No I was based at NKP and UBON in Thailand.

(Written on 30/11/2018)(Permalink)

During the Vietnam war, flying a Pave Nail OV-10 I fell asleep somewhere over western Laos. My backseater Tom Wilson was in the habit of sleeping on the way back from a mission, so he too was passed out. Anyhow, we didn't have an autopilot,so after a while the plane just rolled into a bank and the nose dropped. The prop noise from those turboprops at very high airspeed woke me up to see over 70 deg bank and about 40 deg nose low unusual attitude. I rolled wings level then pulled 5 or six Gs hoping I didn't hit the ground. Since it was pitch black with no moon, to this day I don't know whether I missed the ground by 10 feet or a couple of hundred. Needless to say Tom never slept on the way back again.

(Written on 30/11/2018)(Permalink)

This reminds me of Value Jet. There was a long list of pilot and mnx screw ups prior to that fatal accident in the Everglades. Ever since that incident a couple of years ago where an Allegiant plane flew to an airport that was notamed closed and the notam had been out for over a week, resulting in the pilot declaring an emergency since he didn't have the fuel for an alternate, I have been advising friends and family not to use them. As an experienced chief of Wing safety and accident investigator, I know where this is headed, and it ain't good!

(Written on 22/04/2018)(Permalink)

The book stall speed assumes 1g flight. You can be at 0 kts and 0 gs and not be stalled. Of course it's extremely difficult to set up this scenario, but I have been at 30 kts or less at very close to 0 gs in a T37 and not been stalled.

(Written on 11/11/2017)(Permalink)

NWA was supposed to be the launch customer for the MD95, but after flirting with bankruptcy in 1990 as a result of the hostile leveraged buy out orchestrated by Al Chechi and Gary Wilson we had to cancel the order for well over a hundred of the model. As an aside, since we weren't going to get new aircraft of that size, the decision was made to totally redesign the interiors and hush kit our DC-9 30s, 40s, and 50s. The FAA ruled that the aircraft had to be recertified after the extensive mods which required that each aircraft undergo an extensive flight test as it came out of one the 3 refurbishment centers. The company selected a small and highly experienced group of captains to do the flight tests. I had the good fortune to fly with one of the captains, Tony Gray, and he told me some interesting stories. The airplanes had to be flown into a full accelerated stall which took a good deal of altitude to recover from. On 2 occasions the aircraft went into a fully developed spin so the pil

(Written on 01/03/2017)(Permalink)

As a pilot for NWA I flew the B727, the DC9, and the A320. The A320 had the best dispatch reliability at the time followed by the DC9. I remember when I transitioned from the 727 to the DC9, the two most noticeable changes were how much quieter the 9 cockpit was and how rarely the 9 broke. With the 727 I couldn't go more than 2 or 3 weeks without a mechanical delay. On the 9 two or three months would go by without one.

(Written on 09/08/2013)(Permalink)

I first met Mr. Anderson over 20 years ago when I was a pilot for NWA and he was the lawyer in charge of labor affairs. He was and remains a class act. He never lied or BSd when you asked him a question, and if he promised to get back to you when he needed more info to answer your question, he always did. In contrast, one of the two head honchos of the company would not hesitate to bump paying passengers to get his girlfriend on a flight, and on occasion would delay flights for his or her convenience. Most airline CEOs fly charter or fly first class.

(Written on 29/06/2013)(Permalink)

The man is a thief and scoundrel. I too was a pilot at NWA when he violated our trust and stole from us. Had he been honorable he could have finished his career at NWA/DELTA and retired.

(Written on 18/05/2013)(Permalink)