Rotor & Wing

I do miss him. He was sarcastic and condicending to people but he was honestly one of the most beneficial posters here. It was always great to learn how the "other side" thought about the regulations and what actually happened when it came to enforcement, etc.


Hope he comes back some day. Better place with him. And I secretly enjoyed him telling people off all the time ;)
 
Norman said:
He's probably on the other side of the world arguing with a certain boat captain. :D
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Or a certain Cap'n Ron....

Those were my favorite, watching him repeatedly stuff him in a locker...not because I have anything against Ron, just was funny as hell when R&W went at it with him
 
IMO R&W, Cap'n Ron, Steven (Roncachamp), John Collins, and aterpster are (or were) the most clued PoA contributors. They all have a very high signal-to-noise ratio, and I think PoA loses a lot when any of them is gone.
 
neilw2 said:
I do miss him. He was sarcastic and condicending to people but he was honestly one of the most beneficial posters here. It was always great to learn how the "other side" thought about the regulations and what actually happened when it came to enforcement, etc.


Hope he comes back some day. Better place with him. And I secretly enjoyed him telling people off all the time ;)
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Perhaps when you get to the point of having half as much experience as R&W you too can be "condescending".
 
RotorDude said:
IMO R&W, Cap'n Ron, Steven (Roncachamp), John Collins, and aterpster are (or were) the most clued PoA contributors. They all have a very high signal-to-noise ratio, and I think PoA loses a lot when any of them is gone.
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The problem is with at least one of those is that they just expected you to believe everything they said as fact whether it was fact or opinion, and got ****ed off if you dared question them.
 
EdFred said:
The problem is with at least one of those is that they just expected you to believe everything they said as fact whether it was fact or opinion, and got ****ed off if you dared question them.
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Yep, and if someone misses that sort of thing, he is holding court over on the Red board.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Perhaps when you get to the point of having half as much experience as R&W you too can be "condescending".
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Totally agree, his experience is why I found his posts so valuable and why I think he is so missed. I actually tended to agree with him on almost everything as well. He was a great breath of fresh air clearing out the sometimes hot air of some people.

However, he definitely talked down to people. Like I said it didn't bother me but I'm just stating fact.
 
It's my experience in RL too that the most experienced and knowledgeable people are very often (though not always) the least patient with "fools" (as they perceive them). But if you remain objective and only want their expertise, you can easily ignore their personality flaws to get the goods. BTW, this does not apply to all persons on my above list, some are actually very tolerant.
 
He invited me to dinner on him in OKC in December over private mail, unfortunately I was off to Denver at the time.
 
RotorDude said:
It's my experience in RL too that the most experienced and knowledgeable people are very often (though not always) the least patient with "fools" (as they perceive them). But if you remain objective and only want their expertise, you can easily ignore their personality flaws to get the goods. BTW, this does not apply to all persons on my above list, some are actually very tolerant.
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Well, at least you know where I'm coming from. :p:Do_O
 
What about old Ben? Miss his tirades against the CAP. :rolleyes::D
 
R&W was often correct, but also often represented his personal opinion as fact, even when it conflicted with reality. Describing his behavior as condescending is just another way of acknowledging that he had no respect for others. Not the qualities of a good instructor, nor someone who should be admired for his knowledge.

Just food for thought.


JKG
 
I miss his posts.

This is the internet. The key to success is separating opinion from fact, and to have a teflon hide for those times that you get kicked in the nuts. R&W has a huge amount of knowledge, as well as a unique perspective from the regulatory side of the fence. Maybe his methods weren't all unicorns and rainbows, but I'm more than happy to feel like an idiot as long as I'm learning.
 
JGoodish said:
R&W was often correct, but also often represented his personal opinion as fact, even when it conflicted with reality. Describing his behavior as condescending is just another way of acknowledging that he had no respect for others. Not the qualities of a good instructor, nor someone who should be admired for his knowledge.

Just food for thought.


JKG
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Personally I don't come to PoA for "instruction", or to "admire" someone. I come here for information pertaining to aviation (mostly). AFAICT, around 99% of R&W's statements about technical issues were correct. This is in great contrast to most others here (myself included) whose batting average is considerably lower. So from my perspective, he was an extremely useful contributor and an asset to this site, and not having him here is a net loss. I can imagine if other people come here for other reasons, then they might disagree.
 
