Scary Numbers

[Mr Wu]

Assuming you had a 12 hr duty day, you're gate to gate time is going to be around 7 hrs, so you'd hit your times within about 12 flying days. Am I totally off base here on my estimates?

Yes, you are off on your times. A 121 pilot can be on duty for 16 hours, 6 days a week. Rarely does the duty day average 7 hours block, more like 5. So, a pilot hits his 80 hours in 16 days. 16 x 16 = 256. This averages 6 weeks 2 days work for someone that has a 40 hr a week job.

 

[A Squared]

Rarely does the duty day average 7 hours block, more like 5.

By the same token, the *average* duty day is not 16 hours, 16 hours is the maximum you can be on duty you're not going to *average* the maximum (and if I understand 121.471(c) correctly you can't possible average 16 hours of duty over several days) yet you present the 16 hours as if it's an average. Averageing 16 hours of duty day in day out is no more realistic than averageing 7 hours of block time on a regular basis.

 

[Skyline]

Airlines

A Squared,

You must have not flown with the companies that I had to because they make an art out of maximising the duty day. It is no fun.


Skyline

 

[mar]

Does the term "Beating a Dead Horse" mean anything...

...to you?

I think you've made your point.

It sucks.

So what?

You can't change it. I still wouldn't do anything else. I'm ruined. And probably going to hell anyway.

Dude. You're harshing my buzz.

 

[FN FAL]

Boot straps?

Ever wonder why they are on boots? Grab them, pull hard, don't look back, no regrets.

They are also on there to help pull your boots on so you can go out there and kick ass :smash:

 

[Skyline]

No Regrets man !!!

Remember. These are the best days of your life !! The things you do, the accomplishments made, the sacrifices taken will stand as a testament to the accomplishments of all mankind. You guys are Pilots man !!! Pilots !!! Thank God you didn't waste your lives as an emergancy room Doc or ACLU attourney. Right or wrong the world needs you all. SO get out there and fuel that 150, study your manuals and text books, eat your canned mac and cheese and FLY !! The world needs you. NO REGRETS !!!


Skyline

 

[avbug]

Skyline,

Your schtick has become has become stale. You feel down, in a pit, your life has become a failure. Not everyone chooses to be be dragged into your pit. You're upset that the word doesn't see your tragedy as deeply or dramatically as you...frustrated that the biggest wave of sympathy that rolls out after you is an emphatic "who cares?"

Get thee behind me, Satan. I'm tired of listening to you.

 

[Skyline]

Avbug

Avbug

I am sorry that you don't appreciate my style. I like you. I am disappointed but not sad or in a pit. My opinions come from almost two decades of experience and background. I know what goes through the heads of new pilots and why they make the choices that they do. My only aim is to be a counter voice to the tidal wave of false information that comes from magazines and gossip. News travels fast about "some guy" who got on with SWA with low time. No one wants to hear about the used up 58 year old with nothing to show for a career in the air. I know that my ideas will not sit well with this group but they are no less true and are with value. If I am sad at all it is for all my friends who were ruined by aviation and for the ones who are about to be ruined. We both care Just use diffrent approaches.

Skyline

 

[FN FAL]

No one wants to hear about the used up 58 year old with nothing to show for a career in the air.

Evidently, major airline pilots feel the same way, even those who were already stepping large and smiling with ease...

Case Study: Barry Seal

Adler Berriman Seal, a former TWA 747 captain, flew cocaine from Colombia to the United States for over seven years during the late 1970's and early 1980's. Seal was recruited as a trafficking pilot by a personal friend who worked for the Colombian cocaine trafficking organization headed by Jorge Ochoa, and eventually worked directly with that organization's leadership.

Initially, Seal flew direct trafficking flights between Louisiana, and Colombia. He piloted a number of different smuggling aircraft, the largest of which was a Vietnam-vintage C-123 capable of holding tons of packaged cocaine. Seal always departed and returned to his Louisiana base at night to reduce chances of interdiction. His typical route took him over the Yucatan Peninsula (not over the more heavily patrolled Yucatan channel) and directly over Central America to the eastern tip of Honduras, then south to any one of a number of airstrips and airports in north central Colombia.

According to Seal, the Ochoa organization paid Colombian officials bribes of $10,000 to $25,000, per flight for a "window," i.e., a specific time, position and altitude designated for the smuggling flight's penetration of the Colombian air space. If this payment was not made, the aircraft was susceptible to interception by Colombian authorities. Seal generally arrived in Colombia at dawn. His aircraft was loaded with cocaine and refueled within an hour, sometimes within fifteen minutes; and he returned immediately to the United States.

Seal used two fairly simple techniques to avoid interdiction on his return trip to the United States: both were effective because of the heavy helicopter traffic running between the Gulf Coast States and the hundreds of oil rigs located off shore. First, when he reached the middle of the Gulf on his return trip, Seal slowed his aircraft to 110-120 knots and was thus perceived by monitoring radar as a helicopter, not a plane. Secondly, at a distance of about 50 miles off the United States coast, he dropped the aircraft to an altitude of 500-1000 feet in order to co-mingle with the helicopter traffic, and thereby arouse even less suspicion.

Once in United States airspace, Seal proceeded to prearranged points 40 to 50 miles inland. The points were mapped out in advance with Loran C, a long-range navigational instrument. Further inland, he was generally joined by a helicopter. The two aircraft proceeded to a drop zone, where the helicopter hovered close to the ground. Seal then dropped the load of cocaine from the airplane on a parachute; the helicopter picked up the load from the drop zone and delivered it to waiting automobiles, which eventually moved the cocaine to Miami. Seal proceeded to land his drug-free aircraft at any nearby airport.

Seal was well paid for his services. He claims his top fee for smuggling a kilogram of cocaine was $5,000; an average load was 300 kilograms. His most profitable single load netted him $1.5 million. He was never apprehended in connection with this operation.

 

[Skyline]

Interesting

That was an interesting story. Someone should make a movie out of that. Come to think of it wasn't there a movie starring Dennis Hopper as a drug running pilot back in the 80's. Does anyone know the title of that movie?

Skyline