Originally Posted by
CLT Guy
I have had a guy get on and ask to see the airworthiness certification for the aircraft, and then started asking questions about my history as a pilot. He said that he is a private pilot, and that he has more hours than me (even though I never told him anything about my hours/qualifications), and that he would be in seat 17C if I had any questions for him during the flight.
I am very happy that he came up. I felt more assured that this a**hat in 17C has 5000 hours in a Bonanza, and would be happy to answer questions about flying in a single engine, piston, unpressurized airplane in class G airspace in a single pilot operation. That kind of knowledge could come in very handy.
You gotta be kidding. That's amazing.
That said, I did once ride in the front pax row of a Shorts 360 in Honduras. Can't remember the airline name. Weather was absolutely godawful with +TSRA's everywhere. Since the flight deck door was open, I was sitting maybe 5 feet behind the FO and was able to watch the entire flight. I've never been so scared in my life. We took off with no wx radar and did a hair-raising scud-run at no more than 1,000' AGL all the way to the coast, curving through valleys with weather and terrain all around us. Obviously these guys had done this route before but it was a low-level scud run, pure and simple. In no way, shape, or form would it have been remotely legal in the US. I was speechless when I got off the airplane. Then again it was rural Honduras, so who knew what 'airline' that airplane was even operated by...