Death's door
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,801
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From: Garden Grove
when i was little, i decided to open the door while a heavy metal door laid against it. After opening the door, my finger got caught in a hole of the metal door and my dad had to get a screwdriver and bend the metal to get my finger out. That whole week, I had to have a bandage that covered my finger with about 50 layers. but nothing too extreme
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 251
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From: Tupelo
It's 1970, The college I am attending is about 50 miles from home, and there is a nasty throat infection sweeping through
the campus. I woke up this morning and
my throat thought I was breathing acid
or ammonia instead of air. At the infirmary they gave me a bottle full of
some kind of narcotic pain reliever and an excuse slip releasing me from classes for a week, and instructions to go home and go to my regular doctor to get this fixed. I took 2 tabs on my way out of the office.. Toldja all that to tell ya this.........
the "Me" that was working the gas, brakes and shifter was not always the same "Me" that was looking out at the world and everything seemed very far off
and not quite real. I was "floating. I was on a stretch of road that is going through some fairly hilly country where
the road is at times built on a rightof way that is elevated 30-40 feet from the surrounding fields and pastures,
I guess to moderate the ups and downs needed to get from one hill-top
to the next. As I look ahead, I am at the crest of a hill looking down and can see a car ahead and another car
about to pull out from a side road behind him........As I start to come down towards them mr. sideroad pulls
out and then starts to pass car number 1. But instead of passing they both come to a stop and start a conversation.
Looks like I forgot to tell everyone but
I am in a 68 firebird 400 that had had a tunnelport 400 "homogulation" motor and Muncie Rock Crusher tranny
transplanted from the factory pieces.
So I was not only "Floating" I was also
"flying"......... I began "mashing lightly"
on the brake pedal and the car started
slowing but I soon saw It was NOT going to stop before I came upon the
"road block" and the only place to go was down the right of way..... I remember thinking that it was probably gonna roll going down the embankmnt. Why I thought spinning would keep it from rolling I don't know
, but I did and that is what I did deliberately put it in a spin. I spun 5 or 6 times going down and went tail first
into a barbed wire fence. The trailer hitch took out a fence post and I came to a stop. I sat there for some number of seconds with the last few replayin themselves in a rapid loop. Then I heard a voice. A woman was standing at the top calling down to me I answered and she said I thought you would have been dead. I hollered back me too. She said she had seen the whole thing and that the two cars that had stopped in the middle of the road
had booked (so it wasn't a hallucination they really had). I started
to get out and walk up to her and she hollered don't move, don't get out of your car.....The fence didn't break, the strands were strecthed like guitar strings and humming. I asked her to call a wrecker and my grandfather (much rather deal with him than my mother, who would have been freaking out). With just a little less "Luck" I coulda been "toast".
Fast forward to 1982.
I am working behind the same motel desk I am working now......
Two guys come in and started a bunch
of hoo ha about renting them a room
and what kind of "cut" am I gonna give 'cause it's so late and they are gonna spend Soooooo much money if they decide to stay. Sorry guys but these are the rates my owner allows me to quote and I can't do you any better deal than that......One of 'em says no MotherF!#@er you ARE gonna do us a better deal than that. They split apart and the one left in front of me pulls a Smith 66 round butt Snub Nose from his jacket, but I had already grabbed my little Detonics .45 and as soon as I saw GUN I did a double tap to his center chest and swung to his partner who was coming over the desk at the far end with a large sharpened screw driver in his hand. I gave him 2 in the face. As mr.gun was falling he got off one shot.
I thought it was just reflex as I never saw the gun come up level in my direction. I then called the Police laid my gun on the counter and started shaking and baking while I waited for them to get here. I gave them my statment and told them about mr.gun's gun going off but that he had never actually gotten off a shot at me.
The detective said "yeah? Then what is this and pointed to a bullet hole in the area of the wall right behind where I had been standing.....couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 inches to the side of where my head had been.
Holy Shit!!!!! I had to sit down again.
Sometimes death comes SO close and you never even realize it.
the campus. I woke up this morning and
my throat thought I was breathing acid
or ammonia instead of air. At the infirmary they gave me a bottle full of
some kind of narcotic pain reliever and an excuse slip releasing me from classes for a week, and instructions to go home and go to my regular doctor to get this fixed. I took 2 tabs on my way out of the office.. Toldja all that to tell ya this.........
the "Me" that was working the gas, brakes and shifter was not always the same "Me" that was looking out at the world and everything seemed very far off
and not quite real. I was "floating. I was on a stretch of road that is going through some fairly hilly country where
the road is at times built on a rightof way that is elevated 30-40 feet from the surrounding fields and pastures,
I guess to moderate the ups and downs needed to get from one hill-top
to the next. As I look ahead, I am at the crest of a hill looking down and can see a car ahead and another car
about to pull out from a side road behind him........As I start to come down towards them mr. sideroad pulls
out and then starts to pass car number 1. But instead of passing they both come to a stop and start a conversation.
