They're on the National Register of Historic Places... so hopefully will be there for a long time to come.
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Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys
- Thread starter Downeaster
- Start date
NAS Tillamook in Oregon...
For most of my 41 years as an engineer I traveled nearly every week and about 75% of my trips were by air - plus for trips of 5+ hours, I could travel in business class (similar to first class). The rest of my trips were all in "self-loading cargo" class. I don't think I was a demanding passenger, but I did travel a lot and I noticed things.
Frankly, despite loving aircraft in-general, I never really enjoyed flying - regardless of class - but some airlines are more pleasant than others and they all have their good and bad aspects (well, some have only the latter - see below). Here is a bit of run-down of my experiences:
- US Air - usually late with poor service and inhospitable airport lounges
- United - see above but with airplanes that needed cleaning
- American - see above but with silvery airplanes
- Northwest - see above but with crankier cabin staff
- Air Canada - normally reasonably clean & occasionally on-time - but with very poor customer communications (I could find out more about my $4.50 Big Mac from a pimply-faced 15 year old than I could about my $6000 trip to Europe from an "airline professional"), plus fairly crummy food and olympically sh!tty movies (like I mean - truly UNWATCHABLE). In terms of customer service, the company motto seems to be: "We're not happy until you're not happy". The one good thing about Air Canada is their Maple Leaf airport lounges: quite good food including great soups and a salad bar, open, free and very well-stocked bar and lots of comfy chairs - which is good because of the many weather delays caused by Canada's challenging climate.
- Lufthansa - nice planes and good food, but very cranky cabin personnel, plus you normally have to go through Frankfurt (FRA) which truly is one of the most poorly organized and inadequately signed airports anywhere (worse even than Toronto Pearson - YYZ). Despite the great Lufthansa airport lounges, a lot of people think that FRA was designed by the French in retaliation for WW-1 and WW-2.....
- BA - OK, but tending toward el-cheapo service recently and the pretty chaotic Heathrow "experience/ordeal"
- JET Airways of India - very unreliable scheduling, poor food, chaotic boarding, unpleasant cabin environment, crummy movies and you almost always have to go through New Delhi (DEL) - a truly "remarkable" experience.
- Nigeria Airways - OMG....holy sh!t.....panic attack.....chaotic boarding, very surely cabin staff and an 11-hour flight from Port Harcourt (PHC) to NYC-JFK with NO food or beverages because they forgot to cater the airplane in PHC
- never again - get me T-F outta here!............
- KLM - ahhhhhh, now you're talkin' airline.....well managed with very nice airplanes, good food and an endless supply of tall, willowy Dutch blondes in the cabin, plus they always seemed to be happy and friendly. The one major downside of KLM is going through Schiphol Airport (AMS) in Amsterdam with its legendary "auto-shuffle" baggage-loosing system - which is odd because on just about every other issue, the Dutch are so well-organized.
I have never lost a bag on any other airline (not even Nigeria Airways...which had other "charms") - but I have never flown through Schiphol without loosing a bag. Since then, I never ever check a bag. After much practice, I can go to China for two weeks with only carry-on luggage. Travel light and breeze through security etc. plus grab your rental car or cab and be gone - while others are still wondering where their luggage has been shipped.
Anyhow, I haven't flown at all since COVID - and at this point, I would rather have my head stapled to the floor than get on ANY airliner.
I still love airplanes, but I'm with Marty: if I can't drive there, I don't wanna go.
Pete
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Was leaving Delta out an oversight?For most of my 41 years as an engineer I traveled nearly every week and about 75% of my trips were by air - plus for trips of 5+ hours, I could travel in business class (similar to first class). The rest of my trips were all in "self-loading cargo" class. I don't think I was a demanding passenger, but I did travel a lot and I noticed things.
Frankly, despite loving aircraft in-general, I never really enjoyed flying - regardless of class - but some airlines are more pleasant than others and they all have their good and bad aspects (well, some have only the latter - see below). Here is a bit of run-down of my experiences:
- US Air - usually late with poor service and inhospitable airport lounges
- United - see above but with airplanes that needed cleaning
- American - see above but with silvery airplanes
- Northwest - see above but with crankier cabin staff
- Air Canada - normally reasonably clean & occasionally on-time - but with very poor customer communications (I could find out more about my $4.50 Big Mac from a pimply-faced 15 year old than I could about my $6000 trip to Europe from an "airline professional"), plus fairly crummy food and olympically sh!tty movies (like I mean - truly UNWATCHABLE). In terms of customer service, the company motto seems to be: "We're not happy until you're not happy". The one good thing about Air Canada is their Maple Leaf airport lounges: quite good food including great soups and a salad bar, open, free and very well-stocked bar and lots of comfy chairs - which is good because of the many weather delays caused by Canada's challenging climate.
- Lufthansa - nice planes and good food, but very cranky cabin personnel, plus you normally have to go through Frankfurt (FRA) which truly is one of the most poorly organized and inadequately signed airports anywhere (worse even than Toronto Pearson - YYZ). Despite the great Lufthansa airport lounges, a lot of people think that FRA was designed by the French in retaliation for WW-1 and WW-2.....
- BA - OK, but tending toward el-cheapo service recently and the pretty chaotic Heathrow "experience/ordeal"
- JET Airways of India - very unreliable scheduling, poor food, chaotic boarding, unpleasant cabin environment, crummy movies and you almost always have to go through New Delhi (DEL) - a truly "remarkable" experience.
- Nigeria Airways - OMG....holy sh!t.....panic attack.....chaotic boarding, very surely cabin staff and an 11-hour flight from Port Harcourt (PHC) to NYC-JFK with NO food or beverages because they forgot to cater the airplane in PHC
............
- KLM - ahhhhhh, now you're talkin' airline.....well managed with very nice airplanes, good food and an endless supply of tall, willowy Dutch blondes in the cabin, plus they always seemed to be happy and friendly. The one major downside of KLM is going through Schiphol Airport (AMS) in Amsterdam with its legendary "auto-shuffle" baggage-loosing system which is odd because on every other issue, the Dutch are so well-organized.
I have never lost a bag on any other airline (not even Nigeria Airways...which had other "charms") - but I have never flown through Schiphol without loosing a bag. Since then, I never-ever check a bag. After much practice, I can go to China for two weeks with only carry-on luggage. Travel light and breeze through security etc. plus grab your rental car or cab and be gone - while others are still wondering where their luggage has gone.
Anyhow, I haven't flown at all since COVID - and at this point, I would rather have my head stapled to the floor than get on ANY airliner.
I still love airplanes, but I'm with Marty: if I can't drive there, I don't wanna go.
Pete
I've heard for some time that the least miserable is Emirates and Etihad. I never had the pleasure of trying them out. I did get well accustomed to FRA, maybe because I like sausages.
Delta....hmmmmm....I think they were pretty good but they did inherit some of the issues of Northwest after the merger.
P
P
I experienced 22 years of Military PCS flying on overcrowded contract planes, stale sammiches, interminable flights (12-14 hours or more), half the plane filled with unwashed grunts still in their utilities, crappy terminals, delays, lack of information and a generally miserable experience (but hey, it was FREE!). I didn't think it could get worse than that.
And, to some extent that was true, but... You EXPECT that sort of thing when you're flying MAC (Military Airlift Command). When you forked over your hard-earned cash for a civilian flight, you expect a little better experience. And again that was, to some extent, true at least through the 70's. After I retired, I had occasion to fly for work a couple of times and between the TSA, the entirely changed attitude of airlines in general and cheap tickets, it became at least as much of an ordeal as flying MAC.
I had to fly to Norfolk, VA for training. Flight down was okay, for a cattle car. Flight back was okay until I had to change planes in La Guardia. That airport was likely the bee's knees in 1935. Problem is, it hasn't been updated since. My connection was tight and the two gates were on opposite ends of the world and I had to go OUT of the secure area, haul ass across the airport and go BACK through security. I made it to my gate 10 minutes before flight time...and they'd given away my TICKETED SEAT because I hadn't checked in. I came VERY close to either going completely, foaming at the mouth, bursting blood vessels postal but there were two TSA guys eyeballing me so I ate it.
They were going to put me up at a hotel in The City and fly me the next morning. Uh...yeah...about that...FUCK YOU! I hung around and got a seat on a later flight but at that point I joined the "If I can't walk or drive, I ain't going" crowd.
As far as the best airline - I flew JAL from San Francisco to Tokyo/Hanida out of pocket because I was flirting with being AWOL and couldn't BUY a Space A seat after shuttling between Travis and SeaTac twice. New or nearly so 747, maybe 10% occupied, and the cabin staff said "What the hell, move up to first class so we don't have to walk two blocks to bring you a bag of peanuts." Noice. Cute stews too. Comfy pillows, a nice warm blankie and hot towels about 20 minutes before touchdown.
And, to some extent that was true, but... You EXPECT that sort of thing when you're flying MAC (Military Airlift Command). When you forked over your hard-earned cash for a civilian flight, you expect a little better experience. And again that was, to some extent, true at least through the 70's. After I retired, I had occasion to fly for work a couple of times and between the TSA, the entirely changed attitude of airlines in general and cheap tickets, it became at least as much of an ordeal as flying MAC.
I had to fly to Norfolk, VA for training. Flight down was okay, for a cattle car. Flight back was okay until I had to change planes in La Guardia. That airport was likely the bee's knees in 1935. Problem is, it hasn't been updated since. My connection was tight and the two gates were on opposite ends of the world and I had to go OUT of the secure area, haul ass across the airport and go BACK through security. I made it to my gate 10 minutes before flight time...and they'd given away my TICKETED SEAT because I hadn't checked in. I came VERY close to either going completely, foaming at the mouth, bursting blood vessels postal but there were two TSA guys eyeballing me so I ate it.
They were going to put me up at a hotel in The City and fly me the next morning. Uh...yeah...about that...FUCK YOU! I hung around and got a seat on a later flight but at that point I joined the "If I can't walk or drive, I ain't going" crowd.
As far as the best airline - I flew JAL from San Francisco to Tokyo/Hanida out of pocket because I was flirting with being AWOL and couldn't BUY a Space A seat after shuttling between Travis and SeaTac twice. New or nearly so 747, maybe 10% occupied, and the cabin staff said "What the hell, move up to first class so we don't have to walk two blocks to bring you a bag of peanuts." Noice. Cute stews too. Comfy pillows, a nice warm blankie and hot towels about 20 minutes before touchdown.
The issue I have with some of those airlines is security. If some nut-job is going to try something, I would be worried about their lax attitudes to things like...security, safety etc. That may not be fair - but, that is how I feel and it is my @ss on the line.
One time I flew from Newark - EWR to Barcelona Spain on El Al (the Israeli airline). I was standing at the desk in Newark chatting with the very nice agent when a very grubby looking dude in a greasy leather jack sidled up and invited me to accompany him. The agent nodded - and so I went with him. He grilled the daylights out of me in a very aggressive manner. He wanted my business card which he handed-on to another grubby looking dude. Apparently, they called my office back in Canada to confirm who the heck I was. Once the confirmation came through, he instantly changed into a charming and very nice chap.
He told me that nearly everyone else on the airplane were in a youth charter from NYC to Israel and I was actually the only single male travelling on the airplane - and they wondered why? I said that I fully understood their concerns - and was fine with it - because I wanted to be safe too!
The reason for my odd-ball routing was that I was travelling from Toronto to Barcelona - and the only routing that worked with my schedule was an AC flight to Newark followed by the El Al flight to Spain.
Anyhow, the flight was great - good service, nice staff, decent eats and the kids on board were fun to be around.
I've never flown JAL, Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific - but all of them are reputed to be really great outfits.
I guess I can only imagine what an ordeal flying a military contractor airline or MAC itself would be....
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Mighta' told this one before. From 30yrs ago...
We kept a rotating deployment over in the desert after the first gulf war. We also rotated our F-111's in and out for major checks. It's the middle of Dec and the flight (flt) I was in charge of was supposed to be heading home. CO calls me in and says leave 4 men behind to ferry (chase) 4 jets back home... fuck. As any good leader would do, "I" was one of the 4 "I" picked to stay. My second took our flt home and my gang started chasing 4 wore out F-111's as they made their way home. They made it to Lakenheath England before 2 of 'em broke.
MAC had what was called the "Trash Run." It was a C-130 that made the rounds of every fuckin' little outpost that had a runway between us and our airplanes. We were in Riyadh S. A. and spent 4 days on a whirlwind tour of Western Asia and Europe... stopping every hour or so to kick cargo and people off and load more back on... and swap out 130's as required before we finally made Lakenheath. I should mention that somewhere along that trash route... our bags got kicked off the airplane, never to be seen again. All we each had was a backpack with a shavin' kit and fresh skivvies from here on out.
The main reason our jets diverted to Lakenheath was they were converting over to F-15's from F-111's and there was still spare F-111 parts there. Took us a full day (night? don't remember) to get our jets fixed and ready to jump across the pond with 2 KC-135 tankers the next day. Fired up our jets and one of 'em promptly broke again... fuck. We sent 2 out and two of my guys jumped on the tanker that went out with 'em. Took about two hrs. to fix our recalcitrant jet and off the remaining two go. We flagged down a line truck and hauled ass over to the tanker ramp... just in time to see the second tanker taxi out and get in line behind our F-111's.... fuck.
We hitched a ride to the personnel office to get a tickets home. It's about the 19th...20th now, they just laughed. Best they could do was two space A (standby) seat vouchers. We head to the train station and make our way to London... cabs, underground to Heathrow... and wait... and wait. Anyone see anywhere in this story where I mentioned beds and showers? Yeah... 'cause there weren't any. Splash showers out of a latrine sink and cake on more deodorant... that's how we rolled. The guys at Lakenheath gave us some coveralls while we worked on our jets, so our desert cammies weren't terrible, but they weren't exactly fresh either.
Anyway, spent almost two days at Heathrow sitting at one gate, then the next, trying to get a flight. Everything was full. Finally wound up at a British Airways terminal...and a damned crowded one at that, pretty despondent over our chances. We were talking to this couple flying to New York (I think?) to spend Christmas with family. Don't remember which exactly, but one was English and one was American. One wanted to stay with family in London and the other with family in NY. They were nice, but each was vocal in their desire to stay or go. About an hr. before boarding, me and my partner wandered down to a little "pub" to have a pint. No sooner had we returned to the gate... the girl at the counter started hollering' our names. Standby passengers board last... if there's a seat left over. The gate lounge was still full. We both looked at each other like wtf? Go up to the counter and this cute little agent leads us down a hallway where two burly security dudes are waiting. This is definitely looking sketchy now. Our wtf looks are now murmurs of WTF?!?
Security goes through our backpacks and "wands" both of us, not sayin' a word. Satisfied, they tell us to follow the cute little agent. We follow her down a hallway and out onto a jetway... and straight into the upper deck of a 747... a completely empty 747... save for the flight attendants. Thoroughly confused now (sleep deprivation and the pint help with that), an attendant seats us (first class) and asks if we'd like drinks. Yes please! About that time all the other passengers start walking in... and we're just staring around with our wtf looks. We taxi out and take off and I'm fast asleep.
About 3 or 4 hrs into the flight I wake up and go use the bathroom. Coming back I wander around 1st class upstairs and down. The couple we were talking to were nowhere in sight. So, whichever was arguing for staying in London got their way... and they had the counter agent seat us instead. Since we were standby, along with a dozen or more other folk, they "hid" us on the airplane so as to not create a fuss at the gate with the other standby's.
747 took us as far as St Louis, iirc. From there it was a day and a half of standby flights back to Boise Id. where my wife and kids... who I hadn't seen in almost 5 months greeted us about a half hr before midnight on Christmas eve. Every Christmas since I've drank a toast to that couple, who's names I never remembered.
We kept a rotating deployment over in the desert after the first gulf war. We also rotated our F-111's in and out for major checks. It's the middle of Dec and the flight (flt) I was in charge of was supposed to be heading home. CO calls me in and says leave 4 men behind to ferry (chase) 4 jets back home... fuck. As any good leader would do, "I" was one of the 4 "I" picked to stay. My second took our flt home and my gang started chasing 4 wore out F-111's as they made their way home. They made it to Lakenheath England before 2 of 'em broke.
MAC had what was called the "Trash Run." It was a C-130 that made the rounds of every fuckin' little outpost that had a runway between us and our airplanes. We were in Riyadh S. A. and spent 4 days on a whirlwind tour of Western Asia and Europe... stopping every hour or so to kick cargo and people off and load more back on... and swap out 130's as required before we finally made Lakenheath. I should mention that somewhere along that trash route... our bags got kicked off the airplane, never to be seen again. All we each had was a backpack with a shavin' kit and fresh skivvies from here on out.
The main reason our jets diverted to Lakenheath was they were converting over to F-15's from F-111's and there was still spare F-111 parts there. Took us a full day (night? don't remember) to get our jets fixed and ready to jump across the pond with 2 KC-135 tankers the next day. Fired up our jets and one of 'em promptly broke again... fuck. We sent 2 out and two of my guys jumped on the tanker that went out with 'em. Took about two hrs. to fix our recalcitrant jet and off the remaining two go. We flagged down a line truck and hauled ass over to the tanker ramp... just in time to see the second tanker taxi out and get in line behind our F-111's.... fuck.
We hitched a ride to the personnel office to get a tickets home. It's about the 19th...20th now, they just laughed. Best they could do was two space A (standby) seat vouchers. We head to the train station and make our way to London... cabs, underground to Heathrow... and wait... and wait. Anyone see anywhere in this story where I mentioned beds and showers? Yeah... 'cause there weren't any. Splash showers out of a latrine sink and cake on more deodorant... that's how we rolled. The guys at Lakenheath gave us some coveralls while we worked on our jets, so our desert cammies weren't terrible, but they weren't exactly fresh either.
Anyway, spent almost two days at Heathrow sitting at one gate, then the next, trying to get a flight. Everything was full. Finally wound up at a British Airways terminal...and a damned crowded one at that, pretty despondent over our chances. We were talking to this couple flying to New York (I think?) to spend Christmas with family. Don't remember which exactly, but one was English and one was American. One wanted to stay with family in London and the other with family in NY. They were nice, but each was vocal in their desire to stay or go. About an hr. before boarding, me and my partner wandered down to a little "pub" to have a pint. No sooner had we returned to the gate... the girl at the counter started hollering' our names. Standby passengers board last... if there's a seat left over. The gate lounge was still full. We both looked at each other like wtf? Go up to the counter and this cute little agent leads us down a hallway where two burly security dudes are waiting. This is definitely looking sketchy now. Our wtf looks are now murmurs of WTF?!?
Security goes through our backpacks and "wands" both of us, not sayin' a word. Satisfied, they tell us to follow the cute little agent. We follow her down a hallway and out onto a jetway... and straight into the upper deck of a 747... a completely empty 747... save for the flight attendants. Thoroughly confused now (sleep deprivation and the pint help with that), an attendant seats us (first class) and asks if we'd like drinks. Yes please! About that time all the other passengers start walking in... and we're just staring around with our wtf looks. We taxi out and take off and I'm fast asleep.
About 3 or 4 hrs into the flight I wake up and go use the bathroom. Coming back I wander around 1st class upstairs and down. The couple we were talking to were nowhere in sight. So, whichever was arguing for staying in London got their way... and they had the counter agent seat us instead. Since we were standby, along with a dozen or more other folk, they "hid" us on the airplane so as to not create a fuss at the gate with the other standby's.
747 took us as far as St Louis, iirc. From there it was a day and a half of standby flights back to Boise Id. where my wife and kids... who I hadn't seen in almost 5 months greeted us about a half hr before midnight on Christmas eve. Every Christmas since I've drank a toast to that couple, who's names I never remembered.
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Happy birthday ..I was in the US beginning 90 ies going by Greyhound bus.
It was not for everyone then and probably not now either
Oakland Bus station some people there that one needed to look over your shoulder if you went outside.
People using drugs on the bus only reason not thrown off because they could have a gun on their person
Albuquerque a stoned woman with a child had been fighting with other passengers since Los Angeles
Driver did not want to set her off in that state in the desert with a child
Staff told me don't start walking around here you get mugged
People with few teeth and no socks in worn shoes
People deliberately having no proper clothes or jewelry or watch on them . Although well heeled
small farm land owner. Not getting robbed
Met people he was from West Virginia that always had a knife on him . For self defense
Clogged restrooms
Staff in Cheyenne Wyoming playing pin ball instead of answering the telephone.
I had a bus pass but gave up Bought a flight ticket from Cheyenne to New York and landed on the wrong airport
And almost missed the connection to Copenhagen
The round trip ticket Cheyenne NY was cheaper than one way
Mostly it is OK going by bus but on Airplanes there are no packing " Packing Blade "
stoned people with few teeth as far as I have seen.
I did not get into trouble but I can see how it can happen.
I remember on a flight from Helsinki there was a extremely pretty young woman..The type conversations stops potbellys are tucked in -- and chests out -- jaws drops ---Heads turns -- perfume like a slap in the face --Spectacles foggs up
Landing in the seat beside me
I could have sold my seat on board for substantial amounts if i wanted.
Not all men are created equal and definitely not ladies
She was a bit afraid of flying ..Nervous She asked it she could hold my hand if there would be turbulence.
Would not hurt the seat price.
Not happening on a Greyhound bus
As a furniture sales agent I traveled the world on various airlines to many countries. 56 flights one year, mostly back and forth to Southern Italy as I represented an Italian Leather company. ALITALIA and the Italian flight service in general have to be the worst public commercial air service in the world. Often loosing luggage (So I changed to cabin luggage only); unexplained delays and many cancelled flights over 10 years of use.
Following the Milan Furniture Show on one trip back from Milan Malpensa airport, the ground crew decided to go on strike (not again) crippling the flight schedules. After some time I managed to get a flight transfer out of Milan Linate. Took a 100€ taxi to Linate just in time to reach the flight back to London. Boarded the flight and found my seat number put me in business class (I was cattle class out of Malpensa); Hooray way to go! or so I thought after my troubles.
Flight took off and once at cruising height an untypically butch looking air stewardess in need of a shave, checked my ticket and ordered me to move to the back. I pleaded my case; but she was having none of it. I protested further and she stated ''We'a don't'a 'ave enough'a food for you!''. I said I wasn't hungry. She then brought out the Captain to eject me into cattle class; but short of man handling me he had no chance. I'm was well over 6'0'' and a fit rugby player so I don't think he fancied a brawl. He shrugged his shoulders in that Italian way and sheepishly returned to his joy-stick! I settled into my seat and fell asleep.
On landing in London we were all filed out of the cabin onto the air- bridge. I was first off being in Business Class and welcomed back into Blighty by two members of the British Transport Police who instantly arrested me; much to the merriment of many colleagues and peers of my trade who were on the same flight home. How damned embarrassing!
Never had anything like this even from Ryanscare or Sleasyjet!
Following the Milan Furniture Show on one trip back from Milan Malpensa airport, the ground crew decided to go on strike (not again) crippling the flight schedules. After some time I managed to get a flight transfer out of Milan Linate. Took a 100€ taxi to Linate just in time to reach the flight back to London. Boarded the flight and found my seat number put me in business class (I was cattle class out of Malpensa); Hooray way to go! or so I thought after my troubles.
Flight took off and once at cruising height an untypically butch looking air stewardess in need of a shave, checked my ticket and ordered me to move to the back. I pleaded my case; but she was having none of it. I protested further and she stated ''We'a don't'a 'ave enough'a food for you!''. I said I wasn't hungry. She then brought out the Captain to eject me into cattle class; but short of man handling me he had no chance. I'm was well over 6'0'' and a fit rugby player so I don't think he fancied a brawl. He shrugged his shoulders in that Italian way and sheepishly returned to his joy-stick! I settled into my seat and fell asleep.
On landing in London we were all filed out of the cabin onto the air- bridge. I was first off being in Business Class and welcomed back into Blighty by two members of the British Transport Police who instantly arrested me; much to the merriment of many colleagues and peers of my trade who were on the same flight home. How damned embarrassing!
Never had anything like this even from Ryanscare or Sleasyjet!
I think I might have dated her sister...
Adam, I feel your embarrassment. End of the twentieth century, in other words, before the airplane attacks in New York and Washington, I flew to Belfast to go and see my friend Anthony and his family for Christmas. Among the gifts lavished on me, Anthony gave me a small, locking pocket knife:
As you can see, it's a small knife, the blade is less than two inches long. The little thumb spike on the blade allows you to open the knife one-handed, very handy. And once open, the blade locks until you press to unlock it.
So on the return flight, trolled up to security at Belfast AIrport and placed the knife along with wallet, keys and pocket watch on the tray they provide for contents of pockets.
Security man not very happy. Told I could not take the knife on the plane - no great surprise. The solution was, knife put in an envelope and handed to the check-in staff, to be given to the cabin crew chief and returned to me at Heathrow. Fine by me.
Except at Heathrow, I was met by a couple of anti-terrorism Police - well, armed Police, which was pretty much unknown in them happy days - marched off to an interview room and grilled about why I was trying to smuggle a lethal weapon onto an aircraft. The Policeman kept saying it was a flick-knife - flick-knives are illegal in Britain. I said, No, it's a lock-knife and it's certainly not illegal. And I wasn't trying to smuggle it on board, I had placed it in the tray provided.
'Why do you carry an offensive weapon?' It's not an offensive weapon, it's a pen knife. I use it sharpen me pencils . . .
So I had to stand there and accept a lecture about not trying to take lethal weapons on board aircraft ever again.
Another time, it was a nail-file . . .
I feel your pain Raymond!
I made the grievous mistake of forgetting to take my 2.5 inch Old Timer out of my pocket when entering a Federal Building to visit the Social Security Office.
Fortunately, the Rent-A-Cop gave me the option of returning to my car and stashing it rather than confiscating it.
Fortunately, the Rent-A-Cop gave me the option of returning to my car and stashing it rather than confiscating it.
Challenger
36 years ago this morning I was awoken to a phone call telling me that the Challenger crew was having breakfast and that we were go for a launch. The day before we had been disappointed by the failure of the white room crew to be able to latch the main hatch. A crew was dispatched to drill out the bolt on the hatch latch but unfortunately the cordless drills battery was dead scrubbing the launch. On the way back to the hotel in Cocoa Beach I was having a pretty heated discussion with my stepdad over whether they would launch the next day. I explained to him that they had designed the shuttle to launch from Vandenberg and it gets colder than crap at night during the winter and that the shuttle had been designed to withstand that and asked him if he had any idea how f****** cold it was at 120,000 ft and above. When we got back to the hotel my step dad's best friend took me aside and asked me if I was really sure they were going to launch. He was good friends with Ellison and didn't want to miss a chance to see him launched as we've been invited to two launches before that the dod decided were too sensitive for us to attend at the last moment so third time's a charm right. That afternoon I drove my parents and eight of their friends to the Orlando airport to fly home convinced that there was no way they would try and light the candle the next morning. Neil and Pat and my wife and myself were the only ones that stayed. At 4:30 AM Neil received the call from Ellison that the crew was about to start suiting up . We met up with three bus loads of Ellison's family and rode to the cape. Since everyone had left the day before we had a much better viewing area beside the VAB with the countdown clock I had watched since 1961 for Al Shepard's flight in front of us. The windows of the launch control were just across the road.
Totally gobsmacked to be there for the launch.
I watched the launch taking pictures through a 1000mm mirror lens with a doubler.
Y'all know the rest of the story. Totally changed my life. My timeline for history is pre and post Challenger.
Godspeed to the Challenger's crew and all the other space heroes who gave there lives in the pursuit of the new frontier.
36 years ago this morning I was awoken to a phone call telling me that the Challenger crew was having breakfast and that we were go for a launch. The day before we had been disappointed by the failure of the white room crew to be able to latch the main hatch. A crew was dispatched to drill out the bolt on the hatch latch but unfortunately the cordless drills battery was dead scrubbing the launch. On the way back to the hotel in Cocoa Beach I was having a pretty heated discussion with my stepdad over whether they would launch the next day. I explained to him that they had designed the shuttle to launch from Vandenberg and it gets colder than crap at night during the winter and that the shuttle had been designed to withstand that and asked him if he had any idea how f****** cold it was at 120,000 ft and above. When we got back to the hotel my step dad's best friend took me aside and asked me if I was really sure they were going to launch. He was good friends with Ellison and didn't want to miss a chance to see him launched as we've been invited to two launches before that the dod decided were too sensitive for us to attend at the last moment so third time's a charm right. That afternoon I drove my parents and eight of their friends to the Orlando airport to fly home convinced that there was no way they would try and light the candle the next morning. Neil and Pat and my wife and myself were the only ones that stayed. At 4:30 AM Neil received the call from Ellison that the crew was about to start suiting up . We met up with three bus loads of Ellison's family and rode to the cape. Since everyone had left the day before we had a much better viewing area beside the VAB with the countdown clock I had watched since 1961 for Al Shepard's flight in front of us. The windows of the launch control were just across the road.
Totally gobsmacked to be there for the launch.
I watched the launch taking pictures through a 1000mm mirror lens with a doubler.
Y'all know the rest of the story. Totally changed my life. My timeline for history is pre and post Challenger.
Godspeed to the Challenger's crew and all the other space heroes who gave there lives in the pursuit of the new frontier.
Thirteen months before, I left my job in the VAB for something else. At the time, I had no idea the impact of that decision. I was in Space Shuttle Cargo.
Until the 9-11 attacks and the security measures that followed them, I hadn't left home without a penknife since I was about 6 or 7 years old. After those measures came into force, it took me months to remember to leave my knife in the car before going into the terminal to board my flight.
As so many other travelers had the same problem, I figure there must be a HUGE warehouse somewhere with an absolute sh!tload of penknives that have been confiscated from air travelers since 9-11 (and many before too) - a fair number of them being mine.
It will likely be discovered in the year 3010 and archeologists will puzzle over why such an arsenal of such primitive weapons existed in the early 21st century....
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