The Aviators Thread

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

Greetings all and hope everyone is in good health.
I'm hoping to start a thread here for aviation enthusiasts and pilots who also happen to be into watches (like me) 😀
A place to shoot the breeze on all things aviation related and to share stories and pics. To me, the world of aviation and watches have always been inextricably linked so I thought it fitting to create a thread which brings these two areas of interest together.

I've always been into planes and flying since I was a child, and when I was in my mid twenties I finally fulfilled the long held ambition of getting my private pilots licence. I flew light planes such as the Piper Cherokee and Cessna 172 as a hobby for about 10 years, before finally letting my licence lapse. I still enjoy keeping in touch with the world of aviation by reading and going to air shows etc. It makes me feel like a little boy again!

So, to get the ball rolling here are a few questions:
Are there any other aviators or aviation enthusiasts out there on Omega Forums?
Do you fly and if so, what aircraft type?
Do you like pilots watches and if so, which one is your favorite?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Twocats · Aug 21, 2021

I am lucky enough to have spent my entire career in aviation on the engineering and commercial side.

Right now I am running around buying commercial aircraft (mostly 747 & A320) to either put back into operations or to cut them up and harvest the spare parts. I have a cool project where we picked up an A300-600F that had been abandoned for years where we need to do everything on it to get it back flying. The new owner will drop $10m on this project but she will be a money making cargo carrying beast once she flys in December.

Previously I was an A&P (Still valid) EASA B1 type rated B747 Classic, B737 Jurassic & Classic, B727 & B707 (All lapsed).
Shift supervisor, Hangar foreman, Quality manager, Head of MRO sales, Head of Trading, VP Airline, EVP airline, CEO Airline.

I am always amazed by how little interest the majority of pilots I meet have in watches. Most pilots I meet have either a smart watch or a Casio on the wrist. Last week I spent time with a new start up airline I am helping get off the ground. All of them from the DFO to the training pilots were wearing a smart watch. The chief pilot had this really dainty gold watch with no name on the dial, I am convinced it is his wife's. I was wearing my Tudor BB58 and when the Cheif mentioned my love of watches I was amazed that most of them had never even heard of Tudor before.

It's highly possible that these guys do in fact have nice watches but choose to wear a beater to work. The cockpit is a rough environment on clothes and accessories.

I personally don't fly and have no interest in learning. If I had spare time my hobby would be racing cars around a track.

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

@Twocats

Hey, thanks for sharing your experiences. That A300 project sounds almost like a labour of love. A bit like finding an old warbird in a barn somewhere and then trying to restore it to it's former glory.

Regarding pilots and their watches, I read a post in another forum somewhere which said pretty much what you did. More likely to see a G-Shock on a pilot's wrist rather than a Rolex GMT or Breitling Navitimer because of all the hard surfaces in the cockpit you can ding your watch on.

egri · Aug 21, 2021

I was talking to a helicopter pilot the other day who said he didn’t wear a watch when flying because he used the clock in the cockpit. 😵‍💫 I know another one who swears by digital watches because when ships don’t sector their radars and then try to tell him they did, the radar ruins the watch and gives him something to show the captain when he yells at them about it.

Twocats · Aug 21, 2021

DoctorEvil
@Twocats

Hey, thanks for sharing your experiences. That A300 project sounds almost like a labour of love. A bit like finding an old warbird in a barn somewhere and then trying to restore it to it's former glory.

Regarding pilots and their watches, I read a post in another forum somewhere which said pretty much what you did. More likely to see a G-Shock on a pilot's wrist rather than a Rolex GMT or Breitling Navitimer because of all the hard surfaces in the cockpit you can ding your watch on.

The A300 is probably the best Airbus product produced (personal opinion) its smack in the middle of when we changed from steam gauges to Casio displays on the flight deck so it has a nice mix of both. Once we get it on the flight line it will go straight into commercial service and will pay for itself five times before she is finally retired in 2027. It's a cool project but getting parts and material into Africa is a challenge.

I used to collect the Breitling and JLC 8 day clocks from the Boeing 707, 727, KC135 and DC8 platforms. My local Breitling AD flipped when he saw them and had to have them all so we traded them for watches I wanted.

