Now that was pretty cool!

[clickclickboom]

1. Shot an NBD approach to some smaller airport in Oregon or Washington Right on the Coast ( Have to look in my log book )

2. Circling Approach was right to mins touched down, buckets out here comes a moose I stop the plane he walks right out in front of us takes a look and walks away.


3. Trying to catch the shuttle launch we did a frantic quick turn in SJU was headed back to MCO and was able to see the whole show from about 250 miles out while over the turks....


4. Scuba diving in the bahamas 2 years ago on a nice wall dive ascended from 140 ft up to 70 ft on the reef there was a real nice swim through where i had seen a few nice large moray eels ( tunnel through the reef ) went through it came out the other side and the sunlight faded out for a moment. I rotated my head and a 10-12 foot hammerhead was less than 5 feet above me. I went on my back looked at him and he looked at me. I stopped breathing so here I was completely motionless at arms length with a truly misunderstood and magnificent creature. The divemaster said in 20 years of diving he has never seen a hammerhead willing to let a diver get that close.

5. Coming up from Brazil 4 A4's pulled up on our wing another about 300 feet above rolled inverted and took some pictures they saluted and broke off..

6. Flying a Grob Motorglider over the swiss alps near the matterhorn at 18,000 feet.. 2 pc-7's came by circled back around and pulled alongside with gear and flaps down right near a stall and still passed us like we were standing still.

7. Saw a pod of killer whales with the babies near seattle.

8. Saw a volcano erupting in South America while enroute had to go check it out saw lava running down the mountain side into a small village.. Climbed back up and continued on our way.

9. All you can eat King Crab in Ketchikan and took a dehavilland Beaver to the lodge for $20 from the dock right outside the FBO ate so much we nearly exploded best meal of my life crab legs were like baseball bats..


10. Handed Dan Quayle his catering during our pre departure briefing his meal was " Southwest Omelette with Potatoes " Yes it was spelled wrong, yes we made eye contact as we both read the label, yer sir we will be airborne in 5 mins.. Still laugh about that 7 years later..

11. Landed one night at a small airport in PA while closing the hangar door here comes 4 cop cars mp5's shotguns and hk's pointing at me my ass on the ground in handcuffs.. Seems as though they were tracking a possible drug plane in the NY area I was flying back from Orange County and climbing out right about the same time this plane dissappeared from radar around poughkeepsie..


12. Landed in Laredo DEA doing drug dog training they ask to use our plane as a training site for the pooch.. They put a little weed under the sofa and let the dog in.. Fido proceeds to destroy the cushion and go completely bezerk inside the jet... My chief pilot thought I was full of it when i called him.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Late evening flight DEN-MEM, F/A(female) 23ish. Very hot young lady, she was so appreciative that we would allow her to hang in the cockpit, she decided we needed to see her "girls". Made my day, nay month.
PBR

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Late evening flight DEN-MEM, F/A(female) 23ish. Very hot young lady, she was so appreciative that we would allow her to hang in the cockpit, she decided we needed to see her "girls". Made my day, nay month.
PBR

 

[Way2Broke]

- Meeting my fiance' for the first time while she when she hopped out of a Seneca with a load of bank checks, clothes and plane covered in oil, looking like she hadn't slept in a month, and yet smiling. Asked her out after letting her know that I was staying in a tent at the state park, because I was flying bank checks for a different company. She said yes, and I knew I had finally met a woman that would put up with my crap.

She met my dad for the first time when he happened to be in that town with his work and he dropped of a heater for me to take back with me to put in my tent because it has snowed the night before.

- Later moving to the Virgin Islands with the same woman without either of us ever having been there, because someone needed planes flown there.

- Finally making a paycheck that allowed me to pay my bills and eat at the same time. Oh wait, that hasn't happened yet.

- Meeting all the incredible unique people that sacrifice so much to get the job done and put a little grub on the table.

- Shooting 20 approaches, with 24 landings in one day flying between HYA and ACK.

- Eating at Taco Palenque for the first time.

- Getting typed in a plane almost twice my age.

