You know you're an old pilot when...

TangoWhiskey

TangoWhiskey

Touchdown! Greaser!
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3Green
Stealing this great thread idea from a homebuilder's forum I frequent. Please feel free to add your own responses!


You know you're an old pilot when...

  • after dialing in a new altimeter setting on your new EFIS, you tap the glass…
  • you instinctively thump the wing skin on your walk-around to make sure the fabric is tight…
  • you always park the airplane with the prop horizontal, to make sure you don’t get a "heavy blade"….
  • "IFR currency" is the money somebody would have to pay you to voluntarily fly in the soup.
  • the conflicting traffic you are so concerned about turns out to be Myodesopsia.
  • they ask if you want to be “ground control” during the fly-bys at the airshow, and you’re not offended….
  • you actually prefer to fly an NDB approach.
  • you never fly with more than 10 gallons on board, because your bladder range has dropped to 20 minutes.
  • you adjust your seat height so the Kollsman window is at the optimum angle for your trifocals
  • you carry extra underwear in the seat back pocket in case of a 'shart'
  • you have asked ATC for a different frequency because "I don't have that crystal".


 
Troy Whistman said:
Stealing this great thread idea from a homebuilder's forum I frequent. Please feel free to add your own responses!


you always park the airplane with the prop horizontal, to make sure you don’t get a "heavy blade"….
Click to expand...


Heavy Blade?
 
CapeCodJay said:
Heavy Blade?
Click to expand...

I guess we could start a new thread, "You know you're a young pilot when..." :yes:

Wood props... if you parked them vertically, and it rained the bottom blade would soak up the water that ran from the top blade, and get "heavy", and out of balance.

http://www.customprop.com/News Letters/Propeller Tips_1105.doc

Putting a blade in the horizontal position, even on a non-wood blade, can help prevent the spinner from filling up with snow or ice, which is also a very bad thing.
 
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Troy Whistman said:
You know you're an old pilot when...
Click to expand...
-- You remember when "upgrading avionics" meant trading in the radio with "whistle-stop" tuning for a complete "1-1/2" system.

-- ... when sectional charts were only printed on one side;

-- ... when VORs had voice identification (I recall the recorded nasal voice repeating "Los Angeles [pronounced 'Angle-less'] Omni");

-- ... when aeronautical chart symbols included airway beacons, drive-in movies and mooring masts.

-- You have ever had to circumnavigate around a Military Climb Corridor.

-- You know what "one for the run and five for the hive" meant.

-- You have drained green or purple avgas from the sump.

-- Pilawt
 
Pilawt said:
-- You remember when "upgrading avionics" meant trading in the radio with "whistle-stop" tuning for a complete "1-1/2" system.

-- ... when sectional charts were only printed on one side;

-- ... when VORs had voice identification (I recall the recorded nasal voice repeating "Los Angeles [pronounced 'Angle-less'] Omni");

-- ... when aeronautical chart symbols included airway beacons, drive-in movies and mooring masts.

-- You have ever had to circumnavigate around a Military Climb Corridor.

-- You know what "one for the run and five for the hive" meant.

-- You have drained green or purple avgas from the sump.

-- Pilawt
Click to expand...


Great list! What's the "one for the run and five for the hive" mean?
 
Troy Whistman said:
What's the "one for the run and five for the hive" mean?
Click to expand...
It was a mnemonic for the receiving frequencies for FSS and towers. When many aicraft radios only had a handful of transmitting crystals but could receive on any com or nav frequency in the VHF air band (thanks to an analog dial and a big crank, like the tuner of an old Philco -- see below), you usually transmitted on one frequency and listened on another. Flight service stations would listen on 122.1 ("One for the run"), and control towers would listen on 122.5 ("Five for the hive").

As radios began to have more transmitting crystals (Five! Twelve!! Jeepers, twenty-seven!!!), "simplex" channels became prevalent, meaning you could actually transmit and receive on the same frequency. But you still had a crystal-controlled transmitter and a separate, analog-tuned receiver. So to get set up on a "simplex" channel, you would click to the correct transmitting crystal, pull the calibration knob, and spin the receiver dial toward the selected frequency. When you hit the frequency your transmitter was set to, you would hear a feedback tone, and you were ready to communicate. That was "whistle-stop" tuning!

-- Pilawt
 

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When the pilot tells you that to start the plane it will be a hand job, and you as the passanger get really nervous?
 
Man, I never thought at 56 I'd be young, but Pilawt's list was mostly (not entirely) new to me.

Judy
 
Can I get the link to the homebuilder list? Would love to pass it on to my aging homebuilder partner.....

Thanks,

P
 
judypilot said:
Man, I never thought at 56 I'd be young, but Pilawt's list was mostly (not entirely) new to me.

Judy
Click to expand...

56 is YOUNG, just wait until you hit 70. I know a lot of 70 year olds that are still young. Old really stinks, visit a nursing home to see 'old'. IMHO old is a physical condition and has nothing to do with age
 
Troy Whistman said:
Great list! What's the "one for the run and five for the hive" mean?
Click to expand...

Pilawt said:
It was a mnemonic for the receiving frequencies for FSS and towers.
Click to expand...

Radios? I was a little off on that one. I was thinking pick up a six-pack, one for the road and five for when you get home. Of course this was back when it was safe to drink while driving :rolleyes:
 
Pilawt said:
It was a mnemonic for the receiving frequencies for FSS and towers. When many aicraft radios only had a handful of transmitting crystals but could receive on any com or nav frequency in the VHF air band (thanks to an analog dial and a big crank, like the tuner of an old Philco -- see below), you usually transmitted on one frequency and listened on another. Flight service stations would listen on 122.1 ("One for the run"), and control towers would listen on 122.5 ("Five for the hive").

As radios began to have more transmitting crystals (Five! Twelve!! Jeepers, twenty-seven!!!), "simplex" channels became prevalent, meaning you could actually transmit and receive on the same frequency. But you still had a crystal-controlled transmitter and a separate, analog-tuned receiver. So to get set up on a "simplex" channel, you would click to the correct transmitting crystal, pull the calibration knob, and spin the receiver dial toward the selected frequency. When you hit the frequency your transmitter was set to, you would hear a feedback tone, and you were ready to communicate. That was "whistle-stop" tuning!

-- Pilawt
Click to expand...

100KHz spacing. Imagine that! :D $595 and $695 was a ton of money. then, too.

The Super Cub ads I have tout that the radios Transmit AND Receive!
 
mikea said:
100KHz spacing. Imagine that! :D $595 and $695 was a ton of money. then, too.
Click to expand...
When you mention the name "Superhomer" to today's generation of pilots they think it has to do with a "fantasy" episode of "The Simpsons." :D

Here's an ad for the older Superhomer. Narco was the big name in avionics through the '60s.

-- Pilawt
 

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