[Lady Jane]

If you want to travel in style between NYC and Orly. Business Class only with meals prepared by a Michelin rated chef and an assortment of rare champagnes. Also, cheaper than some legacy airlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Compagnie

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

If you want to travel in style between NYC and Orly. Business Class only with meals prepared by a Michelin rated chef and an assortment of rare champagnes. Also, cheaper than some legacy airlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Compagnie


Attachment 3610061

There used to be an airline (GrandAir) that flew LAX to JFK. IIRC, they had a DC8 with only 75 seats which were all 1st class. I don't remember the cost, but I do know it wasn't cheap. Considering they promised to "not spill the champagne," they preformed pretty well on the climb-out.

[Lady Jane]

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner And Blanche Osborn, Women Airforce Service Pilots During WWII, Pictured Here As They Leave Their Airplane.

[flybigjet]

So.

On June 30, 2023, I lost my FAA Class I Medical.

To make a very long story (mostly) short, when I went in for my six-month FAA flight physical and the flight doc found a minor glitch on my ECG that hadn't been there before. For me to continue to hold a Class I, I had to be seen by a cardiologist. He said it was no big deal and I was able to get in to see a heart doc a few days later.

On examination, the cardiologist's statement was "This is so minor that if you weren't a pilot, we wouldn't even be having this conversation" as I was feeling fine and was asymptomatic for anything heart-related.

But, because the FAA was involved, I had to have some testing done.

Five tests of increasing complexity later, we had essentially five different answers and the doc made the decision to go in with an angiogram to see what was really going on.

Things got.... interesting from that point on. Turns out that my Widowmaker (LAD), Ramus, 1st Diagonal, Right Coronary Artery (RCA) and Cirmcumflex were all 80-90% blocked.

Five stents later I was a new man. The cardiologist said that if the minor (unconnected) glitch hadn't driven me to an angiogram, I would have been dead in 12-18 months.

Then, it took six months to get my package through the FAA Cardiac Board. The FAA Aeromedical Division does NOT impress-- they couldn't open a CD that everyone else could (and didn't tell anybody about it for months), lost one of the major CD's showing stent patency and flow rates (and despite having a receipt on file, basically said "yes, we lost it-- too bad. Was our fault but not our problem"), and messed up my post-board paperwork.

But..... BUT.....

As of late yesterday afternoon, I HAVE MY FAA FIRST CLASS MEDICAL IN HAND and can start the process to get back in the jet.

Talk about a relief!

There may have been tears.

I've been walking on air ever since.

Aviation's always been more than a job for me-- I've always loved to fly and I loved to teach. Getting it (unexpectedly) yanked away from me was pretty damn devastating.

But, now I'm back in the Game. It'll take a couple of weeks to get off Company Disability, get back on the payroll, get all the paperwork sorted, get my badge back, get my parking back (more important than you'd think) go through requal ground school, CBT's and Sims, take a Sim check, fly under supervision for a few days, and then take a Line Check.

That'll get me back in the left seat of the Guppy. From there, I'll have another steep hill to climb to get requal'd back to Line Check Pilot.

But, I'm **STILL** walking on air.

I've had this laid down for 18 months-- it got opened last night. There are two more waiting in the wine rack-- one when I get fully requal'd as a Captain and the last one for when I get requal'd as a Line Check Pilot.

R.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Aviation's always been more than a job for me-- I've always loved to fly and I loved to teach. Getting it (unexpectedly) yanked away from me was pretty damn devastating.

R.

You have no idea how much I understand and feel for you. My dad used to say that if it wasn't for the fact he had to make a living, he would do it for free. It's in the blood.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

You have no idea how much I understand and feel for you. My dad used to say that if it wasn't for the fact he had to make a living, he would do it for free. It's in the blood.

Heh. I said almost that *exact* thing when I retired from driving C-5's. I told them I'd keep doing it for free if they would have let me.

Well, since I *was* a trash-hauler, I told them I'd do it just for per diem!

But yes-- there are two kinds of pilots.

