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Re: A project owner :-)

Posted by Tony on Sun Mar 10, 2002 06:55:55 AM

In reply top A project owner :-) posted by Will Fowler on Sat Mar 09, 2002 11:10:12 PM

Having been away for the weekend, turning live ammunition into Brass at the taxpayers expense :0) , I haven't spoken to Mick, so I'm not sure exactly why Mick has come in , with these 2 statements, and I'm not sure, that he hasn't missed the word...DISCUSS in this statement.

My own personal experience in the matter, is by and large, warbird owners, are quite an approachable bunch. It seems strange, but on a couple of occasions, the warbird owners, who i thought would be really open, turned out to be proper a-holes, and the owners, who I thought would be very anti, through necessity...The Late Doug, and Tom's boss.. will bang on for hours if u let them, about their pet projects.

I already mentioned, that Doug gave myself and a friend a personal tour , when he was based at Blackbushe, (having told us to f*** off his airfield first of all - lol)
and Tony, gave me a very enthusiastic conversation,on the day I just dropped into Booker, with no appointment, and let me see and touch the newly arrived 190, while he enthused about the Pilot's skill in putting the aircraft down, and the state of the tyres and airframe etc, and I had NO appointment! Tony just took the time, because he genuinely likes to talk about aircraft, and 2 people who might provide leads, on where others might be.

I have no doubt there are some moron owner/operators out there. There are even more in the Sunday flyer PPL set. I had the priveledge, of meeting a truly stupid 19 year old"Daddy's little girl" type, when I refuelled her aircraft, while she was doing a cross-country on what was obviously ab-initio training. She landed, I played the tyro....
"What's it like to fly one of these then, I'm afraid I haven't got the money to learn"
"Oh it's brilliant, but you do have to be educated as well, to get the most out of it"
"oh, well that lets me out, errrrrr I have done some gliding"
"Oh gliding is nothing like flying, have you refueled my aircraft yet?" At the time, I had 100 hours P1 (post licence) and something in the order of 750 glider launches.

That angered me, because her comments, if I really had been just an average Joe Gas-monkey, might have put me off flying for life.

On the second part..... I have, as I'm sure we all have, met some truly ANAL enthusiasts. Mick so have you, and you know which board they populate. I met one such arsehole, in Poland, obviously on a George Pick tour in Poland, at the bar in the Ruropa in Warsaw. I knew he was an enthusiast, because he was wearing a pair of surplus RAF lightweight flying boots, and was about 5 stone outside acceptable RAF pilot limits, the fat tosser.
Me.... "Sorry to ask, those boots, they look great for hiking in, who makes them?
Him, "They are RAF boots"
Me. "Are they, are u a Pilot?"
Him. "Yes (U wanker) I'm here with a few people on an organised tour, to fly in helicopters, as guests of the Polish Air Force."
Me. "That sounds really exciting, is there any chance I can join this tour?"
Him "NO,(after he looked down his nose)it is a VERY exclusive tour, the Polish Air Force don't just allow anybody to fly in their aircraft, and frankly, you wouldn't be acceptable to them, (whatever he fcuking meant by that)
Me. "Oh thats' a shame, I would have liked to go up in a helicopter.... Oh by the way, I have some photos of Polish aircraft I took, would u like to see?"
Him"Oh ok, did u take them at the airport?"
Me "No, this is me strapping into the front of an Iskra... this is me with the Pilot, , Major Tyzl.... this is me having coffee with the Pilots, this is me post flight, it was a really good sortie, we did some low level stuff, this is me with one of the Iskras I just bought.. This is me in a Hind, this is me in the front cockpit of an Orlik, at the PZL factory in Warsaw etc. etc. etc. lololol the look on his face was priceless...
Him "errrrrrrr"
Me. "So be careful who u talk down to, in bars in Eastern Europe, now get out of my face u wannabee wanker"
Sorry , I had to share that, on my deathbed, I will still savour the look on his stupid fat face, hahahhahaaa.

So , really, there are knobbers, wherever u look .... However, there are considerably less warbird owner/operator proper pr*cks, then there are proper self opinated anal self-righteous drama queen enthusiasts

Just my 30 rounds worth
Tony

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