hanging with Gabby, Crunch and Blackie...

[Tim Armstrong]

Last night I got the chance to visit with our Austin-based friends. Blackie C picked me up at my hotel and we headed off into the great Texas night, arriving at Casa Crunchy in time to meet the little Crunchettes and GrandGabby.

Then it was off to The Roadhouse, an aptly-named place down by the railroad tracks, full of folks singing karaoke to 80s metal.

:icon_eek:

The beer was cold and the company warm, however, and much fun was had by all (no, we didn't sing).

We then returned to the casa to relax in the poolside studio, listening to amazing stuff and talking about folks we know, virtually know, or don't really know at all. It was Much Fun!

Blackie C then showed great situational awareness on the drive back home, getting me back in one piece with no local law enforcement involvement.

All in all, an excellent evening!

Cheers, Tim

[J.G.]

Right on, Y'all, glad it was a cool link-up.

Would be fun to do the same, juan fine day...

: J

[blackieC]

My head hurts.


It's not a hangover.


It's the memory of that woman singing Pat Benatar last night.


Ouch.






Glad you had a good time Tim.
:D

[MacGregor]

... full of folks singing karaoke to 80s metal.


...It's the memory of that woman singing Pat Benatar last night.


It's a bit new to me that Pat Benater is 80s metal, but if you say so...

[Senap]

I would love to fly over and do an east to west trip and meet y'all...

Thing is, I got scared of flying all of a sudden. Never been a problem before, (been flying from Europe to the US and back at least 10 times) but now I get these silly thoughts in my head everytime I enter a commercial airline.



"this is just a tin-can"

"humans are not suppose to fly"

"what was that sound!"

"the pilot is drunk... for sure"

"what if both pilots had a bad shrimp-salad before lift off?"

"what's that fluid dripping off the wings?"

"I'm dead.... I'm so dead"

"The mechanic who checked this flying tin-can before lift off was out til 5 AM yesterday and barfed on some really important part that makes the engine run"

"We're going to hit a goose... I just know it"


Just the thought of sitting on a 12 hour flight to the US makes me shiver. :Sad:

Whats wrong?

Spock? Calm me down with some specs and common sense please.

Oh... and sorry for the rant. :Confused:

[Spock]

Sure thing......

Airplanes are very very safe. If you compare either time or miles traveled you are much more likely to get hurt in car. And they continue to get safer. Systems have backups, and backups to those.

The amount of inspections. Just a simple plane like mine, requires a a yearly full inspection. It can't fly again until, not just any certified mechanic signs off, but one that is certfied to sign off on inspections. Right now our plane is being rented, so now it also requires a 100 hour inspection. Now when you get to large transport planes the rules are even harder. Just think if you couldn't drive your car because you mechanic though teh compress is too low.

The checks that pilots get harder as you go from private, commerical, and then ATP. ATPs need a physical every 6 months to get a 1st class medical. If they are over 40, then they need a EKG at each physical. The pilots need a check ride every, mainly in a sim., where they present them with all kinds of abnormal things, like an engine failure at takeoff.

Do things go wrong. Yes of course they do, nothing is perfect. However the whole system has been setup to improve things. If we go back to cars again. You would think that if a lot of cars are getting hit at some intersection, the insurance companies would study the stats, find out where they are, and why, and have changes made to the lights or signs. In flight we have the NASA form. If something happens, you break a regulation like clipping the edge of some airspace by acident, almost did something bad, you can file the form and explain what happened and why, and what should be done to fix the problem. NASA takes all of these, looks for problem,s then tells the FAA where they have problems that need to be fixed. The reason this self reporting works, is becuase it's a a get out jail free card. If I clip some airpsace because of a poor chart or misunderstanding of a clearance, then sending in the form means they can't bust me for it.

Most people that are worried about flying are really unhappy about not being in control.

[blackieC]

Thanks for the reassurance there Spock.



I haven't flown in a while but it never really bothered me, which is kind of funny as I am terribly scared of heights.


So come on over Senap, just don't expect me to guide you through the upper floors of the Texas State history museum. There is an open staircase over the foyer that sent me into a panic attack last spring.

Planes safe.


Stairs scary.

[Senap]

Spock.

I'm gonna print this and have it with me next time I fly.

Thanks.

:Thumbsup:

[Mixerman]

I've hung with Gabby and Crunch, and the Crunchettes. Had a great time with them all.

Gabby is a killer chef. Crunch knows how to eat. it's a match made in heaven.

Margarita O'Clock is a good time to be around.

Enjoy,

Mixerman

[gabby garcia]

hola and thanks for dropping in mr tarmadilo - me casa es su casa any ole time! hope your trip home was safe and uneventful - :Wink:

gg

[bbchessman]

Thanks for the reassurance there Spock.



I haven't flown in a while but it never really bothered me, which is kind of funny as I am terribly scared of heights.