1. The type that are there for the money and the days off.

2. The type that have flying "in their blood", and will do WHATEVER it takes to keep themselves in the air.

Easy way to find out which is which?

When a jet is flying overhead? Watch which one looks up to see it-- usually with a distracted "I wish I was up there" look on their face.

THAT's the "real" pilot.

R.

[vreihen16]

Congratulations on getting your wings back!!!!!

[Llarry]

Most gratifying news, flybigjet!

In honor of your resurrection as an active commercial pilot -- and as my penance for missing Tomcat Thursdays -- here's a flyover (previously posted) of two squadrons' worth of F-14s. Let's assume that these Tomcats are about to punch out some flares in celebration!

[BMWGUYinCO]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

As of late yesterday afternoon, I HAVE MY FAA FIRST CLASS MEDICAL IN HAND and can start the process to get back in the jet.

Congratulations! Happy to hear this news - and the perfect time of year to celebrate too!

Perhaps one day soon enough, I'll be a passenger on the jet you're flying.
Wifey and I have Polaris seats booked for a trip to Japan on United in May of next year, - looking forward to that trip.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by BMWGUYinCO

Congratulations! Happy to hear this news - and the perfect time of year to celebrate too!

Perhaps one day soon enough, I'll be a passenger on the jet you're flying.
Wifey and I have Polaris seats booked for a trip to Japan on United in May of next year, - looking forward to that trip.

I'll be flying UA 737's out of DEN, so no Japan for me.

The saying is "One person's trash is another's treasure"-- I've done the wide body thing and it's a VERY different life. My friends who are on the 777 & 787 love it. But, I still like the "up and down up and down up and down" of the narrow body fleet. "Gear up, feet up, and I'll have the chicken" just..... sort of bores me?

But the layovers? SO much better-- All the cool international destinations instead of Oak City, Des Moines, Cleveland, etc.

R.

PS: I got my official Return to Work Authorization, so I'll be in Training sometime after 19 Dec.

PPS: It feels DAMN good to be a "real" pilot again.

R.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

I'll be flying UA 737's out of DEN, so no Japan for me.

The saying is "One person's trash is another's treasure"-- I've done the wide body thing and it's a VERY different life. My friends who are on the 777 & 787 love it. But, I still like the "up and down up and down up and down" of the narrow body fleet. "Gear up, feet up, and I'll have the chicken" just..... sort of bores me?

But the layovers? SO much better-- All the cool international destinations instead of Oak City, Des Moines, Cleveland, etc.

R.

PS: I got my official Return to Work Authorization, so I'll be in Training sometime after 19 Dec.

PPS: It feels DAMN good to be a "real" pilot again.

R.

Congrats on getting back into the game!

Son and daughter-in-law also fly for UA. She just jumped from the A-320 to the B-777 and is currently in the schoolhouse. Son just made a bid for captain in the A-320. He gets some vitamin G in his Pitts S2B during his free time.

👍👍👍

[T0RM3NT]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

So.

On June 30, 2023, I lost my FAA Class I Medical.

To make a very long story (mostly) short, when I went in for my six-month FAA flight physical and the flight doc found a minor glitch on my ECG that hadn't been there before. For me to continue to hold a Class I, I had to be seen by a cardiologist. He said it was no big deal and I was able to get in to see a heart doc a few days later.

On examination, the cardiologist's statement was "This is so minor that if you weren't a pilot, we wouldn't even be having this conversation" as I was feeling fine and was asymptomatic for anything heart-related.

But, because the FAA was involved, I had to have some testing done.

Five tests of increasing complexity later, we had essentially five different answers and the doc made the decision to go in with an angiogram to see what was really going on.

Things got.... interesting from that point on. Turns out that my Widowmaker (LAD), Ramus, 1st Diagonal, Right Coronary Artery (RCA) and Cirmcumflex were all 80-90% blocked.

Five stents later I was a new man. The cardiologist said that if the minor (unconnected) glitch hadn't driven me to an angiogram, I would have been dead in 12-18 months.

