Those were the days.....

[tonysoprano]

Those were the good ole days. Pilots back then were men that
didn't want to be women or girly men. Pilots all knew who
Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots drank coffee, whiskey, smoked
cigars and didn't wear digital watches.

They carried their own suitcases and brain bags like the
real men that they were. Pilots didn't bend over into the
crash position multiple times each day in front of the
passengers at security so that some Gov't agent could
probe for tweezers or fingernail clippers or too much
toothpaste.

Pilots did not go through the terminal impersonating a
caddy pulling a bunch of golf clubs, computers, guitars, and feed
bags full of tofu and granola on a sissy-trailer with no hat
and granny glasses hanging on a pink string around their
pencil neck while talking to their personal trainer on the
cell phone!!!

Being an Airline Captain was as good as being the King in a
Mel Brooks movie. All the Stewardesses (aka.
Flight Attendants) were young, attractive, single women that were
proud to be combatants in the sexual revolution. They didn't
have to turn sideways, grease up and suck it in to get
through the cockpit door. They would blush
and say thank you when told that they looked good, instead of filing a
sexual harassment claim. Junior Stewardesses shared a room and
talked about men.... with no thoughts of substitution.
Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could
speak AND understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or
listen to loud gangsta rap on their IPods. They bathed
and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage in a jogging
suit and flip-flops. Children didn't travel alone, commuting
between trailer parks. There were no Mongol hordes asking for
a seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice
cocktail with a twist.
If the Captain wanted to throw some offensive, ranting jerk
off the airplane, it was done without any worries of a
lawsuit or getting fired.
Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and
left an impressive black smoke trail like a locomotive
burning soft coal. Jet fuel was cheap and once the
throttles were pushed up they were left there, after all it was the
jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a lizard on a
hardwood floor). Economy cruise was something in the
performance book, but no one knew why or where it was. When
the clacker went off no one got all tight and scared because
Boeing built it out of iron, nothing was going to fall off and
that sound had the same effect on real pilots then as
Viagra does now for those new age guys.
There was very little plastic and no composites on
the airplanes or the Stewardesses' pectoral regions. Airplanes
and women had eye pleasing symmetrical curves, not a bunch
of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins, winglets, flow
diverters, tattoos, rings in their nose, tongues and eyebrows.
Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith and Juan Tripp
who had built their companies virtually from scratch, knew most
of their employees by name and were lifetime airline
employees themselves...not pseudo financiers and bean
counters who flit from one occupation to another for a
few bucks, a better parachute or a fancier title, while
fervently believing that they are a class of beings unto
themselves.
And so it was back then....and never will be again!

"IN GOD WE TRUST"!!

[niss]

Well written!

[...]

If you wrote this Tony....it was indeed...well written.

You stroke a good keyboard...when you want to.

[just curious]

I always knew I was born 10 years too late.

[Sidebar]

If you wrote this Tony....it was indeed...well written.

You stroke a good keyboard...when you want to.

It's a good read, but I don't think it's original work. Google a bit of it, and you'll find over 700 hits on various sites.

[tonysoprano]

Sorry if I led anyone into thinking I wrote this. While I share the thoughts of the author whole-heartedly and can remember those days a bit myself, the words were written by a much wiser man than me. Unfortunately his name does not appear in the work so I can't name him but as Sidebar says, you can probably Google it and find his name.

[Four1oh]

The era you lament is for intensive purposes, still intact in First Air's airspace... AND, they now have '67's! Sounds like a perfect situation for ya, Tony.

[tonysoprano]

...Ya know, ya got me thinking there buddy. Not much has changed there from what I here.... But naaah, I'm afraid I myself have grown out of that era too, and grudgingly adapted to the new order. Sort of.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Ah.... the good old days when sex was safe and flying was dangerous.

[tonysoprano]

Anybody watching "Canada Above and Beyond" tonite on the CBC? Pretty good stuff on the Beaver.

[5x5]

The era you lament is for intensive purposes

Sorry, but I have to ask. Did you mean "for 'all intents and' purposes"?

If not, what are "intensive" purposes?

[matt foley]

Just remember this. When we are at the end of the road and putting on the prop tie for the last time, today will be the good old days. "Yep there we were, nothing to navigate with except one GPS praying that the lone PISTON engine held together just long enough to finish the day so we could collect our paycheck...only 5 grand a month too! Yesiree....those were the days"

[CAL]

pretty cool Tony...

[bmc]

Thanks Tony

My first ride in an airplane was a TCA Viscount from Dorval-Earlton, via Ottawa and Val D'or. I was too young to pay attention to the bisquit shooters. Got to see the cockpit, complete with steam gauges everywhere. Big oval windows to press my young face against. I remember landing in Val d'or and watching Voodoos take off, back with it was a CAF base.

and most days I think I'm young.

[tonysoprano]

b.
The industry has changed right before our eyes. But they can't take our memories away. Any snow in GVA yet?

[Skyhunter]

Its not just in commercial, following is lyrics from a group of fighter pilots that also have a band and write comedy pilot songs. For those not familiar with the teminology, JDAM is a guided bomb that goes where it is programmed to. LGB's are guided with the laser on the aircraft.

A couple of decades and it might all be armed UAV's?


JDAM Blues

By Dos Gringos



Yea there once was time, Fighter pilots were Gods

Lazing LGBs, in their targeting pods

It was fairly tasking, not to overfill your cup

But if you weren’t on your game, you could still screw it up

Yea those days are all disappeared, the Anti-Christ is finally here

And it’s JDAM, Dropping JDAM



I’m gonna tell stories, when I grow old

How I flew the whole mission on altitude hold

How I kept myself busy, from going insane

I completely unstrapped, showed my wingman my brain

There ain’t much to talk about, I even had time to rub one out

Dropping JDAM, Dropping JDAM



Yea you thought LGBs, were easy to do

Well Hell even Jerry’s kids, could do this shit too

The flood of concentration, is down to a trickle

All you need is a monkey, to throw poop and pickle

Yea you don’t even have to check, just gotta remember to inkdec

Droppin JDAM, Dropping JDAM



edited for spelling

[bmc]

b.
The industry has changed right before our eyes. But they can't take our memories away. Any snow in GVA yet?

It was +2 yesterday. The snow level is getting close.

Got any bids on GVA?

[Changes in Latitudes]

The era you lament is for intensive purposes, still intact in First Air's airspace... AND, they now have '67's! Sounds like a perfect situation for ya, Tony.

Close, oh so close!

Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could
speak AND understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or
listen to loud gangsta rap on their IPods. They bathed
and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage in a jogging
suit and flip-flops. Children didn't travel alone, commuting
between trailer parks. There were no Mongol hordes asking for
a seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice
cocktail with a twist.

[tonysoprano]

Got any bids on GVA?

Been bidding it all summer. Very senior stuff. Reluctantly enjoying the Cabernets of Chile these days with the odd European layover.

[dashx]

Cabernets of Chile

any particular brand????