Silly names
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,598
Likes: 0
From: Amsterdam
If there's something I daren't say under my real name I'd rather just not say it at all.
Suppose you're applying for a job, your prospective employer googles your name and finds numerous posts from you, which were done throughout the (working) day? Even though there might be an entirely legitimate explanation for it, it's one more thing to explain in the interview.
Personally I value my privacy and try not to let my real name appear on the internet too much. The internet indexes everything and retains everything forever. I occasionally google my own name to show what shows up, and one of the things that comes back is a Usenet posting I did 20 years ago about some sort of complicated matrix calculation. When I read that post now I have no idea whatsoever what it's about anymore.
Fortunately I have a namesake (some 10-15 years younger) who doesn't covet his privacy all that much. He's the one doing the facebook pages and everything so I do have a plausible denial strategy in any case...
Fleet Manager
Joined: Aug 2006
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 7,090
Likes: 2,952
From: Ontario, Canada
Perhaps we should organise our very own fly in. A Pprune Summer Bash, the usual BBQ, at a conveniently located airfield.
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
From: EuroGA.org
I quite agree with Backpacker; if people had to use real names on forums, few people would have anything to say that is useful to others. A lot of knowledge is knowledge of stuff to avoid and that's always hard to do under your full name, because you just get hassle. I've got a few namesakes (Czechs too, apparently) and fortunately they have all populated the really exciting sites like LinkedIn 
PilotDAR - those coordinates are a long way from here... the latitude looks OK but not the longitude
PilotDAR - those coordinates are a long way from here... the latitude looks OK but not the longitude
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 526
Likes: 0
From: Aberdeen, UK
I've always been Slopey at work due to "slopey shoulders" whereby any upstream IT issue wasn't my fault per se, but someone else's - after a string of BT issues where I dodged the blame, the Slopey stuck. I'm now Slopey everywhere on the net - if you spot one, it's likely me with a few exceptions. Been using it 10+ years now.
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,777
Likes: 9
From: Blighty
''It took me ages to work out Dan Winterland''. Didin't think it was that cryptic. There's also a Dan Winteroll and a Dan Winterlandandstream around as well.
Not sure where I got it from as it was so long ago but I know I didn't originally think of it. I first started using it in the mid 80s when as an RAF pilot, we all had RAF wings badges with silly names on for happy hours/parties/airshows away from base where aninomity was useful in the subsequent witch-hunts! All the flying suit badges were on velcro, also quick changes were easy - including the swapping of badges to confuse witnesses!
I once forgot to change the badge over while manning a static display at the Leuchars airshow in the late 80s. Having staggered out of bed with a few less brain cells functioning than actually required as a result of an excellent first night party, I wore my Dan Winterland badge all day and only found out when I was called into the Boss' office a few days later where he showed me the front page of a Scottish daily newspaper which had a picture of me showing a dignitary around the cockpit with the caption "Flt Lt Dan Winterland shows the Lord High Sherrif of Fife the BAe wonderjet".
Not sure where I got it from as it was so long ago but I know I didn't originally think of it. I first started using it in the mid 80s when as an RAF pilot, we all had RAF wings badges with silly names on for happy hours/parties/airshows away from base where aninomity was useful in the subsequent witch-hunts! All the flying suit badges were on velcro, also quick changes were easy - including the swapping of badges to confuse witnesses!
I once forgot to change the badge over while manning a static display at the Leuchars airshow in the late 80s. Having staggered out of bed with a few less brain cells functioning than actually required as a result of an excellent first night party, I wore my Dan Winterland badge all day and only found out when I was called into the Boss' office a few days later where he showed me the front page of a Scottish daily newspaper which had a picture of me showing a dignitary around the cockpit with the caption "Flt Lt Dan Winterland shows the Lord High Sherrif of Fife the BAe wonderjet".
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 235
Likes: 3
From: Down South, preferably inverted
My first 4 flights in a small aeroplane (i.e. non commercial) were aerobatics trial lessons - wanting to try to learn how to do what I'd just experienced was my sole reason for getting my PPL.
On coming back from one of my aero's sorties, which I spaced between PPL training flights...... with a HUGE grin on my face, bouncing around the flying club, slightly hyper - one of the older straight and level pilots just looked at me...shook their head... and said "Girl!!.... you're totally mad".
5 years on from that first aerobatics flight my aerobatics still aren't very good
.......
On coming back from one of my aero's sorties, which I spaced between PPL training flights...... with a HUGE grin on my face, bouncing around the flying club, slightly hyper - one of the older straight and level pilots just looked at me...shook their head... and said "Girl!!.... you're totally mad".
5 years on from that first aerobatics flight my aerobatics still aren't very good
.......
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,878
Likes: 83
From: UK
....because it's was my base airfield in the days when I used to exercise the priviledges of my licence 
(not very creative, but no one else had used it)
Also if I used my real surname on a forum like this, people would expect me to be something I'm not!
(not very creative, but no one else had used it)Also if I used my real surname on a forum like this, people would expect me to be something I'm not!
Last edited by Wycombe; 9th December 2010 at 13:12.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 517
Likes: 0
From: London UK
Rotorheads have done this too:
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/231...rune-name.html
My personal favourite is Art E. Fischler-Reisen.
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/231...rune-name.html
My personal favourite is Art E. Fischler-Reisen.
Joined: Sep 2009
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 948
Likes: 63
From: N.YORKSHIRE
Mine was given to me by some work colleagues who didn't know I flew until I beat up an isolated site they were working on. The 'mac' bit is part of my surname. (I'm a Scot). Mac 1 would have suggested speed I can't reach without tearing the wings off.
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 755
Likes: 0
From: EGPT/ESVS
Originally Posted by Dan Winterland
''It took me ages to work out Dan Winterland''. Didn't think it was that cryptic.
I still have a few of my "fake" name badges lying around somewhere, still remember the story about Scottie talking to the Colonel in the mess at Bessbrook with his namebadge Hertz Van Rentl, claiming to be the Dutch exchange officer (in a broad Glasgow accent!).
The PMC(or maybe the Staish) at Aldergrove got so worked up by fake name badges that they were banned in the bar. Puma pilot Jan Janiurek walked in one evening and was ejected...
"No silly name badges in the bar! OUT!"
"But it's my real name!"
"OUT.OUT.OUT!"