Then, it took six months to get my package through the FAA Cardiac Board. The FAA Aeromedical Division does NOT impress— they couldn't open a CD that everyone else could (and didn't tell anybody about it for months), lost one of the major CD's showing stent patency and flow rates (and despite having a receipt on file, basically said "yes, we lost it— too bad. Was our fault but [...]

Great story! Thanks for sharing this! I'm glad you're back and doing what you love. There's not enough of us out there doing what we have a real passion for...and it really makes a difference.

Be good to yourself!

[JJ 911SC]

.

[Llarry]

The Chance Vought F7U-3M Cutlass was a radical design from a firm known for innovation. Unfortunately, it was powered by a pair of underperforming Westinghouse afterburning turbojets and was arguably *too* innovative, suffering a high accident rate during its service with Navy carrier squadrons.

This example is from Attack Squadron 83 (VA-83) "Rampagers" aboard USS Intrepid (CVA 11) in 1956 and is being positioned on a catapult for launch. A Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever from HU-2 "Fleet Angels" flies alongside the ship, ready to pluck unlucky aircrew from the water in case of accident.

This F7U is finished in natural metal. During this period the Navy was experimenting with various color schemes; the dark sea blue adopted in 1944 was about to be replaced by a gull gray upper and white lower scheme.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The Chance Vought F7U-3M Cutlass

It gives a new meaning to being in the "Nosebleed section".

[Llarry]

A status report on the Boeing F-15EX Eagle II fighter being purchased by the United States Air Force and Air National Guard (ANG) ...

The original announcement of the F-15EX program envisioned a total of 144 aircraft being bought for use by ANG units tasked with air defense of the U.S. The plan was subsequently reduced to 80 aircraft, then increased to 104. The total to be purchased is still to be determined.

As of six months ago, there had been just 8 F-15EXs delivered; of these, six were assigned to operational testing at Eglin AFB, Florida, and just two to the 142 Fighter Wing of the Oregon ANG at Portland.

As far as I know, the current plan is for the 142nd to expand to 18 aircraft and then for 36 F-15EXs to be assigned to the active USAF squadrons in the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. After that, additional ANG units will receive aircraft; Florida, California and Louisiana have been mentioned. The 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour-Johnson AFB in North Carolina is scheduled to be the training unit for F-15EX units.

[vreihen16]

This sad video just popped up in my YouTube suggestions:

.

[flybigjet]

A little aviation humor.....

[flybigjet]

..... Aaaaand my phone blew up today.

Crew Scheduling, Training Managers, LCP-LTM, Chief Pilot Office, etc.

I'm getting slammed into a requal the day after Christmas. Ugh. Radical change of Christmas plans required (but sorted). Requal's not that hard, but they're also blasting me into full requalification as a Line Check Airman.

I'm going to be going from not being in a jet for 18 months to being fully qualified to fly and instruct and check in less than a month.

Hitting the books HARD starting tomorrow-- this is basically light speed. I didn't expect to go to requal until after the new year, and not to requal as a Line Check Pilot until March or April.

On the plus side, this will protect our terrifyingly expensive trip to Antarctica in February.

R.

[Llarry]

The Grumman F6F Hellcat shot down more Japanese aircraft during World War II than any other Allied fighter and was produced in greater numbers than any other Navy/Marine fighter during the war. (The Vought F4U Corsair was built in greater numbers, but production of the Corsair continued well after the war, unlike the F6F).

The F6F was powered by the same Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18-cylinder radial engine as the P-47 Thunderbolt and by its F4U rival. But the P-47 had an elaborate turbocharger system that gave it greater speed at the higher altitudes generally seen in the European theatre, and the F4U Corsair, had a slightly higher turn of speed due to lower drag. But the F6F was a simple, rugged and viceless design that could be flown effectively by relatively inexperienced pilots -- and with the rapid expansion of the services, plenty of combat pilots had limited experience. The Hellcat tipped the scales in favor of the U.S. when it entered combat in 1943 and quickly replaced the older Grumman F4F Wildcat on fleet aircraft carriers.

