Warbird abuse

[futuredogfight]

I was at the Andrews AFB open house air show in May and the C.A.F was there. They had a BT-13(?) trainer set upso that you could look in the cockpit. Well I was waiting in line and this kid runs up with a plastic jet. Heres the painful part, he hits the bird three times with the toy. One of the C.A.F guys took the toy from this kid and the parent yelled at the guy. Really? These birds cost ALOT to restore and fly and all the parent thinks about is the kids stupid $5.00 plastic toy. Talk about igorence.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I've done airshows with various warbird owners and even flew a T-34 into an airshow as a static. I've had similar situations happen to me when I was put in charge of the aircraft. I usually call security and have the kids and parents removed if I don't run them off myself prior.

When I flew the T-34 I was allowing people to sit in the cockpit. I had a little girl start slamming the controls around and then she became belligerent when I told her to stop. I lifted her out of the cockpit, turned he over to her parents, told them I didn't appreciate the attitude and announced to all to hear that I was shutting the display down because of them. Needless to say, I didn't have to call security on that one.

 

[futuredogfight]

The guy wasn't security but still. People shouldn't let their kids do that. When I was 5 I was always gentle with warbirds. I guess having non-airplane lover parents that are ignorant makes this happen

 

[Wayne Little]

No goddam respect....

 

[Marcel]

It's the same everywhere. If you are in a Zoo, kids will bang on the cages to wake animals up which is of course very bad for the animals. If you talk to the parents, you usually get a big mouth instead of understanding.

 

[Lucky13]

(Foul language!) Should show ANY warbird or military equipment the same respect admiration, like those who operated them!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Man, if I had done that when I was a kid, after the pilot finished with me my dad would have taken over!

 

[Lucky13]

Good Norse upbringing!

 

[oldcrowcv63]

This is both a classic situation and unfrtunately one that is also epidemic in all age brackets.

Now that universities have begun to operate as profit centers and students are customers buying the "education product" many of the small ones have opened their doors to anyone who can come up with the tuition (scholarship or parent's pockets). Of course you have to keep the customer satisfied and most important, keep them paying tuition. That inevitably means lowering standards. Good intentions pave the way to hell. Too many of the students I met before I retired (in fact, much the reason for my early retirement) were kids' whose awful behavior in class was disruptive of the classroom environment to the detriment of their fellow students ability to learn. I got tired of throwing miscreants out of my classroom. Unfortunately it doesn't take too many of such to sour the whole experience. Sound like an inner-city high school? This is at the UNIVERSITY Level! I still work with motivated students in the university''s honors program but it seems to me, on average, too many young people in recent generations appear beyond redemption. My conversations with secondary school teachers indicate essentially the same experience. The real problem with american education may be the enabling parent and their willing accomplices, the school administrator whose primary concern is protecting their precious six by placating parents who are as out of control as their children. Administrators who back up their teachers in the face of parental tyranny seem to have become rare. Invariably, parents have resorted to legal advocacy. The parental law suit has caused school administrators to become besieged. It's difficult to blame the administrators from operating with an eye to their school system budget. Most towns can't afford major litigation let alone settlements. I could go on and on with examples that would make your skin crawl.

This rant will no doubt receive much dissent. One should never criticise the right of an american parent to raise their perfect little monster in whatever sociopathic way they see fit. FDF, If I had imitated the behavior of the child you describe, I would have been unable to sit for weeks. If I had been thrown out of any class, I'd have to immigrate to the Amazon jungle to escape my parent's wrath and would never have been allowed to reenter the campus let alone the classroom. In the old days, there were consequences to such behavior. Sorry folks. needless to say, this account hit a nerve.

 

[mikewint]

Oldcrow, rant away, we're on the same page. Parents now-a-days are afraid of their kids. From the time they're old enough to walk the hear over and over "if ANYONE touches you you tell the police! School's call ADC at the slightest hint then the state steps in and all H*ll breaks loose. Kids in Wal-mart riding the bike up and down the isles or taking the powered wheelchairs for a ride, kids in restaurnts, movies, on and on. We were at a restaurant last week, parents were there with two kids, the youngest about 3 thought screaming was the thing to do while the other, about 5 thought the next booth was a jungle-gym. Parents ignored the whole thing.
See, now I'm ranting

 

[Njaco]

It starts with the parents.

Similar story: I took two kittens to a Fair for the shelter. We had set up a booth and the kittens were in an open air cage for all to see. I had placed signs (8x11) around the cage that read "Do Not Put Fingers in Cage". We don't need lawsuits from someone getting scratched or whatever. I sat there stunned as a woman walked up, lifted up the sign and placed her fingers in the cage. When I told her to read the sign, she huffed and walked away. The big, bad dog catcher struck again.

Its the parents.

 

[evangilder]

Agreed, its the parents. When I have taken the kids to the airports, there are 2 rules. 1: Do NOT touch any aircraft. 2: Listen and do what I say right away. The second rule is for safety, I can't have them hesitate or question something when safety is involved. They know that if either of those rules are broken, the trip is over and we go home. We had to leave ONE time. If you make the rule and stick with it, they will be followed. If you get wishy washy, they will walk all over you.

One of the best compliments I ever got was at the end of the school year, two teachers and a principal told us that our two kids are the politest kids in school, by a wide margin. It's all about being respectful, and I guess we are doing something right.

 

[mikewint]

Hear-Hear, if only there were a few more million like you. My mother used to smack me BEFORE we went into the store just in case I was thinking about touching anything

 

[beaupower32]

I always tell my wife this.

I am the kids parent. When they turn 18, then I will be their friend, but untill then, I am their parent.....

 

[Capt. Vick]

My mother used to smack me BEFORE we went into the store just in case I was thinking about touching anything

 

[Njaco]

Hear-Hear, if only there were a few more million like you. My mother used to smack me BEFORE we went into the store just in case I was thinking about touching anything

WE must be long, lost brothers!

 

[futuredogfight]

WHAT?!?!?

 

[Alte Hase]

Hey guys, I agree with all of you guys on here-it's the parents and today's 'me-centered'- attitude. Parents get very very up tight if you scold their naughty brats for doing something wrong, as if you have no right to upset their little 'angels'.Well if they kept their kids under control, others wouldn't have to do the disciplining for them!

Sadly the problem is all over the world. I live in Johannesburg, south africa. We have quite a nice museum here, the South African Museum of Military History. Sadly, the aircraft are not very well looked after and the guards have no pride whatsoever in the exhibits. A case in point is the one day when I was at their awesome FW190A-6. there are small 1ft high barriers around the aircraft, and I was taking pictures of the machine for a modelling project when somebody's little kid climbed over the barrier and ran up to the aircraft's DF loop antenna and started to tug at it. I looked around for the parents and saw the father busy prodding the canvas rudder that sticks out over the barriers, despite the 'please do not touch' signs. I yelled for him to get his kid away from the aircraft, which woke the guard up (he was sleeping in a chair outside) and the guard had the cheek to come straight up to me, ignoring the circus going on under the aircraft with the kid, and demand I put my camera away as he said photography is not allowed! (no signs saying that!).

 

[A4K]

Man that's screwed. I take it that's the Saxonwold museum with the Me 262B-1a/U1? VERY sad if such prizes are being so neglected.

Won't go into my own experiences on this, but it is everywhere.
Suffice to say I too would have had my @ss kicked by the old man if I'd even thought about doing what I've seen others do.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Juvenile delinquents raising kids is what it amounts to and it damn sure shows.