So...where are the freight dogs ?

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Who was Craig Funk?

and

Just curious, Mike, but do you ever wonder what you would be doing if you had stayed at the 135 freight job (as opposed to AF) and worked your way up? 10 years is about what it took me to go from ERAU grad to UPS.

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Good question on what I'd be doing 10 years from now. A number of guys that flew with me had gone to American Eagle, etc. A few had also gone to American, and I think may have been furloughed (or close) post 9/11. It's an interesting question of where I'd be, and one that I'd be curious to know if I ever could. At the time, my aspirations was to fly for UPS/Fedex/Airborne, etc, since I was already in the cargo system, knew the overall job, liked it, and was already acclimated to it.

Craig was an ex-USAF pilot that was a professor of Air Science at Riddle when Doug and I were there. Knowlegable and professional guy. Used to have two daughters. Both were killed in a Cessna 172 crash at Lake Amistad, near Del Rio, TX. The Cessna was doing all sorts of stupid aerobatic maneuvers over the lake and near the surrounding terrain, in addition to being over 300 pounds overweight and out of the aft CG envelope. The pilots were an AF IP and an AF student from the nearby Laughlin AFB, and the flying happened to be getting filmed by some people on a boat who happened to have a video camera. During a hammerhead maneuver, the plane stalled and hit the water, killing all four aboard. Funk was the Chief of Flight Safety at the time at Laughlin AFB.

Funk taught Aviation Safety classes at Riddle-PRC. The last day of class, he comes in says "good morning" and says that he'd like us to watch a video. He puts in the amateur video of the crash that killed his daughters (no one is aware of his past as he hadn't talked about it). Everyone mocks the video as the Cessna is doing it's flying...all the way up to it impacting the water. At the end of the 3 minute video, Funk asked "what did you think?" Several people made jabs about the stupid people in the plane, etc. Funk responds "if you took nothing else out of this class this summer, take this thought with you: Your job in the safety field, even that of a pilot, is to help insure that accidents like this never happen. I've harped upon many things in this class over and over, sometimes ad naseum. In this accident (pointing to the TV), I lost my only daughters. THAT is why I do what I do. Please remember that in your future careers."

With that, he ejected the tape, turned off the TV, and walked out of the room.

You could hear a pin drop from the stunned silence.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X33055&key=1
 
Mike,

Great comments, and thanks.

I always supervise loading with UNLOADING in mind. All the loaders are getting accustomed to me saying "Susanville in the front of the cabin, Quincy in the nose... if Quincy box is too big, then put BIG Quincy in the BACK of Cabin". This mantra both complies with the loading "schedule" and also facilitates unloading at the first stop, Quincy. I have made one mistake so far where I got to destination B and there is a destination A box still on board. The UPS guys were all about "no prob.. we'll just meet up with the other driver and transfer it to him." Take one guess what was given back to me later that day. GULP.

Whenever I am with UPS loaders and they are loading the 402C wrong, I ask them if they remember that R/B singer Aliyah!

DeanR
 
How cow...what a story. I've done some dumb things in little airplanes weather wise but one thing I won't do is aerobatics.

I have to ask, did Craig Funk continue to teach at ERAU after that?
 
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Mike,

Great comments, and thanks.

I always supervise loading with UNLOADING in mind. All the loaders are getting accustomed to me saying "Susanville in the front of the cabin, Quincy in the nose... if Quincy box is too big, then put BIG Quincy in the BACK of Cabin". This mantra both complies with the loading "schedule" and also facilitates unloading at the first stop, Quincy. I have made one mistake so far where I got to destination B and there is a destination A box still on board. The UPS guys were all about "no prob.. we'll just meet up with the other driver and transfer it to him." Take one guess what was given back to me later that day. GULP.

Whenever I am with UPS loaders and they are loading the 402C wrong, I ask them if they remember that R/B singer Aliyah!

DeanR

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He he he. I've been in the same boat of "school of hard knocks" regards mishandled cargo.

Do they still issue the ERG2000 guide to be carried onboard the plane. We were required to have one at all times onboard.
 
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How cow...what a story. I've done some dumb things in little airplanes weather wise but one thing I won't do is aerobatics.

I have to ask, did Craig Funk continue to teach at ERAU after that?

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Funny you should ask. Funk stayed a few years after I graduated, then left Riddle. I'm in my civilian cargo flying, and am about to get layed off due to the UPS strike. I join the USAF, go through officer school and show up to pilot training at Laughlin AFB, and who should I run into who is now a T-38 simulator instructor? You guessed it. Craig Funk , LTC, USAF (ret). Still the consumate professional.

That's the last I saw of him.
 
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not sure what an ERG2000 guide is...., so perhaps the answer is no.

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Here's my guess of what he means:

2000 Emergency Response Guidebook
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not sure what an ERG2000 guide is...., so perhaps the answer is no.

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Here's my guess of what he means:

2000 Emergency Response Guidebook
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And you'd be correct.

Bluelake, unless things have changed, 135 freight operators were required to give HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) training to pilots that could potentially carry this stuff, everything from Explosives 1.4 to ORD-D. Anyhow, following the training, we were required to keep a copy of this guide with us. It basically IDs what the various HAZMAT placards mean, what their specific hazard is (flammability, radioactivity, health) and the basics of what to do in the event of an emergency with a particular placarded substance.

Unless the regs changed, I thought this training was still required. Then again, I've been out of the biz for 10 years.

DE727, you guys in the heavies do this?
 
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It basically IDs what the various HAZMAT placards mean, what their specific hazard is (flammability, radioactivity, health) and the basics of what to do in the event of an emergency with a particular placarded substance.

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Not sure if its the same thing, but we have all this info. in our Ops. Manual. (Even though we aren't freight, don't carry any HAZMAT or receive anything but very basic awareness training). I'm guessing probably all operators have at least this basic info.?
 
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DE727, you guys in the heavies do this?


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We have a HAZMAT home study course we do every year. It's part of recurrent training.
 
yup. I got that training. In my notes I remembered it as "Hazmat" training. I get about one or two hazmat packages a week. I dont worry too much about those, I worry more about hazardous materials NOT listed as hazmat.. yo uknow what I mean??
 
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yup. I got that training. In my notes I remembered it as "Hazmat" training. I get about one or two hazmat packages a week. I dont worry too much about those, I worry more about hazardous materials NOT listed as hazmat.. yo uknow what I mean??

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During a run to Bullhead City, I was unloading the cargo for there to the 3 UPS guys that work that area. As I slid the boxes aft to the aft airstair, the UPS guy would grab it and pass it to the next guy who'd pass it to the guy in the truck.....sort of a bucket brigade if you will. Well, somehow, the timing got off and one box (that was marked "25 lbs) I slid aft..there was no UPS guy there, so it hit the aft part of the plane and fell out onto the tarmac, busting open. As I went back to see my damage, all over the tarmac was 25 lbs of a variety of sex toys! And tha box was addressed to a female in Laughlin. The UPS guys fought over who got to make that delivery.

Never did hear the outcome of that one........
 
You should have told them you would have made the drop. But them again she could have been about 450 lbs and wore 15 lbs of make up
 
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But them again she could have been about 450 lbs and wore 15 lbs of make up

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That's why I'm morbidly curious as to what the outcome ever was........
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and speaking of freight... on thursday I carried a unique piece of freight: a cracked CYLINDER!!!! I stored it in the right engine from the time i inherited during cruise until my precautionary landing
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:)
 
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