jETblue Kid and his skateboard

[ExAF]

Don't Worry

Now I have the added burden of knowing that some people might look at me and think I am unprofessional.

Don't lose any sleep over it. I wouldn't be too concerned over anything you read at FI concerning your professional image.:laugh:

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

" I gave my love a chicken....." Classic....

Is that a pledge pin! on your uniform?

I carried an M-16!!!

CE

 

[lookin4better]

Bro! Where is my skateboard?? Awww naah Bro....its lost... oh well... my dad will buy me another, they are paying my rent, car and any other bills anyway bro.

 

[Farmer]

I got in a bit of trouble a year ago for calling the Great Lakes ramp in DEN a name. Ramp asked us to hold short of the "commuter ramp" after I'd sat at our gate watching just about every Great Lakes pilot walk under the nose of our airplane from the crewroom they have somewhere down under the concourse out to the planes they operate wherever they go. They all seemed to be carrying backpacks and I pointed this out to my captain. When asked to hold short of the "commuter ramp" by the ramp controller, I responded that we would hold short of the "backpack ramp".. but some were not as amused as my captain and I were... I still think these guys looked like goofballs but I guess that's where our profession is being taken by the new generation of LCC pilots and the commuter guys/gals who bitch about low pay but play the part of flip flop wearing college kids in semi-sort of pilot uniforms.... Thanks guys.. skate on dudes...

Reminds me of a similar story.

Years ago I was sitting in a plane, at my "Major Airline" waiting to push. Pilots would walk by the plane to get on the employee bus. I was amazed to see that most of these guys had bags with wheels on the bottom. I said to my captain. "You see that, they have wheels on the bottom of their bag." We could not get over the fact that these pilots made us look so unprofessional by not carrying their bags. Now it seems like everyone is doing it and our profession has ever since taken pay cuts and been looked down upon.

 

[Fly2Scuba]

Reminds me of a similar story.

Years ago I was sitting in a plane, at my "Major Airline" waiting to push. Pilots would walk by the plane to get on the employee bus. I was amazed to see that most of these guys had bags with wheels on the bottom. I said to my captain. "You see that, they have wheels on the bottom of their bag." We could not get over the fact that these pilots made us look so unprofessional by not carrying their bags. Now it seems like everyone is doing it and our profession has ever since taken pay cuts and been looked down upon.

That's quite a stretch to compare a roller bag to a skateboard.

 

[Redmeat]

That's quite a stretch to compare a roller bag to a skateboard.

What?...you don't take your roller bag to the half-pipe dude!?!

I think Purdy Neet Stuff is working on one that converts into a skateboard by popular demand.

Everyone knows it's the latest rage on overnights!

(I'm doing the "shaka" sign as I write this dude!)

 

[Fernando]

Skateboards are not just kids toys theyre more like a lifestyle.Uf u like it, you may end up skating all your life and not only thru your teenage years, most people dont understand this but there are a lot of people inm their 30s and even 40s still skating and just having fun....whats wrong with that?

Its like if youre 35 and like football, theres nothing weird about it.But if you like other spor, in this case skateboarding, people freak out.

Anyway i dont think it was a good idea for this pilot to carry the skateboard in view, it would have been better if he had put in inside a backpack, just to avioid this kind of critisism.

On another note, one day i was in the shuttle between the car rental area and the airport, in pilot uniform, when this older fellow tells he me likes my watch and ask what brand is it?

I told him it was NIXON, and he says he likes the watch but never heard of that brand before, i tell him its a brand that specializes in the surf/skate market, he ask me where i got the watch and i tell him that an skateshop, and hes surprised and ask me if i like skateboarding and i say yeah i do.

and he says "but youre a pilot" and i go yeah, and he says "i dont wanna ride in a plane with a pilot that skates like a 17 yr old kid" hahaha

thats why i dont think its a good idea to carry the skaboard in view to everyone.

Later

 

[waka]

I agree, it us very unprofessional to have a skateboard, guitar and/or backpack.

Come on guys/gals, how much stuff do you possibly need to carry on a trip. Is it really that important to look like a dork.

BTW, you might as well not wear your hat and just put sunglasses on top of your head like most XJT guys do.

Some pilots actually are on the road for more than a couple of weeks....in case you haven't noticed.