The other attribute of the Hellcat was that it was easily produced in large numbers. Unlike most other fighters, only a single factory built F6Fs; that lone Grumman factory on Long Island, New York, turned out new F6Fs at a prodigious rate. In March of 1945, 605 F6F-5 Hellcats were built.

The main production models of the F6F were the F6F-3 that was built until 1944, and the succeeding F6F-5 that was built until the end of the war. Photo reconnaissance variants (F6F-3P and F6F-5P) were mostly modified from basic fighters and retained full armament. There were also radar-equipped night fighter versions: The F6F-3E and F6F-3N differed in their radar sets, as did the F6F-5E and F6F-5N.

The vast majority of F6Fs were armed with six .50 caliber machine guns in the wings. Late F6F-5Ns had four machine guns but added a pair of 20mm cannon. The F6F routinely carried a 150-gallon external fuel tank on the centerline and later versions could carry bombs and rockets as well.

In 1944, a couple of F6F-5s were tested with more powerful R-2800 engines driving four-blade propellors rather than the standard three-blade props as XF6F-6s. While performance was increased, the Navy above all wanted to maintain a rapid production rate and decided not to disturb production with a model changeover. At about the same time, the F4U Corsair was tested with a similar upgrade and went into production as the F4U-4. The result was that the F4U-4 with its superior performance started replacing the F6F on carrier decks in 1945. The night-fighting F6F-5N was not replaced until well after the war, though.

Grumman largely switched fighter production to the F8F-1 Bearcat beginning in 1945, although the Bearcat was too late to see combat. Vought continued to produce improved F4U Corsairs for some years. The result was that F6F Hellcats disappeared from the postwar fleet quickly, except for the F6F-5N night fighter.

Hellcat ended their days as fighter trainers and flight proficiency aircraft and at the very end, as F6F-5K targets. My Dad flew the F6F in combat in 1944 and flew tired old Hellcats (probably without armament) to maintain flight hours in the early 1950s.

The combat swan song for the F6F came in the Korean War, when a few F6F-5Ks were flown without pilots under the remote control of other aircraft to attack North Korean targets.

Other users of the Hellcat were the UK Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (a major user of the Hellcat), the French Navy and the Navy of Uruguay.

A note on paint schemes: The earliest Hellcats came out of the factory in blue-gray upper paint and light gray lower paint. By the time, the airplane saw combat, the standard paint scheme was dark blue (sea blue) as viewed from above, intermediate blue as viewed from the sides and white as viewed from the underside. In 1944, the Navy switched to all dark blue paint for fighters; this happened right as the F6F-5 replaced the -3 and so -- if the Hellcat in question was still in factory paint -- a dark blue Hellcat was invariably an F6F-5. Nowadays, the tricolor scheme seems to be more popular and F6F-5 warbirds tend to have (inauthentic) three-color paint.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The Grumman F6F Hellcat shot down more Japanese aircraft during World War II than any other Allied fighter and was produced in greater numbers than any other Navy/Marine fighter during the war. (The Vought F4U Corsair was built in greater numbers, but production of the Corsair continued well after the war, unlike the F6F).

The Vought F4U Corsair was selected in 1940 to replace the earlier Grumman F4F in carrier-based and Marine Corps fighter squadrons. The F4U had been designed in 1938 and first flew in 1940. Early tests showed the design had great potential; The Corsair was the first production American fighter to exceed 400 mph in level flight. But the program soon ran into difficulties and delays. The most important of these was that the new Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine suffered delays in development. A single XF4U-1 was built in 1940, and then there was a two-year delay in commencing production. During that time, Grumman took advantage of Vought's difficulties and developed the F6F Hellcat, which was developed with few delays. In essence, the F6F became the F4F's replacement while Vought struggled with their design.

The XF4U-1 and the F4U-1 of 1942 differed considerably. For one, the prototype had a pair of .50 machine guns in the nose and another pair in the wings; it also had fuel tanks both behind the pilot -- in a less than optimum location for center of gravity considerations -- and in the wings. The production Corsair moved the cockpit aft almost three feet and placed all fuel in a self-sealing fuel tank in front of the cockpit (and about at the center of gravity); it also replaced the four machine guns of the prototype with six .50s in the wings. Those changes introduced a new difficulty as vision over the long nose was problematic, particularly in the carrier landing environment.

