Aviation BS and Photo Thread

THAT’S AWESOME!!! Definitely not small news. I can remember back in 1987 when soloed...had a question, turned to ask instructor, had that oh shit moment.

 

OUTSTANDING!! That's no small news, or effort. My son-in-law got his PPL two months ago and is finishing his instrument rating in another week or so, then onto commercial and CFI, multi-engine, and then hopefully the airlines once he has the required flight hours. He's managed to accumulate about 200 hours of time so far. He's in South Florida.

 

The bodies aren't all that different from the mast forward, between the single and twin engine versions. I was surprised just how tight the cockpits were when I got to sit in them at the reception that evening. The Marine corps is responsible for the later versions being twin engines. Originally, the AH-1 was an Army gunship, and the Marines adopted it, but wanted engine redundancy since they flew more over water, from the assault ships, etc.. The two guys who flew this one in have both been in the Cobra for many years and have both done several combat tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. They said they were "too old" to transition to the Zulu model, not enough time in service left for them to justify the training. They said the Zulu is an entirely different beast; more power, flight characteristics are much different (4-blade composite rotor rather than 2- blade steel ones), and they have a much-upgraded avionics package. Neither wanted to quit flying, but they both said they needed to fly a desk now in staff positions in order to keep making rank. One was a Major, the other a Captain.
Another interesting thing about this reception was that one of the speakers that evening was a retiring Marine Lt. Col. who had flown this very helicopter in three combat tours (Iraq x2, Afghanistan x 1), and he is from our town. He is moving back here in retirement, and will become a corporate pilot for CommScope (fiberoptics company), flying a Challenger 300 bizjet. What a way to retire.

 

Those pictures remind me how much I appreciate my glass cockpit. It makes flying and fighting so much easier.

 

Okay, So maybe some of you can weigh in on this....

I am on a flight from Dulles to SFO and I got into a HUGE pissing contest with the Capt and head flight attendant on a carry on bag. There is a bag is on the aircraft without a positive passenger ID!

My concern was no passenger claimed the bag on the aircraft after 5 announcements over the PA so I'm told I can leave the aircraft and I refused since I’m a positive passenger match passenger. Then things went side ways fast as I asked if you ( the Capt is willing to jeopardize the passenger safety) for one bag? "FAA" rule says the bags must follow passengers right? airlines tend to be more forgiving with things when they are out of a passenger's control? I was not the only one who spoke up about this...

 

Edit: there's always 2 sides to the story.

 

Not really from a passenger stand point if the passenger a did not match the bag it’s should have not flown right? Even after the flight crew checking with passengers no one has claimed the bag!

 

Congratulations!

what are you learning in?

 

So the bag got left behind by a previous passenger? If you were failing to follow the instructions of the Captain and flight attendants then they were allowed to remove you from the flight.

 

Cite the FAA reg.

Like i said we only get a one sided account of what happened from someone involved, theres always side 2. Just because the crew made an announcement 5 times still doesn't mean that person wasn't on the plane. 99% of the time when I'm seated I have my headphones on and music blasting and dont hear any of the pre pushback or even in flight announcements. Could have been the case on this.

 

Tired of working. Time to go fly my 73 year-old airplane.

 

Not sure why the bag was left. All I did was a raise a concern in today’s see something say something world passengers are asked to do. therefore require that any en-route passenger flight-changes be also made to your bags as well.. so that both you and your bags fly on, and arrive on the same flight?

 

Looking through the 465,457 pages of TSA and airline protocols I’m sure there is Domestic and International flight operations operate on different programs. I do see that positive passenger bag match should always be top priority and bags should not move independently from their 'owners' on all flights From what I can see. That was mine and several other passengers concern. I’m sure you would not leave your bag unattended.

 

Carry on? If no one claimed it and no one had any info on it then I'd have left it.

 

But...I don't need to make those calls anymore.

 

Awesome. It’s a great accomplishment. Not small at all.

 

I passed 1000 hours

 

That's awesome!
I can still remember mine. 1978 in a 172. Vividly recall glancing over at the empty right seat and thinking wtf am I doing here.

 

Nice.