Re: Planespotting
 

Maybe it was the 200, I forget, -it was 20 years ago..we called it a mini pig, I've flown so many aircraft types..I was in the CAP when I was 12

1978
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...rs3/www049.jpg

83- A few days before the orangutan fight

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ers3/62015.jpg

Re: Planespotting
 

Yep, still the case, although the maintainance was normally just someone wiping the blood of the fuselage lol.

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.asp...pe=65&appid=30

Re: Planespotting
 

I would bet money it was the 200. The 737 is one of my go to flight sim planes. I know me variants ...

Re: Planespotting
 

Despite spending 7 years parking em, I still couldn't tell the difference between a 737 100/200/300/400/500/600/700/800 :lol:. I know some are longer than others, and some have the flat bottomed engines, but I couldn't tell you which was which lol

Re: Planespotting
 

You missed the -900ER :p

ALL the 737s since the days of those longer engines have had flat bottoms - purely because the 737 has a much shorter gear then other airliners.

Re: Planespotting
 

Didn't even know there was a 900 LOL. We had so few 737's fly into Heathrow I never got the hang of em.

Re: Planespotting
 

Same at my airline, paperwork took longer then anything.... They just didn't let us ramp rats wipe it off, and not being at a maintenance hub for any airline, daytime maintenance people were scarce.

Most airlines did some overnight stuff, but none had a regular day staff. Joys of a field station.

Re: Planespotting
 

My airline only had 200's and 300's so easy to tell the difference...lol

We also had A320/A319 which were fairly easy to tell apart, along with 757's which were always fun to park, the nose was maybe 6 feet from the terminal building when parked. Pilots could barely see us marshaling them in.

737's were harder to load, more then once we had more bags then could fit into a 737...

Re: Planespotting
 

319 320's count the doors. There was more than one occasion where I was allocated to a late stand and the aircraft was already there. I jumped out the truck started madly flapping my bats then realized I had to forgot to check which of the 2 it was with a critical stop. I'd have to walk out to the side to try and get a look at the doors whilst I was marshalling whilst the skipper looked at me as though I was mad :lol: of course, the spotters could probably tell the type by the nose, the über spotters could tell the type by the reg :lol:

Re: Planespotting
 

I got a lot of funny stories over the years...One time a guy came in and told me the supervisor told him he couldn't wear a bandana around his neck because its not company issue- So I called the supervisor and asked him about chains, he said chains are ok, bandanas are not. This guy ran food so he was up on the plane when it was boarding, so I got him a giant chain- the links were as big as footballs. I wrapped it around his neck, he could barley walk but he went back to work.. He later told me he eventually ran back into the supervisor and the man took one look at him and told him to go get his bandana on.

Re: Planespotting
 

We parked them both on the same block, so didn't matter too much to know which one it was...lol

But the tail number were different series as well for ours, so anything in the 600 range was A320, 800 range was A319, 900 range was a 757, and the 737's were mostly 300 range, with some odd balls thrown in.

In the hub only way to tell your plane was to know the tail number coming in, pilots were not good at parking at the right gates, and liked to try to park at an open gate they didn't belong at when their gate was occupied.

Re: Planespotting
 

As a union official I didn't actually work many of the jobs. I started out as a fueler and in my first six months I called in sick about 15 times and they were going to fire me. I had a young child and had just bought a house so I needed the job, I hated it, but I needed it so I went into a hearing with an older shop steward and I remember him pounding the desk and screaming " "The man hasn't called in sick in 19 days!!!"..:D I didn't give him much to argue with I guess. The shop steward told me to leave the room and I put my ear up to the door and I heard him tell the supervisor "why don't you be a f-ing man for once and back up your people" I heard banging and screaming and chairs flying and when the smoke cleared my man came out and said "don't worry about it kid" and I went back to work. The guy was my hero and I knew right then thats what I wanted to do, be a hero.

I rose pretty quickly in the union ranks from shop steward to treasurer, to committee man, and eventually to president. Along the way I was briefly the EAP representative- That was interesting. I helped people who were fired because of attendance, they'd get one more chance if they claimed to have health, alcohol, drug or family issues that kept them from coming to work- I heard every ones dirty laundry, wow, behind closed doors people are really messed up.. One time I saw a guy who was suicidal and depressed because his wife had left him. It was my job to cheer him up and give him hope, so I told him she'll be back and he told me she wouldn't because she walked in on him having sex with the family pet...I asked him what kind of pet was it, and he said it was the dog, so I asked him if it was a big dog or small dog, and he said big, so then I asked him if it was male or female dog, and he said female, so then I said "well, thats not so bad then"...:lol: He felt better about himself and was able to get it together and drag his ass into work everyday, probably still workin today. I was good at my job

Re: Planespotting
 

Visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation, in Pensacola, FL, yesterday.

This is the last F-14, to be "Combat-Ready" before being given to the Museum.

Jim

Re: Planespotting
 

FIFY. :)

The only foreign customer for the F14 still has them in service. :nod:

Re: Planespotting
 

Iran - although at this point they must be cannibalising airframes for spares!