Truck Driving beats Helicopter Flying for Career Potential

[SASless]

Having been both a Truck Driver (Articulated Lorry Driver for those on the east end of the Salt Water Divide) and a Helicopter Pilot....I have found several common areas to both but prefer Truck Driving for its advantages.

As a Trucker, and having modified my Big Truck with an airhorn from a Locomotive (Big Train Horn for you Brits!)....I found it to be great fun and added immeasurably to my work day. The concepts of weight and balance, fuel loading, fuel planning, route choice, weather planning, and compliance to regulations and procedures was not all that different. Pay was better (for those on the West end of the Saltwater divide anyway) but the roster was worse. Managment was better....not nearly as autocratic nor were the licensing authorities as hard to deal with.

From previous threads, it is apparent that too many of us would choose not to repeat our careers in helicopter aviation......my question is how many would take up truck driving....lorry driving as a replacement occupation?

Why , there is nothing finer in life than to form that special bond between man, machine, and the open highway! (of course the UK segment of the population would not know of that concept as we do in the US or Australia).;)

[MaxNg]

How can you possibly compare truck( Lorry) driving to helicopter flying. Please read about my day today.

05:00 hrs Woken by ALARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

05:05 hrs Again woken by ALARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

05:06 Hrs " Please go to work and turn of that F******G Alarm as I have to be up in two and a half hours and I'm tired ":mad:

05:06.1 hrs I am Vertical but gyros not fully erected,and stub little toe on end of bed "**************".

05:07 hrs Find bathroom and turn on lights, Catch a glimps in mirror and decide to turn lights off.

05:07.5 hrs Leave bathroom looking refreshed and youthfull.

05:07.6 hrs trip over dog

05:50 hrs arrive at work and pour first coffee.

05:50.1 hrs Awake at last.

05:55 hrs look at computor for weathers on Met computor for the west of shetland Taffs ( Bugg*r all in ) look out of window and notice a dried bit of seaweed on window ledge, assume that this means it will not rain today, so continue with flight planning,order fuel and greet my captain. He asks about the weather (unusual) I tell him that everywhere is wide open and the rig wx is good too. ( No point us both worrying all day!)

06:40 hrs We have more coffee and start up the A/C.

06:59 Taxi for departure.

07:00 get airbourne and capt. asks where are we going?

08:30 hrs pick up breakfast from first stop of three and set of for home ( Aberdeen) hopefully!

10:00 arrive back (phew!)

10: 35 Coffee and crew room chat of daring and exceptional flying skills during morning sortee.

11:30 hrs Arrive home and turn off running tap in bathroom.

11:31 hrs Read note from very Tired Quilt hogger " where is dog"

11:32 hrs go to bed for power nap.

all this for £ 60,000 and you want to drive a lorry all day.

Your welcolme mate

[SASless]

I prefer the freedom of deciding when I get out of bed....and where. In the truck, I turn on the Sat TV...check the weather channel....hit the button to the coffemaker...check for any Sat Com messages.....think about my day over a second cup then set off. Lunch is when and where I wish...naps when the need arises....and end the day watching telly or reading. It takes 4-5 days to get to the other coast.....a couple hours unloading then off to the truckstop for a break. Load the next morning....then head back for the other coast. My trips are predicated upon hitting nice places to eat...visit with friends....and drive the scenic places. Long days in the cockpit and long days in the truck are not much different....except it is high quality stereo music in the truck and what selections you get from the ADF when not being interrupted by a whining copilot crying about everything from the pay....pace of upgrades....and why he has to get out and handle the baggage. The driver seat is sure a lot nicer than any aircraft seat I have ever had....and having a nice bed behind you for your kips makes it all the better. Sprawling in the bed, popcorn in the microwave....a cold softie....and a good movie on the TV...never had that in a helicopter. I have GPS and moving map nav displays on the truck....never had one on a helicopter.....I set my own pace...route.....and decide when to take my time off....never got to do that in the helicopter business. The boss is sometimes 3,000 miles away....and is never closer than one mile...thus close supervision is not a problem. No checkrides, medicals every two years instead of every six months.....it is all single driver unless I desire to share the truck with another driver.....and better pay than for flying helicopters. If the weather gets bad.....I park....and wait until it is good enough to go again. If something goes wrong mechanically.....I coast gently to a stop and call a mechanic to come fix the thing. Lightning strikes and commercial pressure don't affect me in the truck....but the bad news....well there just isn't any Glory in being a trucker! ;)

