motch

I was.. now I'm just out of EWR~ Motch

That just hurts~ LOL Poor FE's (along with the rest of the crew) had to deal with the BullShit that two idiots caused. Oh, and one of those idiots is the reason I didn't get my age waiver and UPT slot. Oh well.. it was fun having Customs go through all our bags for years following.. hope those two are enjoying their time in Federal Lockup. Always Motch so.. back to the Thread- where are the pics?

Surf... After reading numerous post on here, I had to finally chime in. A little background. I retired a few months after 27+ years in. Loadmaster (C/MC-130's,) CC (HC-130) and finally FE (C-5). On top of that, I hold A&P, CFI and ATP licenses/ratings. While I truly enjoyed being an FE on Fred (and would have remained, if my unit had not switched to -17's), your vision and version on what the FE of today and the past decade are is misguided. Yes, at some point they were system experts, and also outside the "Pilot" union.. but those days are long gone. My unit had some of the BEST FE's out there.. we also had some of the worse. No different that the Pilot section, or the Load section. The fact that there was one Class A C-5 accident, and a handful of Class B's is testimony that even with FE's on board, shit can and will still happen. Can we say for sure (100%) that this incident, or the Tampa landing, or the gear up.. would not have happened if there had been an FE onboard?- Nope. As a strat airlifter- the C-17 probably doesn't need an FE. Hell, the 74's flying cargo with new -400's/8's don't have FE's either. There comes a day/time that the FE position needs to go away. Now, don't get me wrong- an FE is a great asset to have. If he's a true Flight Engineer..an aviator, a guy who loves his airframe and loves his place in life. Unfortunately, those are far and few inbetween. Mostly the old heads and a handful of young tigers (until they get sick and tired of all the AF BS) Just like many of the gunners have left, same with navs and slowly FE's, there will come a day when many pilots will disappear. Just the way it is. Hopefully that's another 50 years away! Always Motch

Shaved mine off yesterday in London. Figured Brit Security wouldn't find it funny if I did the AH stache.. not to mention my pax or my company! But it was a fun month~ Motch

Anyone think it's kinda weird that the plane flew out so "quickly"..? Nothing happens quickly in AMC. They got it offloaded, possibly defueled, did all the performance numbers AND got a new crew in there so quickly? Heard a rumor that a high ranking individual was onboard.. anyone really know who was flying, and who was in the cockpit? I agree, it sucks for the cockpit crew. They didn't start their day off with plans of landing at a wrong field and possibly ending their career. On the other hand, have to admit, pretty impressive for the airplane. Then again, as a C-5 FE (ex?!).. to bad they didn't have a sweaty sitting sideways to keep an eye on them~ Always Motch

At least somebody out there is trying to keep Strat Airlift alive... So we don't have to rely on Russian companies to haul our oversized stuff like is happening more an more lately. Always Motch