Monday, February 14, 2011

Smuggling

So I'm doing the walkaround on a Boeing 737, but because I'm asleep and this is occurring during a dream, it's a little weird. It's cold outside, but not snowing and the ramp is not slippery. I walk from the front airstairs, clockwise around by the left main gear, by the left engine pod, around the left wingtip (red light) and look at the ailerons and flaps from the rear. I look at the skin along the rear of the fuselage and then somehow I'm inside the airplane, looking at a bulkhead between the rearmost row of seats and a rear galley or perhaps storage area. I'm concentrating on the bulkhead. Instead of being fabric-upholstered like a lot of these things are these days, it has uv-weakened yellowing plastic panelling, like a Cessna 172 in a rental fleet. It's cracked and mended with tape and cotton batting and bulging. I think there also may have been eels swimming in it briefly, but that wasn't anything the dream wanted me to focus on.

I'm a new FO and I have one of those captains who doesn't want to be bothered educating a new hire. He just wants an FO who will do all the mundane tasks for him and will shut up and stay out of the way. For him I am sure that "go do the walkaround" means "go get out of my hair for a few minutes" not "please return with a list of observations about the serviceability of this aircraft, most of which are probably a trivial waste of my time but any one of which could cost me my life or career if I fail to perceive its urgency from your necessarily timid report." Nevertheless we summon maintenance and they determine that the bulkhead is filled with bubble-wrapped machine guns and little plastic horses.

Anyone know if that's covered by the MEL?

They say a dream only lasts a second or so, that it's just a few random neuron firings, and that your subconscious mind fills in all the details that were missing, just the way you can see a few streaks of shadow and light and perceive a face, so that as you awaken you have a "memory" of the events of the dream, even though they didn't happen. This is complicated by the fact that I lay in bed and tried to work with my conscious mind the bits that my subconscious hadn't been too clever about, so all I can tell you is that none of this happened to me in real life.

Easing back into aviation, starting with my dreams. And life is, all things considered, good.

Perspective.

7 comments:

nec Timide said...

Smuggling cavalry in a 737 bulkhead. Marvelous!

Devil In The Drain said...

I don't see a problem, the machine guns were bubble wrapped for safety, good to go.

Cirrocumulus said...

No, you misunderstood. That was little plastic machine guns
as confiscated by security
and bubblegum horses.

Anonymous said...

Hey 'Trix. I noticed today that Sulako's blog has disappeared from the interweb. As you have commented on each other's blogs in the past i was wondering if you knew anything as to why?

Regards from a very wet SE United Kingdom.

Sulako said...

I also noticed that my blog has been removed. I certainly didn't do it - I'm contacting support at Blogger to try to figure out what's going on.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sully. Glad to hear you have not removed your blog as i have been reading since it's inception. Hope you get things sorted soon. I have noticed alot of issues with Blogger of late, so hopefully they are "getting their arses in gear" to use a British phrase! Regards Luke SE UK

Sulako said...

There, it got healed. I made an impassioned plea to the gods @ Blogger and they restored it. No idea why it got zapped in the first place, but the first thing I did after logging back in (just now) was to make a backup of the blog. I was an unhappy camper for an hour or two, but hopefully all's well that ends.