Oshkosh Pink Shirts

[flibmeister]

Well, there may be a few people that have corrupted the term since I first heard it in 1974, but I've never met one. In retirement, I've worked a couple of dozen shows in Arizona and Colorado as air boss-- and the controller crews at those events use the term exactly as every other controller I know has for the last 40 years.

Not that controllers don't sometimes use disparaging terms to describe pilots they think deserve it; they do, of course. But in my experience, it's usually "idiot", "a-hole", "knucklehead", etc.-- and definitely not specific to the size of the aircraft or method of propulsion. :wink2:

 

[LDJones]

The pink shirts weren't as efficient last night as they've been in years past. I don't think I've ever spent more than 10-15 minutes in the departure queue, but last night it took almost 45. We were on the grass next to the runway, two back from the taxiway and they kept bringing guys up the paved taxiway beside us and letting them go first, despite us having been there long before most of them. It was a bit frustrating, to say the least.

 

[Pjsmith]

The pink shirts weren't as efficient last night as they've been in years past. I don't think I've ever spent more than 10-15 minutes in the departure queue, but last night it took almost 45. We were on the grass next to the runway, two back from the taxiway and they kept bringing guys up the paved taxiway beside us and letting them go first, despite us having been there long before most of them. It was a bit frustrating, to say the least.

That was true on Monday too, though I don't recall the flaggers wearing pink, and they were the guys keeping me and others on the grass.

I thought the controllers themselves did as good a job as ever getting us out, though I wasn't more than 10 miles away when I heard the controllers apologizing on frequency to those in the queue .... So perhaps we just hit a sweet spot.

 

[nddons]

The pink shirts weren't as efficient last night as they've been in years past. I don't think I've ever spent more than 10-15 minutes in the departure queue, but last night it took almost 45. We were on the grass next to the runway, two back from the taxiway and they kept bringing guys up the paved taxiway beside us and letting them go first, despite us having been there long before most of them. It was a bit frustrating, to say the least.

I've been working flight line ops. Typically VFR departures are taxied to the runway via the grass taxiways, while IFR departures (even if they were a 172 parked in GAP or GAC) are marshaled on taxiway Bravo for their departures.

ONLY ATC controls the departures. The FLO Volunteers only get them to the departure area.

 

[BillTIZ]

BTW: Flight Service no longer has a presence in the North 40. Apparently they have been furloughed or sequestered away, despite EAA's enormous bill.

Few have noticed, or cared. In a day and age with ADDS weather on your tablet, those guys would have been better utilized selling ice, anyway. Too bad they aren't.

There is an enormous, wall-sized petition here on the field, with thousands of signatures, opposing the fee. FWIW.

The controllers on the way in seemed extra-friendly this year, so I suppose you could say we got SOMETHING for the extra money. It was nice to hear.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3...

Flight Service is not govt, they are contractors, Lockheed Martin. So that would mean that FAA decided to not fund the contract to cover FSS at the field as they have in the past? Remember, this is your fuel tax dollars not working for you.

I thought all govt contract services have been fully funded. Guess not.