I sure hope I get to fly with Tuck soon. Think of all the stuff I could learn from him after 12 years in the airplane! I always thought I understood PROF but maybe Tuck can explain it to me better?

Mark

I've rarely flown with Captains that are all that impressive in the jet - most have decent landings, don't understand PROF that well

PROF is for pu$$ies!

On my second flight out of IOE (in the MD-11) we were going from Memphis to Oakland, landing RW29. My leg, and I landed at the far end of the touchdown zone. The tower asked if we could make the first high speed and my F/O immediately, without asking, said "Yes". Needless to say we not only didn't make the first highspeed, we also didn't make the second one, and rolled to the end. On taxi-back, I asked him what the speed requirement was for a high speed turnoff. He responded 40 Knots. I asked where he had gotten that bit of little known information, and he said "that's what everyone uses." Again I asked him where he had gotten the 40 knots from and he responded the Limitations Section. Of course he was wrong. I then asked him how long he'd been on the MD-11. "9 years" he responded. Right then and there I decided that if I ever wanted to know a limitation or limit on a jet, I'd never ask someone who had been on the jet a long time. Someones book knowledge, in my opinion, is inversely proportional to the amount of time that person is on a specific jet. If I want to know a "book answer", I ask someone whose recently out of training.

As for captains that are "impressive in the jet", when I was an F/O, I always graded myself on my takeoffs and landings, but once I upgraded to the left seat, I paid less attention to that aspect of the job (ie, takeoffs and landings), and concentrated (and graded myself) on the many other aspects of moving the jet from point A to point B. I think that takeoffs and landings are important, but for a captain, there's many more important issues that go hand in hand with conducting good flight operations.

I don't suppose any of the pro 65 people wrote the Pentagon or their Congress "Person" and demanded to be a fighter pilot until they turned 65?

No, I didn't think so, shooting your watch can't compare to flying rubber dog poop out of Hong Kong.

You see no difference between flying commercial aircraft in a 1 G environment and flying fighter aircraft in a high G environment? That's not to say it can't be done, but why would anyone want to punish themselves that much.

After 17 years in the Eagle my back hurts ALL the time. My neck has that gravel sound when I roll over at night. I will miss it when that time occurs, but my body will thank me.

JJ,
I agree with everything you say. I have seen folks who have atrophied in their seat, as well as others who have flourished. It's always been particularly fun for me to fly with a new Capt right out of IOE as it always caused the "give a sh-t meter" to move noticably as well as the inevitable re-examination of info you thought was a given.
However, there is a continuation. I recently flew with a Capt who had 9 years in the right seat, and 1.5 in the left. Now we only did two legs and it could have been just a bad couple of days, however I stayed on my toes as the Capt made some real JV type errors / lack of systems knowledge buffoonery.
The bottom line is a true professional will work to stay "on their game" regardless of which seat they sit in.
Biff

A good wingman knows his place: Twoop, Mayday, Lead your on fire, Bingo, I've got mine, you've got the fat one!

"You see no difference between flying commercial aircraft in a 1 G environment and flying fighter aircraft in a high G environment?"

After age 60, I see no difference, well actually I do see one, the pay check. Bottom line, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

You fly with me?

III,

Just to add to your post, TWA's 727s were model -31 and -231 (Stubbies and Stretches). With our legend, Gordon Granger everything on TWA's 727 (switches) were all backwards from all the rest of the 727s in the world.

Check Essential- The Capt. would say if I see the red light you owe me a beer.


FF