Quote:
Originally Posted by noledog
Yo Kerbie,
I can talk your ear off as I enjoy talking to pilots... Tho my first love was playing music, my second was airplanes; which is why I went in Marines at 17 yrs old and worked in avionics on A-4 Skyhawks. I was too blind to be a pilot, but I got to be around jets all day. I did front seat in a T-4 Caravan as well as a Stearman biplane which was a gas. Then did some helo's and Cessna's all as a civilian when I got out of the USMC.
Congrats on a way cool career! ...so what is your fav bird to fly? I always liked the regional MD-95/Boeing 717. I've flown in them a bunch and when I could rap a bit with the pilots, they always loved them. A lot of power at takeoff I noticed, like a jacked Mustang LOL! Very reliable, excellent safety record too!!
eric
|
I see your location is Florida's First Coast. I did my time in the Navy out of Mayport about 30 years ago on the Forrestal. I'm not a pilot but I was an aviation boatswain's mate (handler.) I was ship's company in the air department but A-4s were long gone by then. We still had A-6's and A-7's back in those days. I really hated the latter; the landing gear was hard to work around with tie down chains and I understand that the design was mimicked on the F/A-18. I swear there must have been some reg that stated they couldn't be airworthy if they didn't leak hydraulic fluid. Also, very often we had to yell at the mechanics because they'd always leave the ends of the 440V power outlets laying in a puddle (the concept of grounding does not exist on a ship.) Thank God for the cutoff switch or else there'd be a class Charlie fire surrounded by a bunch of "screaming alphas." We only had one other Forrest Fire on my watch and that turned out to be arson.