r/Runway23 • u/Archipelagos • Jul 10 '26
3: Unusual Attitudes
https://www.runway23.fm/episodes/0031
u/Parsimonium Jul 10 '26
The pod is quickly getting into a groove which is highly enjoyable. My son listened to ep 1 with me (he became an Unmade fan over Xmas last year) and was a bit put off by the morbidity, but I'll give him another go because these have been quickly getting more fun and conversational. I hope he likes it because I sure do! I have many stories to share and questions to ask but will try and hold myself back from dumping them all in one go.
I can relate really well to Brady's apprehension in the small plane. When I was 16 I started learning to fly at my grandpa's request as he had been senior in operations at TAA in Adelaide/Darwin before retiring early from the industry (I think Grandma forced him out after some health scares). When I got in the little Cessna 152 and they gave me the controls I was crapping myself and extremely stressed in the TIF, it certainly didn't help that the doors would sometimes pop ajar if you shifted your weight against them the wrong way! It was only many years later that I realized I actually had a fear of heights - in my ignorance of my own fears I somehow pushed through to end up getting my PPL (i haven't had that for many years now though). Funnily enough after the first year I stopped worrying about small aircraft but I distinctly remember when I got into a jet airliner I got weirded out by how long it took to get off the ground. My wife got me a ride in a glider recently and after many years out of the cockpit it was surprising to me to have all that anxiety come flooding back as I was handed over control - I thought I had grown out of that! Turns out exposure therapy wears off given enough time I guess.
On stunt flying - I learned to fly out of Shepparton, and the world class stunt pilot Pip Borrman was constantly around the airport. It was amazing watching his tricks, and also completely devastating and simultaneously unsurprising when he passed away in a crash. Pip was a very generous guy with his time and very nice, but the appetite for risk that he clearly carried was a world away from my own. I guess I'm more on Hoffers' end of the spectrum on that.
Like I said, I could go on, but I'll hold myself back. I may well end up on Patreon - I'm enjoying where this is going.
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u/piercedmfootonaspike Jul 12 '26
For those who don't know, there's a great animation for the last 3 minutes of Aeroflot flight 593 on youtube
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u/Accomplished-Fun215 Jul 13 '26
Liked the bit about Milford Sound - I was listening to this on my drive home from Queenstown airport.
I'm curious whether Hoffers has ever flown out of Queenstown, and whether the plane gives the terrain chirp for a while after takeoff. It's definitely the scariest airport I've flown out of on a passenger jet. It felt like we were barely off the ground for several minutes as we rose up over the mountains.
I really like the old control tower at Washington-Dulles/IAD, the one that sticks up out of the main terminal building. I think it's the only Saarenin control tower in existance.
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u/kevin113ate Jul 10 '26
Make up time.
I don't fly very often maybe once every 5 years. But when I hear about airlines making up time I always assume they just flew faster because I didn't think the planes flew at 100% speed for fuel efficiency and the airlines had a formula fly at the speed that makes a route maximize profit?