[john du'pruyting]

Don't worry, there's no glory in putting on a rubber suit and doing two rotations to the Fulmar (if it's still there!) either.:D

[Thud_and_Blunder]

...fly the BV234/CH47/Chinook or whatever you call the double-headed-dump-truck where you come from :D

[MaxNg]

JDP

There isn't and It is

:(

Sas

It's actually £61k and who said I was a co jo ?:D

[widgeon]

quote "
so continue with flight planning,order fuel and greet my captain."

aha so there are 2 captains on the ship

[Woolf]

two Captains but only one aircraft Commander - works a treat

[SASless]

Hey Thud....once a trash hauller...always a trash hauller! Yep...two tours in Vietnam, Republic of, flying 47's....and two tours teaching in them at the other CFS....one civvie tour flying them in Italy in Libyan colours.....but that is a another story.

Cockpit height about the same in the big truck as in the Chinook.....and the same overall length....105 feet. Chinook at max auw weighs 30% of the truck....burns 150 times the fuel of the big truck for the same distance and does the trip in 50% of the time. Truck stops quicker....accelerates slower....turns sharper....but will never be able to dissassemble itself nearly as completely or as quickly as can a Chinook.

[captk]

Hope some of the "wannabee's" read this and give serious thought about there career options before forking out "megabucks" for a licence they may never get to use. Only the truly dedicated will make it!!:)

[SASless]

Capt K....Trucking schools are plentiful and cheap....jobs are readily available.....ease up...the really dedicated can always find a paying job! Why there is no limit to the how far you can go in the world of transcontinental trucking! If the going gets rough..why you just drop a gear, drop the hammer, and keep on a'trucking! In time....why you too can be in a great big ol' KWhopper9....and be somebody and not just another cipher on the roster. There just isn't any mobiling like Chicken Mobiling!

Remember....if you got more Chicken lights than you got horsepower....you too might be a Chicken Hauller!;)

[handyandyuk]

Having spent the last 8 hours trundling up the M1/M6 to Stoke and back I need to ask;

When did a helicopter last get stuck in traffic around Brum?

How many idiots in BMW's try to sneek down the inside of a helicopter when it's about to turn?

How many pilots worry about tacho infringements?

How many pilots drive trucks at silly hours just to be able to afford an hour or twos flying a month?

I dare say I could go on but given the choice, I'd happily take 2nd seat hauling trash and I'd do it for a darn sight less than £60k !!!

(available now... open to offers :D )

[SASless]

Don't know about the M6.....but....I have spent hours holding over a rig to divert for fuel to return to the hold....wonderful planning and coordination by Mobil. Have enjoyed the rare thrill of passing other helicopters at very close proximity ....once even in cloud on the way to the Ninian Field....never realized the BAH pilots could get away with wearing shirtsleeves in the cockpit (but those were the early days!). Any pilot who ever flew a Bell product in hot weather knows too well about Tacho Infringements (exceedences!). You would be surprised just how many truckers work extra hours to foster up enough money to go flying......and yes...even Truckers have those that will do it for nothing just to have the experience which keeps us all broke.:p

If the amplifier on your CB radio draws more current than Old Sparky at San Quentin prison....then you too might be a Chicken Hauller!

[BlenderPilot]

I guess in economical terms driving trucks can be more rewarding in most civilized countries, but nothing beats flying, if you have the right job, that is a job which gives you constant challenge and variety in the flying, I have turned down many excellent paying jobs just becasue I didn't like the kind of flying, now with a 2 month old baby in the house I am waiting for one of those boring jobs to come by, who know maybe truck driving is in my future.

[GLSNightPilot]

As I get older, I realize that I've been bored, & I've been terrified, & bored is better. I try my best to keep my flights boring. Doesn't always work, though. :D

Max, it must be nice to live where you fly, & be able to go home at noon, or any time. Over here in the Gulf of Mexico, no respectable woman, & very few women at all, will live anywhere near our bases, and nobody likes to move every 3 months or so. So it's a week at a time, every other week, driving through the marshes to a dump in the midst of the bayous, & the boss doesn't want you to go anywhere just in case you have a flight, until at least 12 hours have passed, often 14. If you're lucky, your rig is so far out that you can only get 2 trips a day done in less than 10 hrs flight time, so you may get away earlier. The worst is when it's a 3:15 round trip, which means 3 trips a day, usually the last one being as late as you can get back within your 14-hour duty day.

