Ameriflight

I only had the Bob in INDOC prior to being shipped off to metro school. I found him annoying but saw within a few hours that cooperating and graduating was the path of least resistance.
 
mikecweb said:
I only had the Bob in INDOC prior to being shipped off to metro school. I found him annoying but saw within a few hours that cooperating and graduating was the path of least resistance.
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Part of me believes there is more folklore in the Bob than in reality. The stories passed around about that guy, and what he did with INDOC classes was a little bit crazy.
 
Inverted said:
Part of me believes there is more folklore in the Bob than in reality. The stories passed around about that guy, and what he did with INDOC classes was a little bit crazy.
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When jumpseating I always got a kick out these SWA CAs & FOs asking if Bob was still there.

I'm sure he's enjoying retirement mowing his lawn in that powder blue "Members Only" jacket.
 
I had a brief but appropriate encounter with Bob just before he retired.

One of the part-time check airmen was doing the walk-around tour of a Chieftain with my roommate and I and none of us had a fuel strainer on hand. Bob happened to be doing the same walk-around with another noob at the Chieftain next to us. Our instructor kindly asked Bob if he had a fuel strainer we could borrow. And then this happened:

WHAT?!? THEY DON'T HAVE FUEL STRAINERS?!?! SEND THEM HOME!!! SEND THEM HOME BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT PREPARED TO FLY!!!

I hope the bold and caps illustrated exactly how loud and agitated he was. Our instructor, who was a class act all around, just said okay and turned to us and said "We'll find a fuel strainer somewhere else."
 
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Lol I remember stuff like that.

I remember in the sim, he was so "good" that if you switched to a wrong freq, he wouldn't talk. So you hit 126.92 instead of 126.95 and just repeat yourself for about 2 min. He then mentions how you might want to check the freq lol. I used to think that was so cold but he tried to make it as real as possible.
 
Inverted said:
Lol I remember stuff like that.

I remember in the sim, he was so "good" that if you switched to a wrong freq, he wouldn't talk. So you hit 126.92 instead of 126.95 and just repeat yourself for about 2 min. He then mentions how you might want to check the freq lol. I used to think that was so cold but he tried to make it as real as possible.
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Bob tried to make it as real as possible because he wanted you to be ready for the big bad world out there when they cut you loose by yourself with no IOE
 
eightballfreight said:
Honestly I'd probably be a pretty hard nosed too if I was an instructor and been to that many funerals.
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A pilot worries about failing his/her checkride. A check airman or instructor worries about EVERY checkride they give, because those pilots confront the cold realities of flying actual airplanes in actual weather. There are no second chances on those real-life "tests." It is hard to explain how much sleep is lost or how personally heart rending it is for the check airman when one of "my pilots" comes to grief. Not one I know takes it lightly. If anything, check airmen worry more about pilots than anyone. That's why they are so "hard nosed," ....so that funerals do not ever, ever happen.
 
YakatakXXL said:
A pilot worries about failing his/her checkride. A check airman or instructor worries about EVERY checkride they give, because those pilots confront the cold realities of flying actual airplanes in actual weather. There are no second chances on those real-life "tests." It is hard to explain how much sleep is lost or how personally heart rending it is for the check airman when one of "my pilots" comes to grief. Not one I know takes it lightly. If anything, check airmen worry more about pilots than anyone. That's why they are so "hard nosed," ....so that funerals do not ever, ever happen.
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You're spot on. I can't count how many Chieftain, 99, and Metro checkrides both initial and recurrents, but especially initials that I gave and after they passed, some better than others, and I always tried to talk to them after the checkride about the line and give them any pointers that I could. Always said a quick prayer for them as well.
 
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