Today's funny

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And all of those parts were produced by bids....many of them were the lowest bid.

Something told me I shouldn't have gotten up this morning. *lol*

...Guess it's a good thing my travelin' days are done.

I made the mistake of watch a show on the tube about why airplanes crash the night before an international flight. Not a good thing to do. My take away was you should be just as worried about the pilots as the airplane.

OTJ

Once again, I repeat, would you want to be sent into outer space on a rocket ship that was built by the lowest bidder?

To me, the mechanics are scarier than the pilots!

The pilots are up there, their butt's on the line just like everybody else's!

The mechanics and maintenance crews are safely on the ground reading Mad magazine and hiding from the boss in the bathroom!

When I was just out of high school I worked at a marina as their main mechanic. They decided I needed some help so they hired a retired "aviation mechanic".

In my life time of memories, he still stands out as one of the worst mechanics I have ever known. Not just incompetence, but flat did not care!

I got called out on a Saturday, disgruntled customer...

A job he had done earlier that week, a simple Rochester 2 barrel carb cleaning on a small block Chevy inboard.

I get there, the carb is flooding. Go to take the carb apart, the float is in upside down, the top forced back down, float crushed, and the top gasket was glued down with massive amounts of 3M trim adhesive (pre silicone days).

I clean that mess up, start it, the engine immediately fills with water!

His effort to remove the carburetor, instead of taking the carb off, he went for the entire intake manifold! Took it off, realized he had screwed up, shoved it back on with the gaskets torn and folded over, put what bolts he could get to start back in, called it good...

And THAT is who's repairing the planes we trust our lives with, weather we're in it or under it!

Haha yes true!

Our grand daughter and her husband recently flew cross country and back. He soon came down with a cold or flu bug. That's a concern to me being cooped up for hours sharing each others' germs.

What is it, taking off and landing are the two most dangerous times. Planes dont crash, it's the earth coming up really fast. You hear about that engine blowing up and killing a woman. The maintenance records had mention of some stress cracks in a couple of compressor blades.

On a short flight I was on, takeoff was delayed while a maintenance guy fixed a drawer in the galley that would not secure. He fooled with it for a bit then left. Came back with a roll of duct tape. NOW I feel safe.

When we were flying over Greenland on a flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis I got to thinking about that. The plane has a lot of moving parts that have to work in harmony. I thought if we had to land somewhere near the arctic circle we would be might cold. Then I realized we would be dead anyway so the cold wouldn't matter much. When I looked at the -65 degree temp readout on the screen I suddenly realized a thin fuselage wall was all that separated me from a comfortable 65 or 70 and -65. How can they keep a plane warm at 350 MPH in -65 degree temperatures.

OK the original post was good and yes part of my daily routine is to check the Funny for the day. NOW THIS RESPONSE HAD MY WIFE AND ME LAUGHING UNCONTROLLABLY.

Flying once on a L1011 and looked out the window at the wing I told my wife it looks like someone has been bondoing on the wing. She said I was silly. Two weeks later they came out on the news and said they grounded some L1011 for cracks in the wings. I do not feel silly now.

I had to fly every week for 3 years for work, sometimes 3 or 4 flights per week. There were a few "incidents" that probably today would make me nervous. Funny how as we get older (I'll be 77 this month)
those kinds of things can become unsetteling. My wife and I usually only fly one round trip per year to visit family. I did make one unplanned trip this past November when my older sister fell and broke her left hip and left wrist. She is 81, walking with a cane and has one more week of therapy for her wrist.
We go to Texas again in February.

Isn't it electrical heat from the engine generators? Those giant aluminum tubes
are electrical wires all over the place.

Want to read a mind blowing book? See if you can find a copy of this one. Lost
Squadron. Two B-17s and six P-38s. All of them on a ferry flight and all were
brand new and armed. They were over 250 feet down in the glacier. They dug one
38 out and spent something like 5 or 6 million to factory fresh restore it.
Glacier Girl. The one B-17 they got down to was a ground up pile of aluminum
cans anymore. Now another group has found the site again and is going to try
for another plane.

Friend was stewardess on one of those when it crashed at a Texas airport (Dallas?) about 40 years ago. Few people got hurt. Don't remember any fatalities.

Dad was in Army Air Cor late in WWII training to fly P-38s. Did some
training in B-17s They were told when flying at high altitude if you
remove a glove for 60 seconds that hand will be frozen solid.