I'm spending a lot more time in airports these days. Now I can say I have experienced my fourth or fifth freeze drill. I'm not sure what they call it when something goes wrong in security and they make everybody freeze in place, but I'm getting rather used to it. I'm not up to the level of frequent flying that I once was, but I'm about halfway back up the scale again. In fact, I'm starting to recognize some of the security personnel at LAX.
Anyway, today I decided to talk to a pilot and ask him a question that had been on my mind. See the other day at IAH, we sat on the runway a little extra time and with a relatively empty plane, the pilot locked the brakes and revved up the engines. He cut them loose and we really started moving down the runway. This was a 757. I tend to notice that the 767s are really powerful, but I always thought pilots would prefer to fly the smaller planes, them being more maneuverable and taking off quicker. So I ask a guy with three bars which plane is the most fun to fly...
He thought I was being general and said, well that he likes those he can land on carrier decks. Well, duh. But I meant commercial planes. He said that was like asking which car do you like most driving on the freeway at 65mph, and the answer is the one with the nicest dashboard and coolest stereo. Commercial flight is so boring that to ex-military pilots it's like driving a city bus. I knew that commercial pilots are called bus drivers, but I didn't expect the first pilot to say it out loud within 30 seconds of me meeting him. He said, "You really can't do anything in them. It's all done for the safety and comfort of the passengers." He said so with the kind of earnestness of a shotgun husband.
We blabbed for a minute about this video, and he kinda agreed that the biggest, newest planes are the 'most fun'. That's word from Cobb. I thought you'd like to know.
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