So come on over Senap, just don't expect me to guide you through the upper floors of the Texas State history museum. There is an open staircase over the foyer that sent me into a panic attack last spring.

Planes safe.


Stairs scary.

I had that same experience walking up the side of an aircraft carrier. They call those stairs? It was more like a ladder in the middle of nowhere.

Planes. I hate planes. I used to think Los Angeles to Las Vegas was ok but anything longer than that is a claustaphobic attack.

I haven't been in a plane since I got stuck on the tarmac for four hours. That was it for me.

Trip to Nashville last year and I got the singer from one of the bands we have to do the driving. Five hours is too long to be in a box flying through the air or sitting on a runway. No fresh air, no smoking and I don't listen to music with headphones on.

Much nicer to travel on the bus with the band. HDTV, beds, PlayStation, sofas, nice sound system, closet full of DVD's and a smoking section.

[blackieC]

About ten years ago or so I was flying out of Tucson with my older brother after laying our father to rest and I have to admit that I took a perverse pleasure in watching my brother (who was four hours away from getting his pilot's license) white knuckle himself through the turbulence laden ascent over the mountains as we made our way toward our connecting flights in Houston.


On the other side of the coin, I was leading the same brother through the museum when I felt my legs buckling on the stairs and had to use every bit of will within me to make it to he third floor where I found a bench against the wall that provided no view of the drop below me to gain my composure.

"No man, I've seen it."


"Go on, I'll meet you back here."





If my mother, my sister and my brother hadn't have joined me for the elevator ride down to the ground floor, there is a good chance that I would still be stuck on the third floor of the Bob Bullock museum.





Phobias suck to high heaven, but unless you have been there...




judge not lest ye be judged....




I read that in a book somewhere.





Seems like good advice.

[crunch]

Finally!

10 minutes of freedom!

The best thing about meeting people within our discussion forum is that one often gets to meet several of the people in person as well. It took several tries for us to finally hook up, as I was in my usual "mind-bending, laws-of-physics-breaking juggling/balancing act" I like to call "life", and on Tuesday blackieC went to go pick up our pal Tarmadillo, and let me tell ya; even nicer and funnier than expected. A very, very smart and friendly gentleman by all accounts, and welcome in our home anytime. Anytime.

Our night began with a cold drink in the studio, then we blasted off to our lovely local biker bar known as The Roadhouse. Sounds rough, but it's definitely not, many of the "bikers" I know have gone from strong-arming and meth dealing (kidding!!!!) to karaoke and concern over their families and mortgages. It's an extremely comfortable dive, with comfy seats, nice glassware, cold beer and bartenders who know how to please a thirsty patron, and we proceeded to annihilate many pitchers and a few shots as well... Then back to the casa for a nightcap and listen to a few tunes before saying our farewells. Great conversation and company!!!! Tim, you're welcome here anytime, and thanks for coming out and hanging with us!

Which brings me to:

We should really consider having a "Womb Get-Together". I don't know how, I don't know where, here is fine, but as I meet more and more people from around our forum, I get more and more impressed with the quality of the human race. So we should have a yearly party. A big one. With beer and BBQ. And a reggae band. Followed up with a killer jazz combo. And more beer. And scotch. And comfy seats. And a smoking section.

I said beer right?

Discuss.

[majorkong]

BBKong has been known to have a little gathering at his place the last couple of years complete with web cam for those of us who couldn't make the trip to La La Land.

I was once a crew chief on a AT-6 military trainer from WWII that was used for airshows. I got a lot of back seat time doing loops and rolls and combinations thereof. Never had a problem with it. Unfortunately I am quite afraid of heights...just not in an airplane.

[J.G.]

We should really consider having a "Womb Get-Together".

Now THERE'S an idearrrrrrrrrr!

; J

[Spock]

You know I'm not a big fan of heights, but being in a plane is not the same thing to me.

What I'm very surprised at is the small amount of shaking and chop that make other people freak out. If you had the same amount of being bounced around in a car, you wouldn't care one bit. Just so you know what a plane can take with no problem, a friend and I were flying a Cessna 172RG IFR from ATL to ISZ in the summer and got into some building clouds over the mountians in TN. So we couldn't get much lower for a bit. Asking for higher was not an option, the tops were higher than the plane could go and we also didn't have O2 with us. We were getting kicked around so much that just reaching up to turn a knob on the radio was a hard task. Then without warning....

BAM

With both lap belts and shoulder belts on we both get our heads smashed into the roof, and the plane is in a 45 degree bank to the right. This was within the limits of a small plane, the big guys need to able to take even more, a lot more.

About 3 minutes later we were past the point on the airway were we could get lower, and asked for right away to stay out of the head smashing chop.

The only think I don't like in a plane is picking up ice on the wings, and also when someone else is flying and can't use the rudders worth a damn, it makes me sick.