Man, how junior are you? There is nothing unprofessional about carrying a guitar. What is your problem with a pilot carrying a musical instrument? If it was something as nondescript as a trumpet case, would you have a problem with that? If not, what is your problem with the guitar? What IS your problem? Is it because the shape of the case gives it away? Sheesh!


As for backpacks, that's only questionable.

 

[Thurman Merman]

I am not criticizing but most of my flying was done in the US and now I am in Japan. Here, flying is what it was 20-30 years ago in the US. Passengers still hold in awe this profession. They bend down to there kids and point and say, "pilot." It is still a profession to be proud of and you know what it makes you feel good and hold your head high. The flight attendants are all done up the same, they even have make up and hair class during training and yes there is a weight requirement. Pilot's as well, your BMI has to be under 30.

I am not one of those, "ooo... look at me I'm a pilot" kind of guys but to walk down the terminal with your crew; Capt, FO coat on AND BUTTONED, hat on; flight attendants look immaculate; gate agents and ramp crew nothing but respect; it makes you feel good about your job and profession.

Also, being a Captain here is what it was 20-30 years ago as well. This applies to all the airplanes not just the big boys. I fly the Dash 8 Q400 and its the same amount of treatment and respect. Now I'm not saying the initiate of this thread has brought down the profession but I see the difference between here and there and I don't think it's helped. Their is a give and take and I think many parties are responsible. The public wanting something for nothing, management giving it to the public and Pilots too. This is a PROFESSION, not a job, where only a small percentage of the population can qualify to do it and even a smaller percentage actually do.

Sadly though, I don't think there is a way to right the ship, she's too far gone.

 

[Farmer]

That's quite a stretch to compare a roller bag to a skateboard.

I was talking about IAHERJ's lame ass story of commuter pilots carrying around BACKPACK and how funny he and his captain thought is was. Losers!! Times are changing...get with it.

I wish that they would have made backpacks that were made to carry laptops back when I was at the commuters. I had a roller bag with my flight case hooked to it and a laptop bag connected to the top. The fricking laptop bag would slip off the roller bag handle....pissed me off. Then I would get to a stairway and have to disconnect all the bags and try and carry all of them up, just to reconnect them all again. A backpack would have kicked ass. Couldn't care less what the passengers thought.

I would also carry my guitar along on some overnights. 18 hours in the middle of nowhere that was butt ass cold with nothing to do...you better believe that I was effin jamming in my hotel room.

If I still skated, I would have brought that too. Who gives a sHrt.

You guys has a complex about how people perceive you. You have to be looked up upon because you are the mighty pilot, better than all. We must not look bad, we are professional all the time. We must list every type of plane on FI just to try and impress. 767-200, 767-400, 757-?? who cares, but you. My company is great, etc... You people are anal and everyone REALLY likes to fly with you. F - no. They sit and talk about the jackass that has no fun and how they have to fly with the pompous prick for 6 days. Glad you are having so much fun at your career.

 

[Skaff]

I don't carry a backpack, skateboard, or a guitar, although I see nothing wrong with it. Is it unprofessional to skate on an overnight or have a hobby? If your worried about what passengers might think, then you should be sure to never visit the bar on your overnight, what might the passengers think? I think the guys that are complaining are the same guys that either don't talk at all enroute, or just b itch about everything the whole trip. Either way, I personally don't want to be anything like them. I'd rather try to find ways to enjoy myself on my trips and on my overnights.

 

[Floatplane]

I have decided to start bringing my skateboard and my tuba! I will need the skateboard to get the tuba through the terminal. :beer:


What a stupid thread!

 

[Redmeat]

I was talking about IAHERJ's lame ass story of commuter pilots carrying around BACKPACK and how funny he and his captain thought is was. Losers!! Times are changing...get with it.

I wish that they would have made backpacks that were made to carry laptops back when I was at the commuters. I had a roller bag with my flight case hooked to it and a laptop bag connected to the top. The fricking laptop bag would slip off the roller bag handle....pissed me off. Then I would get to a stairway and have to disconnect all the bags and try and carry all of them up, just to reconnect them all again. A backpack would have kicked ass. Couldn't care less what the passengers thought.

I would also carry my guitar along on some overnights. 18 hours in the middle of nowhere that was butt ass cold with nothing to do...you better believe that I was effin jamming in my hotel room.

If I still skated, I would have brought that too. Who gives a sHrt.

