Ozzieman
Recruit
I am new to your forum and will from time to time share some stories that I have picked up.
I have been collecting flight crew stories over the past 30 years, some were from my experience some were told to me.
The following was one that a good friend told me during my time in VP-16 down in Jacksonville Florida.
NUDE IN THE COCKPIT
Well with a title like that you might think this is a porn story, but its not. It's another Ensign story. A new straight out of flight school Square corner turning Ensign was placed on a flight crew with one of our older and colorful flight engineer.
In a P3C Orion the cockpit is very large, much like an airliner (which it was in its civilian attire). The pilot on the Left side, the Co pilot on the right with the enlisted flight engineer between and about two feet back.
The flight engineer is responsible for engine and fuel management and overlooking the mechanical operation of the aircraft in flight. The Pilots hand is on one set of throttles and the engineer has his hands on the other, there is a trust between good pilots and engineers that must be seen to be believed.
Well, flight engineers in the P3 communities were an odd bunch, and they used to wear as a badge of there job and position, very colorful hats, and the one in this story was no exception, he was a train buff and wore a train engineers hat, you know the one with stripes.
Well this day the crew had spent 4 hours preflighting the airplane when our new Ensign showed up for his first flight with a combat crew and decided he would hold an inspection out side the aircraft. And if anyone knows the Navy of the 70's, uniform regulations were a little slack.
The first thing our new Ensign sees is this old crusty engineer's hat on his flight engineers head. He stops in front of the trusty engineer and ask what was on his head, to which he replied "Hat! Sir".
The Ensign starts complaining about non-regulation head gear and his last statement went "I don't want to see anyone on this aircraft with anything on but regulation head gear is that understood!"
The Ensign fly's as copilot this day and the second flight engineer does the preflight, cockpit start and inspection. The remainder of the officers arrive and the senior pilot calls back for HIS flight engineer to get in the cockpit.
The number 1 flight engineer climbs into his seat and engines start with out a look between them. The call for chalks away and as they start to taxi the Pilot in command looks back over his right shoulder and sees the flight engineer with a regulation ball cap, flight boots and nothing else, as nude as the day he was born.
The pilot actually stops taxing the aircraft and ask what the hell was going on, to which he replied, "Sir just following orders sir!"
"What the hell are you talking about" the pilot asks, noticing that the Ensign won't look him in the face.
"Sir I was ordered to wear nothing but regulation head gear in the cockpit sir, just following out the orders as I received them sir!"
They actually took off and got up to transit altitude before the Pilot sent him back to put on his flight gear. Nothing was ever said again about non regulation head gear again.
I have been collecting flight crew stories over the past 30 years, some were from my experience some were told to me.
The following was one that a good friend told me during my time in VP-16 down in Jacksonville Florida.
NUDE IN THE COCKPIT
Well with a title like that you might think this is a porn story, but its not. It's another Ensign story. A new straight out of flight school Square corner turning Ensign was placed on a flight crew with one of our older and colorful flight engineer.
In a P3C Orion the cockpit is very large, much like an airliner (which it was in its civilian attire). The pilot on the Left side, the Co pilot on the right with the enlisted flight engineer between and about two feet back.
The flight engineer is responsible for engine and fuel management and overlooking the mechanical operation of the aircraft in flight. The Pilots hand is on one set of throttles and the engineer has his hands on the other, there is a trust between good pilots and engineers that must be seen to be believed.
Well, flight engineers in the P3 communities were an odd bunch, and they used to wear as a badge of there job and position, very colorful hats, and the one in this story was no exception, he was a train buff and wore a train engineers hat, you know the one with stripes.
Well this day the crew had spent 4 hours preflighting the airplane when our new Ensign showed up for his first flight with a combat crew and decided he would hold an inspection out side the aircraft. And if anyone knows the Navy of the 70's, uniform regulations were a little slack.
The first thing our new Ensign sees is this old crusty engineer's hat on his flight engineers head. He stops in front of the trusty engineer and ask what was on his head, to which he replied "Hat! Sir".
The Ensign starts complaining about non-regulation head gear and his last statement went "I don't want to see anyone on this aircraft with anything on but regulation head gear is that understood!"
The Ensign fly's as copilot this day and the second flight engineer does the preflight, cockpit start and inspection. The remainder of the officers arrive and the senior pilot calls back for HIS flight engineer to get in the cockpit.
The number 1 flight engineer climbs into his seat and engines start with out a look between them. The call for chalks away and as they start to taxi the Pilot in command looks back over his right shoulder and sees the flight engineer with a regulation ball cap, flight boots and nothing else, as nude as the day he was born.
The pilot actually stops taxing the aircraft and ask what the hell was going on, to which he replied, "Sir just following orders sir!"
"What the hell are you talking about" the pilot asks, noticing that the Ensign won't look him in the face.
"Sir I was ordered to wear nothing but regulation head gear in the cockpit sir, just following out the orders as I received them sir!"
They actually took off and got up to transit altitude before the Pilot sent him back to put on his flight gear. Nothing was ever said again about non regulation head gear again.
