane is along the lines of, and about as important as potayto/potarto? Would it also be fair for us to acknowledge that the Wright brothers are accepted as being the first to fly a fixed wing, heavier than air airplane? And does it matter whether the chicken or the egg came first? I must admit, I personally prefer the generic term, aircraft. In which all airmen, as John Magee so eloquently wrote in his poem, "High Flight",.... Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth...; .... And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

A wise old man once told me, "Helicopters do not fly, Son, they flagellate. They are a confidence trick being pulled on gravity. And they're as similar to an airplane as a blow fly is to an eagle."

Vouldn't it be easier if'n we just vent straight to German?

I realy really have double/single letter problems. On this forum I use google to check the word. Just type in the word and look at the options. Seems to work four me...

Methinks we're all on the same page here, but looking at it from different angles... Bottom line? Read, and then do what the manual says... However, when the manual has conflicting/confusing info as Eric pointed out in post #1, go to the man who wrote the manual and ask him to clarify. It usually works. For better or worse, the fact remains that the people at Jabiru know more about their engine than most of us can ever hope too. Having said that, my Dad used to tell an interesting story about the RB211 engines Cathay had in their L1011s back in the '70s. Cathay was having to change engines with about the regularity of an engineer changing his underpants, while JAL were getting tremendous results from the RB211s they had in their L1011s. It turned out the Japanese had drilled out the oil galleries in their engines to accomodate the Mobil Jet Oil II that they, and Cathay, were using in their engines. As you might imagine, Cathay got a tad beady about the oil galleries being too small, and there was some serious desk thumping going on. But Rolls Royce's answer was that the RB211 oil galleries had been designed to accomodate Castrol oil, not Mobil. Go figure! "It may be rubbish Old Chap, but at least it's British rubbish..."

It's been done Gerry, believe us... Maj's advice is good...

Can that happen?

Uh huh... But sometimes I have to use both sets of muscles at the same time... And that can be a not so pleasant experience. Especially if the wind has lumps in it...

After a very busy day, a commuter settled down in her seat and closed her eyes as the aircraft departed Boston for Atlanta. When the aircraft became airborne, the guy sitting next to her pulled out his cell phone and started talking in a loud voice. "Hi, sweetheart, it's Eric. I'm on the plane. Yes, I know it's six thirty and not four thirty, but I had a long meeting. No, honey. Not with that floozy from accounts...with the boss. No sweetheart, you're the only one in my life. Yes, I'm sure. Cross my heart," etc., etc. Fifteen minutes later, he was still talking loudly, when the young woman sitting next to him, obviously angered by his continuous diatribe, yelled at the top of her voice, "Hey, Eric, turn that stupid phone off and come back to bed!" Eric doesn't use his cell phone in public any longer. And then there's the true story that happened when I was in Dallas doing the DC10 Sim training during the Ryan International start-up back in '98. I'd been instructing all day. It was 10:00 PM. I was in my hotel room, tired, with a bourbon and coke on the table beside the students’ notes I was updating. The phone rang and I answered it. Some guy said, "I need to talk to Sherry." I said, "You've got the wrong number Mate. There's no Sherry here." And I hung up. I need to add here that at the time, there were about 50 trainee American Airlines flight attendants staying in the same hotel as us Ryan guys. Two minutes later the phone rang again and the same guy said, "I really need to talk to Sherry." "Honestly old Son," I said, "You've got the wrong number. This's my room and I promise you, there's no Sherry here, dammit." And I hung up again. Almost immediately, the phone rang again and the same guy was saying, "Stop messing with me Man. I really need to talk to Sherry." "Oh all right," I said in resignation, "but you'll have to wait because she's in the shower." I then put the phone down gently on the other side of the room, without hanging up, and went back to my paperwork and Bourbon. Over the years, I've often wondered who Sherry was, what she looked like, and if she was able to explain...

I have to tell you Ian, I've heard several times, from different people. "Hey Wayne, did you see such and such post on Rec Flying last night? Or whatever it's called this month..." I concede the comments are neither accurate or fair, but they do highlight the perception.

