Reserve life before cell phones
07-10-2024, 02:15 AM
#32
Strike averted!
Joined APC: Mar 2015
Position: B737
Posts: 3,820
Back in 1999 my wife had a driving commute to work which went through some remote and sketchy desert areas. I told her she will get either a .45 or a mobile phone…she chose the phone. Gray Motorola I think. Minutes were expensive I remember.
When I got on with Eagle I was SJU based my first year—we had pagers then and everyone had calling cards to call home from whatever island they got to.
When on reserve we had 15 minutes to answer a page—I remember being on a highway and pulled into a gas station to use a pay phone to call scheduling.
I had a Sprint Nokia cell phone by 9/11.
When I got on with Eagle I was SJU based my first year—we had pagers then and everyone had calling cards to call home from whatever island they got to.
When on reserve we had 15 minutes to answer a page—I remember being on a highway and pulled into a gas station to use a pay phone to call scheduling.
I had a Sprint Nokia cell phone by 9/11.
07-10-2024, 05:38 AM
#33
Not home.
Joined APC: May 2018
Position: Captain
Posts: 219
"you were continuously in rest until the phone rang..."
"fly or you're fired..."
"People used to pay for training and pay to get jobs back then..."
"24-hour on-call with no oppertunity to rest between notification and report time..."
This thread reminds me of all the dirtbag 135 operators that I used to work for. I'm glad those days are behind me.
BTW, I had my last Blackberry Bold until 2017. I was a holdout!
"fly or you're fired..."
"People used to pay for training and pay to get jobs back then..."
"24-hour on-call with no oppertunity to rest between notification and report time..."
This thread reminds me of all the dirtbag 135 operators that I used to work for. I'm glad those days are behind me.
BTW, I had my last Blackberry Bold until 2017. I was a holdout!
07-10-2024, 06:33 AM
#34
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2015
Position: stake holder ir.delta.com
Posts: 10,568
My great uncle flew for United back in the day. He had a 40 foot phone cord and a special loud ringer that was always turned up to 11. He was the only person I knew as a kid that had a phone installed in his detached garage. When the phone rang the entire household came to a halt and you thought commissioner Gordon was on the other end.
07-10-2024, 07:23 AM
#35
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Posts: 19,700
07-10-2024, 07:37 AM
#36
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: 767/757 CA
Posts: 2,737
Yep… cell phones that were the size of a brick came out late 80s… crazy expensive and cost $ per minute. I started out with a pager and bag full of quarters and a land line… then in 2000 purchased my first Startac Sprint pocket phone soon after… being chained at home with a landline for some must have sucked.
07-10-2024, 07:59 AM
#37
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,911
Yep… cell phones that were the size of a brick came out late 80s… crazy expensive and cost $ per minute. I started out with a pager and bag full of quarters and a land line… then in 2000 purchased my first Startac Sprint pocket phone soon after… being chained at home with a landline for some must have sucked.
Cell phones? 48 hours after the power goes out, the tower generator runs out of gas, and you're SOL. Time to go next door to the ham radio guy to get your message out via CW.
07-10-2024, 01:45 PM
#38
At your mom's house
Joined APC: Jun 2008
Position: cpt 737
Posts: 2,832
I was going to ask for a beeper just to see if they had them but I dont know how to use one. I wasnt even cool enough to have a beeper back in the day.
07-11-2024, 06:49 AM
#39
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Posts: 154
07-11-2024, 09:34 AM
#40
Strike averted!
Joined APC: Mar 2015
Position: B737
Posts: 3,820
Credit where credit is due. Power could be out, water lapping at the door and livestock could be blowing past the windows, but if you picked up your landline phone, you got a dial tone.
Cell phones? 48 hours after the power goes out, the tower generator runs out of gas, and you're SOL. Time to go next door to the ham radio guy to get your message out via CW.
Cell phones? 48 hours after the power goes out, the tower generator runs out of gas, and you're SOL. Time to go next door to the ham radio guy to get your message out via CW.
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