You guys has a complex about how people perceive you. You have to be looked up upon because you are the mighty pilot, better than all. We must not look bad, we are professional all the time. We must list every type of plane on FI just to try and impress. 767-200, 767-400, 757-?? who cares, but you. My company is great, etc... You people are anal and everyone REALLY likes to fly with you. F - no. They sit and talk about the jackass that has no fun and how they have to fly with the pompous prick for 6 days. Glad you are having so much fun at your career.

I googled the definition of RAMBLE and your post popped up.

 

[Hamburger]

Funny how public perception works, isn't it?
Pax look at a pilot with a pair of skis in the terminal and they see an active, physically fit guy who enjoys life. They're jealous of this adventuresome professional. Flying airplanes for a living and a ski bum on his days off.
They look at a pilot with a skateboard and they see a punk, slacker, loser who couldn't possibly be qualified to fly an airplane.
Go Figure.

 

[Wesb737fo]

That's it....you guys have convinced me.....I'm going to start carrying my accordion!....That's right....Wierd Al Yankovich....Dare to be stupid! White and Nerdy!

 

[LowlyPropCapt]

I once rode a foldiong bicycle through the cote de zur airport in nice... It was fun

I also saw a comair crew wearing a delta uniform once.

AND YES WE HAVE RJ's AT JETBLUE

A bunch of shiny new jets that pay $94 in the left seat and $50ish in the right.. All these former regional guys come from their life of misery at mesa etc.. and see that $50,000 w2 and just nut one off right there in their pants..

Heck thats a $25,000 raise..

while the rest of us are just trying to figure out a way to support a household, wife, and 3 kids on $100k a year gross.

If you make less than 100k in this profession, have over 4000 hours, and are content with your career choice than you are a true fool

You're an idiot.

Your monster raise at JB is a $30,000 pay cut from my crappy turboprop job at the regionals. Not that JB isn't a nice place to work- I have plenty of freinds there- But it isn't the ticket to wealth and fortune. Most regional guys undergo significant reductions in pay to begin a JB career. For those of us with accrued families during the post 9/11 drought, it is sometimes an impossible jump to make. Sometimes good enough just has to be good enough.

Passing judgement on others rational and very personal life choices tells me a lot about your character... I am hoping that I am just missing your sarcasm here.

 

[pipe]

Reminds me of a similar story.

Years ago I was sitting in a plane, at my "Major Airline" waiting to push. Pilots would walk by the plane to get on the employee bus. I was amazed to see that most of these guys had bags with wheels on the bottom. I said to my captain. "You see that, they have wheels on the bottom of their bag." We could not get over the fact that these pilots made us look so unprofessional by not carrying their bags. Now it seems like everyone is doing it and our profession has ever since taken pay cuts and been looked down upon.

I remember sitting on the ramp one time talking with my FO while we waited for the stews to help Greta Garbo carry her hatboxes up the stairs. Next thing you know this airplane pulls up with the tailwheel located squarely under the cockpit. I turned to my FO and correctly predicted the end of the world.

 

[Pickle]

I remember sitting on the ramp one time talking with my FO while we waited for the stews to help Greta Garbo carry her hatboxes up the stairs. Next thing you know this airplane pulls up with the tailwheel located squarely under the cockpit. I turned to my FO and correctly predicted the end of the world.

I was telling my brother Wilbur that this crazy thing we invented would be the downfall of the US economy. He just laughed at the time, but now I'm the one laughing..... mirthlessly.

 

[instructordude]

I once rode a foldiong bicycle through the cote de zur airport in nice... It was fun

I also saw a comair crew wearing a delta uniform once.

AND YES WE HAVE RJ's AT JETBLUE

A bunch of shiny new jets that pay $94 in the left seat and $50ish in the right.. All these former regional guys come from their life of misery at mesa etc.. and see that $50,000 w2 and just nut one off right there in their pants..

Heck thats a $25,000 raise..

while the rest of us are just trying to figure out a way to support a household, wife, and 3 kids on $100k a year gross.

If you make less than 100k in this profession, have over 4000 hours, and are content with your career choice than you are a true fool

It's not about the money. Its about a love affair with flying and the lifestyle.