Looks like I forgot to tell everyone but
I am in a 68 firebird 400 that had had a tunnelport 400 "homogulation" motor and Muncie Rock Crusher tranny
transplanted from the factory pieces.
So I was not only "Floating" I was also
"flying"......... I began "mashing lightly"
on the brake pedal and the car started
slowing but I soon saw It was NOT going to stop before I came upon the
"road block" and the only place to go was down the right of way..... I remember thinking that it was probably gonna roll going down the embankmnt. Why I thought spinning would keep it from rolling I don't know
, but I did and that is what I did deliberately put it in a spin. I spun 5 or 6 times going down and went tail first
into a barbed wire fence. The trailer hitch took out a fence post and I came to a stop. I sat there for some number of seconds with the last few replayin themselves in a rapid loop. Then I heard a voice. A woman was standing at the top calling down to me I answered and she said I thought you would have been dead. I hollered back me too. She said she had seen the whole thing and that the two cars that had stopped in the middle of the road
had booked (so it wasn't a hallucination they really had). I started
to get out and walk up to her and she hollered don't move, don't get out of your car.....The fence didn't break, the strands were strecthed like guitar strings and humming. I asked her to call a wrecker and my grandfather (much rather deal with him than my mother, who would have been freaking out). With just a little less "Luck" I coulda been "toast".
Fast forward to 1982.
I am working behind the same motel desk I am working now......
Two guys come in and started a bunch
of hoo ha about renting them a room
and what kind of "cut" am I gonna give 'cause it's so late and they are gonna spend Soooooo much money if they decide to stay. Sorry guys but these are the rates my owner allows me to quote and I can't do you any better deal than that......One of 'em says no MotherF!#@er you ARE gonna do us a better deal than that. They split apart and the one left in front of me pulls a Smith 66 round butt Snub Nose from his jacket, but I had already grabbed my little Detonics .45 and as soon as I saw GUN I did a double tap to his center chest and swung to his partner who was coming over the desk at the far end with a large sharpened screw driver in his hand. I gave him 2 in the face. As mr.gun was falling he got off one shot.
I thought it was just reflex as I never saw the gun come up level in my direction. I then called the Police laid my gun on the counter and started shaking and baking while I waited for them to get here. I gave them my statment and told them about mr.gun's gun going off but that he had never actually gotten off a shot at me.
The detective said "yeah? Then what is this and pointed to a bullet hole in the area of the wall right behind where I had been standing.....couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 inches to the side of where my head had been.
Holy Shit!!!!! I had to sit down again.
Sometimes death comes SO close and you never even realize it.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
From: Mansfield, TX
Too many times to count, but one of the most quickly recalled was this:
1982, flying an un-authorized and un-planned "low Level" in southern Sicily. 250 knots, 50 feet off the ground, lovely clear day with no wind. Following the nap of the earth, looking at the scenery and scattering sheep.
Spot a small canyon off to the side and decide to drop down into it. Lots of "twisties". Canyon starts to deepen, so of course..... I start to go deeper. Canyon walls are now above the airplane and the sensation of speed is everywhere.
Make a HARD right turn to follow the canyon...... after about 150 degrees of turn the rest of the canyon becomes visible...and what do you know...no more canyon, just a rock wall. Oh, Boy!
Can't roll wings level and get more lift since the canyon walls are on both sides of me, narrowing very quickly and don't offer me the option of straightening out.
Mash on the rudder to get the nose up,
jamb the throttles to the firewall
and hang on.
Time didn't slow down, the end of the canyon kept on coming, but the nose was up and as soon as I cleared the canyon rim I rolled wings level and pulled for the moon. Popped right out of there.............. and acted as if nothing happened.
I did fly the rest of the way home at 9,500 ft...just to be safe.
This is a story I've told dozens of pilots in all of my squadrons, reminding them why we have rules and why not to break them. The old man made a mistake and lived to tell the story, the same story I know that I heard as a youngster, but todays young pilots seem a little brighter. I hope.
