"1. Drive The Truck"...

W

WBI Flyer

Pre-takeoff checklist
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May 15, 2013
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Nashville, TN
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Groundhog
We all know the stories of folks as smart or smarter than us who have allowed non-urgent events in the airplane turn into a fatal event... by failing to continue to fly the plane.

Yesterday I was running hard to get a project back on time... At 3:45pm, I "found" lunch... (Some collection of fried chicken-like pieces with potato wedges). I was using the console of my truck as a table and grabbing a piece every now and then as I drove. I was HUNGRY.

Somewhere in heavy traffic on the freeway, I applied brake, then gas.... And my priceless chicken-like substance went flying off into the back floorboard of the truck. I instinctively turned my attention to the priceless cargo (and thoughts of mustard in my carpet) in the backseat.... In a split second, I realized that I had no idea what was happening on the road around me... "Always drive the truck" ran through my head and made me laugh, reflect on how easy it is for little things to distract us from the big things, and realize how important it is to visualize procedures and prepare to make good decisions in the pilot seat.

Door open? Canopy unlatch? Kid screaming? Whatever happens: 1. "First, Fly The Plane"
 
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Hey, at least you weren't the guy I saw a few years ago negotiating a freeway traffic jam with his guitar neck sticking out the window. Yes, he was playing it. No idea how he steered.
 
Sorta reminds me of a rant I posted on another board.

So I'm on the way back from the gym right, and I'm sitting at a stoplight next to some lady that is chowing down on some French bread. I couldn't tell if it was buttered. Didn't look like it but who knows.

Lady... you're literally like, two blocks away from home. Yes you're going home or you wouldn't be travelling the direction you're travelling on that road. You can't wait TWO MINUTES to get home to chow down?

I'm sorry, but seriously, I don't understand the people that go through a drive through, or walk out with a carryout food order and eat in the car WHILE DRIVING. I can't even relate. If I don't have time to spend five minutes in the Burger King to eat my Whopper, I don't have time to EAT.

It's like this... eating for me is a task that requires my FULL ATTENTION... I need both hands. I can't be distracted by driving. If I'm eating, I'm eating. I'm not playing on the computer, I'm not playing a Milton Bradley board game, I'm not toying with my Iphone, I'm not filling out an IFR nav log, I'm not folding laundry, and I'm not cleaning the bathroom. I'm EATING.

If you're eating with me, and you say something, don't expect a response until I'm at least at a natural breaking point, such as a change in courses between the steamed veggies and the lamb chops. Then I might mumble a few words then devour my lamb chops. When I'm all done I'll conversate. When I'm waiting for food I'll conversate. In between, you might as well STFU because I'm not listening. I'm eating.

That aside, I make a horrible mess when I eat. I'd rather clean all the burger slop, grease, and tomato spatterings off a hard Formica table surface than have it permanently embedded in my cloth interior. I don't want bread crumbs wedged in my upholstery. I don't want strings of spaghetti hanging from my rearview mirror.

There have been a handful of times, meaning I can count them all on one hand, in my life when I've eaten in my car. Once, I got some Whoppers at a Burger King and the Battalion S3 (my boss, a Major) was inside eating. Theoretically I was supposed to be back at the shop helping the S2 sort out a new load of Comsec material, so I just chowed down inside my car in the parking lot. Another time I got a couple of these awesome Chorizo breakfast burritos from the LMTS (Local Mexican Taco Stand) with the intention of eating them when I got to my remote office destination 80 miles away. Hunger got the better of me so I pulled off the freeway and chowed down, taking care not to get greasy hands in the process. But truth be told, I really don't like eating in the car at all, even if it's stopped, or if someone else is driving.

What is it with eating while driving? Is it the ultimate form of laziness? Are people in that much of a hurry? Do they really need food that badly? I just don't get it.
 
When I taught my kids to drive, I used to take them out in a closed industrial park. Many times it was late or after dark. I remember talking to one of my kids about distractions, especially deer, and the importance of remaining in control. Just my luck, that's when the deer jumped in front of her. Fortunately, no harm done.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Sorta reminds me of a rant I posted on another board.

So I'm on the way back from the gym right, and I'm sitting at a stoplight next to some lady that is chowing down on some French bread. I couldn't tell if it was buttered. Didn't look like it but who knows.

Lady... you're literally like, two blocks away from home. Yes you're going home or you wouldn't be travelling the direction you're travelling on that road. You can't wait TWO MINUTES to get home to chow down?

I'm sorry, but seriously, I don't understand the people that go through a drive through, or walk out with a carryout food order and eat in the car WHILE DRIVING. I can't even relate. If I don't have time to spend five minutes in the Burger King to eat my Whopper, I don't have time to EAT.

It's like this... eating for me is a task that requires my FULL ATTENTION... I need both hands. I can't be distracted by driving. If I'm eating, I'm eating. I'm not playing on the computer, I'm not playing a Milton Bradley board game, I'm not toying with my Iphone, I'm not filling out an IFR nav log, I'm not folding laundry, and I'm not cleaning the bathroom. I'm EATING.

If you're eating with me, and you say something, don't expect a response until I'm at least at a natural breaking point, such as a change in courses between the steamed veggies and the lamb chops. Then I might mumble a few words then devour my lamb chops. When I'm all done I'll conversate. When I'm waiting for food I'll conversate. In between, you might as well STFU because I'm not listening. I'm eating.

That aside, I make a horrible mess when I eat. I'd rather clean all the burger slop, grease, and tomato spatterings off a hard Formica table surface than have it permanently embedded in my cloth interior. I don't want bread crumbs wedged in my upholstery. I don't want strings of spaghetti hanging from my rearview mirror.

There have been a handful of times, meaning I can count them all on one hand, in my life when I've eaten in my car. Once, I got some Whoppers at a Burger King and the Battalion S3 (my boss, a Major) was inside eating. Theoretically I was supposed to be back at the shop helping the S2 sort out a new load of Comsec material, so I just chowed down inside my car in the parking lot. Another time I got a couple of these awesome Chorizo breakfast burritos from the LMTS (Local Mexican Taco Stand) with the intention of eating them when I got to my remote office destination 80 miles away. Hunger got the better of me so I pulled off the freeway and chowed down, taking care not to get greasy hands in the process. But truth be told, I really don't like eating in the car at all, even if it's stopped, or if someone else is driving.

What is it with eating while driving? Is it the ultimate form of laziness? Are people in that much of a hurry? Do they really need food that badly? I just don't get it.
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The worse crime is that she was eating pure, unadulterated, processed carbs. :yes:;)
 
Sac Arrow said:
Sorta reminds me of a rant I posted on another board.

So I'm on the way back from the gym right, and I'm sitting at a stoplight next to some lady that is chowing down on some French bread. I couldn't tell if it was buttered. Didn't look like it but who knows.

Lady... you're literally like, two blocks away from home. Yes you're going home or you wouldn't be travelling the direction you're travelling on that road. You can't wait TWO MINUTES to get home to chow down?

I'm sorry, but seriously, I don't understand the people that go through a drive through, or walk out with a carryout food order and eat in the car WHILE DRIVING. I can't even relate. If I don't have time to spend five minutes in the Burger King to eat my Whopper, I don't have time to EAT.

It's like this... eating for me is a task that requires my FULL ATTENTION... I need both hands. I can't be distracted by driving. If I'm eating, I'm eating. I'm not playing on the computer, I'm not playing a Milton Bradley board game, I'm not toying with my Iphone, I'm not filling out an IFR nav log, I'm not folding laundry, and I'm not cleaning the bathroom. I'm EATING.

If you're eating with me, and you say something, don't expect a response until I'm at least at a natural breaking point, such as a change in courses between the steamed veggies and the lamb chops. Then I might mumble a few words then devour my lamb chops. When I'm all done I'll conversate. When I'm waiting for food I'll conversate. In between, you might as well STFU because I'm not listening. I'm eating.

That aside, I make a horrible mess when I eat. I'd rather clean all the burger slop, grease, and tomato spatterings off a hard Formica table surface than have it permanently embedded in my cloth interior. I don't want bread crumbs wedged in my upholstery. I don't want strings of spaghetti hanging from my rearview mirror.

There have been a handful of times, meaning I can count them all on one hand, in my life when I've eaten in my car. Once, I got some Whoppers at a Burger King and the Battalion S3 (my boss, a Major) was inside eating. Theoretically I was supposed to be back at the shop helping the S2 sort out a new load of Comsec material, so I just chowed down inside my car in the parking lot. Another time I got a couple of these awesome Chorizo breakfast burritos from the LMTS (Local Mexican Taco Stand) with the intention of eating them when I got to my remote office destination 80 miles away. Hunger got the better of me so I pulled off the freeway and chowed down, taking care not to get greasy hands in the process. But truth be told, I really don't like eating in the car at all, even if it's stopped, or if someone else is driving.

What is it with eating while driving? Is it the ultimate form of laziness? Are people in that much of a hurry? Do they really need food that badly? I just don't get it.
Click to expand...

I also avoid eating while driving whenever possible. But there is one exception: White Castle hamburgers are made for being eaten in the car. Neat, compact, able to be handled with one hand, and consumed in two or three bites, they are the ideal food to munch on while on a long trip.

-Rich
 
Who says you can't eat a Big Mac while driving a stick shift, and texting at the same time?? :rolleyes:
 
us AAirways said:
Who says you can't eat a Big Mac while driving a stick shift, and texting at the same time?? :rolleyes:
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I'm not saying you shouldn't be capable of it, I just enjoy eating too much to be bothered by other side tasks like driving.
 
I eat and drive all the time. Usually with the ham radio going, broadcast radio on, and in the stick shift. Really doesn't bother me. I do "arrange" the cockpit carefully.

Karen can't stand it when I have multiple audio things on at the same time. Took training I guess.

Three conference calls at the same time was common in the conference call biz... especially Investor Relations.

The main call where the big staged "show" was going on, a back channel to the call's handlers/PR people, and a second back channel interconnecting all of the conference operators at multiple sites.

Multilevel marketing calls were similar, one broadcast (often recorded on tape and the participants never knew their MLM sales "hero" was really a recording while they were happily pounding beers on a beach somewhere), a back channel to the rah-rah underlings who also fielded live Q&A at the end, and a hoot-and-holler line to the other operators.

Hell, I even did it in Spanish and only knew enough Spanish to read from a script.

After a while it becomes natural like anything else to be monitoring three or four audio sources while dialing, moving lines around to balance load, hollering to the lead op that the bridge was about to overflow to the next hunt group and to get some operators plugged into headsets at those workstations, filling out the billing paperwork, and what not.

It's why I took various Public Safety dispatcher tests at one point in life and interned at a 911 facility at a small mountain county Sheriff's department. The 911 facility was more organized, better staffed, and paid significantly better.

Got the call I was to come back for third interview for State Patrol dispatch the same week I got an offer to go be a telecom field engineer. Took the one that paid better by a couple of bucks an hour. Needed the money. Forgot to factor in overtime vs salary, back then.

Oh well. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...
 
I know a colleague who is a paraplegic, due to chasing a piece of pizza onto the floor of the truck. In the blink of an eye, life can change.
 
Yep, drive the truck first; dip alleged chicken parts in sauce second, holding between thumb and forefinger; grab shifter carefully with remaining three not-greasy fingers. Timing is required to dip and bite between shifts.

As for being absorbed in eating, I enjoy good food. 99-44/100 of in-vehicle eating is only charitably described as "food," and is even more rarely "enjoyed." It's usually stuffing something available fast and cheap, because one is hungry and doesn't have time or opportunity for real food . . . :(
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I know a colleague who is a paraplegic, due to chasing a piece of pizza onto the floor of the truck. In the blink of an eye, life can change.
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Never chase. Never. Not for food, not for drinks, not for microphone, not for anything. Just let it fall, spill, whatever. Kinda like never ever trying to catch a falling firearm. Let it go.