Any jobs open in Scotland?

[MaxNg]

Stan

We have just tendered for a contract that if we win will mean more pilots needed over the next few years but if we lose it will mean the loss of 45% of our work, so at the moment the company isn't activley recruiting, however we (Scotia CHC) have a aging and (very creeky) workforce that will need replacing so watch this space, We also have quite a few with fixed wing ratings that are ready to jump should things pick up.

I thought that flying in the Gulf of Mexico would be fun, I guess not eh !

Well at least you will drive to work and back in Daylight.

Time for me to set that alarm again


Regards
:p

[SASless]

Well Max....if CHC loses the tender....and you in fact lose 45% of your business...you can always join "Big B".....they will be needing experienced co-pilots. Then you can sit next to a young Co-Jo who has company seniority over you.:D

[Draco]

You've all missed the point - Truckers get better chocolate bars! (or are you all too old to remember the Yorkie ads... please excuse the flippancy)

This is an interesting discussion - most pilots hate being compared to truck drivers or taxi drivers, despite the comparisons that are rightly made.

One could say that at least both heli pilots and truck drivers actually have real-time control of their machines, unlike many airline pilots.

R

[GLSNightPilot]

Max, I was kidding about jobs in Scotland. I consider it a foreign assignment when I have to go across the border to Louisiana, & I ain't going further than that.

And no, the driving is in the dark, unless you go to work very early. And the drive home is always in the dark - get off just about sundown, & then start the drive, the company-supplied bed in the 5-man trailer doesn't belong to you on break night, it belongs to your relief, so you have to go immediately. You just have to be careful, because those back country roads are dangerous. :(

Actually, I have it pretty good right now. I go to work in daylight, to sign in at 5PM for night duty at a real city, with an actual airport, and real restaurants & everything. That's why I stay on night duty.

[Darren999]

Hi all.

Thanks for a great reading, being a part time truck driver, I agree with a lot of points made. I am desperatly trying to work up hours to get a helicopter job, at the mo looking at going State side, after reading all this.... still want to fly choppers!! it's a HOOT!, the only 1 fly at the mo is the 47, and I love it!
Going state side to do my instuctors this month. Great page chaps!

Stop the bus and let my brother Jack off

[Labarynth Seal]

Draco - Yorkie bars are for big boys!! Looks like the younger generation are getting more seniority.... hmmmm (SASless)Yorkie bars rarer than rocking horse **** in the U.K.

Imagine being in a hover and deciding wether to be in 3rd or 4th gear on a down hill approach to a set of trafic lights and a traffic police man pulls you over for an uneven load? could never imagine the traffic stop, but another pedal would just be infuriating, And just where would the gear stick go? Ala Mercedes on the dash or the standard GM confing.....Somewhere between the skids?

SASless :- M6 is a nightmare moterway on west side of uk from BHX to PIK ish (rough location)

Medicals in the U.Kare every 10yrs for the trucker and every year in Norway........ for truckers.......Hmmmmm and nearly most of all the truckers in the western part of Europe, have a stroke or a heart attack beacuse at max they are only going at is 60 mph (90 kmh) no wonder there are so many accidents relevant to HGV's. The drivers are falling asleep, watching tv and their newl fandangled GPS machines, which tke days to change in the numbers because they are travelling tragically slow!!

The only thing good about trucks is the fuel economy....easy!!

Handyandyuk :- if a trucker was on 60k then he must be working for B&Q and doing alot more drop offs than he should.:D (Hypothetically)

And when in distress, pull over and go to an orange phone and wait for the rozzers

:cool:

[SASless]

Ah, now gear shifting...deciding which gear is the correct one....my method was to keep grinding away....sooner or later it would fall into a hole (the gear lever!) and that would give me a reference point....if the engine lugged or died....then it was find something with a smaller number....if the engine overwound or came to bits....then either up a couple of numbers or use the "N" gear......figgered if I grind them long enough they would eventually become just like an autoshift. Must admit....more than a few times I got fairy flumoxed with an 18 speed....couldn't decide if I was in the lower half of the low end of the box...the normal part of the low end....or the upper end.....kept sliding my seat seeing if that helped. One day I forgot the clutch thing on the left....snatched the lever out of a gear slot....revved the engine like normal....and slick as nasal juices on a door knob....in the next gear it went......when talking about it....an old grizzled Chicken Hauller noted over his cuppa that I had floated the box. Not understanding that kind of rude talk....I retorted that I had merely forgot the clutch.....and had not been anywhere near water either! Since then....have gone straight...no one can call me a double clutching, gear jamming, fast lane cruising, hammer down MoJo....nope...pure finesse and grace this guy....saute'd scallops and fetticine in cream sauce and Chopin on the CD! Still gotta wear my cowboy boots, big ol' Stetson and license plate sized belt buckle, and wear my chain drive wallet....just to remind folks I am a real trucker. Still have not made it into the exalted ranks of being a Chicken Hauller however.

