Another Aviation Story

"pacplyer" wrote in message WWW (Wild Weasle-Wanabe) Fictional Story
#69:

I just came back from a trip. I was flying with another fellow who's
background is similar to mine. We both grew up in South Florida and learned
to fly during the 'Miami Vice' years. He recounted a tale from his days of
working line. He was pumping gas one day when a grundgy Twin Beech came in
from the islands and was swarmed by DEA agents soon after landing. This was
a fairly regular thing in those days. The difference about this tale is that
the pilot didn't get busted.

The agents eventually left the Twin Beech and came to my friend's ramp to
fuel their own plane. He asked the agents about the details. It seems that
the pilot worked for an insurance company and stole the plane back from some
dopers who stole it first. The agents had been staking out the island and
the plane for some time. They saw the plane start the take-off roll and then
they saw the dopers start firing their guns at the plane. They figured about
300 rounds were fired. The agents cornered the Beech after it landed to find
out what was going on. They wanted to know what the heck had just happened.
They wanted to know how the pilot got past their surveillance. They wanted
to know how the pilot got past the dopers.

As I listened to my fellow pilot's tale, I started to remember those days
from a long time ago. I keep those memories to myself though. Most folks
hear those stories and associate the pilot with being a reckless cowboy. I
have to maintain a reputation as a professional pilot, so I just keep quiet.
Maybe some day after I reach the official old pilot age of 60, when I don't
need my professional reputation any more, I'll write a book.

D.

"Capt.Doug" wrote:

"pacplyer" wrote in message WWW (Wild Weasle-Wanabe) Fictional Story
#69:

I just came back from a trip. I was flying with another fellow who's
background is similar to mine. We both grew up in South Florida and learned
to fly during the 'Miami Vice' years. He recounted a tale from his days of
working line. He was pumping gas one day when a grundgy Twin Beech came in
from the islands and was swarmed by DEA agents soon after landing. This was
a fairly regular thing in those days. The difference about this tale is that
the pilot didn't get busted.

The agents eventually left the Twin Beech and came to my friend's ramp to
fuel their own plane. He asked the agents about the details. It seems that
the pilot worked for an insurance company and stole the plane back from some
dopers who stole it first. The agents had been staking out the island and
the plane for some time. They saw the plane start the take-off roll and then
they saw the dopers start firing their guns at the plane. They figured about
300 rounds were fired. The agents cornered the Beech after it landed to find
out what was going on. They wanted to know what the heck had just happened.
They wanted to know how the pilot got past their surveillance. They wanted
to know how the pilot got past the dopers.

As I listened to my fellow pilot's tale, I started to remember those days
from a long time ago. I keep those memories to myself though. Most folks
hear those stories and associate the pilot with being a reckless cowboy. I
have to maintain a reputation as a professional pilot, so I just keep quiet.
Maybe some day after I reach the official old pilot age of 60, when I don't
need my professional reputation any more, I'll write a book.

D.

If you have more stories like that, please do!

I've heard repo guys think they're pretty tough.
But this guy...

Richard

"Capt.Doug" wrote in message ...
"pacplyer" wrote in message WWW (Wild Weasle-Wanabe) Fictional Story
#69:

I just came back from a trip. I was flying with another fellow who's
background is similar to mine. We both grew up in South Florida and learned
to fly during the 'Miami Vice' years. He recounted a tale from his days of
working line. He was pumping gas one day when a grundgy Twin Beech came in
from the islands and was swarmed by DEA agents soon after landing. This was
a fairly regular thing in those days. The difference about this tale is that
the pilot didn't get busted.


"Good, give yourself to the dark cargo side Doug, Hisss hisssss! If
you only knew the power of the dark side of aviation writing!"


The agents eventually left the Twin Beech and came to my friend's ramp to
fuel their own plane. He asked the agents about the details. It seems that
the pilot worked for an insurance company and stole the plane back from some
dopers who stole it first. The agents had been staking out the island and
the plane for some time. They saw the plane start the take-off roll and then
they saw the dopers start firing their guns at the plane. They figured about
300 rounds were fired. The agents cornered the Beech after it landed to find
out what was going on. They wanted to know what the heck had just happened.
They wanted to know how the pilot got past their surveillance. They wanted
to know how the pilot got past the dopers.

As I listened to my fellow pilot's tale, I started to remember those days
from a long time ago. I keep those memories to myself though. Most folks
hear those stories and associate the pilot with being a reckless cowboy. I
have to maintain a reputation as a professional pilot, so I just keep quiet.
Maybe some day after I reach the official old pilot age of 60, when I don't
need my professional reputation any more, I'll write a book.

