Aviation BS and Photo Thread

My ears are still F'd up some 30 plus years after listening to F4's flying over MCAS El Toro . My barracks and shop was not to far from one of the engine run up areas or during take off

One of the best times there I remember was when the MAG 13 and MAG 11 CO's put on an impromptu air show one day . Can't remember which air group but one just got delivery of the new at that time FA-18 . That CO challenged the others F4 to a mock dog fight over the base

That 20 min exhibition pretty much stopped all work at the base and was fun to watch

 

... ^^^ ... "ears & hearing" ... I got out of the military from Bethesda Naval Hospital after RVN with 30% and years later VA gave me over 100% ... but my ears (hearing) is/are what drives me the most crazy. Have constant (24/7/365) "very high pitched buzzing" in both (more in left ear) ears and VA diagnosed it as tinnitus. Had to go to tinnitus classes to learn how to deal with it as there are no meds or cure for it. Have to use "background noise" at night to go to sleep and screaming babies (high pitch) in a restaurant makes my head want to explode and I have to leave. .............. At this very moment ... my ears are buzzing like crazy.

PS ... If you haven't already ... make sure you go to the VA and file for "your service connected tinnitus" (automatic 10%) and any other benefits that you have earned ... and thank you for your service ...

 

I have tinnitus also. Mine are ringing off the chain right now. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
WILL SOMEBODY ANSWER THE PHONE ALREADY !!! The only thing that gave me some relief was an oral chelation (angioprim.com) that I took for other reasons. I have been trying Lipo-Flavanoid Plus (mostly high dose of the B vitamins)... not much luck with it so far but its only been a few weeks. I take melatonin to sleep - only 5mg but it works for me. My wife could eat the whole bottle and not get sleepy. Like the man said... all you Veterans, go file for your benefits. You earned them.

 

Not at all. I'm flying a G450.

 

Something like this ?

 

NICE

 

This distracted me today while doing a huffer start on a scarebus today...

 

Very nice!

I had to ferry a new windshield for a G550 the other day from Oakland to Phoenix and it was ridiculously heavy. One window, and it had to weigh close to 200lbs and it took up the whole isle in my citation. It was interesting to see just a part of a Gulfstream inside a Citation......made my jet feel reeeeaaaaallllly small.

 

... ^^^ ... That's almost identical to my screen background ... same 2 aircraft ... just in different positions ... coming at me at 30 degrees off the nose.
.

 

Did you get a picture of that? I take it the windshield was just lightly wrapped? The windows don't seem that big but like anything in the right environment I'm sure it changes the perspective. The Citations have huge windshields as well. I'll bet it would be an interesting side-by-side to see a Citation and Gulfstream window next to each other.

I have a wood crate used to ship a Global windshield at my house. I use it to store photos. It is big and heavy duty, over 3.5' square and around a foot deep. It is always interesting to see how big a part is when it is off the airplane.

 

I worked with this guy many times over the past 12 years ... He is one of a kind !!!

 

200 pounds? Is that including the shipping crate? Thats heavier than any of the windows I've changed on our fleet. I know the service ceiling is higher, I wonder if that plays a part?

 

It was probably a little less. But, we had to carry around awkward angles and through the small door and that always makes objects feel heavier. It did have the metal casing around it and what looked like a polyurethane seal. It wasn't just the glass.

 

... ^^^ ... Thanks for the tip. My tinnitus doc is supposed to be one of the best in US. He says that there is no drug to help ... but tricking your brain and not thinking about it is key ... and figuring best way to get good sleep.

I did the testing, went to classes and read the "tinnitus books" and mine seems to get worse. Certain meds make it worse ... but the key is getting good sleep. I take a mild sleeping med and have slight background noise and doze off. If I am in a "quiet audio testing room" ... my head feels like its going to explode thru my ears, because of the super silence.

Too much noise is bad and too little noise is bad ... this is one problem that people joke about ... but gives me the most problems.

 

Sure sure they can be a bitch. I never use the crane & fixture just put them up with a lift truck.

Another PITA are the captain, FO & full size observer seats. On the A310 & A300 the will NOT fit through the crew entry door so you have to remove & put it in the sliding window...always easy to move something that size that weighs all most as much as I do.

 

Last hearing test I had ... the lady opened the door of the vault and said "You can stop pushing the button... the test was over a couple of minutes ago." She was smiling and I wasn't. Sigh

 

I have sleep apnea as a result of facial surgery a decade ago, and I have to say the white noise from my CPAP is heavenly. We have white noise generators in our building to keep sound from carrying, at I find it helps drown out my whine (and I know what you're going through). I always have some kind of background music playing at the house (classical or jazz, no singing), especially when I'm reading, because I know how painful the silence will be. White noise is awesome.

The only times I really have a problem is when I'm shooting (ear plugs and hearing protectors) and I hear only that ringing whine, or when it changes frequency and drowns out all other sound until my brain gets used to it. THAT sucks.

 

We had to work our way around the line of thunderstorms that went across the midwest last night. As we came around the system I was able to play with the camera a little bit and get one shot of the lightning.

 

... ^^^ ...Great photo ....

PS ... I had the opportunity to tour the Gulfstream plant in Savannah a few years ago ... did some consulting work with them and old McDonnell (before selling out) plant in St. Louis ... loved both of those facilities & assembly procedures.

Your Gulfstream looks fantastic ... was my dream to fly one or a F-4 someday ... but never got the training & license to do so.

 

Cool stuff...nice pic.

One of my memorable flights was flying CUN-ORD several years ago on the 4th of July. We were flying an evening flight and along a front...between the impressive lightening we saw a lot of fire works. I was amazed at how visible the fireworks were from ~ FL400

Later that year, on a RSW-IND leg & on the same tail number, we were doing a single pack flight. We were restricted to FL350and suffered a pack rupture (the only one working) & following rapid decompression. Obviously, couldn't catch the cabin altitude so the O2 masks dropped. After we diverted and we repacked the masks we actually flew the rest of the trip revenue at 10,000 unpressurized. It was a cool day to be riding jump seat in a 757.