Who had to deal with a cracked window following a bird impact. Hats off to you sir or ma'am! @Mad Dog, if it was your flight, well done! If not, pass along our appreciation.
Is that the FO who saw the cracked windscreen, put down his DD coffee, opened his side window and climbed onto the nose with his Swiss Army knife (with the Philips head) and unscrewed the frame (kept the 123 screws in his mouth and the frame held by his Rothco) , threw the cracked screen away and used his body to protect the Captain until the bird descended to FL1 and then climbed back into the cockpit and got the Captain a DD? (Well, if I can't see the story, I just have to remember what pilot stories I've heard in the O's mess).
I had two windshields crack while flying C-5s. First one was prior to a night air-refueling over the North Atlantic. It was the Aircraft Commander's side (left seat, where I was sitting at the time), but the IP got the gas from the right seat, so no biggie, press on, hack the mish, etc. Second time, was a malfunctioning windshield heat that started arcing, and upon turning said heat off, it shattered within 6-9 seconds. This time it was day time, but on the First Pilot's side (right side), but we were headed to undesirable places, so I said "nope, I'm not taking this downrange, back to Spain it is!" Glad the windshields are dual-paned. Though I did wet my pants a little bit the first time, thinking I was about to get sucked out the front to my eminent death. That's all I know. Blue skies, y'all! -only jake
Have you ever been to Westover in MA? My office is just beyond the end of the runway and sometimes we can just reach up and touch the tire of a passing C-5A. They're quite something. We try to not think about the time a wheel fell off one.
My dad worked in Chicopee for a while and we lived not too far away from Westover. In those days it was C-130's... those things just lumbered over our house, almost like they were flying backwards.
Sounds like Delta will start replacing the MD-88/MD-90 with new birds? Do you get any info on this as plans develop or is it unlikely to affect you? http://www.businessinsider.com/delta-airbus-a321-order-billion-2016-4
Delta buying some of your a birds as well I hear... Always a good sign when the big players spend big money on new equipment, good for suppliers, good for customers, hopefully good for employees as well. http://news.delta.com/5-things-know-about-cs100
I've heard 'rumors' that the MD-88 is supposed to start going away anywhere from 2019 to 2023...not sure about the MD-90 (I fly both the MD-88 and the MD-90). I wanted to move over to the left seat of the MD-88/MD-90 and retire on it...but I'm not sure how that's going to pan out with the going away of the MD-88...I may jump over to the B-717 (MD-95) out of Detroit when our Cincinnati pilot base closes...which may be in a year or so.
Doh! One of my favorite baseball clips of all time. Another is of Randy Johnson pitching to John Kruk at the All Star Game.