PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

The right turn into the Old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong in still fresh in my memory,
low altitude approach at a 45+ degree tilt at 200+ mph between a mountain and high rise apartments in a 747-400...
pilots didn't say a word before hand.

I can still see the clothes hanging on apartment railings as i looked out of my right side window...

yea baby.

 

I was flying from Denver back home to San Diego about 8 years ago on Frontier Airlines when something weird happened.

It was a LONG work week so I was excited to get home. At the time I was working away from home at least 2 weeks a month so I thought I'd seen everything on a flight. We were sitting at the gate still, getting ready to pull back when there was a HUGE boom at the back of the plane. Normally I sit up front but I booked this flight really late and ended up about 5 rows from the back, so I hear that boom loud and clear. Anyways, the stewardess giving the safety instructions screamed because it was so loud, the passengers all screamed because of that and everyone froze. Obviously everyone turns towards the back to see what the hell happened and one guy in the aisle in the last row gets up to see what happened. All the guy says is "HOLY SHIT MAN, ARE YOU OK?!"

Nobody knows who he's talking too since he was in the last row and the stewardesses are all doing their safety thing. He yells from the back "the stair car is back there, and the door is open, the guy on the stairs is way down on the runway and the slide is all blown out" to the stewardess who immediately runs to the back. There's some commotion for a few minutes and the stewardess calls up to the pilots without us hearing anything.

So, what they tell us happened is the the guys in the "stair car" were coming to load stuff up for the flight, went to the wrong plane, somehow opened the door from the outside which launched the slide, knocking the guy backwards down the stairs and onto the tarmac. Needless to say we had to deplane and wait for a new one since that one needed some work, hahaha.

It was a hell of a delay after a long week but I'll certainly never forget that one. Have seen some dumb stuff at airports and on planes since, but nothing like that.

 

Kai Tak approach and departure was no joke.

For those that arent in the know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAyIfPQauwQ

 

Dragged a wingtip landing with a cross wind once.

 

Flying into Sun Valley Idaho the plane began dropping rapidly. Stewardess flew up and hit the top of the compartment. Magazines and shit flying all over. People screaming. This happened two or three times to where you could hear people praying out loud. I guess its like an atmospheric anomaly with air rising and falling? Anyways we would plummet hundreds of feet each time. I remember asking my dad if we were going to crash. Plane lands and its one of those airports where you walk across the tarmac. People were actually kissing the ground!

 

I flew to San Diego a few weeks ago and had an empty seat next to me both ways. That was pretty flippin' crazy.

Several years ago I had a short layover in Vegas on my way to a trout trip in New Mexico. The plane aborted the takeoff on the way out of Vegas. That was pretty wild, imagine driving 150mph and slamming on the brakes. But the aftermath was strange... They never did tell us why they rejected the takeoff, but said that since we were going over a certain speed threshold they had to take the plane back to the gate and have it inspected. A lot of folks were pretty much panicking at this point and telling the flight attendants they wanted off the plane. So the airline offered to let anyone off if they wanted to and book them on a different flight. Several people got off the plane. I like to live dangerously and I'd been drinking Jameson in the airport for a couple of hours so I stayed on. We left for ABQ about an hour later and everything was fine.

Not a commercial flight, but the first time I ever flew in a bush plane in AK we narrowly missed a bird strike. I was sitting in front with the pilot, and he ducked his head behind the sticks to get under the windshield. He came back up with a casual "that was close." Having no experience in this department, my brain processed this far more slowly than his, but after a few seconds when I realized how close we were to taking a couple of birds through the windshield I was thoroughly freaked the f**k out.

 

So I'm a commercial helicopter pilot and certified flight instructor. I fly around 600 hours a year and I've had some pretty interesting experiences. The ones that stand out are more the funny things I've seen flying and not so much the "oh shit" moments.

Weirdest: I saw a half dozen balloons floating a Barbie in a McDonald's Happy Meal box around 6k feet up.

Most stressful: doing an introductory flight with a guy who has a professional level flight simulator at home. He had the psychomotor skills to maneuver the helicopter and a deadly overconfidence. Helicopters require a gentle coordinated touch and he was constantly trying to overfly the machine. I had to override him on the controls nonstop to prevent catastrophe. I had to smash the right pedal with so much force to over power his heavy feet I actually pulled my calf muscle. Worst half hour ever.

Craziest: it's always the drunk bikers at the Republic of Texas Biker Rally in Austin. I don't even know where to begin. You'll see anything and everything there... Here's one that stands out:

This year a guy paid for two girls to go up and he followed them out to be loaded to take pictures with them. This guy always has a parrot with him, he's always drunk, he flies with us every year, we all recognize parrot guy. Last year he took his parrot up with him, it was on a little leash tied to his shoulder so I wasn't concerned. If anyone is getting bit it was him. This year he was too heavy to go and he had a new parrot, apparently last year's parrot died. Right as the loaders were closing the doors, the dude somehow snuck his parrot in. The ground crew didn't notice. I didn't notice. I took off and right as I'm pushing for airspeed and clearing light poles the bird flips out. It bit the piss out of the girl holding it and she lets go. It flaps all around the cockpit screeching and biting anything and everything, luckily not me. I don't even remember turning around but next thing I know I'm on a fast approach back to the area I was taking off from. The girls got out bleeding with the bird flapping and screeching. Parrot guy is not allowed near the helicopters anymore.

 

Let's get this out of the way right now...

I would NEVER do this to my Tacoma or any vehicle I own in the future. However, I was just curious if anybody had ever actually installed nitrous oxide in their Tacoma (4-cyl or V6)? I'd imagine there's a 50/50 chance of blowing up the engine or otherwise causing catastrophic damage...

 

You ok OP?

 

UPDATE: While driving to York on Saturday, I took bathroom break and filled up at a rest stop. According to my trip odometer and the amount of gas I had to top off, I made it like 83 or 84 miles on just under 5 gallons. I rounded the numbers and added them up after refueling today, and I have determined that I'm averaging around 17 MPG.

 

Why wouldn't I be?

 

Cause you’re asking about something no one should ever do.

 

Id watch that..

 

I was watching a Fast and Furious movie the other day and got to thinking...

 

Perfect for boat ramps.

 

Huh?

 

Okay, I'm starting to regret posting this...

While I would NEVER put nitrous in a vehicle, this was a serious question. Everyone else seems to think it's a joke...

 

Sometimes a guy just needs a little more oomph to get that aluminum jon boat out of the water.



That's literally the only remotely plausible use I can think of.

 

That's why I'd borrow my dad's Yukon for towing...