Fat, dumb, happy, and illegal as hell. Headed to Central America in a LearJet 25D at FL450 and not a O2 mask in sight. Click it to big it and you might be able to see MsBubba in the back. The happiest times of my aviation life were with a LRJET 25 strapped to my ass. I loved that airplane, if you thought it, the Lear did it and did it immediately. No more, no less, what a beautifully flying machine. On top of that it had enough power to peel your foreskin on takeoff. If flown correctly, the thrust levers went forward two times. First time was on takeoff with power reduction to stay under the speed limit once airborne. The second time was setting climb power once clear of the airport. Reaching FL410 you started reducing thrust to stay under MMO and from then on the trust levers would be moving back. First big reduction was leaving altitude for landing. You reduced thrust to hold a 500'/minute rate of cabin descent until reaching around FL300, at that point the thrust levers could go to flight idle and if you did it correctly (mostly only possible if flying "Life Flight") never to go forward until the wheels were on the ground. Even better you knew when you lit the fires in three hours you would be standing in front of a FBO's urinal taking a leak. That airplane was a soulmate.
A few years older at the Kabul War Museum with a MIG (I believe 17) in the background. Afghanistan has handed a lot of folks their ass and a good bit of their left behind military equipment is in the museum.
A must do when in Sturgis. Not much to say other than I was there for the 69th Sturgis Motorcycle Week.
That's it for today, see you on down the road,
ken
One thing though: pet mandatory to keep one's hair. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSylvain,
DeleteVery true.
We will lose Sweet Maggie Dog Monday. It may be awhile before another comes into our life.
BTW, interesting that I'm going through some of my Afghanistan photos just as Kabul falls.
ken
ken
You had an interesting life, this is the least I can say!
ReplyDeleteIs Maggie sick?
L
Lionel,
DeleteI done good for a dumb old West Texas farm boy. I didn't get rich but I was never bored.
Maggie is 14 years old and too many things are rapidly going south with her health. She has spent the day having seizures. As hard as it is, it is time to suck it up and do the right thing for her. The good news is she got one last trip to the Oregon coast to play in the water and retrieve rocks. Damn, I'm going to miss the sweet girl.
ken
Sorry to read this, best wishes, not a pleasant moment.
DeleteLionel,
DeleteMaggie is a tough but sweet old bird. after a day of seizures and our scheduling a vet appointment to put her down she woke bright eyed and alert. We went to the beach with her expecting it to be the last time. She walked over a mile on the beach, playing in the water like a pup, digging for rocks and retrieving sticks. Needless to say we canceled the vet appointment knowing it will still need to be done but like Little Big Man said "It wasn't a good day to die".
ken
Sorry to hear this.
ReplyDeleteI have lost a 14 years old cat 3 weeks ago.
Sylvain,
DeleteIt is hard to lose a loved pet. I still tear up after two years when I think of Sam the Wonder Dog.
ken
Sorry to hear about Maggie. Our Delia is 14-1/2 and having a lot of trouble walking and pooping at the right time and place. It's tough to watch them get old or sick.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I'm trying to figure out if having my foreskin peeled back is a good thing or not.
Steve,
DeleteMaggie dodged the bullet this time, it is coming soon but for now she will see another day.
I loved to watch a new F.O. on his or her first takeoff in a 20 series LearJet. Their usual first comment was something on the order of "holy shit". I also knew I'd be flying single pilot until we reached FL410 because mentally they would still be sitting in takeoff position back at the airport. BTW, Sea Level to 41000' took less than 10 minutes in a LRJET 23. A couple of other things about 20 series LRJET's you were burning the same Lb/Hour on the ground waiting to takeoff as you burned at FL410. You had 3 hours of fuel from the time you lit the fires till the wheels had to be on the ground. My minimum fuel for starting final approach was 900 lbs. with that fuel load if you had to go around you would likely flame out on the taxi in. In a lot of ways it was like flying the SST Concord, you never left altitude till you knew where you were landing. At altitude you had a large number of airports available, once low you were very limited.
ken
3 hours, that is short.
ReplyDeletediversion fuel?
How to have an accident at two airports with the same flight:
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aar-5-2008-boeing-737-300-oo-tnd-15-june-2006
Fortunately the aircraft didn't end his course in the terminal building at the first airport.
Landing with the right landing gear missing at the second airport:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1X-78JvGk
No casualties.