Warbird Information Exchange

I will say this about that...
Having started my flight training in SGR and having visited there with CAP through the years...

The people in the Tower are some of the nicest to work with in Controlled Airspace.

The Airport Management is as nice as can be...
but occassionally the people behind the counter could benefit from some Customer Service Training.

It was that way before the new terminal was built, and appears to be even more trending towards trying to keep the riff-raff Warbird dirtballs like meself OUT!

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

I'm pretty sure the girls behind the counter there and at other high-end FBOs have a little card in front of them that tells them how to react to guys based on what they are flying.

G-V = "Go in the back, take your clothes off, and I'll be there in 3 minutes".

C-172 = "You have 3 minutes to get off the ramp, or I'm calling the cops. The free coffee isn't for you, either".

If you really want to p*ss them off, most of those places have a "top-off the mains and no ramp charge" policy. So we would just feed off the tips, switch to the mains 5 miles out, and then watch their faces when you pay for 7.2 gallons of Jet A instead of $75 to step on their precious ramp.

We were treated less than courteously at the Alliance FBO. Of course we were flying the little green stepchild called the Huey.

Unbeknownst to the offending FBO parties, our pilot that day, is the chief pilot for a Fortune 500 company and his regular ride is a G IV. We figured that we might have been treated differently if we had arrived in the big iron !

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

That is interesting.
I have been in and out of Sugarland many times and have never had a bad experience. Of course, each time I am there I am at work and thus driving a kerosene burner. I have never been through in a piston or warbird.

Ya know that there are so many military types that stop in up there that the girls at Alliance have developed an thing for Mach two with your hair on fire types...

_________________
Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Join us for the Texas Warbird Report on WarbirdRadio.com!
http://www.facebook.com/WarbirdRadio
Listen at http://www.warbirdradio.com

You mean that they are immune to middle aged guys who are,...er,...less than streamlined ?

As one of my cohorts says, " I'm in shape, round is a shape !"

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

My vote for worst manners and personality types is Danbury, Connecticut! Maybe it's just because I'm a southerner who's not used to Northern character, but man, the FBO managers/owners and Grade-A @ssholes up there. I actually got bitched out by one owner just as I shook his hand for the first time and handed him a check for my first months rent for tie-down fees! The more polite you are with the guys at KDXR, the less respect they afforded you. Two different FBO's I dealt with, and both were managed by gutter-mouthed gangster wannabe types. After years of frequenting airports all across the south, I found the culture shock absolutely unbelievable.

Luckily, I ran into the resident air traffic controller who was extremely accommodating and laid back, and he was able to smooth out the bumps for the buisness I had there. Come to find out, he was from my hometown of Longview, Texas! Go figure.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

I hate to say it but, being a lineman who worked for a small outfit in CT. to a top 5 FBO in Palm Beach it all boils down to who gives the best tips on the flight line to the girls gettting perks from the local hotel booking agents.I know it is not right but most lineguys pool ther tips at the end of there shift so they know who are the tippers and who are the burners, as far as a warbird goes ,me personaly I would have paid more attention just for the reason of being interested.Now that i am older and in a more professional career you see it in any situation in the service industry.Sorry dont mean to piss any piston poppers out ther its just the way it is ,for management same thing more fuel sales at the end of the month you know what that means $$$$