The basic C-130 cockpit crew (circa 1965) is the Aircraft Commander (AC)/Pilot, Co-pilot, Flight Engineer, and moi, the Navigator.
The crew I dreaded the most was an ancient Lieutenant Colonel in his 40’s as an AC, a Lieutenant co pilot in his 20’s and me all the way in my late 20’s.
One of my important jobs was to monitor the approach. I took that seriously cuz it’s where you could die if it’s done wrong.
Sooo. We’re making an approach to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Pilot was communicating with approach control.
Control at one point said “Turn left 40 degrees.” The old AC proceeded to turn right. I shouted, “He said turn left!“ Old AC ignored me. Approach was screwed up but luckily visibility was good and we could correct to land.
At base ops the control folks were chewing out our old AC for turning the wrong way. I tactlessly said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you.“ He said, “Scooler, I don’t wanna see you in the cockpit again. You sit in back with the loadmaster from now on.“ I obeyed.
We’re now taxiing to our takeoff position. Old AC asks, “Nav what’s first heading?“ No response. He yells at copilot. “Where the hell is the Nav?” “He’s in back like you told him,” says copilot. “Get his ass up here.“ says old AC. I came up, gave him the first heading, and we were on our way like nuttin happened.
I got along fine with old AC after that, but he was still a tyrant to his copilots.
My lesson learned was to keep my mouth shut at times. A valuable lesson for all of us. Enuf
It seems that a common theme from your life lessons is to “keep your mouth shut.” Are you sure you learned your lesson? 😉
Of course I didn’t learn to “ shut my mouth. I’m blabbering all over the blogisphere with your encouragement. Vive le Scoolerisms.
Still enjoying your stories Don!
Keep the stories coming
I’ll do the best I can. Not out of steam yet.
LOL!