that old addage
pilots like to hang out with pilots. its pretty simple. guys that make their careers flying for airlines, guess where they hang out on their days off? airports. its a disease.
we have a gentleman that swings by whenever he is back in town. he is older, soon to retire, and has been around aviation since the 60's. he has some good stories...
we get talking today, and for whatever reason i mention that the other night, "a friday night, im 25 years old, i should be out hookin up with some floosey in a bar. but no. instead i got a book, came back to the airport, and sat out in the golfcart on the ramp until it got dark." he laughs and says, "oh youre hooked." which then led me to tell him that yes i am hooked, ive always been hooked, ever since my dad took me to the airshow in 1991 and i saw bob hoover. it was at this point that he laughs again, and says "oh, bob." only he didnt say it like a fan would, he said it like a friend would. so i asked "do you know bob hoover?" (bob hoover is pretty much the god of flying. yeah the wright brothers invented the airplane, but bob hoover perfected how you use it. largely, almost unanimously revered as the best living pilot, his name is legend).
"of course i know bob, ive known him since the 70's"
um...okay. it would be the same as meeting someone that was friends with hendrix or stevie ray vaughan. we get talking about other things and about when another pilot, Art Scholl crashed while filming Top Gun. He says "well i didnt know who it was so i called Hoover to see if he knew." oh yeah, i just called jesus up to see how the hebrews were hanging. its just not something you hear everyday.
i love my job.
he also left me with some great quotes from todays conversation:
"amelia earhart? what a shitty pilot."
"death is a small price to pay for looking that hott"
"if you pull up, youll go up. if you keep pulling up, youll go down."
he also paid me a huge compliment by saying that i am extraordinarily passionate about this stuff for my age. coming from someone that has gone and done things that i can still only dream about, thats pretty nice to hear. i said it earlier, but ill say it again, i love my job.
we have a gentleman that swings by whenever he is back in town. he is older, soon to retire, and has been around aviation since the 60's. he has some good stories...
we get talking today, and for whatever reason i mention that the other night, "a friday night, im 25 years old, i should be out hookin up with some floosey in a bar. but no. instead i got a book, came back to the airport, and sat out in the golfcart on the ramp until it got dark." he laughs and says, "oh youre hooked." which then led me to tell him that yes i am hooked, ive always been hooked, ever since my dad took me to the airshow in 1991 and i saw bob hoover. it was at this point that he laughs again, and says "oh, bob." only he didnt say it like a fan would, he said it like a friend would. so i asked "do you know bob hoover?" (bob hoover is pretty much the god of flying. yeah the wright brothers invented the airplane, but bob hoover perfected how you use it. largely, almost unanimously revered as the best living pilot, his name is legend).
"of course i know bob, ive known him since the 70's"
um...okay. it would be the same as meeting someone that was friends with hendrix or stevie ray vaughan. we get talking about other things and about when another pilot, Art Scholl crashed while filming Top Gun. He says "well i didnt know who it was so i called Hoover to see if he knew." oh yeah, i just called jesus up to see how the hebrews were hanging. its just not something you hear everyday.
i love my job.
he also left me with some great quotes from todays conversation:
"amelia earhart? what a shitty pilot."
"death is a small price to pay for looking that hott"
"if you pull up, youll go up. if you keep pulling up, youll go down."
he also paid me a huge compliment by saying that i am extraordinarily passionate about this stuff for my age. coming from someone that has gone and done things that i can still only dream about, thats pretty nice to hear. i said it earlier, but ill say it again, i love my job.
posted by Chris Porter at 1:51 PM
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