As I pulled the cover off of the lawnmower this morning, mentally preparing myself for 3 hours of landscaping around my business (brewery), I heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching Viper. We are right under the final approach course for 33 at Joint Base Charleston, well more precisely a degree or two SW of the center line and 3.17 miles from the threshold. As such, I spend a fair amount of time shaking my fist at - well at anything the looks more fun than the blue collar laborer job that I frequently chose to do, rather than add another employee. It also shows the team that the boss is not afraid to get his hands dirty, probably much as I assume @schurem does in his profession. Leading from the front as it were. Yeah, keep telling myself that.
Anyway, Hornets, Vipers, Lightnings, and Eagles frequent the base so often (is that redundant), that I’ve unintentionally made a study of their pattern habits and sounds. I can pretty much tell which aircraft it is by the sound. Add C-17s and B787s into that mix. Every heard a 787? A buzz saw comes to mind. Strange bird that.
The Vipers did two circuits, then departed to play. I venture that hey must have not gone far given their apparent lack of bags. They returned couple hours later, still without external fuel tanks. Interesting loadout otherwise.
So, this thread is for all you like-minded guys and gals, whom for whatever reason, are earthbound in your profession. For you, gazing upward is as much of a reward as it is a curse. Damn all of you happy pilots out there
Pertinent topic for me lately…! A couple days ago I was sitting out on the sidelines of a nearby soccer field while my son did travel team tryouts for three consecutive afternoons. The field just so happens to sit slightly northwest of Charlotte, right in line with the departure corridor for all the northwest through southwest departures that turn westbound. About every two minutes or so…another would go over…climbing out… Airliners, regional jets, freighters, corporate jets, my own company planes. Spent so much time looking up I never did see those fire ants working their way up my leg…
Checking your watch a lot lately Beach? I can imagine that the first few days that you were chained to a desk passed with the urgency of a glacier. Most likely nothing amps up the appreciation for the path that you’ve chosen like being condemned to the office!
Was working out outdoors the other day, got distracted by a passing HC-130J, not sure why but at least once a week it seems one passes over my area headed east from the west coast.
I’ll dig up some of my old photos. The T15 stands at circuit of the Americas gives an absolutly beautiful view of any traffic arriving or departing from the South side of Austin Bergstrom. With Randolph AFB being only a few minutes away as the jet flies, and with mostly CAVU weather in the summer, I have seen all kinds of things on training hops.
On Sunday I was hearing what I thought were low flying helicopters but the sound was getting louder than any helicopters I remember. I went outside to look and I was surprised to see two Osprey’s flying in formation heading West.
I sometimes miss the Cold War. Used to be phantoms, eagles, tonkas, hogs, harriers and stuff in the skies. Nowadays, it’s just the local vipers who put on an airshow once in a while. I live near a route, so we often get a fourship doing sanitation weaves at low level which is fairly spectacular.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I wrote my original post. Perhaps it was an expression of deeper feelings about to immerge.
Just to clarify and state it succinctly as possible, my partners and I own a beer brand now, contract brewed by another brewery with economies of scale, facilities in a better location, and whom opened with the right timing and financial backing to be successful. I still direct all of the beer styles, marketing, sales, and distribution, just as before, but I’m thankfully out of the facilities management and restaurant business. I’m working on a new beer at the moment, a west coast style IPA and mango wheat blend using two of our original recipes. Same ingredients as before, just brewed in much larger batches. We are 5 months into this arrangement and so far, it’s been a win / win for all involved.
