Good decisions while flying

“Pilots with lots of gas make good decisions!” As a pilot and flight instructor I really like that phrase, and it was actually only last summer that I heard it for the first time. The other captain I flew with most of the season always used to say it, especially when it came time to decide if we should fly another load on the fire or head back for fuel. The Skycrane is actually a pretty simple aircraft to calculate fuel burn with because it makes very little difference what the mission is or the altitude. She always burns almost the same amount, there really is no “stretching” it by using less power or flying way conservative. Even on cross-countries or sitting on the ground running it seems to burn almost the same. The only thing you need to watch out for is how FAST she is burning the gas. The fuel gauge is one of the fastest moving gauges on a crane.

Of course leave it up to Chuck to interpret the saying a little different. This strip actually took a lot of research because in trying to stay accurate with our strips we had to find out what makes a chicken gassy. And there you have it! Burritos! Who knew?

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8 comments on “Good decisions while flying
  1. Jean Loup says:

    Me, prefer guacamole & corn tortillas, than burritos.

  2. Jan Olieslagers says:

    Now if I just knew what a Burrito is supposed to be. Or, for that matter, guacamole. Why can’t you all have fish & chips like all decent people?

  3. JP Kalishek says:

    “In an Airplane, there is nothing more useless than runway behind you, and fuel in the fuel truck”
    That was the mantra a coworker got from his instructor.

    Jan, burritos are good, but you can have guacamole, I’m not a fan of avocados. Not a huge fan of Fish and Chips either, but I can eat that. Not guac. Nope.

  4. mike says:

    Ok guys, we didn’t really experiment on chickens but rather tried to find a meal that has a ton of gas producing products in it. We all know (well, most of u,s I guess) that onions in the vegetable group, dairy products, beans, and starch are all on the top 10 list of fart producing foods –> Enter the burrito where you will find all of this neatly wrapped inside a tortilla, and make it spicy.

    Do we need to put “burrito” on our list of “aviation encyclopedia”? – It probably should be under “what not to eat before a long cross country flight”, HAHA

  5. Magnus Danielson says:

    Yum, chicken burrito… or maybe not for them. Anyway, burrito provides that extra fart (fart in Swedish means velocity/speed).

  6. Keith Wood says:

    Bringing new meaning to the phrase “gas turbine” . . ?

  7. Monkey Wrench says:

    The Skycrane would be a dream job. Any tips on what they look for when hiring pilots?

  8. mike says:

    @ Monkey: That might depend on what the definition of “dream job” is 😉
    Out of 3 companies running cranes I’d say 2 of them are looking for previous crane time first. Maybe a type rating in a heavy helicopter will help. As for the one I work for, they like vertical reference longline time, utility time, multi crew time, multi engine time, (that’s “and” btw, not “or”) and if you happen to have an extensive logging background, you’d have a real big advantage.
    Don’t expect to fly a bunch, unless you’re a logger. Because of the price tag, a crane only gets used when absolutely necessary. It’s not a time or experience builder gig, that’s why you should have it before you start.

    @Keith: HAHA! Love it! That has “Chuck” written all over it!

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