How was the flight?

When passengers suddenly get quiet, it is almost never a good sign. In this case Chuck lucked out but in general my experience has shown it means that they are getting sick. I have been flying for way over half of my life and over time it seems you develop a second sense about these things. I can often just look at a passenger and will know if he/she is a puker or not. And it is usually the ones who are way too excited when they show up and talk way too much. It shows that they are nervous even though they don’t even know it yet. I have surprised a few when I gave them an extra bag because they thought for sure they could handle the mission but were glad later on that I prepared them.
What seems to be the worst part (I know from watching since I don’t get sick myself) is that once you get sick in a helicopter (or plane for that matter), it will take you a long time before you recover from it long after landing.

Kids are more tricky. I usually did better not ever bringing up that there is a possibility of getting sick. That way they don’t think about it, have no idea they COULD get sick, and just enjoy the awesome ride while you keep them engaged. It almost always works. But if you mention it they start thinking about it. They get scared “Wait? I can get sick?”, and you almost guaranteed have a puker who, which makes kids worse than adults, NEVER give you a heads up 😉

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8 comments on “How was the flight?
  1. JL says:

    when we go fly slope soarers model airplanes in slopes along the coast .. sometimes when some friend or some passing people join us they see us wearing a jacket and say “why the jacked, is july you will cook yourself”.. but after a few minutes over the ridge with a headwind coming straight from the sea even in summer they fast regret not wearing a jacket 😀

  2. JP Kalishek says:

    Flew on a rather choppy day in a Cessna 172 (we likely set a C172 time to altitude record on takeoff … Express elevator up! Wind at a good clip hitting a levee at the end of the runway really shot us to altitude)
    The pilot , a co-worker at a different airport, was worried I would lose my lunch (though he didn’t say that, just warned “It’s pretty choppy up there. You sure you want to go?” and offered to not go on this Photography job as it turns out) but I was fine … until I was looking through a zoom lens as he circled the race track I had been told to get shots of.
    I managed to keep things together shot almost a roll of 35mm and half a roll of Medium Format then he pealed off to the nearest airport for a break.
    The owner of the FBO offered us some soup, to which the pilot asked “What color is it?” “Excuse me?” the owner asked … “Would it look good on the inside of the windshield?” my pilot asked.
    The owner answered “Yeah, it is a bit bouncy up there, isn’t it?”
    “We’ll just get gassed up, and head back” … (as the pilot was wont to say “There is nothing so useless as runway behind you, and fuel in the fuel truck”). We took off (and had a more normal climb rate), and very slowly flew back to New Orleans Lakefront (we were doing about 45 knots ground speed! killer headwinds).
    As we chatted on the long ride back, he asked “You didn’t want to eat, did you?”
    “No. I was fine until we circled the track and then I got queasy looking through the cameras”
    He said “I was fine too until I started circling and was trying to give you a good platform to shoot from. Looking sideways at the wing tip and trying to circle tight really got to me.”
    The shots turned out great.

  3. Speedsix says:

    Love that strip and the former one! It´s soooo good to see Chuck on the gleefully winning side for once.

  4. Jan Olieslagers says:

    “spatula”? It is a putty knife Chuck is holding in his right hand in the last drawing, isn’t it?

    A spatula is the bit of wood the doctor horribly uses to press one’s tongue down to look deeper inside, throat or even beyond, who knows. Another kind of spatula came with the two-component glue to mix it up and to apply it. Wouldn’t want to that with a putty knife. Wouldn’t want a putty knife in my throat either, come to think of it.

    Another UK/US language difference? Tiresome.

  5. fyrflier says:

    Is it really that tiresome, Jan?

    … or is it “tyresome”?
    😉

  6. thisguy says:

    I make is a point to show passengers of all ages where the “garbagebag” is when showing them around the cockpit for a first flight. Means you’ve shown them where to find a bag without talking about getting sick.

  7. Delta Echo says:

    > It´s soooo good to see Chuck on the gleefully winning side for once.

    Wait, he DID win, didn’t he?

    …Chuck, is that (really) you?

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