During carrier trials in 1942, the F4U was found to have some drawbacks: The tail wheel was lowered to improve visibility on the ground and when landing. In addition, as the airplane approached stall speed, the left wing was found to drop. A fix was developed to add a small stall strip on the right wing.

Two Navy carrier squadrons were issued F4U-1s and qualified for carrier duty, but the difficulties in development -- and a reluctance to have two standard carrier fighters in the fleet -- caused Navy leaders to decide to keep the Corsair off carriers and those two units were the only Navy VFs to get the early F4U. The Marine Corps benefited from the decision and began to receive F4U-1s in large numbers. The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm also received early Corsairs and used them from RN aircraft carriers.

Unlike the Hellcat, arrangements were also made for Corsair production from other sources. Goodyear produced Corsairs as the FG-1 and Brewster produced them as the F3A-1. (Ultimately Brewster's efforts were criticized by the Navy and the contracts cancelled later in the war.)

Inevitably, the Corsair was soon improved. The multi-framed "birdcage" canopy was soon replaced by a bulged canopy with only a single frame and improved visibility as the F4U-1A. Bombs or external fuel tanks were soon fitted. External fuel first came in the form of a centerline tank and was followed by two pylons on the inner wings as the F4U-1D model; those pylons could carry bombs as well.

A few F4U-1C airplanes were fitted with four 20mm cannon instead of the machine guns. There were also 34 Corsairs modified as F4U-2 night fighters; these had a radar on the leading edge of the right wing and lost one machine gun as weight compensation.

The RN FAA had a problem with their Corsairs: The low overheads of RN carrier hangar bays interfered with folded Corsairs. The solution was squared-off clipped wingtips on FAA Corsairs. The USN kept rounded wingtips.

Unlike the Hellcat, there were no Corsairs modified for photo recon; that would have to wait for several years.

What brought the F4U to Navy carrier decks was the Japanese Kamikaze campaign that began in the fall of 1944. Suddenly fleet air defenses were in danger of being overwhelmed and more fighters became a top priority. In January of 1945, Marine Corps F4U squadrons began to be integrated into carrier air groups on an interim basis while the Navy scrambled to increase the number and size of fighter squadrons. The standard carrier air group ballooned to 73 F6F and/or F4U fighters, 15 SB2C Helldiver bombers and 15 Avenger torpedo bombers.

Stateside, Corsair development continued. The F4U-4 was introduced with a four-blade prop, more power and more speed. Some -4s were cannon armed as F4U-4Bs. By the end of the war, many Navy and Marine squadrons were flying F4U-4s.

Unlike the Hellcat, which ceased production after the war, development and production of the Corsair continued. A photo version, the F4U-4P was finally developed, though not produced in great numbers.

The ultimate R-2800-powered Corsair was the F4U-5, which had twin turbos for even better performance at high altitude. Of course, these were the very qualities that the new jets had. The ultimate piston-engine night fighter, the F4U-5N, was developed and played an important role in the Korean War 1950-53 and in the fleet until the mid-1950s.

Postwar, the French Navy flew Corsairs and even ordered their own variant the F4U-7 which saw action in the colonial wars in Indochina and elsewhere.

The Marine Corps took delivery of the last Corsair variant in the form of the AU-1 (A for attack rather than F for fighter) which was optimized for low-level ground attack and close air support as had been seen in the Korean War. A few AUs survived long enough to get the new gull gray over white color scheme of the mid-1950s.

The final users of the Corsair were several Latin American nations that obtained surplus U.S. F4Us and kept their Corsairs in service until the 1970s.

I failed to mention another important Corsair user: The Royal New Zealand Air Force used standard-issue USN/USMC F4Us and FGs, unlike the Brits: The FAA Corsairs had UK radios and other differences from their U.S. and NZ counterparts.

[Lady Jane]

ezaircon4jc Would that be considered the outer or inner marker?