So you were one of those poor muddy gravel pummelled guys that I always laugh at? I think it is just the oil companies that enforce the "no booze" rules so the housekeepers probably see alot of booze bottles in the trash during the summer. If you know the right people you can find a drink up here but I treat this place as a Betty Ford clinic that I get paid to go to. I don't think it is doing me any harm to spend 1/2 the year booze free.
Oh, the longing for the old days!!!! we started using drip pans (Mandatory). I was in the "Corrosion Inspection Group", and the environmental regs drove our budgets thru the roof! Good times were had, and honestly LEAKS (spills) went down, which was a good thing. I can remember parked on the road letting the caribou pass.....for like an HOUR!!!.....dropping calves right on the road! it was amazing! BP out, holy crap....never thought Id see the day. They were "KING" when they bought ARCO out back in the day. I liked Endicott. I would bounce between there and BP BOC......Milne point was just starting up when I left IIRC. Ya know what tho.....Hellhole, shithole, prison, whatever it gets called, I still enjoyed working there......It was an awesome job, and I'm still proud of surviving it to this day (obviously). I did 5 yrs.....I probably would have stayed longer but it didnt work out. I used to call it "Betty Ford" too!!!!......do they still give ya free drinks on the charter on the way out? 37F.....a balmy August day!.....I dont remember that hotel. We only went into the "Town" of Deadhorse rarely.....I remember "Childs" store and the airport. I'll tell ya tho, I wont be riding a bike up there.....I had a water truck throw a rock thru my windshield that was bigger than my fist!!!! Landed next to me in the seat!!!......that cured me of any notion of riding up there. I had thought about it right up until then. I recall having half a pallet of beer sent up once....we didnt get caught somehow, even after one of the guys got super wasted and was wandering the halls puking! Still, proud to have been to and worked somewhere like that.....for some unknown reason. Thanks for the flashback fellas!
OK....to steer back on topic....I left Prudhoe and went to work for Boeing. The charters were mostly 727's back then.....I was told the engine configuration was way better for the gravel runways of ARCO and Kapurak.....Deadhorse was paved back then, I think. Those gravel runways SUKED in the summer!!!!.....in the winter is was just solid ice, nice and smooth!!!
Good job gettin ‘er done! Air is a fluid, some days the seas are rougher than others. Flying North to South, you’re crossing the jet stream (120mph + river of air) a couple of times. it’s interesting that passengers are usually most frightened by things that are the least dangerous- turbulence and go-arounds being the big ones that come to mind.
Or accelerated stalls. Or hold this pen in your palm, hand open flat. No watch as i push the stick down the pen magically floats in the air.... Man I hate those, especially when in the back. That usually means I just missed my connection because some part 91 jet jockey or RJ pilot couldnt clear the runway fast enough....
Back before we turned all commie and I could travel...I would have 1 or 2 a year. Usually ATL, DFW, etc...busy airports where spacing is a premium.
Or that it's so windy that a A330 is being jerked around like a damn 4-seater. I experienced that are approaching PHL once coming in from Paris. I could tell long before the go-around just from listening to the engines that the approach was far from stabilized.
A delta pilot trainer friend said the United pilots would miss their turn off at ATL if they knew a Delta flight was landing behind them just to be dicks.
What are go-arounds? How often do engines fail? At what point does a pilot get nervous? Do these things have check engine lights.
When the approach isnt "right" and you power back up and go around to try again. Could also be the plane in front of you is on the runway or other issue. No big deal. Not very. Never. The booze ensures that. Nope. Ever heard of a wing and a prayer.
Getting nervous? I have a student right now that can only fly in the afternoons after work so it's always dark. His first landings are all at night so we've done quite a bit of bouncing, but he nailed the last one today to end on a good note. I've got him on the schedule to fly during the day next, I'm excited to see how he does. But it's been fun finding that line between crashing and letting them learn to land. I'm more nervous about not being a good teacher rather than anything actually in the plane.
I was on "go-around" once that actually took us from Ontario (ONT) to LAX during severe Santa Ana wind conditions. I was flying in to be with my son for a WERA race at Fontana. We were on a very bumpy final approach at ONT and maybe only about 1000 foot elevation when we were suddenly slammed down by the wind a few hundred feet. The pilot powered out of that and we climbed out and were sent to LAX instead. They ended up closing ONT and we were bused there instead. Mongo will remember that weekend because those same winds also caused a cancellation of the race weekend. That moment on approach was the only time that I was legitimately scared while flying.
I’m no pilot but pretty sure that’s a Concord cockpit. I’m guessing that because my sadistic parents gave me a puzzle of that cockpit when I was a lad and I recall it looking like that. Oh and I’ve flown plenty of commercial flights. Probably more than average but less than a typical business traveler and never experienced a go around, engine failure or anything other than infrequent moderate turbulence. Except this one time flying West to East, we hit what I describe as a speed bump doing 500. Smooth as could be. Then bam shit went flying (more than it already was being in a plane) Then smooth again.