From a Naval Aviation Magazine.......

[bravedan]

Taking Off, A Cross Services Guide

> Naval Aviator:
> On a carrier, the Naval Aviator looks over at the Catapult Officer
> ("Shooter") who gives the run up engines signal by rotating his finger
> above his head.. The pilot pushes the throttle forward, verifies all flight
> controls are operational, checks all gauges, and gives the Cat officer a
> brisk salute, continuing the Navy / Marine tradition of asking permission
> to leave the ship. The Cat officer drops to one knee while swooping his arm
> forward and pointing down deck, granting that permission. The pilot is
> immediately catapulted and becomes airborne.
>
> Air Force Pilot :
> We've all seen Air Force pilots at the air force base look up just
> before taxiing for takeoff and the ground crew waits until the pilot's
> thumb is sticking straight up. The crew chief then confirms that he
> sees the thumb, salutes, and the Air Force pilot then takes off. This
> time-tested tradition is the last link in the Air Force safety net to
> confirm that the pilot does not have his thumb up his backside.
>
> Army Aviator:
> If you've ever seen an Army helicopter pilot preparing for takeoff,
> you will note that the pilot gives the ground guy a thumbs up before he >is given hover and takeoff signals. There are two theories about the origin of this
> gesture.

One is that it is to show that the pilot has identified which of
> his fingers is the thumb so that he will be able to properly operate his
> controls.

However, the most compelling theory says that this is to show the ground crewman that the pilot recognises which direction is up.
>

[CaldRail]

There is another story that on a NATO exercise in the Atlantic, a Shackleton crew got somewhat bored. Seeing a US carrier they decided to do a practice approach, but neglected to inform the horrified carrier crew, who prompltly began pushing brand new naval jet fighters off the deck in the mistaken belief the old four engined recce plane was in a state of emergency.

Wheels up - lets go....

No, it probably isn't true. But you can just imagine it!

[Timcourt1]

Good Stuff!

Some from my days in the Fleet Air Arm are pretty funny as well, one a friend of mine did while we were on the SAR/Visiting Aircraft was to get a new recruit to grab a set of wheel chocks for an Army Lynx coming in, Needless to say he knew he had been had when viewing the Skid equipped Lynx coming in to land!

[johny]

This one is from the August 2006 58th Entry RAF Aircraft Apprentices' Newsletter, and is entitled Aviation Humour.

A plane was taking off from Heathrow Airport and after reaching a comfortable cruising altitude the Captain made an announcement over the intercom. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking welcome to Flight BA267 direct to New York, the weather is good and therefore we should have a smooth and uneventful flight, now sit back and relax - Oh my God!". Silence followed, and after a few minutes the Captain came back on the intercom and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry if I scared you earlier. Whilst I was talking to you, the Flight Attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee on my lap. You should see the front of my pants".

A passenger in the plane yelled - "That's nothing, you should see the back of my mine!"

John

[martinhodgson]

I'm getting some interesting anecdotes from ex-air force pilots working as lecturers here - they do some pretty amazing stuff!

[sp762]

There is another story that on a NATO exercise in the Atlantic, a Shackleton crew got somewhat bored. Seeing a US carrier they decided to do a practice approach, but neglected to inform the horrified carrier crew, who prompltly began pushing brand new naval jet fighters off the deck in the mistaken belief the old four engined recce plane was in a state of emergency.

Wheels up - lets go....

No, it probably isn't true. But you can just imagine it!

No - it is true - I used to work with the navigator on that aircraft...

Terminal Flight Lieutenant...

[johny]

In the early 60s, I served in Bomber Command on a Thor IRBM base and one story that went the rounds was as follows:

A Vulcan flew from the UK to the States during the hours of darkness. During the flight a black box was activated so that the approach to New York was not seen by the US Radar. Once the lights of Manhattan could be seen the device was switched off and the pilot contacted local control to say "We're here guys" or something similar. Panic and a near diplomatic incident ensued.

How true this story is/was, I don't know, but I do know that some of the US Air Force and Douglas personnel on the Thor base were extremely annoyed at the urine extraction that took place.

John