I have an acquaintance that was a radio operator in WWII. It drives him
BEZERK to hear movies/tv characters say "Over and Out". Apparently (and I
wouldn't have known, since we don't use it anymore), "OVER" meant "I'm
through with this statement and expecting a reply" and "OUT" meant "I'm
through with this statement and finished talking".

So to say "Over and Out" is an oxymoron. It's one or the other.

Oh well, I work in computer networking and we could talk all day about the
constant flubs I pick up on. I guess we're all smarter than the Hollywood
folk.

jf


"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
...
Guess I would have missed that one anyway, since I don't watch soaps, but
I
did pick up a movie while channel surfing a week or so ago. The stewardess
was flying a 747 and reporting her airspeed as being 180-190 knots; the
windscreen was shattered but the relative wind didn't mess up her hair.
None
of the relative wind got back to the cabin, either. As a communications
freak I got a big kick out of "Come in, come in!!! Do you read me?" "I
read
you loud and clear!" repeated ad nauseam.

Bob Gardner

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
Yesterday someone had left the TV on and I as I was taking a short break
I
saw that the TV soap "Days of Our Lives" had an aviation sequence on it.
It
had two guys flying a civilian twin somewhere; I have no idea what the
plot
was, but it was no doubt incredibly silly.

Anyway, they are apparently flying at night. You can tell because it is
dark
and you can see a reflection from the rotating beacon inside the
cockpit.
The beacon must have been mounted on the nose or something. It was like
watching an old gangster movie where the hoodlum invariably holes up in
a
hotel room with an irritating flashing neon sign outside the window.

The pilots were yelling at someone to "Get out of the way! Get out of
the
way!" through the windshield. Finally, using all their strength and
straining at the controls, it takes both of them to begin evasive action
by
turning the yoke slightly. Despite this tremendous effort, they still
hit
whatever it was they saw. I did not see what they hit, but they managed
to
regain control of the airplane and continue flying with no more concern
about it.

I had started laughing so hard I had to wee. Walking back into the room
somewhat later, I saw the show was still on. The pilots were now flying
through a severe thunderstorm, represented by buckets of water being
thrown
on the windscreen. They were obviously very macho and very dramatic. The
beacon is still flashing, but it is not as bright because dawn is
breaking.
One of pilots says they have a signal ordering them to turn around. The
other pilot irritatedly says "I'll give them a signal!" and grabs his
headset and puts it on to make a radio call. This is the only time
either
pilot is wearing his headset. He says, "Basic Black! Basic Black! This
is
Basic Black! Come in!" Without waiting for a reply he rips off his
headset
and throws it across the cockpit. "Radios must have failed when we took
off!" Just then a high pitched beeper goes off:
"beep-beep-beep-beep-beep..." The pilot fails to notice it until the
co-pilot calls it to his attention. The pilot then jumps with a start
and
says, "Someone has locked onto us and is ready to fire! I think I can
re-program the frabulator through other unintelligible gobbledy
gook...."

I wanted to wait around to see if the show could top this, but I had a
student. Besides, having to wade through the rest of the "Days of Our
Lives"
sequences would probably have made me physically ill. Still, you wonder
how
many people believe that this is how small planes operate. I mentioned
it
to
my student, a nurse, and she said, "sounds like their aviation is about
as
accurate as their medicine." Nevertheless, it turned out she was a
devoted
"Days of Our Lives" fan. I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't forget to preflight your
frabulator, or else you might get shot down.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the
animals.