Originally Posted by
shoelu
Why would you use a term that a good portion of those on frequency have absolutely no idea what you are talking about? I don't remember seeing it in the pilot/controller glossary. I heard that term the other day and we both just looked at each other and said: "Did that guy just say he was Popeye?" It invariably turned into a discussion about whether not Olive Oyl was hot, and what she ever saw in Bluto, because we both agreed he was a real tool. So, we did in fact get a good laugh out of it. Although my time is all purely civilian, the Captain did have a military background and yet we were both clueless as to what the term meant. At least now I know.
I'll have to look it up, maybe it's an antique term no longer in the book. But, I agree with Wasatch, when you're trying to cut down the radio chatter from the traffic alert, a one word response that you ain't going to see the guy the controller is calling out to you is good. IMHO
But, if the controllers don't know what it means anymore, I'll stop using it.
Ferd <------I guess a tool