If you ride in the passing lane from Lizard Lick to Tucumcari in Georgia overdrive....you too might be a Chicken Hauller!

[Labarynth Seal]

You must have been a Mack driver then, Coz you can't do that in Mercedes EPS Truck...........European thing then :D

As for the water........have you released any recently.......Coz if it is llike your gear changes, i'd go to a doctor and get a bag (Automatic):D :D

But I have always been more of a giblets man myself. Chickens stink........especially when they are alive..........they **** all over the place!!

[SASless]

Seal.....Godzilla himself cannot shift a Mack tranny unless the tranny wishes to be shifted.....had an air clutch, five speed gearbox, cabover (no air ride cab..no air ride seat...no air ride suspension) for yard shifting.....you ain't lived until you bleed the air off and kill the engine as you bump the dock in reverse gear! (with 8-10 tobacco chewing coverall wearing ....3 million milers watching!) Without the air built up...the clutch doesn't work...the gearbox won't shift.....you are solid against the dock....and at the point....flat out of experience, expertise, ideas, and ego simultaneously with a truck that isn't going anywhere soon!:( :(

Helicopter flying does hold some appeal at times!

[Labarynth Seal]

Well according to the volvo adverts, that was not the case :D

You sound like you are 105 and aging quickly, and i am out of experience and life expectancy:p

As for the water.....you must either have your own reservoir or your kideys hurt alot :D

LS

[Vfrpilotpb]

SaSless,

Sorry, old chap, been there, done that got the oily T shirt and the flat cap, along with bruised knuckles when you neeed to change a wheel, If any of my past drivers ever let me down, because of action speaking louder than any words, I would jump into the cab and set of for parts of Germany that most other people never see, AFTER about fifty miles driving in the traffic here in the UK I then started to realise why I was called the boss, and all my men were called drivers, ... driving any HGV vehicle is the most mind numbing, brain chilling experience I could ever dream of, GIVE ME A CHOPPER any day,, I'll leave the HGVs to people like you, who seem to think they are romantic, and more than that they are bloody dangerous!!:D :D

[widgeon]

The big difference about roads on this side of the pond is that aside from the big cities they are fairly open . On a holiday weekend anywhere in Europe the major roads are more like car parks. I'm not sure why but the trucks also seem to spew out a lot less noxious fumes over here too ( maybe they get retired earlier )

[SASless]

Mind numbing? Try 8-9 hours single pilot...worse two pilot in a Bell 212 tracked to Bristow's exacting standards.....that being if you can read the gauges it is too smooth.....heck...I-40 or I-30 anywhere in Arkansas is smoother than that! Helicopter flying is much more boring.....how many times can you make the Forcardos run out of Warri before you go completely numb? We even tried doing cross word puzzles to help out....

Dangerous....I don't know a single truck driver that got killed in a big rig.....want me to start listing the helicopter pilot friends alone that got snuffed in crashes?

Multiple government studies in both Canada and the USA prove that approximately 80% of all truck/car accidents are caused by the car's driver and not the truck.

Usually, truckers stick together.....not so helicopter pilots.....maybe in the UK the pilots are better at it than in the USA....but it was the fuel bowser drivers that shut the country down....the weak kneed North Sea pilots threatened strike but never did for improved wages.....the Bristow pilots caved early on....it took the CHC guys and gals to bring about the pay rises.

The idea of climbing into your own personal body bag to go flying as compared to wearing your plus fours or whatever to drive makes a big difference in my mind too. The UK certainly isn't the place for driving...car or truck....but that seems to hold for flying too I guess.

Trucking is exactly like helicopter flying in one regard....it is a simple mechanical skill that one can make a living with. Neither job will pay what it is really worth.....and the people doing it are the reason why. Neither industry seems to have quality management either. However, some trucking companies seem to understand that since humans are involved....they need to be a bit human in the way they deal with situations. They may force you into situations where you intentionally violate the rules but they don't throw you to the wolves when something goes wrong like helicopter companies do. Helicopter company managers must eat their own young I think.