RotorDude said:
Personally I don't come to PoA for "instruction", or to "admire" someone. I come here for information pertaining to aviation (mostly). AFAICT, around 99% of R&W's statements about technical issues were correct. This is in great contrast to most others here (myself included) whose batting average is considerably lower. So from my perspective, he was an extremely useful contributor and an asset to this site, and not having him here is a net loss. I can imagine if other people come here for other reasons, then they might disagree.
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I guess it depends on whether you want information, or correct information. And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that he was always wrong, simply that he was not always right. And when he wasn't right, he often seemed to lack the humility required to acknowledge it.

If you think that he has credibility because he claimed to be a former FSDO inspector, I can poll the inspectors at my local FSDO (and have done so) about any number of issues and receive wildly different answers which they all claim to be correct.

If it's because he claimed to then move into a career in commercial aviation, I could say the same about airline pilots.

Someone who is so convinced that he has the right answer all of the time such that he feels the need to disparage others, some of whom have as much or more experience than he does, isn't displaying behavior consistent with a respectable or reliably credible source. At least, that's been my experience in the corporate world over the past 20 years.

If you want to be the bully's defender, that's certainly your option. Just don't be surprised when one day, you become his victim.


JKG
 
JGoodish said:
I guess it depends on whether you want information, or correct information. And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that he was always wrong, simply that he was not always right. And when he wasn't right, he often seemed to lack the humility required to acknowledge it.

If you think that he has credibility because he claimed to be a former FSDO inspector, I can poll the inspectors at my local FSDO (and have done so) about any number of issues and receive wildly different answers which they all claim to be correct.

If it's because he claimed to then move into a career in commercial aviation, I could say the same about airline pilots.

Someone who is so convinced that he has the right answer all of the time such that he feels the need to disparage others, some of whom have as much or more experience than he does, isn't displaying behavior consistent with a respectable or reliably credible source. At least, that's been my experience in the corporate world over the past 20 years.

If you want to be the bully's defender, that's certainly your option. Just don't be surprised when one day, you become his victim.


JKG
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I won't be his victim because I don't claim to be absolutely sure about anything and I respect his knowledge. Based on my experience reading his posts for the last few years, I have yet to see anything he said that turned out to be clearly wrong. And I don't "take his word" for anything. Like anyone else, online or IRL, I gradually build my own batting average for people, based on what they say and how it pans out after subsequent vetting. As I mentioned above, R&W's batting average was far and above higher than virtually anyone else here when it came to FARs, FAA activities, flying and maintenance. If you can point to a specific example (since you seem to be saying there were many of them) where he was provabley wrong, please do.
As far as "bullying", I don't recall him ever attacking anyone for asking a question or politely disagreeing with him. It was when he felt someone was being disingenuous or obstinate, or when someone attacked him, that he would sometimes overreact. If you have an example that counters this observation, feel free to share.
 
JGoodish said:
I guess it depends on whether you want information, or correct information. And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that he was always wrong, simply that he was not always right. And when he wasn't right, he often seemed to lack the humility required to acknowledge it.
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He has that in common with most of the aviation professionals on this discussion board.
 
I always liked his avatars.
And @nauga. That guy has cool avatars as well.

I don't know much about much so I always assumed R&W was pretty smart with his flying information.
I'll be honest though, He scared me a little. I would never want to get into it with him. I bet he could kick the crap out of me in nothing flat.
But I base that mostly on his avatar.
 
overdrive148 said:
He invited me to dinner on him in OKC in December over private mail, unfortunately I was off to Denver at the time.
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We happened to be in OKC together a bunch of years ago. He actually is a pretty humble guy IRL. Looks nothing like House (if y'all remember his old avatar).
 
Anymouse said:
We happened to be in OKC together a bunch of years ago. He actually is a pretty humble guy IRL. Looks nothing like House (if y'all remember his old avatar).
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I was actually wondering what he looked like because I couldn't think of him being anything but House! Although I don't look like a screaming Toad...
 
Hopefully he comes back. He was one of the few defenders of the mighty Cessna SKYMASTER.
 
I seldom notice when someone leaves. I miss his posts too. I just didn't realize it until now.
 
I've chatted with him a few times back when chat was active at the old site. Seemed like a pretty decent guy on a conversational level. My understanding is that he is an airline pilot working in the Philippines.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I've chatted with him a few times back when chat was active at the old site. Seemed like a pretty decent guy on a conversational level. My understanding is that he is an airline pilot working in the Philippines.
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I thought that was Tropical Ed.
 
Hmm. Wonder if he slapped me around once. Is there a way to do a search and find if he has "replied" or "quoted" me?
 
He certainly had a wealth of knowledge to offer. Sure he was very blunt with his delivery but pretty much all of his posts were helpful.
 
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