pilot
Mon Nov 19th, 2007, 06:20 PM
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/11/32313151195.jpgLadies and gentlemen, we are sorry for the U.S Airways flight delay but we seem to have a problem. There is a child in the back of the plane that doesn’t have a seat. Said the stewardess, oh sorry, flight attendant, who is old enough to be my grandmother.
Gee, aren’t these people supposed to not overreact to such things? There she is, standing four rows in front of me, god those first class seats look comfy from here, and she is waiving her arms up and down in disgust. Of course, this all translates back to the passengers as we sit at the jet way waiting for someone to make a decision. Finally, the captain stands up out of his seat and peeks through the cabin motioning for the kid to take a seat. At this point I’m willing to volunteer for him to sit in my lap! OK, he’s in and we’re rolling—thank goodness.
But hotter and more humid it gets as we taxi around the ground looking like a DC cab driver, in mid-August, http://www.dcpages.com/Travel/Reviews/pix/taxi1.jpgtrying to pick up a fair on this side of the street or that. Passengers are getting figgity as they reach up to adjust those air nozzles above the seats. You know, the ones that look like Jacuzzi jets —no air flowing from them yet, just the occasional breeze from the lady sitting next to me fanning herself of with the emergency procedures card.
http://img2.putfile.com/main/11/32219572894.jpg
PHOTO COURTESY OF HILLER AVIATION MUSEUM, SAN MATEO, CA
Speaking of Jacuzzi, by which most of us are familiar to calling hot tubs. “Hey, nice Jacuzzi.” Turns out that it is not just a generic name for a tub. Actually, it is the name of an Italian family that made their way to America during the turn of the century; I’m talking 1900’s kind of stuff here. They came and built the first fully-enclosed airliner (yep, even the pilot sat in an enclosed cabin—prior to that, only the passengers had that luxury. It looked like an oversized Cesna 172 and carried six passengers. Well, their prototype crashed killing all aboard, including one of the family’s brothers—Gee what a cheery thought as my plane crosses over 30,000 en route from Oakland to Phoenix—
Well, the Jacuzzi family gave up on building airplanes and stuck to building plumbing valves and tubs. You know the rest of the story.
About another 45 minutes and I’ll be in Arizona, Land of Enchantment, or is that New Mexico? Two hours and forty three minutes after that the plane departs from Phoenix for Denver.
It almost feels to early to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, but what the heck, the Christmas, oh sorry, holiday season tree guy, was unloading firs in the parking lot of the San Mateo civic center as we were loading up our gear from a very successful International Motorcycle Show weekend.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/11/32220034320.jpg
Take care,
Pilot
P.S. Happy to hear that the event for Bob went so well.—Cept for Terra’s motor blowing in the third lap. Guess I know what I might be involved with this winter.
Gee, aren’t these people supposed to not overreact to such things? There she is, standing four rows in front of me, god those first class seats look comfy from here, and she is waiving her arms up and down in disgust. Of course, this all translates back to the passengers as we sit at the jet way waiting for someone to make a decision. Finally, the captain stands up out of his seat and peeks through the cabin motioning for the kid to take a seat. At this point I’m willing to volunteer for him to sit in my lap! OK, he’s in and we’re rolling—thank goodness.
But hotter and more humid it gets as we taxi around the ground looking like a DC cab driver, in mid-August, http://www.dcpages.com/Travel/Reviews/pix/taxi1.jpgtrying to pick up a fair on this side of the street or that. Passengers are getting figgity as they reach up to adjust those air nozzles above the seats. You know, the ones that look like Jacuzzi jets —no air flowing from them yet, just the occasional breeze from the lady sitting next to me fanning herself of with the emergency procedures card.
http://img2.putfile.com/main/11/32219572894.jpg
PHOTO COURTESY OF HILLER AVIATION MUSEUM, SAN MATEO, CA
Speaking of Jacuzzi, by which most of us are familiar to calling hot tubs. “Hey, nice Jacuzzi.” Turns out that it is not just a generic name for a tub. Actually, it is the name of an Italian family that made their way to America during the turn of the century; I’m talking 1900’s kind of stuff here. They came and built the first fully-enclosed airliner (yep, even the pilot sat in an enclosed cabin—prior to that, only the passengers had that luxury. It looked like an oversized Cesna 172 and carried six passengers. Well, their prototype crashed killing all aboard, including one of the family’s brothers—Gee what a cheery thought as my plane crosses over 30,000 en route from Oakland to Phoenix—
Well, the Jacuzzi family gave up on building airplanes and stuck to building plumbing valves and tubs. You know the rest of the story.
About another 45 minutes and I’ll be in Arizona, Land of Enchantment, or is that New Mexico? Two hours and forty three minutes after that the plane departs from Phoenix for Denver.
It almost feels to early to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, but what the heck, the Christmas, oh sorry, holiday season tree guy, was unloading firs in the parking lot of the San Mateo civic center as we were loading up our gear from a very successful International Motorcycle Show weekend.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/11/32220034320.jpg
Take care,
Pilot
P.S. Happy to hear that the event for Bob went so well.—Cept for Terra’s motor blowing in the third lap. Guess I know what I might be involved with this winter.