Posers' Coffee House, All Bullshit Accepted, Part VI
#9121
05-21-2014, 12:36 PM
Tourer
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: North-Eastern, Pennsylvania
Posts: 376
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
36 years later, I was just glad it was over. First 10 years went pretty good, then got the first paycut in the industry...
Friend of mine did go to Memphis, flew jumpseat several times, to several countries, said the DC10 had the best seat, sat right next to that big side cockpit window. I never flew up front in one of those. Best for me was the little 9's, seat was slightly above and behind and between the pilots, could see out front better than they could. Boeing jump seats were cramped and not much view, tucked behind the pilot's seat. Flew over the Grand Canyon once with the three of us and two women stuffed in that little cockpit, was pleasantly crowded.
DC9 flight attendants weren't always careful handing coffee to the pilots, but a boob in the face never bothered me anyway.
Woulda liked to do a jumpseat in an A330, but by then the fooking nuts had run those airliners into buildings and no more jumpseats. Guess that was the least of our problems over that...
Strangest jump seat was when a Vietnam chopper vet flew into the runway, tower said 500' ceiling and the co-pilot didn't call out altitude like he was supposed to (was looking out the window, thinking he'd see the runway), made a real solid 3 point landing, more like 50' on the runway. Everybody decided the best thing was just keep quiet about that one, everybody was in the wrong. At least he did an almost perfect zero visibility landing in an unqualified plane. When I saw the runway a split second before hitting it, was a feeling of disbelief; that wasn't supposed to happen! Surprising how many goofs I've seen pilots do in airliners, some of them just shouldn't be there. Most are really good, though. Despite how downhill the job went, had some interesting times.
Friend of mine did go to Memphis, flew jumpseat several times, to several countries, said the DC10 had the best seat, sat right next to that big side cockpit window. I never flew up front in one of those. Best for me was the little 9's, seat was slightly above and behind and between the pilots, could see out front better than they could. Boeing jump seats were cramped and not much view, tucked behind the pilot's seat. Flew over the Grand Canyon once with the three of us and two women stuffed in that little cockpit, was pleasantly crowded.
DC9 flight attendants weren't always careful handing coffee to the pilots, but a boob in the face never bothered me anyway. Woulda liked to do a jumpseat in an A330, but by then the fooking nuts had run those airliners into buildings and no more jumpseats. Guess that was the least of our problems over that...
Strangest jump seat was when a Vietnam chopper vet flew into the runway, tower said 500' ceiling and the co-pilot didn't call out altitude like he was supposed to (was looking out the window, thinking he'd see the runway), made a real solid 3 point landing, more like 50' on the runway. Everybody decided the best thing was just keep quiet about that one, everybody was in the wrong. At least he did an almost perfect zero visibility landing in an unqualified plane. When I saw the runway a split second before hitting it, was a feeling of disbelief; that wasn't supposed to happen! Surprising how many goofs I've seen pilots do in airliners, some of them just shouldn't be there. Most are really good, though. Despite how downhill the job went, had some interesting times.
The best seating in our fleet, as far as jumpseat is concerned, is actually on the Bus A300. Big 'ole recliners facing aft, against the bulkhead. Although, the only view is the G9 net on a freighter. A little unnerving when ya think about it.
I was there the night that one of our MD11's, while landing at EWR, snapped a LG strut, turned the engine into a big ice cream scoop, tore the wing right off, flipped upside down, and caught fire... How's that for spectacular? Nobody got hurt, and not ONE container broke free from the deck... You know what they say; "Any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing"...
#9122
05-21-2014, 12:38 PM
Long flights in coach really suck, but otherwise the flights are fine with me. BUT, the Homeland Security crap at the airports drives me nutz. There are a lot of destinations that I may as well just drive to, by the time you park in a garage, get to the airport so go through all the security bull, get to the gate, fly, find you luggage (maybe), get you rentacar, and finally get to your destination. It actually took longer to do all that crap and fly to Chicago, than it would have to drive there. And cost a good bit more, in addition.
#9123
05-21-2014, 12:45 PM
Nah, they had us flying in a some smaller MD jet that they might have rented, for all I know. No alcohol, crummy food, not pretty servers, and terrible weather over the Atlantic both ways. Neither flight was any fun, but at least the one home had me getting out of the Army.
#9125
05-21-2014, 02:21 PM
Seasoned HDF Member
#9130
05-21-2014, 09:00 PM
Seasoned HDF Member
