Back In the day

PhilosopherPilot said:
Doesn't Big D still use those? Aren't they the only thing keeping that paper company an ink cartridge company alive?
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Okidata seems to be doing quite well, at least based on their prices. Delta has been slowly updating to the latest version of this:
http://www.oki.com/us/printing/products/dot-matrix-printers/9-pin/microline-420-421/index.html

On the other hand, the boxes of paper did seem to indicate that the half sheet perforated form feed paper was custom made for Delta, or at least the part number seemed to indicate as much anyways.
 
n156499000 said:
Okidata seems to be doing quite well, at least based on their prices. Delta has been slowly updating to the latest version of this:
http://www.oki.com/us/printing/products/dot-matrix-printers/9-pin/microline-420-421/index.html

On the other hand, the boxes of paper did seem to indicate that the half sheet perforated form feed paper was custom made for Delta, or at least the part number seemed to indicate as much anyways.
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I'm mostly joking, but I do get the feeling that most devices like these only exist for a few really well-established companies that do not modernize.
 
Pft...My buddy Ugh and I just had a rock. If the rock was wet it was raining, if the rock was white it was snowing. if the rock was gone the wind was really blowing.

You kids these days and all your fancy gadgets. In my day a good saddle on my Pterodactyl was all I needed to get where I was going, up hill, both ways in the snow......
 
I think MikeD mostly covered it, but when I was a student pilot in flyover country circa ~1993, there was an FSS sitting right there on the field at KLOU! I'd go in there and ask for a briefing (sometimes when I wasn't even actually gonna go flying, if I'm honest) and the straight-out-of-central-casting overworked specialist with like their shirt-tail halfway tucked-in and a headset around their neck whilst holding a mic would go straight down the script. Basically picture the printout you get from fltplan.com, except verbal. It had to have taken 10 minutes, every time. No exaggeration. And it always seemed to end with "VFR not recommended". But at least I got something for all of those tax dollars I definitely was not paying. The best part was when my eyes unglazed and the overworked fed went back to trying to get people to read back their garbled IFR clearance from Nowhere, Kentuckistan, I could play with the Interactive Weather Radar! You press a button and the screen changes! Witchcraft!
 
Well, sure was alittle bit different , and wasn’t even that long ago! Be very interesting to see what technology becomes available to us these next few years. I’m guessing that even having access to smart phones to check weather, and file flight plans will be somewhat antiquated in just a few more years.
 
Okay. I was 14 and we had an on field FSS in Wenatchee, WA (KEAT). I was a total aviation kid and my grandfather takes me up to the FSS on a Sunday and we walk in and ask the specialist if he has any books or information on flying. He gives me the 1975 copy of the AIM, which I'm sure isn't much changed from the 2017 version. I'm not sure how I overcame that but the force must have been strong with this one. Bless the FSS guy for trying to help but the AIM is about the worst buzz kill possible for a 14 year old aviation enthusiast. Guess it all worked out in the end.....
 
When I first started flying in 1994 we had to do a 'Herman check' on final if it was around 1pm. That would be the 80 year old patriarch of the local field out cruising his Schwinn on the runway after lunch and before his nap. Those were fun times.
 
trafficinsight said:
We've got mostly computer manuals now but sometimes we still go to the fiche ;)

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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Everything we have is electronic. Most aircraft still have a “for reference only” paper copy with all the good notes scribbled in it. Funny thing how electronic manuals kill so many more trees than paper.

I say “we” but I guess it’s more “they” now. Mumble mumble circus mumble mumble monkeys.
 
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Jeppesen flight aids
Screen Shot 2017-10-30 at 1.54.53 PM.png
http://public.beuth-hochschule.de/hamann/sliderules/jeppfc.html
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The changes for 121 are pretty irrelevant. You could always call the dispatcher and ask what the weather was doing. There was always a big MEL book.

For GA peeps, it was actually pretty awesome. No TFRs to worry about, no $800/yr yearly ransom to Garmin/Jeppesen for databases, talking to briefers who knew WTF they were doing and knew how to get/give a clearance.

In person briefings? Awesome and free coffee to boot.

I'd trade GPS and internet briefings back for back the way it was in 1990 in a heartbeat.
 
Richman said:
The changes for 121 are pretty irrelevant. You could always call the dispatcher and ask what the weather was doing. There was always a big MEL book.

For GA peeps, it was actually pretty awesome. No TFRs to worry about, no $800/yr yearly ransom to Garmin/Jeppesen for databases, talking to briefers who knew WTF they were doing and knew how to get/give a clearance.

In person briefings? Awesome and free coffee to boot.

I'd trade GPS and internet briefings back for back the way it was in 1990 in a heartbeat.
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I wouldn't. As much as I miss real Flight Service, Foreflight is the greatest thing ever invented for GA. And they make it a bit better every few weeks, it seems.
 
I don't disagree that FF, WingX, Garmin Pilot are cool, but not in exchange for all the other bs affecting GA in the last 20 years.
 
MikeD said:
There used to be 4 or 5 manned FSSs in AZ, and way back in the day as a young pilot, i can remember visiting them if i happened to be at the airport they were located in (i usually was) and would talk to the briefer face to face; as well as review the printouts of the radar summary or prog charts, which had been pulled off a teletype, marked up with different color markers, and tacked to the wall on top of the last few ones, so you could look and see wx trends in relation to elapsed time between them. Flight Watch was used often, as was contacting the FSS via the VOR if you couldnt get them airborne through an RCO or one wasnt available nearby. If the FSS was at an uncontrolled airport, the briefer also gave airport advisories over the CTAF. And in a pinch, they all had DF steer capability to help out the lost pilot.
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I just stopped in Northway's FSS in July. Got a cup of coffee, the briefer filed my flight plan, he even pulled up all the relevant wx cams on one screen to look at. Very helpful considering there is no cell service there. Even gave me a bottle of water and some snacks for the rest of the trip.

knot4u said:
Anyone remember microfiche? I remember.
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