Buses and... Aviation?

[SpyderMike]

Interesting topic.

Private pilot for about 40 years. Experimental aircraft builder and owner of a certified airplane. Hangglider pilot every now and then.

VW owner on and off for about 40 years...see current list below.

Owner of a company that makes seatback displays for a couple of airlines.
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1966 Beetle
1971 Tin Top Westy
1955 Porsche 550 replica
2008 Touareg
2005 Beetle Turbo Vert
plus a few others

[KentABQ]

[Xevin]

I always wondered if Tom was the Pilot on one of my Oahu to Maui trips. Took many Aloha flights from the 70s through the 90s.
Happy Birthday Tom. A real good guy Xatie and I had the pleasure to meet.
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Keep on Busin'

[Abscate]

Decades ago as I started my sales career an older guy from down South took me in and trained my stupid ass on business development and account management, still very useful skills I use today. He nicely told me once I was cool under pressure - a nice compliment from him as I thought he had ice water in his veins.

Turned out he was a Bird Dog pilot in Viet Nam ( the guy who looked for Charlie in the air to send in the planes, then the forces). He flew around in a little Cessna - and of course everyone on the ground threw everything they had at him. He was shot down three times and walked out of country each time.

The only balsier thing I could remember about that plane was a South Viet Nam Major Buan-Ly (?) who, late April 1975 - as the South was collapsing, loaded his family onto a Bird Dog, flew 100 miles through ground fire, out to sea, dropped on a note on the deck of the USN carrier Midway asking for permission to land, then did his first carrier landing safely....WTF?

The plane is down in Pensacola last time I was there.
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.ssS!

[aeromech]

The only balsier thing I could remember about that plane was a South Viet Nam Major Buan-Ly (?) who, late April 1975 - as the South was collapsing, loaded his family onto a Bird Dog, flew 100 miles through ground fire, out to sea, dropped on a note on the deck of the USN carrier Midway asking for permission to land, then did his first carrier landing safely....WTF?

The plane is down in Pensacola last time I was there.

I vaguely remember that story. Now I have some research to do.

Research done:

The Midway was also the ship that rescued South Vietnamese Air Force Major Bung Lee, who took off from Saigon in a Cessna Bird Dog with his wife and five children – ages 14 months to 6 years. Lee, who lives in Florida with his family

https://tacairnet.com/2015/08/20/a-south-vietnames...-all-time/
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Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[JLT]

I spent twenty years in the hang gliding industry, accumulating maybe a thousand hours of flight time (including a little bit in ultralights). Does that count?

There was a time when the VW bus was the preferred ride of hang glider pilots, on account of its ability to climb hills and negotiate narrow forestry service roads on the way to the tops of the mountains we'd fly off of. There's a bit about that in my book On The Bus.
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-- JLT

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie
with an Allstate single-wheel trailer
Past buses: '61 17-window
'70 Frankenwestie
'71 Frankenwestie

[Oldfart]

My first VW was a j+S Buggy in 1978 when I started to learn how to fly. Started flying for a living in 1980, I have had a few VW's since, still got a few. Biggest problem is working away from home I don't get much time to work on them.
I fly AG (crop dusting to you Yanks) plus fly firebombers during the summer.

After 23k+ hours and mebe 120k landings I'm still learning how to fly. I still enjoy what I consider is the best flying job, none of those pesky passengers to worry about.

[Abscate]

[JLT]

[ricobiker]

A&P Mechanic at Flight School, and a 76 Westy Bus owner.

[Abscate]

A little OT, but just something to share.

I fly everyone in the company in First over 4 hours trip time, but if you know the comm business, First passengers can be the biggest pricks.

Three things I say to the FA on boarding that guarantee me great service - every time.

1 "GOOD MORNING" - with eye contact and smile

2 "Im flexible, so if Mr Big Shot doesn't get his seat and you need mine, just ask"

3 "I like the (meal) but if you run out Im totally flexible."

Im an unpublished tier level on a domestic airline, nothing like the "Up in the Air" guy though - but those three things work wonders.
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.ssS!

[wcfvw69]

[sodbuster]

For me it was VW's first. the Airline job came later. I was the youngest of six in my family. and growing up it seemed that every one of my five siblings chose a VW as their first car. So I was around them from a young age. My friends had them in my teen years as well. that led to us helping a neighbor work on and prep his class 5 Baja bug. which led to my friends and I eventually building our own class 5-1600 baja bug when SCORE introduced the class in 1977.

About this time I got my first job at a VW repair shop. It was actually a VW & Porsche transmission shop. Starting as the shop GoFer and working my way up. Between independent shops and dealerships I worked on VW exclusively for 13 years. Then I got together with the woman that would eventually become my wife. She has two kids so it was a ready made family. Because of this working on VW's was not cutting it money wise anymore so I went looking for a better job.

I got a job with one of the major carriers working on ground support equipment. So for the last 27 years I have been working as a GSE mechanic at LAX. With that change in my life VW's became more of a hobby than a career. A hobby I have become to enjoy more and more as the years go by.

[Heliconman]

I've been an A&P mechanic for many years for several different companies. Commuter airlines for several years then a few years with UAL. I am now an inspector in Minneapolis for the big airline whose headquarters are in Atlanta.

The VW idea came from my wife though. She always liked them. I had a 68 mustang and a 77 Bronco in the past. The Bus has given us a lot of great memories. I don't know if there is a link between aviation and VWs but being a mechanic I like to have something to work on and this has given me a lot of work to keep me busy.

[StefansBus]

First VW bug at age 16 although legal driving age in Germany was 18 at the time. That gave me enough time to restore it together with my late father.

Private pilot at age 20 (in Phoenix,Arizona), ATPL (ATP for you FAA guys) in Germany at age 23. A bit of cargo on a Shorts 360, then passengers on B737-300 and now flying rich people for NetJets Europe as a Captain on the Citation Latitude.

In the meantime a variety of bugs and now my first bus. Have already put 5000km on it this summer

Stefan

[Abscate]

[orwell84]

This is my winter speedbird, flight simulator. I built it when my kids were small and couldn't get out to the garage, or when it was too cold to work on it, or when I am sick of working on the bus, like right now.

Obligatory bus content. I took measurements I found online as well as measurements and photos from a 707 clip at an aviation maintenance program at the school where I work. I crawled all over that nasty dirty cockpit up through the nose gear... I should have picked the DC-3 or the French trainer thing...

The outside shape serves no purpose as you can't see it from the inside. I just wanted to see if I could build it. In theory, it all can be taken apart and moved...

The cockpit is pretty much to scale. The interior is inspired by the DC-9 and everything cold war Tupolev.

I have it set up with sim software for the DC-9, MD (Super) 80, Dash 8-100 and the C-7 um Caribou. It's fun to mess up approaches when beating on the bus is getting to me. Thanks for reading

[busterbow]

Must be a connection. I have worked in the aircraft industry for years. Started in pilot training then went to engineering. One of my good mates is an airline pilot with a number of bays and split windows under his belt.

[curtp07]

Nice sim!
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Subaru

[cmonSTART]

Wow, that home brewed sim is incredible!
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS