Greeting gents!

Just finalized and put up my latest blathering about the world of aviation. It concerns some of the ass-hats I've had to throw off the jet over the last 30+ years.

small snippet:

"When things at 2 a.m. are working with my karma, the weather is smooth and clear (with the ground lights and stars like two blazing fields of diamonds), the ATC folks are silent and loving it half as much as I am, the customers are all a slumber, the steady purring of the two big Pratt and Whitneys is music to this old pelican’s ears, and the required cup of “Joe” is like something from the porcelain vase of the nectar of the Gods. In other words, all is right with the world.

That is exactly how this night would begin, but not how it would end. Somewhere over the sleeping plains of Nebraska, the chime in the cockpit announced that one of the cabin attendants wanted to speak to us...."

https://bubba757.com/

I hope you enjoy it.

Neat! Quite a few good stories in there. The ones I read, anyway. (All that must have taken quite some time to develop!)

I lived in Fayetteville for a few years while I was studying at the UA. Funny to hear you were based out of there for a time. I've been on my fair share of flights through XNA.

I also like to drive by Drake Field in Greenland and see the AH-1 and all the other military aircraft models on display Something about that little community and the surrounding land makes me feel like I could call it home again someday...

Also I didn't read the post you provided a snippet for above, but that's some high quality prose. I enjoy reading your work. Keep it up!

Great reading...as usual B.

My career thus far has been been far less "interesting" than yours....thank heavens;-)
A credit to the lovely hard workers down back - they do filter quite alot of the bad behaviour before it escalates.

These days our Pax 74's have been retired...thanks (unfortunately) to the efficiencies of the "Big Twins",
which limits me to Freight Doggin' it.  Never once had an issue with a pallet
(Too be honest - wouldn't be upset if I never flew a Pax jet again.)

Always enjoy your tales....Cheers!

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Huck,

I was actually based at Drake Field back then. The Northwest Regional thing was not even a glimmer in some planners eye. We ALWAYS wondered why they would put such an airport (Drake) in between all those hills (the terrain prevented an ILS, our lowest IFR approach was the Localizer RWY16). The local lore was that the dude that planned it out (meaning before Drake was even built) died before he had a chance to tell them where to put it. They found his map with a big "X" on it, and that's where it was constructed. Our take was that meant "for God's sake, DON'T put it here!" LOL.... To add to all the mess at Drake, it was a non-radar ATC facility, so on the days when the University of Arkansas played a home football game, you'd have a zillion alumni coming in, in their Cessnas, Bonanzas, etc. When it was honest to goodness IFR weather, it was a HUGE mess. We did a lot of holding over the VOR...

Nah...didn't take much to cobble together. 8000+ words is a "short" piece by some standards....lol.

Samri,

I hear ya brutha! Sometimes I look at my buds that fly for FedEx and UPS and think..."wow...you got it made".

At NWA, we had a dozen or so B747F  "freigther Whales" that we'd fly in the Orient. During most 12 day trips, you'd take the -F down to Hong Kong, Taipei, etc., and back to Tokyo. It was always fun to fly a couple of legs with just the pallets. I must admit that more than a few times over the dark, stormy Pacific, flying nothing but freight (I once flew an entire 747 COMPLETELY full of Rawlings baseball gloves out of Taipei), I couldn't help but hear the phrase..."flying rubber dog-shit out of Hong Kong"....lol!

It really was a nice change of pace though. NOT dealing with piss off passengers, menopausal old flight attendants, etc...was like being in heaven.

   

Have a great day all!

And making your coffee - just the way you like it!

Wow. Such a small world.

Yeah, I lived on those bluffs, right in between West Fork and Hogeye.  I hear ya about the football games... You were probably working there before they put in I-540 too, so all that traffic had to funnel right down Hwy 71.  Am I right?

I can imagine what the air traffic was like...  I know a guy, (ironically named Cliff) out in Hogeye who was actually emergency inbound for Drake in an SR22 b/c his pilot lost oil pressure, resulting in a plane crash.  The pilot put it down right on MLK and it was well-documented by bystanders.  Luckily everyone made it out, but not without injuries.  I had never heard of a plane-parachute before this.  The whole thing was really bizarre.

Nicely written...as always...keep them coming...