- Meeting Evelyn Johnson

 

[Superpilot92]

Flying over west Texas in the evening and got to see a NASA space balloon that was at 120,000 ft up. We were at 37,000 ft. The only reason we could see it was because of the sun setting in the west and the light reflecting off of the balloon. I asked ATC about it because i had no idea what it was other than it was Very High up.

I also had a B2 join up underneath us between MCI and EWR. It was a 1000-2000 ft below and in front of us. That was neat.

 

[TOGA]

Man, what a great thread! It's so easy to get distracted by all the BS & forget why we've endured in this pursuit. Thanks for the opportunity for introspection. Here's mine, in no particular order:

• That 'holy sh!t, I'm alone' moment on the first solo over Traverse City, MI.

• Flying a Starship into Kayenta, AZ.

• Lying on my back in my yard with my 2 ½ yr old daughter & my pregnant wife (under what's normally busy airspace) on 9/12/01 and seeing NO aircraft overhead.

• Flying an unusually long, off-shore arrival into LGA on the night of 9/14/01, through the smoke plume and over the off-shore 'city' of ships anchored outside NY harbor.

• Seeing some of the world with my then-girlfriend & co-worker/now-wife as Flight Attendants for World Airways.

• Sunrise to the north at oh-dark-thirty over the North Atlantic at FL410.

• Confirming Ernest Gann's assertion that 'a properly motivated cow can move pretty fast' while enroute to/from the Grand Canyon in a 402 “full” of stupefied tourists.

• Sunset in my windscreen while seemingly suspended over a blackened Grand Canyon . . . nothing more than an occasional campfire light from below.

• The smell of spent Jet-A or 100LL (yes, it is particularly poignant in the morning, thanks for asking!).

• Watching the sun rise over Lake Mead, painting Mt Charleston and the western sky in countless colors while droning over Las Vegas in a 172.

• Looking down, from miles above, on the 'small world' below . . . wondering why people get so wound up about stuff that just doesn't matter.

• Having set foot in all 50 of the United States and a dozen or so other countries, and counting.

• Enjoying the camaraderie of thousands of fellow flight crew members from countless backgrounds, lifestyles, military assignments, experience levels, proclivities, shortcomings, strengths, locales, personality types, and beverage preferences. For example, I'm in class right now with a recent U2 test pilot, and we were recently instructed by a former Ford Tri-Motor driver . . . one of my last Flight Attendants at my previous job was reading Quantum Physics & working on her Doctorate.

• Transporting a captured ferrel cat from Las Vegas to Kanab, UT by 172 . . . and the adventure that ensued.

• Piloting for EAA's Young Eagles program.

• Learning a jet airliner for the first time.

• Landing a jet airliner for the first time.

• My solo VFR cross country from Traverse City, MI for Christmas in Houston, TX in a Cherokee 140 . . . and the family airplane rides once there.

• Every time I climb out of an overcast layer with the deep blue (or black) sky above . . . especially at sunset or sunrise, especially in a turn.

• Climbing eastbound out of Portland, OR with the sun rising behind Mt. Hood . . . the Columbia River looking like an endless silver snake trailing toward the horizon.

• The feeling of gratification and accomplishment upon safely completing a flight in particularly wicked weather (props to E.B. Jeppesen on this one).

• Meeting E.B. Jeppesen (props to Way2Broke for the prompt on this one).

• Excitedly looking forward to the many adventures to come . . .

 

[Superpilot92]

Oh and the other day from MEM-DFW we switched over to Ft.Worth Center. Right behind us was a World Airways Flight full of troops. ATC asked the World Flight

ATC-"Do you have troops on board?"
World Pilot-"Yes Sir"
ATC-"Cleared direct the airport, Bring our boys home."

I thought that was neat.

 

[727C47]

between Guam,and Manila at 3am, 6000 feet ,rumbling above a coal black pacific in a DC-3,and seeing the Southern Cross for the first time,climbing out of BOS in a lightly loaded 727 on a frigid winters night and pegging the VSI at 6000 fpm on climbout,then level at 340 seeing all of Long Island out the left side,from Montauk to Bay Ridge, in one fell swoop,with the stars and moon around us,seemingly close enough to touch,the kiss of grass on the tires of a Champ after a sunrise ascension, the list goes on,and on,Oh yes,curving out of Aspen in the XL,marveling at the summer ,green Rockies, their beauty,and their proximity. God bless this.

