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Pressure in my left eye is, as they say, nicht gut. But it appears treatable.
Anyhoo. I had to have my eyes dilated and cannot see worth a crap right now. Mind you, this is five hours later! Ah well, this too shall pass.
Rather than attempting to type an entire post while rather blind, I thought I'd share my new obsession - Pilots Eye TV. Fellow blogger, long haul trucker and long time friend of the blog Jeff posted one of their videos over on koobecaF the other day and I was hooked.
A lot of the videos are in German, das ist natürlich kein Problem für mich. Aber könnte für dich sein ...
Yeah, but most of it is self-explanatory and the view those folks have from the nose of those airliners is pretty damned spectacular.
Anyhoo, enjoy. Perhaps my eyes will return to normal by tomorrow.
One can only hope.
Und Tschüss
Oh yeah, you gotta go full screen to get the best effect! (Oh, this one has English subtitles.)
Hat tip to Jeff H.!
Well that's just great...... MORE time to spend on the laptop.......(chuckle). Ya....full screen is much better. Thanks for the reference Sarge. Hope the eye bounces back.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nylon12.
DeleteEnjoyed the PilotsEye video, well done. By the way I also just went for my eye exam on Thursday and there was something new. no dilating my eyes. The had a new machine that maps the interior of the eye so no dilation necessary. Loved it!!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing the new technology they have!
DeleteBack before 9-11, I got to jumpseat out west on our company aircraft quite a bit. Most of that market is small, so I was in 727's mostly: not a lot of freight went to Montana. The 727 has 2 jump seats, and I always asked for the one right behind the captain, and a headset. I listened to the NDB's in morse code to keep track of where we were.
ReplyDeleteOne evening, leaving GTF (Great Falls) for MEM, the pitot-checkers start take off roll in the rain.... Heads in the cockpit. I'm looking out the left window, and as we rotate, the rain becomes ice/snow. Suddenly, we are sliding on diamonds, millions of DIAMONDS!!!! The landing lights were reflecting off the ice in the cloud, and I was awestruck by the beauty. I still..... I don't even have words for how that looked.
Wow!
DeleteThere are moments you wish you had a camera, but then you're seeing life through a viewfinder, not a good thing. It's best to hold those in your memory, the moment as it really was. The camera can distort things.
But again, I say: Wow!
Man, you'll do anything to get out of finishing a story or mowing the lawn. :)
ReplyDeleteHope things work out well with the eye.
And thanks for the new stuff to read/watch. Don't forget to add them to the sidebar.
Hahaha!
DeleteGood idea, added the link under the Sierra Hotel category.
Good video. The co-pilot was smoking, and you may not have seen that with your diminished eyesight. I'm trying to get an order in for a new Pilatus PC-6B2H4 before they close the assembly line next year. I'm right on the line with that.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the Pilatus, cool looking bird.
DeleteEven with my dilated pupils, the copilot certainly got my attention. :)
Oooh, nice plane, nice specs, great versatility. I love the grass-strips capability. And the cockpit is so clean and well spaced, it even has cupholders!
DeleteHope it goes well.
Gotta have cup holders.
DeleteEven attack boats have cup holders.
DeleteWe usd to have ash trays!
DeleteMust have been in the Deuce, none in the Phantom that I can remember.
DeleteCool video, I did notice the startle reaction early on in the film just shy of the 50 second mark, and I'm guessing that the word "Traffic" in that certain tone of voice isn't a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea of how much was going on in the cockpit during the landing procedure.
At the beginning when the other aircraft mentioned passing a big pack of balloons, did they mean balloons like helium balloons? Or is it some secret pilot code?
I will be checking out the Pilot's Eye TV site.
Thank you!
When TCAS announces "Traffic" that is an attention getter. TCAS is the Traffic Collision Avoidance System, which, as I recall, put them into a quick climb to avoid an unfortunate occurrence. Yeah, I think I'd jump too.
DeleteAs to balloons, my guess would be hot air balloons.
I watched the video again, I doubt hot air balloons would be at that altitude.
DeleteHelium balloons escaping from some event makes more sense. Or perhaps something else, as you suggest>
Lots of memories there. I still can't get used to the idea of a stick in the big ones. I must admit I liked "flying" the aircraft of my days (737-200, 727-200) rather than programming them. I recall that they (the evil FAA) used to make us do coupled approaches and now the evil FAA makes you actually manipulate the flight controls to negotiate the air. I personally think we are in trouble, but I never flew a "heavy" (well sort of). Times and people change, the edge of the air stays right there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the side stick controllers kind of freak me out.
DeleteYup, the edge is there. Waiting...
I'll never fly with a commercial rating, but if this video is as close as I can get, I"m ok with that. Roger on the smoking hot and all the best with the eye. Have you considered Gregory's Cordial or perhaps the Moxie elixer? All the best, Sarge and thanks to you and Jeff for the link, I"m sure to follow more of the feed.
ReplyDeleteThanks but I think I'll stick with what the Doc gave me.
DeleteYeah, I'm with you on this being as close as I'll get too.
Usta sit on the radar cabinet behind the pilot as much as possible in my P-3 days. Never hurts to have an extra set of eyes looking outside.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link.
Sweet!
DeleteHUZZAH, Jeff!
ReplyDeleteYup, he done good.
DeleteNon-pilot here. AT ~10:00 the plane is landing and the camera shot is out the window down the right-hand wing. Some manner of door on the side of the right-hand engine opens, and a little later closes. I imagine that it's a factor in slowing the plane down, but I'm quite curious as to what it is and how it works. If anyone would care to enlighten me I'd appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteIf you go here, you can see that the door you see opening at that point in the video is one of the four thrust reversers on the engines used by the A330. The second officer calls them out at about the same time.
DeleteDeflecting the thrust forward via those doors helps the aircraft slow down quicker.
Thanks!
Delete:)
DeleteThat would be internal integrated doors for thrust reverse...you're probably used to seeing the buckets open on the rear of the engine...i had a chuckle these pilots are long leggers... over seas guys...that FO was a tad edgy i could see the body language... yeah when you get in the airport area i put the TCAS to it's lowest setting it's the most accurate distance wise to find that shithead...it happens.. the plane climbing out was climbing at a pretty high rate and popped a cautionary warning...amber if it turns red you have to disconnect auto pilot and follow the commands CLIMB or DESCEND NOW.... yeah it's really weird being able to cross your legs in thos Airbus' and the stick is ok you have to get used to the lack of natural feedback
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insider info Mark!
Delete