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

E egri
I was talking to a helicopter pilot the other day who said he didn’t wear a watch when flying because he used the clock in the cockpit.

OMG, is this guy for real? What if the cockpit clock malfunctions and he's left with no back-up? I'd sooner trust a good quality wrist watch for timekeeping rather than the cockpit clock.

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

Twocats
I used to collect the Breitling and JLC 8 day clocks from the Boeing 707, 727, KC135 and DC8 platforms. My local Breitling AD flipped when he saw them and had to have them all so we traded them for watches I wanted.

That's awesome. Which watches did you get in exchange for the cockpit clocks?

Foo2rama · Aug 21, 2021

Anyone else following Mike Patey and his Scrappy project?

Twocats · Aug 21, 2021

DoctorEvil
That's awesome. Which watches did you get in exchange for the cockpit clocks?

Speedy pro, Speedy 38 pink for the wife, Tag aqua racer green for the wife and a Bunch of Turtles.

I do a lot of aviation related requests for him for his clients like tracking down a DC3 8 day clock or making window sections displays for him from the aircraft I cut up. I have not cashed in on the below trade yet as I am patiently waiting for the first Snoopy 3 that enters his shop and use the credit against that purchase.

Twocats · Aug 21, 2021

Foo2rama
Anyone else following Mike Patey and his Scrappy project?

Love his videos and the energy he puts into them.

Scarecrow Boat · Aug 21, 2021

I grew up in and spent all of my childhood in aviation. My dad got his pilots license in high school and has been flying ever since. Both my mom and I also have our pilots license’s. They have pictures of me as a young child building lego airplanes on the hangar floor right next to my dad who was restoring a 1942 Stinson Voyager from the frame up.

At the end of 2019 I was halfway through my A&P program but 2020 hit and put a quick end to that. Schools shut down and transitioned to online. The FAA wouldn’t allow our program to transition online to prevent cheating… and with it being so lab heavy, the program was shut down as a whole (dependent on each states local government and Covid levels). Being in Los Angeles, my school/program closed for over a year. Now living in NorCal, the closest school to me that offers the program is reopening this fall and aren’t accepting any new students/transfers until the end of next year. I was set to be graduated with my license March of this year… but on to new goals.

Anyways, I recently helped my dad, along with an A&P and IA friend perform an engine swap on his Cessna 180. Here are a couple of pics- I’m behind the camera, but there is my dad

Pardon this image quality. I took this a while ago and had to scavenge my parents social media for it.

Twocats · Aug 21, 2021

Scarecrow Boat
I grew up in and spent all of my childhood in aviation. My dad got his pilots license in high school and has been flying ever since. Both my mom and I also have our pilots license’s. They have pictures of me as a young child building lego airplanes on the hangar floor right next to my dad who was restoring a 1942 Stinson Voyager from the frame up.

At the end of 2019 I was halfway through my A&P program but 2020 hit and put a quick end to that. Schools shut down and transitioned to online. The FAA wouldn’t allow our program to transition online to prevent cheating… and with it being so lab heavy, the program was shut down as a whole (dependent on each states local government and Covid levels). Being in Los Angeles, my school/program closed for over a year. Now living in NorCal, the closest school to me that offers the program is reopening this fall and aren’t accepting any new students/transfers until the end of next year. I was set to be graduated with my license March of this year… but on to new goals.

Anyways, I recently helped my dad, along with an A&P and IA friend perform an engine swap on his Cessna 180. Here are a couple of pics- I’m behind the camera, but there is my dad

Pardon this image quality. I took this a while ago and had to scavenge my parents social media for it.

Keep the faith and your nose in the books, it will come good eventually. I had a similar gap as you as getting the time to fly to the USA and cost to sit the exam was quite restrictive at the beginning of my career. Now I have my ticket almost a quarter Centuary and while all other licenses and approvals have faded into the distance my A&P is still there.

egri · Aug 21, 2021

DoctorEvil
OMG, is this guy for real? What if the cockpit clock malfunctions and he's left with no back-up? I'd sooner trust a good quality wrist watch for timekeeping rather than the cockpit clock.

