Not so long ago

[three eighty]

"Lifted" off another website

In the age of the 707 / DC8 / 727 / DC9

Those were the good ole days. Pilots back then were men that didn't want
to be women or girlymen. Pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots
drank coffee, whiskey, smoked cigars and didn't wear digital watches.

They carried their own suitcases and brain bags like the real men that
they were. Pilots didn't bend over into the crash position multiple times
each day in front of the passengers at security so that some Gov't agent
could probe for tweezers or fingernail clippers or too much toothpaste.

Pilots did not go through the terminal impersonating a caddy pulling a
bunch of golf clubs, computers, guitars, and feed bags full of tofu and
granola on a sissy-trailer with no hat and granny glasses hanging on a
pink string around their pencil neck while talking to their personal
trainer on the cell phone!!!

Being an Airline Captain was as good as being the King in a Mel Brooks
movie. All the Stewardesses (aka.Flight Attendants) were young,
attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual
revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up and suck it in to
get through the cockpit door. They would blush and say thank you when told
that they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harrassment claim.
Junior Stewardesses shared a room and talked about men.... with no
thoughts of substitution.

Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite, they could speak AND
understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or listen to loud gangsta
rap on their IPods. They bathed and didn't smell like a rotting pile of
garbage in a jogging suit and flip-flops. Children didn't travel alone,
commuting between trailer parks. There were no mongolhordes asking for a
'mu-fuggin' seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice cocktail
with a twist.

If the Captain wanted to throw some offensive, ranting jerk off the
airplane, it was done without any worries of a lawsuit or getting fired.

Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and left an
impressive black smoke trail like a locomotive burning soft coal. Jet fuel
was cheap and once the throttles were pushed up they were left there,
after all it was the jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a
lizard on a hardwood floor). Economy cruise was something in the
performance book, but no one knew why or where it was. When the overspeed
clacker went off no one got all tight and scared because Boeing/Douglas
built it out of iron, nothing was going to fall off and that sound had the
same effect on real pilots then as Viagra does now for those new age guys.

There was very little plastic and no composites on the airplanes or the
Stewardesses' pectoral regions. Airplanes and women had eye pleasing
symetrical curves, not a bunch of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins,
winglets, flow diverters, tatoos, rings in their nose, tongues and
eyebrows.

Airlines were run by men who had built their companies virtually from
scratch, knew many of their employees by name and were lifetime airline
employees themselves...not pseudo financiers and bean counters who flit
from one occupation to another for a few bucks, a better parachute or a
fancier title while fervently believing that they are a class of beings
unto themselves.

And so it was back then....and never will be again.

AMEN

[casio man]

AMEN to that too

[Tintin]

DUDE..I will frame that on my wall :D

[S.F.L.Y]

Today's pilots are what they want to be, they are not trying to look like John Wayne (or any other icon you may miss) and prefer to be themselves (just like old farts were). Today's job is to fly machines in a professional manner, no more to take shortcuts in CBs at MMO. I don't see how Marlboro or Jack Daniels (which I can appreciate) could help to do this job.

If you don't like the smell of the passengers who are paying your salary why don't you head towards business jets, your "right stuff" attitude would probably please a lot of perfumed rich men (and women). Commercial aviation is as much important for the humanity as the internet could be, and I see no harm when more people can benefit from it (despite some of them don't understand your mother tongue...).

You also miss burning fuel for no reason? I'll tell you I miss the smell of fresh air and a clear blue sky horizon. You must be enjoying DXB as you feel like in an exhaust pipe each time you open a window.

I'm sorry for you as it must be hard to work surrounded by disappointing young guys like me...:(

I'm sure some of these old machines you miss are still flying with no rules in some countries were you could be living that macho life at no cost. Obviously you preferred the comfort of a good salary flying automated air condition plastic aircrafts... otherwise you wouldn't be complaining here.