D.

"But it is too late for me, my son. I've been branded a Union Cowboy
for about eleven years now. Hisss Hisss {8^# Obi-Wan never told you
what happened to young Doug Skywalker. Hisss Hissss, He got a real
airline job and avoided the dark side.... But it's not too late...
The hot-dog force is strong in you... You can destroy the FAA
Administrator, he has foreseen this... this is why he won't let you
tell tall flying stories on Usenet (under your own name, anyway!)

Join me, and together we'll write the story of RAH, and rule the
internet as Aviation Brothers!



Sorry, I lost myself in the part there for a minute...

I was called "the duke" by co-pilots when our South Pacific base first
opened up; a reference to my raging around the system wearing an
indiana jones-type hat. I way exceeded my authority out there on a
regular basis, including refusal to use autopilots into the P.I. until
the map shift issue was resolved and stuffing mailboxes with
organizing letters. I was given extra "cowboy" line checks, but
passed them all, so I know what you're talking about.

Yes I heard that Florida stuff was exciting. Love to hear some
"ficticious" stories about that area from you Doug. Tom Clancy always
gets away with it by just using the blanket statement "its just
fiction." He's carefull to change the names completely and twist the
details around so that any pursuit will come up empty-handed. What
the hell. You only live once.

pac "rawhide" plyer

I have a little fictitious story about drug running planes.

In Baja, Mexico, the Federales would take the props off of planes they
suspected were used for smuggling (if they didn't get their cut).
Anyone driving down Baja 1 could see all kinds of planes, with their
props off, at deserted airstrips all the way down the peninsula.

Someone got the idea to copy down the N numbers and find out who owned
the planes. It turned out that most of the planes were owned by
corporations and that most of the corporations didn't even exist. It
was a fairly simple matter to create a corporation with the exact same
name as the fictitious corporation that owned the airplane and become
the legal owner.

After a couple of trips down to Baja for much closer looks at the
planes, 8 planes were selected. They then got a few of their more
adventurous flying buddies to go on a fishing trip with them. It took
about a week to get four of the planes (a 206 and three twins) in good
enough shape to make the trip back North.

The scariest part of the trip was watching Customs inspect the planes,
praying that they wouldn't find anything. The paper work held up. The
planes were sold and the buddies walked away a little richer. They
thought about keeping the planes but they wanted to sleep at night.

Of course this is just a story

You just gotta love these "Kelly's Hero's" type "stories!" "Legrande"
;-)
I've always wondered what happens if you buy an auctioned seized
vehicle, boat or plane, and the drug sniffing dog points out your
machine months later?


Legrande Harris wrote in message .. .
I have a little fictitious story about drug running planes.

In Baja, Mexico, the Federales would take the props off of planes they
suspected were used for smuggling (if they didn't get their cut).
Anyone driving down Baja 1 could see all kinds of planes, with their
props off, at deserted airstrips all the way down the peninsula.

Someone got the idea to copy down the N numbers and find out who owned
the planes. It turned out that most of the planes were owned by
corporations and that most of the corporations didn't even exist. It
was a fairly simple matter to create a corporation with the exact same
name as the fictitious corporation that owned the airplane and become
the legal owner.

After a couple of trips down to Baja for much closer looks at the
planes, 8 planes were selected. They then got a few of their more
adventurous flying buddies to go on a fishing trip with them. It took
about a week to get four of the planes (a 206 and three twins) in good
enough shape to make the trip back North.

The scariest part of the trip was watching Customs inspect the planes,
praying that they wouldn't find anything. The paper work held up. The
planes were sold and the buddies walked away a little richer. They
thought about keeping the planes but they wanted to sleep at night.

Of course this is just a story

On 25 Feb 2004 11:54:48 -0800,
(pacplyer) wrote:

You just gotta love these "Kelly's Hero's" type "stories!" "Legrande"
;-)
I've always wondered what happens if you buy an auctioned seized
vehicle, boat or plane, and the drug sniffing dog points out your
machine months later?


There was a story I read somewhere about a situation just
like that. The guy had bought a "seized" car and it was
found months later to have some cocaine still hidden inside
it. I think I'd keep some pretty records of where/how I got
the car.