If you cannot go more than a mile without replacing three or more light bulbs......you too might be a chicken hauller!:rolleyes:

[weedflier]

Yorkie bars rare! No they're not. Was only recently sitting with my right foot on the loud pedal, my best girl by my side, John Lee Hooker playing on the stereo and only a few Yorkie bars to keep me going until reaching the truck stop where I could pull in for a delicious deep fried mince pie with chips and mushy peas. Guess even the dietary habits of truckers and helicopter pilots are the same.
:)

[SASless]

Where pray tell is a truckstop in the UK....never did see one? Fryed pies....would think all they would serve would be curry and couscous or pounded yam?

[Vfrpilotpb]

SaSless,

I nearly understand what your on, in Oz you have long wide arrow straight roads, with only the odd Kanga or Abbo to get in the way(pity them) here in good old blighty, you have the Customs and excise to check your rigs are running on the right colour of Derv, the Thomas Couplings of our world to check your speed, your hours your tachograph, your breaks the depth of your tread on yer tyres, the state of your distributed weight, your MOT cert and plate to make you all nice and legal, your lights the height of your load on certain roads, the width and length of the rig, the weight loading on each axle, the smoke comming from the exhaust, they even stop you if you have all nice dangly bits in your windscreen to tell all the other morons where you have been in your "Rig", come of any ferry from Euroland and you have Dyke type Customs ladies( ? ) who dont believe anything they are told, who then put you and your Rig and your load into the "Shed" to be checked out by some spotty , snotty jobsworth who knows absolutly sweet FA about business, but proceeds to tell you that they DO have the right to drill holes into the chassis to see if any "White Powder" comes out with the drill, as you start to think why did I spend 80 grand on a new truck or two, you look across the dock yard and see our Froggy cousins driving in and through because they dont " Speaka da Inglishe" so because the customs Dykes had a very poor education they let them in, ****** the fact that they are on Red diesel and carrying a few dozen Albanians or Iranians or some of Uncle Saddams lot, good God you think Heavy Haulage is good, Ill swop you all my tranport and trailers and service manuals and the rule book for one Helicopter any day, and yes I have a book with about 12 good lads who are all dead through thoughtless actions by other drivers, and when a really big rig hits something really solid, I would even say the mess is definately the equivalent of any Wocka hitting the wrong cloud.

Sorry to go on and even sorrier to use Thomas Coupling as the obvious PC49, but I think youll see what I mean if you carry on with this (love affair) with truck and HGV's.

Now I feel better

[3top]

Hey Vfr and all others:

How is that in good ol´Europe now? Are you still using the damn tacho-paper-discs? I thought they implemented GPS-based black boxes with electronic driver codecards, so the police can still fine you 3 years after you passed a village with 5 km/h too fast!!

Last time I was driving about 7 years ago, and it was getting out of hand.

When I started with an old double articulated rig (around ´88) ,with twin wheels on a triple axle trailer, I got 5 flats on the first trip.

The feeling of "King of the road" (despite a big sign on the front of my Volvo...)was gone after about 4 weeks, hanging out four of the weekends on some lousy resting place.

Later I got a new 420 hp Scania and ran it at 115 km/h in East Germany (April before the wall came down...).

The best truck I ever got my hands on was a Renault "Magnum" with the big Mack engine (520 hp), one is on top the traffic, standup room - I am 1,87m,flat floor over the engine, however it was lousy driving - Coolers, always lacking sleep......

It started to get bad when they put in the speed limiters (85 km/h, that´s it...)

The latest I heared from home (Austria) is ,that on Austrian Highways trucks are not allowed to pass anymore!! Imagine you have a sleeper in front and you are not allowed to pass!


THanks, but no, I stick with the swingwing!!



It seems that things are different in North America....

I am not even starting with OZ. Here we would have to go on some RAILROAD forum!!! Once you can haul more than 2 trailers it is a train isn´t it!! Are you still called a trucker down under or is it "engineer" (locomotive-...)


3top,:D :D :D

[SASless]

3Top....I pulled triple trailers for United Parcel Service in Oregon....hardest part of the job was turning the rear view mirrors around to the front....so one would not be tempted to look to the rear and see what the last trailer was doing.....kept you from getting scared that way! Until I pulled them....never understood why they were called "Wiggle Wagons".....you could in a hurry actually attempt to follow yourself out of the parking lot if you were not careful. It took so long to do the pretrip inspection on the things you had to take a bag lunch along or else you could get awfully hungry. They just would not work on the East Coast....why you could pull out to pass a slower truck in Georgia and be in North Carolina before you got by.