1982, flying an un-authorized and un-planned "low Level" in southern Sicily. 250 knots, 50 feet off the ground, lovely clear day with no wind. Following the nap of the earth, looking at the scenery and scattering sheep.
Spot a small canyon off to the side and decide to drop down into it. Lots of "twisties". Canyon starts to deepen, so of course..... I start to go deeper. Canyon walls are now above the airplane and the sensation of speed is everywhere.
Make a HARD right turn to follow the canyon...... after about 150 degrees of turn the rest of the canyon becomes visible...and what do you know...no more canyon, just a rock wall. Oh, Boy!
Can't roll wings level and get more lift since the canyon walls are on both sides of me, narrowing very quickly and don't offer me the option of straightening out.
Mash on the rudder to get the nose up,
jamb the throttles to the firewall
and hang on.
Time didn't slow down, the end of the canyon kept on coming, but the nose was up and as soon as I cleared the canyon rim I rolled wings level and pulled for the moon. Popped right out of there.............. and acted as if nothing happened.
I did fly the rest of the way home at 9,500 ft...just to be safe.
This is a story I've told dozens of pilots in all of my squadrons, reminding them why we have rules and why not to break them. The old man made a mistake and lived to tell the story, the same story I know that I heard as a youngster, but todays young pilots seem a little brighter. I hope.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
From: Mansfield, TX
Silvio,
Mea Culpa. The point of the thread was to discuss dumb things we got away with, maybe spread some knowledge and not to draw analogies to the geo-political results of events.
Have you ever taken your S2000 over the speed limit? Others have.... and the results were not pretty.
Maybe you should have told them of the lessons you learned too. I have no doubt that this web site has saved a few from disaster by reading what others have done.
The USMC EA-6B wasn't properly prepared for the mission it flew in Italy. They were briefed, they were on an authorized, (by the Italian government), low level route (the same route complained about in the article quoted) and they clipped a line that wasn't spoken about in their briefings...language barrier perhaps? They were also prosecuted for their negligence in not finding out everything they should have about their planned route of flight. Subsequent Prowler flights have all worked a little harder at amplifying the information they are given by allies. Not because we are distrustful but because we have learned from the experiences of others.
The point is they were there simulating a mission to strike surface to air missile sites, a mission often repeated in saving thousands of Serbs and Croats and safely escorting coalition aircraft into and out of the former Yugoslav Republic. This was real life, not a "game" as indicated in the article you quote.
Coalition forces military members risk their lives every day, so you and I will have the freedom to discuss things like this in an open manner. Over 14 Nations have sent some of their best to challenge Saadam and preserve what we in the West hold dear. You may be surprised to learn that the German Airforce trains on low level mission not far from where you live...because their countrymen have complained of the noise and "recklessness" Fortunately, Canadians are good enough allies to recognize the need for a well trained NATO force. Some of my best friends in Flight training were Italian Naval Officers. We are in this together.
We all learn lessons from others mistakes. I hope that is what comes of this thread also.
Mea Culpa. The point of the thread was to discuss dumb things we got away with, maybe spread some knowledge and not to draw analogies to the geo-political results of events.
Have you ever taken your S2000 over the speed limit? Others have.... and the results were not pretty.
Maybe you should have told them of the lessons you learned too. I have no doubt that this web site has saved a few from disaster by reading what others have done.
The USMC EA-6B wasn't properly prepared for the mission it flew in Italy. They were briefed, they were on an authorized, (by the Italian government), low level route (the same route complained about in the article quoted) and they clipped a line that wasn't spoken about in their briefings...language barrier perhaps? They were also prosecuted for their negligence in not finding out everything they should have about their planned route of flight. Subsequent Prowler flights have all worked a little harder at amplifying the information they are given by allies. Not because we are distrustful but because we have learned from the experiences of others.
The point is they were there simulating a mission to strike surface to air missile sites, a mission often repeated in saving thousands of Serbs and Croats and safely escorting coalition aircraft into and out of the former Yugoslav Republic. This was real life, not a "game" as indicated in the article you quote.
Coalition forces military members risk their lives every day, so you and I will have the freedom to discuss things like this in an open manner. Over 14 Nations have sent some of their best to challenge Saadam and preserve what we in the West hold dear. You may be surprised to learn that the German Airforce trains on low level mission not far from where you live...because their countrymen have complained of the noise and "recklessness" Fortunately, Canadians are good enough allies to recognize the need for a well trained NATO force. Some of my best friends in Flight training were Italian Naval Officers. We are in this together.
We all learn lessons from others mistakes. I hope that is what comes of this thread also.