[three eighty]

SFLY
Brew yourself a cup of Camomile tea (in the pot, not cup), put Enya on the iPod, remove slippers, get a foot rub and chill out.
Alternatively, try getting out of bed on the otherside tomorrow morning.

[Wiley]

S.F.L.Y., let us old farts reminisce without the newspeak lecture. Like all old farts, we have selective memory, recalling only the good bits, (as everyone should when talking about 'the old days'), and believe me, while doing so, we don't need some young whippersnapper mounting his electronic soapbox to lecture us in 2009 managementspeak.

(Bones creaking just a little as I climb down off my electronic soapbox.)

[S.F.L.Y]

we don't need some young whippersnapper mounting his electronic soapbox to lecture us in 2009 managementspeak

I'm not lecturing anybody, please take it easy. If someone is sharing his point of view on this public forum then I expected to be welcomed to expose a different view, with all due respect to the old farts and Mr. Jack Daniels. I also flew and had good time with old farts warming coffee with a camping gas burner between the rudders in military choppers... aviation has changed from a pilot era to a customer era. Still, this is the reason why we can do our jobs.
Nice week end to the old farts :ok:

[Panther 88]

From one seriously old Old Fart. The job used to be FUN. The people you dealt with were respetful. You didn't have to worry that every decision you made was second guessed by some office p***k. If you didn't bend metal or injure people-good. We used to be viewed (even by managment) as one step below astronauts and leaders of the companies we worked for. Now we are viewed one step above bus drivers and as liabilites to our companys' bottom lines.

So relax and enjoy the post in the fun it was meant to be.

[kit330]

38,wiley n P88 all I can say is you lucky guys...had the chance to live in the golden age of pilots...me jealous!!! :ok: now its just a job to earn some bread n uncle jacks, we cant even fart without the human n electronic eyes on you so forget about flying MMo even a really short finals!!! wheres the fun of flying anymore, will probably have to go back to flying the otters soon to stay sain again...hehehe have a great one and please post more stories of the good all days...miss it :{

[rigpiggy]

Getting called on the carpet because I tossed an a@*hole off the plane, who just happened to be an "Elite", I can concur. sluffy, learn from your elders

[5Y-NJB]

Brilliant post :D

Panther - for what it's worth, some out there still do think you're one step below astronauts (I'm one of em).

[latetonite]

Do not forget we had different, not so complicated flight instruments then. We could fly an ILS without a flight director distracting us, correcting pitch, thrust and heading when the loc and gs even intended to move. No cluttering speed and altitude bugs disrupting our scan, only for the forgetting guys a chewing gum glued to the altimeter, Anyway, we were told then that at the end of an ILS, there usually was a runway. And we could do all that in silence, without parrotting at the other pilot with every light coming on, chime going off or needle reversing direction, simply because he was not there!:)

[kotakota]

Don't get me wrong , I am a great fan of CRM ( although it could do with a chapter on R.E.S.P.E.C.T ) and modern technology ( to a point ) but there are an awful lot of pilots these days who are just coasting .
I did enjoy my introduction to jet flying on what I thought at the time was the epitome of cool , the BAC 1-11 , and being taught different things by different trainers ( keeping a good notebook for each ones ideas ) , blasting around Africa with no FMC / GPS , any of that fancy-dan stuff , huge distances to any alternate , dreading the annual arrival of the ITCZ ( remember that anybody ? ) . I remember the gnashing and wailing that went on when some poor misguided new Ops Manager from UK enforced the use of checklists ( rather than just flying around with them holding the flight deck door OPEN ) and SOPs . The skippers were mostly Pathfinder crews from WW2 who were not used to any dilution of their powers , so their retirements were probably the best result for all parties.
Sorry us old gits get a bit misty-eyed about the old days , can we please have our own website / forum called something not too insulting ?
F.O.G will do - flying old gits , foregtful old.....,
ps still enjoying flying a modern jet , with all its inherent safety built in , but still concerned about the widespread lack of handling skills because of modern demands . ATC do not help much , how often can you get a visual approach approved these days , even when it is quiet at an airfield ?
Take care up there.

