Monday, February 16, 2009

More Blogging Pilots

Here are a few more airline pilot blogs for you all. (Or "y'all" as they say down here, even ATC. "Are y'all on an IFR approach?" I've heard).

The first blog I had to show you was by "Flyboy" a pilot from Brunei, just to show that being a pilot is pretty similar all over the world. It was this story about a rejected take-off that caught my attention. It's exciting, well-written and is what the pilots of the Continental B737 were trying to do in Denver in December. You have to have the attitude that any take-off can turn into this, and be prepared for it every second of the roll. But if you clicked that link you'll see that it's now by invitation only, and I didn't save the e-mail address. If any of my readers is on the invite list for this one, perhaps you could ask Flyboy if I can be on the list, or at least have a copy of that one entry to share with my readers.

The only quote I kept from Log Book is this one, what he thinks of being a pilot.

The life of an airline pilot may seem glamorous to many but it has its downside. The longhaul flights he flies are filled with fatigue, monotony and days away from his family. If married, it is best he lives with a woman who is resigned to the life of a one parent family who copes with blocked drains and recalcitrant airconditioning. But the pros outweigh the cons most of the time what with discounted tickets for family and friends, generous annual leave and a paycheck that pays the household bills, the children's school fees and more importantly the golf club membership subscription.

The second blog, My Life as an Airline Pilot is from an American pilot, flying for American Eagle. If I could get a green card I could get an airline job like that (and if I had little pink fairie wings I could fly around without an airplane, so that's enough of that). The joke at the end of this entry could be considered crude, but it made me laugh.

Next up is All Things Aviation by John White. I'd call it a retrospective curmudgeon blog, with commentary on current aviation news but John also flies a c152 taildragger, and made me laugh with this tidbit I didn't know: "Captain Sullenberger was honored by being given a lifetime membership in the Seaplane Pilots Association." He apparently didn't have a seaplane rating, but they trained him up for one, for free.

And one more of a sort I don't usually cover, but I know lots of you enjoyed my ferry flight in the Aventura, so here's Tinworm, a student pilot with an even smaller airplane, documnted in Tinworm Wings.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget about us little guys! Having obtained my PPL just on Saturday, Valentines Day (save for some heavy bureauracy) I have been blogging in great detail about what it was like to be a student learning to fly in Canada. I hope to write many entries moving forward that pertain to actual flying and less "training" although we know it's always a license to learn.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, viennatech! I'm a recent PPL graduate too, and I flew my first PIC x/c on an appropriately scary date: Hallowe’en.

Aviatrix said...

Don't forget about us little guys!

By all means! If you read this blog and you blog about aviation, link your blog in the comments on this entry. Maybe tell us what it's about, and about how often you post.

Anonymous said...

Howdy, thanks for the kind words about my blog. I'll add you to my blogroll. Oh an Texas IS the best state in the country. I am born and raised. My wife was born in Oregon...but she got to Texas just as quickly as she could.

Anonymous said...

Despite what it sounds like, "y'all" is singular. If you're truly Texan and talking to a bunch of people, you say "All y'all".

I'm serious.

Scott Johnson said...

Pah. Using "y'all" as singular marks you as a yankee every time. You can even ask H.L. Mencken, although he probably never ate a plate of grits in his life.

Anonymous said...

All y'all? That's just too funny. And it's very close to some of the issues Bavarians have with the German language.

Anonymous said...

Scott:

So we're supposed to accept the word of Baltimore native H.L.Mencken over a Houston boy? Not hardly.

Anonymous said...

I'm a US-based private pilot, software & computer engineer, with an economics background who's interested in hiking and photography. I'm also working on my IFR rating too, which is why I'm commenting here. I've been blogging it (along with my other usual topics) at http://onesandzeros.tangozulu.biz

You might get a kick out of seeing my 270 hour view of GA and flying in the busy Washington DC metro area.

I'm training in my own plane, that is the plane I share with four other people. It's a 1973 Cessna and has a GPS, but an older one. No glass cockpit, but it has wings and can fly!