Denny Crane

Thanks ACL..........I don't feel quite so stupid anymore!!

Denny

acl65pilot

I agree 100%. As some have stated they are "Incremental Bites of the Apple."

Not what we want but in the correct direction.

These are great. I think we need to give this new MEC body a chance to flex its muscle. Lots of stuff happening, just take the time to look!

acl65pilot

I had to reference the LOA, to make sure I was correct, but that is what it says.

Waves

I know its long and some of you may have already seen this, but its always good to remind us of who we are.

One fine hot summer afternoon there was a Cessna 150 flying in the pattern at a quiet country airfield. The Instructor was getting quite bothered with the student's inability to maintain altitude in the thermals and was getting impatient at sometimes having to take over the controls. Just then he saw a twin engine Cessna 5,000ft above him and thought, "Another 1,000
hrs of this and I qualify for that twin charter job! Aaahh... to be a real
pilot going somewhere!"

The Cessna 402 was already late and the boss told him this charter was for one of the Company's premier clients. He'd already set MCT and the cylinders didnt like it in the heat of this summer day. He was at 6,000ft and the winds were now a 20kt headwind. Today was the 6th day straight and he was pretty dang tired of fighting these engines. Maybe if he got 10,000ft out of them the wind might die off... geez those cylinder temps! He looked out momentarily and saw a B737 leaving a contrail at 33,000ft in the serene blue sky. "Oh man" he thought, "My interview is next month. I hope I just don't blow it! Outta G/A, nice jet job, above the weather... no snotty passengers to wait for... aahhh."

The Boeing 737 bucked and weaved in the heavy CAT at FL330 and ATC advised that lower levels were not available due to traffic. The Captain, who was only recently advised that his destination was below RVR minimums had slowed to LRC to try and hold off a possible inflight diversion, and arrange an ETA that would hopefully ensure the fog had lifted to CATII minima. The Company negotiations broke down yesterday and looked as if everyone was going to take a dang pay cut. The F/O's will be particularly hard hit as their pay wasn't anything to speak of anyway. Finally deciding on a speed compromise between LRC and turbulence penetration, the Captain looked up and saw Concorde at Mach 2+. Tapping his F/O's shoulder as the 737 took another bashing, he said "Now THAT'S what we should be on... huge pay ...super fast... not too many routes...not too many legs... above the CAT... yep!
What a life...!"

FL590 was not what he wanted anyway and considered FL570. Already the TAT was creeping up again and either they would have to descend or slow down.
That dang rear fuel transfer pump was becoming unreliable and the F/E had said moments ago that the radiation meter was not reading numbers that he'd like to see. The Concorde descended to FL570 but the radiation was still quite high even though the Notams indicated hunky dory below FL610. Fuel flow was up and the transfer pump was intermittent. Evening turned into night as they passed over the Atlantic. Looking up, the F/O could see a tiny white dot moving against the backdrop of a myriad of stars. "Hey Captain" he called as he pointed. "Must be the Space Shuttle. The Captain looked for a moment and agreed. Quietly he thought how a Shuttle mission, while complicated, must be the-be-all-and-end-all in aviation. Above the crap, no radiation problems, no dang fuel transfer problems...aaah. Must be a great way to earn a buck."

Discovery was into its 27th orbit and perigee was 200ft out from nominated rendezvous altitude with the Comm-Sat. The robot arm was virtually usless and a walk may become necessary. The 200ft predicted error would necessitate a corrective burn and Discovery needed that fuel if a walk was to be required. Houston continually asked what the Commander wanted to do but the advice they offered wasn't much help. The Commander had already been 12 hours on station sorting out the problem and just wanted 10 minutes to himself to take a leak. Just then a mission specialist, who had tilted the telescope down to the surface for a minute or two, called the Commander to the scope. "Have a look at this Sir, isn't this the kinda flying you said you wanted to do after you finish up with NASA?" The Commander peered through the telescope and cried Ooooohhhhh yeah! Now THAT'S flying! Man, that's what its all about! Geez I'd give my left nut just to be doing THAT down there!"

What the Discovery Commander was looking at was a Cessna 150 in the pattern at a quiet country airfield on a nice bright sunny afternoon.

Boy, I'll tell you...pilots are never happy unless they are drinking beer and looking for a better job!

MoonShot

Waves,

Great story!

Give a pilot a bag of money and he'll complain that its too heavy to carry around!

Waves

Absolutely! Remember this old one? During an ALPA meeting the rep was going over the new contract. He said our new contract states that all pilots will only have to fly on Tuesdays. All the rest of the days of the week will be off days. At that point, a pilot in the back raises his hand with a question, and in a very whinny voice says, "Does that mean we have to work EVERY Tuesday?"

upndsky

In the C44 Hotline I got today was this little nugget:

Item 5. At last week’s MEC meeting your LEC representatives were briefed on a company proposal for a European charter operation flown by Delta pilots. Portions of the brief were given in closed session.

Anyone have any idea what this is about?

NuGuy

Heyas ACL,

Someone who was at at the meeting said you could tell some of the adminitration was chafing under the 7 day comment period.

Not everyone is happy with the new direction.

But I sure am....

Nu

acl65pilot

Call your reps and ask.

acl65pilot

All I was told was that, yep, there were some that pushed the issue and refused to vote on short notice. Ergo why the LOA is out now.