My experience with a regional airline pilot

Gucci Pilot

Gucci Pilot

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Gucci Pilot
So when delivering a KC-10 to get upgraded in the middle of the country, we had to airline it back to base. While sitting waiting for the flight we decided to grab lunch in the terminal. In front of us were two rather large regional airline pilots. You could tell they were regional from their sloppy uniforms. One notices the guy serving food is Haitian so he starts speaking french to him, then to the cute girl running the cash register. She doesn't speak french and he proceeds to tell her how romantic and how difficult it is to learn to try to impress her(no surprise...it didn't work).

He then asks for the "crew price discount". After she prints the receipt he asks for one that specifically says "Crew Discount Applied" so he can claim the meal on his taxes. She tries for maybe 2 minutes then asks the manager to assist her. Which he does. He was probably the first guy to ask for this while she was working. He gets his new receipt and says, "Next time...get it right the first time". Talk about a fat, cocky, super D**k!

I felt bad for the poor girl. When I went up to pay she said, "Would you like your receipt?" To which I replied, "Nope...I trust you got it right the first time ;)"

Way she smiled at me I probably could have gotten her number.
 
I know exactly what you are saying I've had a very similar experience. It was when I delivering a KC-10 to get upgraded in the middle of the country, we had to airline it back to base. While sitting waiting for the flight we decided to grab lunch in the terminal. In front of us were two rather large regional airline pilots. You could tell they were regional from their sloppy uniforms. One notices the guy serving food is Haitian so he starts speaking french to him, then to the cute girl running the cash register. She doesn't speak french and he proceeds to tell her how romantic and how difficult it is to learn to try to impress her(no surprise...it didn't work).

He then asks for the "crew price discount". After she prints the receipt he asks for one that specifically says "Crew Discount Applied" so he can claim the meal on his taxes. She tries for maybe 2 minutes then asks the manager to assist her. Which he does. He was probably the first guy to ask for this while she was working. He gets his new receipt and says, "Next time...get it right the first time". Talk about a fat, cocky, super D**k!

I felt bad for the poor girl. When I went up to pay she said, "Would you like your receipt?" To which I replied, "Nope...I trust you got it right the first time ;)"

Way she smiled at me I probably could have gotten her number.
 
Man that $0.30 off his tax bottom line could have fed a kid from one of those TV donation shows for a day. Haha.
 
Gucci Pilot said:
I'm sure they were far more arrogant than this guy ;)
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Ever since my buddy started flying the F-16 we can't take him anywhere...

That said, it was quite fun the day a PC-12 saw us get out of a Cessna together and started bragging about all his experience in high performance aircraft...
 
I hope you didn't think a stand-up guy would take that job for that pay.
 
overdrive148 said:
I would!
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Military pilots far out class regional pilots. The only gripes I can come up with as a group is their insistence that Wx radar somehow scares birds out of their way (it doesn't I'm quite sure) and Air Force guys are way more about the book than stick and rudder. I suppose it makes sense flying nukes around, you want by the book folk. But they're the one who are going to get wrapped up about some minor discrepancy in procedure or call out.

Navy tends to be far less 'by the book' and more get 'er done. Guess the difference in mission makes sense.
 
Hey, we use books in the Navy. Those are the things that keep desks from wobbling and help short guys reach the pedals.

What I find ironic are the regional pilots who attempt military flight training. Of the handful or so that I know it was a 50/50 split between guys who rock and guys who could barely fly.
 
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denverpilot said:
Man that $0.30 off his tax bottom line could have fed a kid from one of those TV donation shows for a day. Haha.
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That's what I was thinking. First off I think it's a BS line anyway. You don't need a receipt to say anything particular special to write off, second, how many regional pilots make enough, and have a situation complex enough to make it worth itemizing? The only way I could see going long form on that income if I needed a schedule F, and if I needed a schedule F, I wouldn't worry about lunch receipts. If you aren't making a really good living off of farming, the schedule F eats all your tax liability.
 
wlawr005 said:
What I find ironic are the regional pilots who attempt military flight training. Of the handful or so that I know it was a 50/50 split between guys who rock and guys who could barely fly.
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Funny, in the airline business we see the same thing, except it's the other way around. We get some young guy that's flown regional that could fly an airplane like he was born in it, then we get some military guy that struggles to hold it right side up.

Like mentioned above, you find good and bad everywhere.
 
TUPilot said:
Ever since my buddy started flying the F-16 we can't take him anywhere...

That said, it was quite fun the day a PC-12 saw us get out of a Cessna together and started bragging about all his experience in high performance aircraft...
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We all (fighter pilots) start that way. It's part of the training process. Haha! He'll eventually figure out there's more in the sky than his little toy falcon, just give him a few years to get over himself; It took me almost a decade!

I got the same thing on my way to OSH this summer. A buddy of mine was with me (also an Eagle driver). We were at a stop for gas, Wx and picking up some rescue pups. There were two guys in a King Air 90 in the FBO. We started talking and I mentioned the wx to the north. The guy said "yeah, just go around it. That's what we do in the big iron," I kinda laughed and said it was easy to say when you're going 300TAS and someone else is paying for the fuel. He replied "yeah but we all started the same place, hang in there and it'll happen one day." (Smug look included). I couldn't take it anymore. 5 mins late rheas asking for a recommendation. Yeah... Right.


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