John

That has happened a couple of times here in San Diego. Unsuspecting
folks bought confiscated cars and drove them back into Mexico. At some
point they were searched and found to have large caches of marijuana
hidden. The pot was old and moldy and these guys spent about a year in a
Mexican jail pleading their innocence.
Finally let out and are now suing the Border Patrol.

"pacplyer" wrote in message "Good, give yourself to the dark cargo side
Doug, Hisss hisssss! If
you only knew the power of the dark side of aviation writing!"

I'm only 2 years out of cargo. I miss it. Fortunately, many of my buds hit
the street with me and we ended up at the same place. We haul passengers by
day now, but we terrorize hotel bars at night. If only we had some new-hire
flight engineers to haze......

D.

If only we had some new-hire
flight engineers to haze......


Never had that chance at SAT. All the FE's were old salts that would harrass
the rest of us.

My second flight as a newbie Capt was a real thrill. The FE and I had flown
together alot when I was an FO and we got along great. His sense of humor was a
little on the bland and dry side. We were sitting in the Herc at CHS waiting
for some paperwork and he made a remark about congatulations on making Capt and
since I was a newbie he wanted to make sure that we had an understanding about
a few things. His remark was," There are three things on a Herc that can kill
me. Props, bleed air, and pilots. I can take care of two of those items if you
take care of the third."

I could grasp the meaning of his statement as I knew that he had over 15,000
hours of panel time on the Herc with 5 different airlines.

He was also involved in one of my biggest embaressing moments as a FO. On a
layover at NPA I was taking the time from my "Red Book" and transfering it to
my master log book. After adding up the totals, low and behold I had past
10,000 hours total time with 550 in the Herc. Bonzo, the Capt and Bud the afore
mentioned FE were the rest of the crew. I proudly announced the monumental
numbers and was just feeling like I had set some kind of record. Capt. Bonzo
layed down the paper he was reading, removed the pipe from mouth and announced,
"I have over 12,000 hours of Herc time." Bud chimed in with the " I have over
15,000 hours of panel time on the Herc." So I just closed the books, put them
back in the flight case and went out for a walk.

Lesson learned was that in Aviation no matter what you have done or how much
you have done, someone else can probably top it.

Walt

(B25flyer) wrote snip

Never had that chance at SAT. All the FE's were old salts that would harrass
the rest of us. snip

Know what you mean. At SBW/FTL we had a bunch of PFE's, and most of
those guys could build the airplane with a pocket knife. One old salt
says to us "Let me explain something to you flyboys: I don't do
throttles!" So I had to be the auto throttle all trip - what a pain.
The capt got up to go to the reading room after stowing his bag, and
this character shouts this complaint at me: "MY FIRST NAME IS COFFIE,
AND MY SECOND NAME IS LOGBOOK!" Then he pulls the curtain across and
disappears into his own little country back there.

But later on the 10 had a bunch of re-treads (former career cpt's) who
were so slow and clueless, when you called for a checklist, it would
be faster to watch paint dry on the wall. They could tell you all
about how to do your job, but were semi-helpless and out of touch on
the panel. But just as many of them were good at their jobs, old
friends and real gentlemen to work with.

But I have to agree with Doug. Three crew is a lot more fun.


My second flight as a newbie Capt was a real thrill. The FE and I had flown
together alot when I was an FO and we got along great. His sense of humor was a
little on the bland and dry side. We were sitting in the Herc at CHS waiting
for some paperwork and he made a remark about congatulations on making Capt and
since I was a newbie he wanted to make sure that we had an understanding about
a few things. His remark was," There are three things on a Herc that can kill
me. Props, bleed air, and pilots. I can take care of two of those items if you
take care of the third."

I could grasp the meaning of his statement as I knew that he had over 15,000
hours of panel time on the Herc with 5 different airlines.

He was also involved in one of my biggest embaressing moments as a FO. On a
layover at NPA I was taking the time from my "Red Book" and transfering it to
my master log book. After adding up the totals, low and behold I had past
10,000 hours total time with 550 in the Herc. Bonzo, the Capt and Bud the afore
mentioned FE were the rest of the crew. I proudly announced the monumental
numbers and was just feeling like I had set some kind of record. Capt. Bonzo
layed down the paper he was reading, removed the pipe from mouth and announced,
"I have over 12,000 hours of Herc time." Bud chimed in with the " I have over
15,000 hours of panel time on the Herc." So I just closed the books, put them
back in the flight case and went out for a walk.

Lesson learned was that in Aviation no matter what you have done or how much
you have done, someone else can probably top it.

Walt

Good post Walt. Where was NPA?

pac