Originally Posted by Shadywood (Post 1956836)

That's what makes learning to fly so "interesting". It seems so easy once you master the art of being able to reuse the aircraft after landing it. But you don't know what you don't know, yet. Most of the crashes come around the 100 hour mark, and then there is another grouping around the 1,000 mark, when you start to feel like an old hand.

It's not an especially dangerous hobby, but the penalty for dumb mistakes is high, and you might not even realize you're making a dumb mistake at the time. It had never occurred to me before that incident that the flaps were useful beyond landing. And I'd been warned that VFR on top was dangerous, but I just assumed it was because you might get stuck there. Nobody ever mentioned that getting back under the clouds might be dangerous even when there's a great big opening, or that the conditions under the clouds when I got there might be nearly un-flyable.

I hope my story didn't scare people off from flying. It's the most rewarding thing I ever learned to do. But big rewards usually come with risks.

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1956899)

Back in the 1970s I had flown into LAX with my wife and two kids. We had several carry-ons so I waited until the rest of the passengers had disembarked. I took my time to saddle up with all the bags and was almost running up the jetway so I could unload them at the other end. The jetway had a blind turn and I came around it fast with maybe 50 lbs of bags, almost running over a much smaller man wearing a long sleeved Hobie T shirt heading toward the plane to board. Arriving at the gate I turned to my wife and said "That guy looked just like Paul Newman." She said "That was Paul Newman." The airline probably gave him a pre-board for privacy. They even have special celebrity lounges at LAX so celebrities can have some privacy.

Another time I was flying into Long Beach with a first class upgrade. When I boarded a gentleman was in the aisle seat and we politely interacted as he got up to let me get to my seat. He kept a newspaper he was reading wide open close to his face during the remainder of the boarding. He interacted politely with the flight attendant and me throughout the short flight. After we landed I noticed his startling blue eyes as he faced me while getting his bag from the overhead. The light went on in my head. That's Joe Namath! He noticed me staring at him open mouthed and nodded his head (please, no). I nodded back OK. We all got off the plane and at the baggage carousel he gave me a wave as he went on his way. I have run into a few other celebrities at airports, Ricardo Montalban in Guadalajara (a true gentleman!), Joan Rivers at LAX being a real pain to the gate agent as the aircraft's windshield was cracked and they needed to replace the aircraft with another plane. Oh my, she would miss her BBC interview...lol.

Originally Posted by Ben Franklin (Post 1956409)

:popcorn: Tell us a story. I love stories. It can be about anything, but not politics. :welcome:

This particular story is about boats and dinner. My wife and I started with a stink pot (name given to gasoline powered boats), and then we went to a Rag (name given to sail boaters). This story is about an adventure on our Rag. But first a little side story. Before we owned a boat, we rented one. When the dockmaster asked if I had experience boating, I said, "Oh yea, I've been boating for a while now. (OK, so I lied). My wife just shook her head. When we got to the destination the dockmaster there tried :clap2:to direct me, and I kept hitting the piling. The dockmaster kept saying, "That's OK Captain, straight in now." After 4 tries, my wife shouted out, "Please stop calling him Captain!" Now to the matinee story. :popcorn:

We docked our Rag on the Sassafras River, which emptied into the Chesapeake Bay. It was only a 27 footer, but it was all we needed. One weekend, we took my sister and bro-in-law with us, to sail down to St. Michael's for dinner and stay overnight. During our sail, I let my bro-in-law take the wheel, while I enjoyed a cold one.

Everything was going fine, until our Rag started to slow down, even though the wind did not. I asked my bro-in-law if he noticed anything, while he was at the wheel. He said he did not.

Our trip took much longer than expected, due to the sluggishness of our boat. As he docked, a couple, unknown to us, and who had already been docked, helped us tie up. As the husband tied our stern line, he said, "did you know you're dragging a crab trap?" I did not, but now I knew what made us sluggish.

We pulled up the trap and there were at least two dozen crabs in the trap (according to my memory). Needless to say, we had dinner aboard the Rag that night. I left the crab trap with the dockmaster.

But the story doesn't end there. The next morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, thanks to some ducks tapping against the boat, looking for food. Our new dock friends, who helped us tie up, were dressed, and about to head out, when I asked them where they were headed so early. The husband replied, that they were headed to Boston to watch the Red Sox play. Every Saturday, they would fly to a different city to watch different teams play. He told me he worked for the airlines and only had to pay a minimal amount to fly. Now, I thought that was great!

Share your story :popcorn:

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1957069)

At least two men have died on flights I was on. No announcements were made. One they threw a blanket over and left him in his window seat. The other they stuffed into a first class bathroom and duck taped the door shut.

One afternoon I was in a plane descending to land at John Wayne in Orange County, CA. I looked out my port side window and saw a huge brush fire down toward Laguna Beach. It was like something in a Cecil B. DeMille movie and it took a while to register what was happening. No announcements were made. When we landed I went home to my house in Corona Del Mar. Ended staying up all night, even hosing down the roof as about 4:00 a.m. flying cinders from the fire were landing on it. 300 Homes Destroyed in O.C. - Los Angeles Times

Originally Posted by Becca9800 (Post 1957073)

I believe you but YOWSA!!! That treatment is unbelievable! But I def believe you. No emergency stop for a young man who might have well been dying. Guess it would have cost the airline a bundle to make an emergency landing. Less costly to settle a lawsuit vs. re-routing 300+ passengers. I haven't flown that airline since, I have my principles too.

Originally Posted by Marty94 (Post 1956927)

I was about 5 years old when my mom started taking me to a braided rug making class in Middlebury, Vermont. It was normally about a 40 minute drive around the lake and over the Crown Point bridge to get there, but my mom, notoriously late, could make it in 30 minutes. Sometimes I swear she could get our old paneled station wagon up on two wheels going around corners, like Joey Chitwood at the county fair. I held on for dear life and prayed we didn’t hit a cow. That was on the way over.

On the way home however, the drive lasted an hour or longer as my mom would take the most circuitous routes. If there was a road we hadn’t been down, she was taking it. It didn’t make any sense to me and I started thinking that maybe she didn’t want to go home, maybe with seven kids at home, she just wanted a few more minutes of freedom. I didn’t know, but I certainly was going to find out. So, finally I got up the courage to ask and her reply went something like this: “Don’t you ever wonder what’s down that road. Aren’t you curious where it comes out? But most importantly, what if we see something amazing along the way?!”

After that, I understood why we took so many roads and it gave me great joy to point out something new we hadn’t seen.

Over the years I’ve kept my mom’s sense of adventure. I’ve traveled around the world and as far away as the South Pole. I’ve never forgotten her words and the lesson she taught me. And I still take unfamiliar roads even when I know the way home. Indeed, I’ve seen amazing things along the way.