It does happen Solomon, but it's as rare as. When I joined Ryan International Airlines on the DC10 startup, there were a half dozen "Instant Captains" employed. Two of them were ex US Airforce KC10 Captains. One wound up being the DC10 operations manager, the other was advised to leave. So the answer is, yes it does happen, but it's pretty well got to be a start-up operation. And by the way, the fellow who was asked to leave, truly believed he was God's gift to aviation. He had a total of 2600 hours and his juniority shone through when from 3 miles out, he went round because the preceding traffic hadn't cleared the runway yet. He may well have been God's gift in the USAF (somehow I doubt it though) but he sure as hell wasn't in the commercial world. The man was a legend in his own lunchtime.

Wow! That video sums up and explains in less than 5 minutes, what John Naisbitt was predicting in the '80s in his megatrend books. It would appear that if having a ticket to fix toilets isn't already worth more than having a phd in underwater left handed basket weaving, it will be in the not too distant future... I find it interesting to note, there are three millionaires in my family. Two of them are plumbers, and the third was an engineer. I like to quote the youngest of them, Steve, a master plumber. He said, "Just 'cause I talk slow, doesn't mean I think slow." And he also says when asked why he became a plumber, "There's money in $h!t." To the best of my knowledge by the way, Steve hasn't touched a toilet that isn't his own, in over twenty years. He employs other men to do that now.

Ooh wargh,,, I don't want to be with you when you get your next ramp check GG... You're naughty...

I'll go off topic here, but I had to laugh at "the embarrassment of having used under pads in the garbage." It reminded me of an incident with my Grandmother, Chamie, when I was doing my apprenticeship. She was a total tea-totaller, bordering on wowser, but because I was her favourite grandson, she let me and my mate drink a couple of bottles of beer in her house which we'd brought with us when we went to visit her. Trouble was, next morning she asked what we'd done with the empties. I told her I'd put them in the garbage bin that was out the front waiting for the garboes pick-up. Old Chamie, at 82 years of age, bolted out the front as though she was being shot at. She dug the empties out of the bin and scurried over to her neighbours', Mr Andrews, and put them in his bin. When she came back inside, she scolded me big time, and informed me that she didn't want the garboes seeing empty beer bottles in her bin. It was alright for them to be in Mr Andrews' bin though, because the garboes already knew he drank...

Bloody bragart... You might think it's good exercise running around in the shower to get wet, but think about the water you're wasting... Shame on you. One day you'll have to think about being more eco responsable, which is what us big boys are doing.

Looking back over the years I have spent sitting behind and watching Professional Pilots, it is my opinion that the training military pilots get is the best there is. However, should you choose to go that way Solomon, you will face two massive challenges. The first will be getting selected. The second will be completing the training. Having said that, I'll now say that I don't know, nor have I ever met anyone who knows for sure, how a young person can guarantee being selected for military pilot training. But I can tell you for sure how not to get selected, Solomon. Not getting selected is easy. Just don't try. Not trying will positively guarantee you do not get selected... djpacro has given you some good advice here, Mate... Act on it if you're serious about being a commercial pilot.

Would that work?

Aargh come-on, Turbs,,, give the guy a break,,, he's building up to it... Or paring down to it, as the case may be, for from what we've heard, he's busily loosing weight... Let's face it, the Harley isn't causing that to happen. The Harley doesn't give a rip how fat a bloke is... Our Old Man Emu is still a birdman though. It's just that his current chick magnet happens to be flightless...

You tell us, Scotty... Don't pull any punches, just tell us like it is...

Nev is telling you like it is Solomon. You have to make it happen. If you want someone else to pay for your training, you're going to have to get your $h%t together and convince them that you're the best man for them to invest in, for that's what they're doing. They're investing in you. And that's going to take serious planning and effort on your part to convince them that you'll repay them their investment. But if you want it bad enough young man, and you put in the effort, it can be done. Especially through the millitary.

Man! Ain't that fantastic? It's stagering to think how many millions of dollars are sitting there not doing anything anymore. Their usefullness over, but their contribution to who and what the Americans are is not being forgotten...

Oh all right... But I'm not sure my mother's going to like me being in a club that you're a member of... Can't stay chatting. I've got to go and do some more airwork with the blonde this morning...

Oh stop it you beast David. You're doing it again. You're applying logic. And nobody else can win when you apply logic... You know as well as I do that the Italians' English is not so good. When they say "cruise speed", they mean Vmo... Now,,, play nice David,,, no naughty natter, y'hear?...

Thanks Lyle. And a big thanks to Dexter when you see him please. I'm sorry FL, I don't know of anybody else who filmed it other than NBN news from Tamworth, but I haven't got a clue how to access their online video stuff.