Give 'em the Pickle

At a recent training session I was able to see a presentation on customer service. It was entitle "Give 'em the Pickle". The presentation starred Bob Farrell of Farrells Ice Cream Parlors. Here in the Columbus Ohio area we have not had a Farrells in more than 25 years. I still remember it. In fact its totally strange, but the night before I saw this presentation I was having a conversation with a friend and I brought up Farrell's. I probably had not thought of that place in more than 20 years, but for some reason it came to mind and I had no idea I would be hearing from Bob Farrell. In fact I never knew it was a national chain... In any case the message in the presentation really stuck with me. I found the video online and thought maybe someone else might benefit. Here it is.....

Give 'em the Pickle
Uploaded by kubus.

Frontline: Colgan Air 3407 and Regionals

An eye opening report on Colgan Air 3407 and the relationships between the mainline carriers and the regionals. Some really good content is available on pbs.org above and beyond this program. Go to http://video.pbs.org/video/1412744270 and see for yourself.





After watching this maybe some of my SCCA friends will understand why I always take the long way to conventions and meetings. I fly on the planes I know with the airlines and pilots I trust. Its much more of a science than most would understand.

First Flight of the 747-8F Today

Today Boeing sent its newest creation to the sky for its first flight. While it may look like a normal 747, this one is all new and the future of super jumbo flight. Like its stablemate the 787 this plane is cutting edge technology. The engines are the GE GenX and are the most powerful in the world for the type. They were originally designed for the 787, but were adapted for this monster.

In the background of a couple of these photos you can see the modified Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter which is used to transport the pieces of the 787 from plants around the world to Seattle for final assembly. Currently there are 4 Dreamlifters in the fleet. Boeing will also have a second assembly site in Charleston South Carolina to assemble the 787 to meet the huge backlog of orders.


Airbus did not want to see this plane built as their A380 has been slow selling and has had lots of small development issues. While Boeing has numerous orders for this as a freighter Airbus killed off the A380F variant due to lack of interest. Boeing has about 32 orders for the passenger version of this 747-8I for Intercontinental. The next 9 month will see 2 others join this one for flight testing with deliveries due to begin in late December. Congratulations to Boeing!

Nice to be home

I returned from Las Vegas late Sunday. Its so nice to be home. I enjoyed my trip, but there is something so nice about a big hug from the kids who have not seen you in a few days. Flying out I took a Delta MD-88 followed by a Delta Boeing 767-300. It was such an enjoyable trip out for a few reasons. First of all both legs out I had nobody sitting next to me! Thats right--actual room to spread out and stretch. I sat on the 2 seat side of both planes. Flying into Ls Vegas at night is always a thrill. The lights of Vegas are second to none. Finally we had the in seat entertainment units on the 4.5 hour flight and thats not always a given. Even though the TV channels were mostly dark I was able to watch a bit and play some trivia as well as use my ipods and psp to pass the time. The return flights were again on Delta and a Boeing 757-200 from LV to Atlanta followed by another MD-88 into CMH. Unfortunately for me both were filled to the max. Overbooked actually although not to the Southwest level of overbooking. After making my flight by the skin of my bones last year got to the airport early this year. To the tune of 3:45AM.....Yeah

No issues with heat this year. Just a couple of backed up commodes...... No wonder everybody was happy to see me. The Convention was good and my region produced both the Rookie of the Year as well as the Presidents Cup winner. Its a good time to be the RE.

Moving along the Oscar nominations were today and for the first time in forever I had actually seen several films that were nominated.... Up in the Air, The Lovely Bones, The Blind Side, District 9 among them. Making that even more interesting is I saw them all free over the internet. Yes that is so cool Ask me where....