**** happens, but don't make it worse not being able to see it coming.

Watched a guy come an inch from plastering himself to the side of a delivery truck after blowing a red light doing 45 a week ago.

Whatever that sedan was that he was driving, the engineers got the anti-lock right. I bet it gave him one hell of a bruise from the seat belt digging into his shoulder. Apparently whatever tires he has on it perfectly matched road conditions that morning, too.

Before I realized he had stopped in time, I had already instinctively swiped the phone in the RAM mount to unlock it and dial 911 - brain just automatically assumed he was dead meat. Brain was a tad confused by not hearing that telltale whump and sounds of glass and plastic shattering.
 
I know another one that got dead, swerving for a bunny.
Now, I won't high speed swerve for even our elk. I will lock the brakes, adjust lane position but no wheel-yanking.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I know another one that got dead, swerving for a bunny.
Now, I won't high speed swerve for even our elk. I will lock the brakes, adjust lane position but no wheel-yanking.
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I had a second cousin who died swerving to avoid a deer, lost control, and went under the middle of an oncoming 18-wheeler flat bed trailer.

It was BAD.

Hit the deer, cars can be fixed/replaced.
 
It's not common but the large ungulates can go through the windshield. Way less common than rollovers from swerving. I will take my chances on the windshield....and avoid low-riding vehicles in deer country. (not going 75mph helps too)
 
Close encounters with adult grizzlies and moose can be a whole lot worse than risking a collision. Seen the results of both, well after the fact. An 800 lb grizzly has a helluva lot of blood.
 
Bill Jennings said:
I had a second cousin who died swerving to avoid a deer, lost control, and went under the middle of an oncoming 18-wheeler flat bed trailer.

It was BAD.

Hit the deer, cars*** can be fixed/replaced.
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For varying values of "car". If you're in a Smart Car, you're screwed. :)
 
P.S. I had to stop on the county road with the flashers on to allow ten deer to cross the road. :)
 
I had to wake my neighbor up one night and help him round up half a dozen black cows that snuck out of the barn and were headed down the road, more than a half mile away. Friday night, 11pm. Could have been bad . . .
 
We had a large, I mean 3000# brahman bull constantly getting over a fence onto a highway. Each time a call to dps and rancher, big chase and back in. Finally one Fri night a pair of coeds ran their car into him, at least one girl killed. Black bull, in our dark skies at night, they hardly had a chance. I'd wondered about the rancher's liability in view that he'd gotten out repeatedly yet the problem continued.
Right now we have a small herd of donkeys on the highway in the mountains. No way to fix the problem and no way to warn people. Gonna be another one soon.
 
We had a motorcyclist hit a cow out on the indian reservation. He was also speeding, estimated at 100+ mph. From what I hear, it was quite messy. :yikes:
 
Hitting livestock on an Indian reservation will make you a very poor person very fast. You'll be paying for that cow, and all the cows and siblings that one cow will ever have had...
 
denverpilot said:
Hitting livestock on an Indian reservation will make you a very poor person very fast. You'll be paying for that cow, and all the cows and siblings that one cow will ever have had...
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Not sure my insurance co would go for that. Or does this involve a civil suit?
 
denverpilot said:
Hitting livestock on an Indian reservation will make you a very poor person very fast. You'll be paying for that cow, and all the cows and siblings that one cow will ever have had...
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The motorcyclist was toast as well, he was not worried about paying for the cow.
 
RJM62 said:
I also avoid eating while driving whenever possible. But there is one exception: White Castle hamburgers are made for being eaten in the car. Neat, compact, able to be handled with one hand, and consumed in two or three bites, they are the ideal food to munch on while on a long trip.

-Rich
Click to expand...

And will cause the full cleansing of your intestinal tract, after consumption of more than 4 or 5. :yes:
 
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