Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Anyone a Republic employee past or present?

 

My best friend is wrapping up training with them right now

 

Contemplating a life event change...Might go through the Lift Academy....

 

I was a mechanic for them and have a friend that was a pilot who flies for American now. It’s a decent stepping stone.

 

They both outsource a majority of their work, so it’s basically the same. A lot of the bad allegiant reputation came from their old as dirt MD-80s which they’ve been phasing out I believe. They might be all gone by now.

I can say I know a hand full of mechanics that work for allegiant now and they say it’s fine as far as the safety culture on the floor.

 

This is a level headed summary of the industry. I regularly fly on AA, Delta, United, JetBlue & very rarely SW, only twice on Alaska. My preference is United, JB & AA because of the status I have with United & AA, but JB offers a great customer experience - even without a first class cabin (they do have Mint though), but everyone gets free wifi, and in seat entertainment. With that being said, I have experienced delays on all of them. JB is the only one that offered a cash credit for the delay, and it is in their passengers bill of rights. When one of my United flights was delayed 12 hours, all I got was a "Thanks for flying the friendly skies." from them.

Flying yourself is always the first choice, but often not feasible because of time, weather and other logistics.

 

We have a bunch of corporate perks on Delta flights so I try to fly that as much as possible. Can't say I have had a bad experience with them. Alaska has been fantastic as well, and as a Seattle native, if I can fly with them I do.

AA can go screw themselves. Seat pitch and width is comically small in their aircraft. AND the event that made them my nemesis was on a return flight to SLC, there was 20 of us on an entire 737. BUT I couldn't sit in the exit row because that was a "premium" seat...on an empty AF flight...

The ONE thing I do like about AA is they are honest with their boarding groups. I was freaking out because I was zone 6 and wasn't gonna be able to use the overhead space. Turns out the first 5 groups are all the elite member groups, etc. Somehow, being group 1 and then having 1000 priority groups ahead of you always feels a little patronizing to me on the other major carriers.

 

Was it the gate agent or the flight attendant that wouldn’t let you sit in the exit row?

 

@MatthewMay1 this your home right......

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-small-plane-crash-airport-hangar

 

Yep, I got to the airport for my trip right after this happened this morning. Airport was shut down for a little bit and delayed us for about 30 minutes. Truly a tragic event and a good thing there wasn’t anybody in the hangar. That hangar usually holds a BBJ 737, a Falcon 900 and a Bell helicopter. Lucky for the hangar owner, the BBJ was gone on a trip and the helo was mostly safe. The Falcon will probably be a write-off though, it looked pretty mangled when I taxied by.

 

Also, I taxied by the BA 747 in Houston today and discovered that that airport is not very GA friendly. I don’t understand why pax request we fly there. We wasted so much time taxiing around in lines of planes

 

Be still my heart... I'm a huge Navion dork... More than 20-30 made.

https://www.twinnavion.com/aircrafthistories.htm

 

Question for you, uh, experienced guys. Eyesight after 40. I still have right at 20/20 vision in both eyes, but danged if I can read anything up close anymore. The panel is far enough away that it is clear, but anything I hold in my hand or on my lap is very hard to read. I have everything as big as it will go on foreflight and still have problems reading some stuff in flight. Checklists are difficult.

I'm about to order a pair of these sunglasses with the 1.5+ reader and wonder what has worked for some of you.
https://flyingeyesoptics.com/product/golden-eagle-sport-non-rx-bifocal/

 

Just turn 46?

 

48. Been an issue for a couple of years but I need to do something about it now.

 

Yup, for guys the age is 46 that it starts to go south. Can't help you on the glasses question really, I refuse to wear mine (prescription) as I think they cause further deterioration. I just use a larger font.

Darkness vision issues will be your next hurdle. Do what's safe for you and the airframe, I'm just a vain sob

 

The biggest problem I have is I read the panel just fine, and if I have time to look at what's in my hand, I can read it. Quick glances at anything in my hand/lap though are useless. Most of foreflight can be enlarged, but some things are still hard to make out. I'm going to try the reader sunglasses and see how that goes. I hate spending that much on a pair of glasses that I may not like, but I feel I've got to do something. I've noticed passengers don't like it when I hand them something and ask what it says.

 

LOL, well this IS where all the pilots hang out so...I'd say you're in good company.

We all fancy ourselves as looking half as cool as Robin Olds.

 

Pfftt, half as cool? I extended the stache to handlebar...I'm twice as cool!

 

I can't do much about the looks, so I ride my motorcycle to the hanger, Top Gun style.