When I bought my own truck....a big long nosed Freightliner Condo sleeper conventional.....opted for the big Detroit engine and an double overdrive 13 speed transmission with tall rubber. Got stopped by a highway patrolman in Tennessee....very nice man who let me off with a warning....96 in a 70 zone. He allowed as how it was hard enough for a trucker to make a living without having to pay a huge speeding fine...and if I would promise to be more careful...etc...etc...he would let me go with a warning. He suggested I was a bit daft going that fast with such a large vehicle....never summoned up the courage to tell him I had three more gears to go when he stopped me! Ol' Yeller was a sure nuff Chicken Hauller.....never had the courage to find out just how fast that thing would run....gave up at 105 and had one two more gears left!

We now have GPS based systems that track the truck and via a downlink system to a computer records your position everytime you send or receive a message or at regular intervals.....makes cross checking the logbook too simple. But then time travel is not very new or SciFi anymore.....heck...truckers been doing it for fifty years. I usually got home three days before my logbook....and got to my Monday delivery before I left home.

If your transmission has more gears than you have teeth....you too might be a Chicken Hauller!

[3top]

Hi SAS,

a) How long was the whole UPS-train?
a1) Where you called an "engineer"?
b) Was it dual wheels? How many axles on each trailer, max takeoff weight?
c) What do you have the 2 extra gears if you are chicken to try them (...you might be a chicken hauler for that, too!!). You see I know an operator in Austria who had the diff gear ratio changed to lower the engine rpm at max speed (85 km/h - speed governor!!) to max economy!!

d) I also know a guy who prefers European Trucks for sophistication (synchronized gears, now a days computer shifted, ....starts to get like airliner flying - booooring), but US-driving for a living.

e) Long nosed Condos are a no-no in Europe as the Total Vehicle Length is limited to 18 m for Double-articulated and 16m for single-articulated. How is that in the states? Also max takeoff weight is 40 tons metric.

Are you still flying?

:) 3top

[SASless]

3Top.....

A) 105 feet bumper to bumper, 105,000 pounds max legal weight

B) Nope...not an engineer....usually called "You F_ _ king A_ _ hole!" by non-commerical drivers with cell phones stuffed into their ear....holding a Starbucks in the other hand....steering with their knees....while typing on the laptop with some other protuberance!

C) 7 axles....26 tires...single steers and duals on the rest....first trailer hooked by kingpin to the power unit....pintle hook for each converter dolly....each with a fifth wheel for the trailers.....definitely not something to reverse with for very far!

D) True Chicken Haullers could care less about fuel economy! Just long noses, lots of lights, tons of chrome, cowboy boots and stetsons......chain drive wallets....and pedal to the metal, whoosh whoosh , toot toot!

E) True Chicken Haullers don't need no stinking computers shifting gears for them....uh uh...no sir-ree Bob! A real Chicken Hauller is a double clutching...gear jamming highway hero!

F) As to laws pertaining to width...length....weight...height...axle spacing, axle weights, axle group weight, axle bridge weights, signs, flags, strobes, permits, bingo cards, licenses, IFTA fuel stickers, Fed 2290 Highway tax, State fuel tax, road use tax, and just a few other hundred darn rules and regulations....well there are fifty states and the separate provinces of Canada that each and all have different views of what is legal. Haulling oversized loads...bulldozers and other large yellow pieces of iron like I specialize in...requires a Philadelphia Lawyer to keep you mostly legal! Not unheard of to get a $9600 ticket in North Carolina....that kinda shoots the weeks paycheck when that happens!

G) Me dear ol' Mum thinks I play piano in a Bordello....if she ever found out I fly helicopters for a living it would break the ol' dears heart! My name is Sasless, I am a helicopter pilot, but I can stop at any time I want. (Carry over from my AA days!)

;)

[3top]

SAs:

a) I also prefer to shift myself and not the computer, but nowadays in Europe Economy rules (that´s part why I don´t drive rigs there anymore) - Forget about your point D)!!

b) Seems the same crap everywhere withthe big yellow things!
I stopped doing them, because the owner of the company NEVER got the right permits - always to light, narrow and short.

Next stop would have been my licence! THat´s where I went for the Freezers - and forget about sleeping.

Just for fun: what is your average fuel burn?

3top,;)