> a lot of old certified aircraft sitting on ramps and in hangers all over the country that only have 1500 Total Time
Lots of old geezers too, maybe. Reminds me of 'Lou' bless his heart. Lou was a retired guy, was in Naval aircraft of some sort. Flew a lot. Was a navigator and pilot and I don't know what all. I worked with him at a major airport, I was a lineboy, one of many. He was a bookkeeper at the FBO. An Aero Commander came in and taxied up for fuel. He wanted everything 'just so'. He demanded several gratis perks. The pilot used our facilities, looked around at us in the lobby as though we were furniture, then stalked out. He jumped in his beautiful aircraft and left. A few minutes later we heard an angry garbled transmission on the unicom. Couldn't make it out for sure, so we didn't answer. He came back, landed, taxied up to the pumps, those 540's really roaring. He jumped out, he was furious. His lovely plane had ugly oil all over it. He threw the door open and crashed in. Yelling and gesturing he terrorized the poor guy on duty. SOMEBODY (may he be shot!) left the oil cap loose and he lost 5 GALLONS OF OIL DAMNITALL! Somebody was going to replace that oil FREE OF CHARGE and have the DAMN PLANE WASHED! DAMN INCOMPETENTS! The poor lineboy, white-faced and stuttering managed a wave in the general direction of Lou's office. Lou never raises his voice. He is always courteous. Lou is cool in emergencies. Lou is IN CONTROL. The red-faced screaming pilot stamps in there to confront Lou (may his soul go directly to HELL!) and repeated his story as though Lou (and the folks two hangers down) hadn't managed to hear him. Lou quietly says something to him. Face swollen with blood, eyes bulging, the pilot screams, "I HAVE 850 HOURS AS PILOT IN COMMAND! DON'T TELL ME....". Lou, still in quiet voice, but this time his voice had Kevlar and steel reinforcement in it, says, "I have 30,000 hours as Pilot In Command, and I would NEVER depend on a lineboy to preflight my aircraft. It was YOUR responsibility to check that cap. Now please leave." He never came as far as I know. GeoB