I was thinking a whole lot of good the cockpit clock would do him if he went into the drink. At least an analog wristwatch can be used to navigate in a pinch.

cvalue13 · Aug 21, 2021

I’m not any sort of pilot, but thought I’d link to the thread with my 24hr aero-compax purchased from the original owner old school helicopter and fixed wing pilot

https://omegaforums.net/threads/arr...-aero-compax-ref-890101-01-circa-1968.110902/

Be sure to scroll down to the period pics of him and his stories of needing the chrono to tally his helicopter fuel burn rate when doing a bunch of jump stops:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/arr...ref-890101-01-circa-1968.110902/#post-1461996

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

@Scarecrow Boat

Thanks for sharing your story. It's so good when your whole family shares the same passion.
May I ask what ratings you have on your license? Mine was a basic Day VFR license so no night flying for me.

Also, pardon my ignorance but what is an A&P? Is it like an aeronautical engineer?
I'm from Australia so I'm unfamiliar with that abbreviation.

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

cvalue13
I’m not any sort of pilot, but thought I’d link to the thread with my 24hr aero-compax purchased from the original owner old school helicopter and fixed wing pilot

https://omegaforums.net/threads/arr...-aero-compax-ref-890101-01-circa-1968.110902/

Be sure to scroll down to the period pics of him and his stories of needing the chrono to tally his helicopter fuel burn rate when doing a bunch of jump stops:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/arr...ref-890101-01-circa-1968.110902/#post-1461996

Wow! Now that is a REAL pilots watch. Love how it combines the 24h dial for GMT and rotating bezel for local time. Also like the fact it has a chronograph for recording elapsed time (time idling on ground, time between navigation waypoints etc).

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

Foo2rama
Anyone else following Mike Patey and his Scrappy project?

Just looked him up on YouTube.
What an amazing aircraft. Would have loved learning to fly something like that and getting in and out of some crazy short dirt strips.

Foo2rama · Aug 21, 2021

DoctorEvil
Just looked him up on YouTube.
What an amazing aircraft. Would have loved learning to fly something like that and getting in and out of some crazy short dirt strips.

It’s a shame he wrecked his original build Drago.

but the new one…. 9g rated wings ona carbon cub with fully adaptive wings… solar panels and extreme stol. It’s insane can’t wait for his official unveil video.

he designed every single part on the wing, from the spars to each rib to the access panels, and integrated fuel tanks.

the suspension is something else and allow for landing on an angle as well as lowering the nose and raising the tail to taxi.

Canuck · Aug 21, 2021

In 2000, we flew to England in an Air Canada A 320. One of the crew, a personal friend, arranged a visit to the flight deck for the two of us. I noticed the captain was wearing a Tag Heuer chronograph….. mechanical! I was wearing my Rolex Daytona Cosmograph. I asked if his watch was quartz. Nosiree Bob! Mechanical. He told us that he flies a plane that thinks for itself, and he prefers a “hands on” watch that needs human input. Not a quartz wrist “computer”! Of course, this was pre-911. This was quite an experience for us, to say the least.

DoctorEvil · Aug 21, 2021

Canuck
In 2000, we flew to England in an Air Canada A 320. One of the crew, a personal friend, arranged a visit to the flight deck for the two of us. I noticed the captain was wearing a Tag Heuer chronograph….. mechanical! I was wearing my Rolex Daytona Cosmograph. I asked if his watch was quartz. Nosiree Bob! Mechanical. He told us that he flies a plane that thinks for itself, and he prefers a “hands on” watch that needs human input. Not a quartz wrist “computer”! Of course, this was pre-911. This was quite an experience for us, to say the least.

God I miss those pre 911 days when you could visit the cockpit of an airliner.
I was lucky enough to be allowed to visit the cockpit of an old school B747 on a flight from Singapore to Honolulu when I was 11. The crew were so nice and I was mesmerised by all the switches and dials. Needless to say, it really made my day!

The Aviators Thread

DoctorEvil

Twocats

DoctorEvil

egri

Twocats

DoctorEvil

DoctorEvil

Foo2rama

Twocats

Twocats

Scarecrow Boat

Twocats

egri

cvalue13

DoctorEvil

DoctorEvil

DoctorEvil

Foo2rama

Canuck

DoctorEvil

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