Something different...an aviation story.

[sms777]

Let's get away from car troubles for a while and introduce you to some of my experiences in aviation.
As most of you know i am seasoned commercial pilot with some serious experience around our beautiful country flying some colourful people in some colourful aeroplanes flying over the most colourful country in the world......AUSTRALIA.
This was a charter out of Bankstown in the middle of 1998. I was to fly 6 people to Broken Hill leaving friday lunch time  for a weekend getaway and return sunday evening. It was a routine charter which i have done many times previously and always enjoyed it. When you are a charter pilot you not only get paid for the hours you fly but you get all your meals, accomodation, ground transport, all paid for so it is fun.
The morning of departure all passengers turn up on time(surprise). 4 elderly couples and 2 gentleman, one in his thirties the other in his fifties (father and son which i have found out later).  I load all luggage, some in rear some in nose locker of aeroplane. Forgot to mention that this is a single pilot flight which means pilot loads all luggage, does catering, fuels aeroplane, does flight planning, arrange pick up and drop off from airports, checks pax in motels, takes care of everything during charter, be on stand-by 24/7 for the next three days. Suddenly charter flying is not so glamorous after all.
I am loading luggage in nose locker when i hear the voice of gentleman in his thirties(son of gentleman in his fifties....let's call him Bill)..anyways Bill want's to see whats under the bonnett of this aeroplane because he has never seen an aeroplane engine before... WTF, i say to my self and gently point him to the direction of the propellers on the left side of the aeroplane trying no to make it obvious that i have just discovered that he is a moron, and make him realise that the engine is behind that big windmill with four big blades. This is just the beginning.....lets concentrate on flying.
Bill requests politely if he can occupy the co-pilots seat because he sat in the space shuttle before(beleive it or not) so he knows all about flying.( I have just learnt that the engines of the space shuttle is in the nose locker). I have agreed that he can seat next to me as long as he keeps his hands to himself.
We departed on time (another surprise), with the knowledge that i am sitting next to a space shuttle pilot for the next two and a half hours( our flight time to Broken Hill).
We depart on time (another surprise).It was not long into the flight that i found out that poor Bill was not exactly 100% in the intelligence department because he was annoying me with more and more silly questions about all the dials and clocks in front of him and how they worked.
We were about 45 minutes out of Broken Hill when suddenly i was confronted with an array of flashing red lights and buzzers telling me that we were low on fuel. Bill hit the roof. He went histerical, grabbed my right arm before i could reach in to cancel all the flashing lights and proceeded to peel the skin off my right arm. I managed to cancel all buzzers but could not get Bill's attention away from the low fuel warning light.
This particular aeroplane (which i knew well ) had a very sensitive fuel sender which would send off all warnings before fuel levels reach reserves, but forgot all about it because of Bill. Anyways i had to calm him down somehow so i told him to keep a good eye on the right hand propeller(his side), if it stops spinning he has to let me know right away so i know when we ran out of fuel. While he was transfixed on the prop i slowly unscrewed the warning light bulb(you can do that in aeroplanes), took out the light globe, screwed the cover back in.
When Bill looked back in he noticed the light gone off he wanted to know what happenned. I simply told him while he was watching i called Flight Service, gave them my credit card details and they have topped up the aeroplane for me over the phone. Bill was very impressed and he said he is going to get one of those cards one day. He went to sleep after that.
True story.......stand by for more.....over and out.

[chrisevo]

Can't wait for Part 2 to hear what happened to Bill the dill !!!!

[sms777]

I tell you what else Bill wanted to know during our short relationship....
Where are the parachutes? ...he asked.
There is only one, and it is under my seat....I said
Next one was .....How often do these aeroplanes crash?
Only once...I said. He was pretty satisfied again and went to sleep.
Poor Bill....there is plenty out there:lol:

[chris67]