 

[Clacker]

Flying from KIX to HNL one night and our flight path took us right over Midway Island. Turned down the cockpit lights just before we reached Midway and we gave them a call on the radio. They were alarmed at first, thinking that we must be in trouble, but once they understood that it was a social call, they cranked up the runway lights and we gazed down at a tiny airfield thousands of miles from anywhere.

It made me think about how those Air Corps/Navy crews managed to navigate to this little island back in 1942. If you look at a globe, it shows the island, but the scale is wrong. You could blow the globe up to the size of your backyard, and Midway would still be a pinprick.

 

[pilotpm]

Thanks for the memories

Hale-Bop comet so close I could touch it.

Flying across the north Pacific with the aurora borealis on both sides of the A/C dancing like crazy and so bright you could read by it.

Sliding headfirst (right under the sign that said no headfirst sliding) down the water slide at the Tree Bar at the Guam Hilton at 2am.

Sitting on the patio of the Millennium hotel in ANC at midnight getting a sunburn watching the floatplanes T.O. and land on the lake.

A Guiness at my favorite pub in Limerick Ireland.

Having to go to the Embassy in Bangkok to get more pages added to my passport.

Jumpseating on a Helicopter tour in Maui.

A 96 second leg between Friday Harbor and East Sound in a BE-99.

Almost crying when watching a bunch of scared kids getting off my A/C in Kuwait caring thier rifles and some with thier teddy bears or pillows from home.

Almost crying when I got to take them home again.



Thanks for starting this thread. I was starting to get a bit bummed looking for work after my latest airline died. this thread has reminded me why I still want to do this job!

 

[Way2Broke]

Stickied.... mostly because we need more good around here! Keep them coming.

 

[mbd]

What a great thread!

At sunrise seeing Lake Michigan perfectly reflect downtown Chicago.

Watching the end of a rainbow travel over the ground at the same speed as the aircraft.

Flying towards a rainbow that is in fact a complete circle in the sky.

Eastbound on a cold winters night and breaking out to see a bright orange moon rise.

Northbound at sunset and simultaneous watching the night sky rise in the east and dusk in the west.

Flying over the New York at night and thinking, what are 8 million people doing right now?

Flying any kind of approach to minimums.

 

[Q400 Gear Bitch]

The good stuff

We used to be able to go VFR on top, so blasting off from PDX-SEA I'd always ask for direct the west side of Mt. St. Helens and the east side of Mt. Ranier and then hook up for the Chins Arrival. Actually saved about 5-10 minutes especially if they were landing to the north in Seattle. The last couple of times I did it, St. Helens was still smoking a bit. I loved it, the pax loved it and it was way cool.

Also, northern lights and of course my very first experience with St. Elmo's fire.

 

[SkiFishFly]

Climbing out of Midway, breaking out above the clouds, the top portion of the Sears tower was the only thing sticking out above the clouds. It was like a giant ship in a sea of grey.

 

[Colonel Savage]

Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time from FL 240 in a DC-9 on a beautiful summer day. Could not believe how big and beautiful it was.

 

[Flynfish]

My first flying job that included flying the "Flying Elvises" for a promotional jump in Vegas. Taking my family up after getting my private. The 700 trips over the "ditch" were pretty cool. Getting an "atta boy" after dealing with an inflight emergency. The most memorable trip in all my years was the one were I met my wife!

 

[Dizel8]

Flying across the Ice cap Gof greenland in a small prop plane. The ice rises to about 10K feet, crossed at 12K. So desolate, yet so amazingly beautiful.

Seeing a rocket launch, going from BQN to somwehere up north, green ionaization trail and a pin prick light.

Nothern lights never gets old, nor does seeing Greenland!

Imagining I saw the curve of the earth from 45K.

