35 Years of Aviation...in the Toilet.

I don’t understand. I have no knowledge of your area of expertise, but are you saying technology has made your career obsolete? I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, I don’t mean it to be I just don’t know how else to say it. If that’s not the case please elaborate for those of us who have only flown a handful of times (in business class).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You are preaching to the choir, and don't call me Shirley.

All the billions of dollars and years even decades of R&D, they still manage to get things wrong. As a pilot you must cherish the good ol' feeling of having nothing but a stick and telemetry. nowadays pilots could be passengers, I know the risk is low but still...would you sit in a driverless car without being able to go ten and two? not a chance in hell.

If the red Barron can be remembered, I'm sure there will be a small column dedicated to you. Better yet you can get in contact with an aviation magazine and tell your story.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

In reading your posts over the years, I have learned that you are a rancher, a construction estimator, a radio broadcaster, and now an aviator?

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

Sadly, I am not an aviator (pilot) anymore. Hereditary high blood pressure and A-fib took me out. (as it should have). There where better than me, and I was okay with that.

I spent the rest of my career working to make it right in the aviation sector. I'm not mad, not at all.

Say what you will about me, but I have truly tried.

I will always be your best advocate.

DBL

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


The trouble is "instinct" it takes hours of flying to get the gut feeling. Computers will never have that, they are after an automated cockpit, which is the day I take a boat.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I understand an feel your pain.

I have worked in IT and seen the world go from components and the possibility of economic repair, to module swaps, to damn it's failed, lets get another one.

In a way, I am seen as someone who can do magic with assembler when high level languages just don't cut it, on the other hand, I am an anachronism who tries to repair things that everyone else says is irreparable.

It is the way of the world where software engineers don't know binary or op-codes but can draw together working systems from what they do know.

We are a dying breed, yes, but we have a handle on a history that created the world they inhabit. They may not acknowledge us but that is the way of history.

Just consider who in history invented compound interest? No one knows, but their influence is eternal and the lives of billions depend on their idea.

originally posted by: DictionaryOfExcuses
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

In reading your posts over the years, I have learned that you are a rancher, a construction estimator, a radio broadcaster, and now an aviator?

A (once) fairly standard "renaissance man".

Now, I doubt anyone really knows what that means.

Cheers to the founders!

a reply to: chr0naut

What is the nicest name for the opposite of that? That's what I am. I am a dilettante in plenty of areas, but my main interest falls in the "deep but narrow" category. Not knocking the OP, btw.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: KansasGirl

I started raising cattle because it was the exact opposite of the world I worked in.

I work in the highest technology world imaginable, the world I live in there is so intense it's almost unimaginable.

I dared my entire family once, I would do something different and so incomprehensibly different they would never understand. I always wanted to do it too.

I have two feet, and one is rooted in technology...the other is rooted in the most simple world imaginable.

It grounds me.

Sorry most cannot understand this.

I hope you understand.

I totally understand.

I myself am a farmer-physicist. Go figure!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

In (probably a small way) I feel your pain. I guess my point is, for someone with such a background, you don't have anything to feel bad about. Mourning loss, sure, but you've got a lot of notches in your belt bud.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

And, I just want my ashes put in a coffee can, a short memorial, and cast upon my pastures.

I'm not all that.

I've done a lot. It's what I always wanted to do, experience life. Every bit of it.

Never afraid (at least not in the moment).

Sorry for that.

Best to you.

Never be afraid.

originally posted by: DictionaryOfExcuses
a reply to: chr0naut

What is the nicest name for the opposite of that? That's what I am. I am a dilettante in plenty of areas, but my main interest falls in the "deep but narrow" category. Not knocking the OP, btw.

I don't think it matters, ultimately.

Interesting people lead fill lives that don't follow a script.

Just be true to yourself and realize that we all see further because we stand on the shoulders of giants.

... and perhaps take my ramblings with a grain of salt because I'm drunk and grieving for my son who died last Friday.

Bloody awful cancer... I'm going to do my best to try and stop it, even though I'm not an oncologist or 'officially' a geneticist. That's the way we operate, out of necessity, curiosity and damned obstinacy - and a good degree of love.

a reply to: chr0naut

Sincere condolences for your recent loss. I can only imagine. How old was your son?

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

I've tried.

a reply to: chr0naut

God Bless you, my friend!

The unknown is the scariest of all.

I wish you well, and my heart is with you.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am not that great at gauging emotion, and less so over a computer, but your unusually truncated responses tell me you're really "down in it". I hope things get better soon, FCD.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

27 and he has a four year old son.

He got married to his lovely wife only last week as he didn't have much time left.

I am totally wrecked.

No father should have to watch his child die. He was unique and a genius and I loved him.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

Surprisingly, I'm a very positive person. I love the sunrise of a new day.

I'm discouraged by the future though. I'm concerned the 'button' won't do what we think it will. I'm concerned the next generation can't figure out an easy problem without a computer (calculators be damned).

I have 6-7 years to find hope. I don't see it now, but I still hope.

Video games and youtoob stars will not save us. They won't. Those aspirations won't save us.

I went out an seeded 14 acres today, but no one cares. What matters is who is "trending" on Twitter. I was burning diesel, and they were burning Lithium Ion batteries. It's so far away from what it will take to make us survive, it's almost unimaginable.

Had a bad week this past week. Monday morning at 4:30am, had to put a favorite cow down. But the deadlines (at work) didn't change. No one cared.

I suppose no one really cares. No one really understands real life anymore.

I just wonder what will happen when the time comes, I'm gone...will anyone care, like I have. Will the next generation understand?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
If toilets are in the cards, then.........: