vagabond

Ok, that hearing lasted a whopping 6 minutes. A world record. Am I good or am I good? hee hee.

Uh, Poppa, that is NOT the picture we have in mind. We want a face pic (yours, that is) and one of Bob and The Twins (or in your case, Poppa and the Trolls). hee heeeeeee. I think HSLD is going to toss me off here before long!

Cass

. My goal is not Airline flying - My goal is to go to S.E.A.T training and fly Air Tractor 802's. High horsepower taildraggers are what I like - hope that doesn't make me an outcast!

Thanks all![/QUOTE]
That doesnt make you an outcast,quite the contrary, I have some friends who fly for the fire service, what they do even makes the fighter jocks look tame.
Best of luck, thanks for the compliments...
In fact there may be a job for you on the posse if you like......
What do ya say girls?

Cass

Poppa,
The smurf is definately NOT going to work, Flesh and BONE man!!!!That is what we want to see

vagabond

Welcome Stinson! Cass is right - you are not an outcast. I feel a kinship to the USFS ever since I had it as a client in a prior non-lawyer job. And just fyi, I was on the team at the University of Washington that worked on the cochlear implant in non-human primates. Long time ago and I feel a sense of pride and satisfaction to see it's pretty much a routine procedure now.

So what role should you play? Might have to slug it out with Poppa!

Well, have to go to class. Topic tonight is propellers.

stinsonjr

Thanks for the warm welcome Cass, Vagabond, and Nightflyer. My ultimate goal is to do SEAT training. There is a school in Louisiana that offers it in a turbine Thrush. Problem is i haven't flown in 12 years (since losing my hearing). At that point i had to switch careers/aspirations. I ended up in a very fine niche of the insurance business (basically selling tax dodges to banks) and have done pretty well. I merged my company into a much bigger company last month and still have some time that i need to spend (as per the merger agreement). SO...hopefully next week i will go and rent an Aeronca Champ (we have one for rent) and see if i still can fly and if my feet still work (rudders are vital with the training wheels off!). I am excited that i can get an unrestricted medical and can pursue my dream again. It helps that i sold the company.

Vagabond - Your work in Cochlear implant development is appreciated! Words can't really describe what it feels like to get your life back. My deafness happened suddenly - lost all but 15% hearing in one ear over a span of two weeks. After that i used hearing aids for 10 years untill they just didn't work anymore. The implant has come a long way - I am now testing a device that offers 120 channels. I owe a great debt to you and everyone over the years that has taken part in this important research. Since I hated deafness, i decided to get involved years ago and serve as Chairman of an Ear Institute here - we have implanted around 700 people, many of them children. The ones that really get me are the dual impaired kids - blind and deaf - that we are able to implant. We had one finish her first year of MAINSTREAM kindergarten this year!

Sorry for the longwindedness about things off topic! From now on I promise to keep to the subject of Airplanes, Hotties who dig pilots, and Hotties who fly (Falcon and Cass!).

stinsonjr

Oh - I also feel that I need to have a place with the posse - preferably under some of them. I feel i should be some sort of officer of the group but will leave that up to the girls.

vagabond

120 channels! I built the prototype that went into that first infant primate. It had only 4 channels. Sometimes, I really miss those days. And I agree with you about the kids, particularly those who are both deaf and blind. I will always remember the long and late night debates we had as to which was worse, being deaf or blind. The consensus was being deaf is much worse. So I cannot imagine being both. I am glad to hear about your work at the Institute. Sorry, I digress again.

Let's see what the girls have to say about you! hee hee.

stinsonjr

Vagabond - I understand the Deaf/Blind debate. My personal preference would be deafness since I could still read normally and even fly (very limited though - non-controlled airports, etc). Hellen Keller once said "Blindness cuts you off from things, but deafness cuts you off from people and communication". It is also instructive that Ray Charles, the famous blind musician, gave substantial amounts of his fortune (multi-millions) to cochlear implantation through the Ray Charles Robinson Foundation. I have learned to give a pretty good speech and am engaged in traveling many places to help other Implant Centers - most recently have gotten involved with some programs that are trying to rebuild in New Orleans. It is neat to do this and fortunately my schedule and income allow me to do this (I am not a paid speaker - I give it away). I have also become very involved with the company that manufactures my implant - and they have a sister company that is developing a prostetic (sp?) device to aid people that no longer have usuable sight due to Maculer degeneration. They are probably at an equivalent stage to Cochlear implants in the mid-late 70's with that project. It has been tried, and works, but not like it will in later generations.

Hope "the girls" approve ...hehehe

stinsonjr

What happened to CalCapt? I enjoyed reading his posts - he was a nice guy (except to the guy sometime back that was accusing some of the females of actually being gay males - that guy deserved his beat-down). He alluded to "personal issues" in his last post - is this a really bad personal issue (i.e. illness, loss of medical, loss of job)?

stinsonjr

Also - Any (female) members that are flying through MCI or MKC or any other KC airport - give me a shout and allow me to buy you a Steak.