 

[trip]

Louisiana-Florida area late into the night. Scraping along the top of overcast @ 350 weaving between big thunder heads shoving way up above us. The Moon was bright on top while the lightning flashed continuous in all directions. At one point the St. Elmo's was so strong I reached up to make sure I had turned off the landing lights as the nose was lighting up the clouds below.

 

[tomgoodman]

Flying down the Hudson River during the Bicentennial "tall ships" parade.

 

[UALjan15]

Each and every time firing the 30mm GAU-8 cannon from the A-10. Smoke, noise, the smell and taste of gunpowder in the cockpit, and finally the "sparkles" from the bullets hitting their target.

From the airline side, I always enjoyed the "formation" approaches to 28L & 28R at SFO.

 

[CaptainSpaz]

Not so cool, but...

Seeing and hearing... nothing, save for a couple combat aircraft and their tankers. Operated 135 into New York, morning of Sept 13, 2001. And the view of Washington and New York that day? Never forget, folks.

 

[DC10]

Watching the sunrise over the Sahara Desert, across an unbelievably huge, endless expanse of sand and rock. No roads or any other sign of life on Earth for 1000 miles in any direction.

Watching the sunset over the Amazon rainforest the following night. Nothing but an unbroken blanket of green stretching as far as the eye can see for several hours of flight.

 

[Dan Roman]

Very long list, but I still remember landing at BOS 1976 after an all nighter. It was the morning of July 4th and the harbor was filled with tall ships gathered to celibrate our 200th birthday. Very cool sight as the sun came up.
At the other end of the spectrum was being one of the last 3 aircraft to land at DCA before it was closed because Palm 90 had just crashed. Than sitting next to a white faced guy in the commuter lounge watching the live coverage of the recue operation. Turns out he had been a flight attendant on the inbound leg of that flight and scheduling let him off early because they had an extra FA and he was just going to deadhead back home to the mid atlantic area after they landed in FL.

 

[Dan Roman]

Flying down the Hudson River during the Bicentennial "tall ships" parade.

How funny is that, I skipped to the end for my post and than I saw yours. Those tall ships were quite a sight from the air!

 

[cjdriver]

Landing a Hawker at Aspen with my dad on the ramp watching just prior to him retiring in the plane I currently fly.

 

[727C47]

the sublime ,serene joy of a sunrise observed after an all nighter with home port just an hour away.

 

[radarlove]

- At a big east coast airport, watching, as I sat left seat in a Boeing, a handful of guys with guns drawn running to and surrounding my airplane. They were postal inspectors and (I didn't even know this) there was mail in the aft cargo compartment and the mafia was stealing credit cards. I got down to the ramp and saw two guys spread-eagled on the ground. Weird call to dispatch. "Yes, I'm serious."

- Flying to DCA in a Cessna 310 charter as "captain" for some chumps that ended up running out on their bill. Did the cool-ass visual up the river, went to Signature and when taxiing out was told to slot in behind the 757. I had no idea which airplane among the crowd of airliners was a 757 (funny now). The tower was incredulous, "You don't SEE the 757?"

- Watching all of the cargo smoke detector lights go off, one after the next on departure.

- Watching the windshield on a Cessna 404 slowly ice over.

 

[Ticker]

Please put this back in the majors fourm...

Hey mods, please put this back in the majors forum. It was hot there and has promptly died here. I posted it there to begin with because that's a hot forum with a lot of guys who've been around the block a few times.

Thanks

 

[dhawk41]

-realizing its all on me on my first solo
-taking dad up
-3 152 formation flight 5ft above a lake
-buzzin around west texas looking for oil leaks
-inadvertently gettin into some bad storms making it out and thankin god i was still alive
-standing up the levers on a jet for the first time
-all the many amazing sunsets and sunrises
-being in the biggest and best frats in the world
-someone askin what i did that day after they got done telling me about their office politics and thinking i don't want to make you feel bad.
-and making myself sick on taco palenque for the first time

 

[lowtimedriver]

Being in the pattern at Ramona with an OV-10, an S-2 and a P-51. That was my lucky day.