 

[10nCLR]

I saw a pilot walking through IAH a few days ago lugging a ski bag over his shoulders. Big deal! So what if the FO had a skateboard. Was it a longboard or short freestyle board. Longboards make for good transportation and why not rip it up in the skatepark during the layover. By the way, MCO has a sweet skatepark.
At least he's getting some exercise on the layovers while most of you just post on FI in between surfing for your porn. Oh yeah, and his hot girlfriend, he's doin her too. Oh, Yeah!

 

[Guam360]

Embraer disagrees, hence the name, ERJ-190.

No, not even close to a full-size bin. If more than half the passengers bring a rollaboard, they aren't going to fit, because they have to go sideways.

It's a nice enough airplane, and I concur about the middle seats, but don't pretend it's something it isn't.

..and a DC9 is any bigger, not even on some MD-80's can I get my rollerboard in other than sideways. and depending on the airline, no middle seat on one side or the other. the major difference is the pay.

 

[Dan Roman]

You're an idiot.

Your monster raise at JB is a $30,000 pay cut from my crappy turboprop job at the regionals. Not that JB isn't a nice place to work- I have plenty of freinds there- But it isn't the ticket to wealth and fortune. Most regional guys undergo significant reductions in pay to begin a JB career. For those of us with accrued families during the post 9/11 drought, it is sometimes an impossible jump to make. Sometimes good enough just has to be good enough.

Passing judgement on others rational and very personal life choices tells me a lot about your character... I am hoping that I am just missing your sarcasm here.

Very well said. A pilot carrying a skateboard, surfboard, guitar, tennis racket or whatever else is probably someone who has a more complete life than some uptight anal guy who goes around pointing fingers at everyone.
I gotta laugh at the Douglas Nedemeyers on here complaining about the spiky haired kids with backpacks. Fact is, those spiky haired kids with back packs seem to be doing a pretty good job. Those guys have just as good a safety record as anyone else. They have been operating complex turbine powered aircraft out of every type of airport in all kinds of weather with a very good success rate.
Most pilots I know are no were near as uptight and judgemental as the few finger pointers on here are. The ones who are usually are pretty weak themselves.
Personally I could care less wether a guy wears a hat or not, has a leather jacket or not, has a backpack, nor am I impressed by what or were he/she flies. A good person is a good person, an uptight fingerpointer would be better off staying home and listening to Rush Limbaugh.

 

[Browntothebone]

It's not about the money. Its about a love affair with flying and the lifestyle.

Fly to LIVE!!! LIVE to fly!!!

 

[Browntothebone]

Very well said. A pilot carrying a skateboard, surfboard, guitar, tennis racket or whatever else is probably someone who has a more complete life than some uptight anal guy who goes around pointing fingers at everyone.
I gotta laugh at the Douglas Nedemeyers on here complaining about the spiky haired kids with backpacks. Fact is, those spiky haired kids with back packs seem to be doing a pretty good job. Those guys have just as good a safety record as anyone else. They have been operating complex turbine powered aircraft out of every type of airport in all kinds of weather with a very good success rate.
Most pilots I know are no were near as uptight and judgemental as the few finger pointers on here are. The ones who are usually are pretty weak themselves.
Personally I could care less wether a guy wears a hat or not, has a leather jacket or not, has a backpack, nor am I impressed by what or were he/she flies. A good person is a good person, an uptight fingerpointer would be better off staying home and listening to Rush Limbaugh.

You need to change you attitude.
This is Flightinfo, where if you don't do, behave, look and live exactly as I do, you are a tool.

 

[Whiskerbizkit]

So I'm in the Southwest/JB terminal in MCO on Friday when this Jetblue F/O and his Commuter pilot girlfriend walk by and he has a SKATEBOARD under his arm.

Not so comedic yet?? Well, The lady next to me says "Is that a skateboard under his arm??"

Her husband (Picture a Grizzled old KO-REA vet!) responds..."Yeah, I'll be damned if I'm getting on Doogie Howser and Barbies Plane!!!"

Effing Hilarious.....everybody around him saw it and laughed.....I thought the guitar luggers were goofy, but this kid's gonna "Shred the Halfpipe DUDE" on his layover....

What have we become??

But your there every week asking us for a ride arn't ya? Sunglasses on the head, skateboard under the arm, guitar over the shoulder, who the hell cares. How about accepting pay cuts, no retirement, benifits cuts, relaxing scope......thats what we have become!