Skippy-san’s down under, and – having made the best of cross-cultural exchanges in his own, personal… idiom – saw fit to tug an old man’s beard:
If I were younger by about 15 years, I might consider coming here to fly. Lex \, if you are listening, they say they short about 40 Hornet pilots. And they are buying the F-18F. Just a thought.
Flying Hornets in Oz? For pay?
Of course, if it’s an F-model, and your correspondent being all superannuated and everything they’d probably want to throw somebody in the trunk, like.
The bastards.
Take me! Take me!
I’ll go!
Flyin’ Hornets Down Under – life would just totally suck.
I’d have to get back into shape first though. Hmm, a regimen of 12 ounce curls (Fosters) should start me out just right, mate!
As I said over at Skippys place:
Last I heard the max age for air crew is 39.
That said you only need to be a FLTLT so there may be exceptions for those with a little more bling on the shoulders.
BTW – Only 24 Super Bugs have been ordered, all the rest are the vintage variety.
39?
My name is Jack Benny and I hereby apply.
b2
I’m with you b2 — been celebrating anniversaries of my 39th birthday for — ahem — a while.
When I finished my AA in Info Systems (yeah, I went backwards and got an AA after my BS) I looked at Federal jobs — the coooool ones. The meanies told me 35 was their max age to start, because they had mandatory retirement at 20 years and age 55. I whined. A lot. Who said I want to stay that long? Anyway, it was just a dream — no way we’d be moving
But it was fun to think about … and a way for an “old” woman to participate in something grand.
Throw somebody in the trunk? Not some of that “Talking Ballast” I used to hear my dad speak of!
Pinch – I always loved my NFOs, but I usually introduced them as “200 pounds of gas I don’t have”.
Nose
PS Nice pic. Triple bubble and a pretty slick looking wing. Must be going over 200 NM.
Har har har. I kill myself.
The airlines here are sucking up RAAF pilots as fast as they can. The well-connected manage to hang around on reserve status. It helps if you you know somebody, but I hear they are interested in foreign instructor pilots…no hard and fast rules, if they like what they hear, they’ll talk.