[S.F.L.Y]

With all due respect, don't you have any clue why these things have changed ?
I'm sure it was great fun and lot more permissive. But time passed and sad stories happened in all fields: air accidents, sexual harassments, pollution issues. Because people prefers to hear the little click of an umbrella instead of a big crash, everything is now ruled, controlled, automated...:( But if everything was really so fine, why would things have changed ?

[allaru]

SFLY when you become an old fart you'll appreciate what it is to be an old fart, a classic case of 'you don't know what you don't know', now run off to the pink lounge and give your Barista (coffee server-WTF) mate two big kisses, and order your skinny latte.

Then shove your Ipod in yr ear hole and listen to what you think is some new classic rave tune, but is in fact yet another re-run of a classic song written by an old fart of our generation. Why not watch a video of some wanky band you like and do a bit of research and discover that the les paul, strat, or telecaster there playing were invented in the 50s, and are essentially unchanged since, ...probably playing through a tube amp...YES TUBE , why because the old stuff is best, but you you knew that I guess, or if you don't have a clue of what I'm talking about refer to paragraph one line 2.

Don't suppose you wear levi's, Lees, or Wranglers, but rather plastic pants, gee look at my new wayfarers these are the latest raybans, Im such a new age wadd. My girl friend has a new quilted Chanel bag, its the latest you know,...shes such a trendafile.

Most the stuff made now days is **** made to a price for clueless consumers such as your self.


OLD IS GOLD

[5Y NJB]

sfly, to use your own phrase, "with all due respect" lighten up!

The OP was meant to be light-hearted and fun. What's wrong with a bit of nostalgia? The so-called "old farts" on here that your patronising posts are directed at least have a sense of humour. Everyone knows things have changed - and why. It doesn't need to be pointed out.

I'm sorry, but you appear to be taking this whole thread way too seriously :(

[kit330]

mayb sfly got his as* chewed by one of the "old farts"... whatever happened to the days when our "old fart" capts use to chew our asses off n we just took it with a pinch of salt n learned from him. try doin that now n the fo's just losse the plot,rather then learn from what we have to teach...sad..

hey sfly just lighten up n let the rest of us reminisce...:) have a cold one chief...

[S.F.L.Y]

Well thanks for the treatment :}
You're probably right as I may have taken the topic on the serious side.
Despite this I'm sure those who took time to read understood I was not criticizing. I understand the good old days but unfortunately they couldn't be preserved (for good and bad reasons...). It doesn't mean that all what is no more like before is definitely ****. By the way before describing me as a young fashioned chest shaved metrosexual you could at least take the time to learn to whom you're talking to as this is also a good old but lost habit...

Despite what you think I prefer old farts aviation books to the Ipods and I'll always be the first to go for a beer and to listen to some old fart's stories (as an old fart to be).

[sandfrog]

S.F.L.Y, are you related to SFLY on radiococo?

[S.F.L.Y]

S.F.L.Y, are you related to SFLY on radiococo?

Oui, he's my grand father :}

[sandfrog]

Definitely a family problem then!:rolleyes: :):):)

[Khaosai]

Hi,

ah the good old days. Think i was 20 years too late, but a great post nontheless.

Hey allura i will just about accept Levi's, but lees and Wranglers......do people still wear them !!. Actually there probably are some guys wearing those, along with chino's and those boating type shoes !.

Rgds.

[Alfredo tp]

Good fellas, already retired, told me lots of these things. Of course it was a different time, different equipment, environment, economy, living style, etc., but the point is we have to read between the lines. Now, we pilots are just that a.hole sitting in the front of the airplane, with a bad reputation, no rights, salves in white collar, etc. Oh well, just like in any other job:ugh:
(But seriously, I would love to 'fly' back then. I mean, real flying, not 'managing' an airplane!)