by
John Shaw
Hear goes the story; we believe that John Robinson was giving Mike Parmelee his AC check ride and Mr. Robinson and me had a signal. When we were up in the air Mr. Robinson would move his hand an then I was to jump up and down, every time he moved his hand. Then the fun started! The pilot was asked were he learned to fly. Was he really ready to take command of the flight? He then would ask the crew chief why the bird had a vibration in it, because when the preflight was done, all was in order?
Why was there a problem? He could not understand what the problem was. Because the bird was all ways ready to go. This went on for a while when out of the corner of his eye, he saw me move up and down. Yes we were busted! We all now that when you as a pilot, went up for your check ride it was just a formality. That was a lot of fun for all except for the pilot, who was taking his check flight.
I must say that I had forgotten about the crew moving around during check rides, until John sent me this little story. Of course it was not always the crew chief that had fun with the pilots flying. I know of one time when Bill Kemp and I were in the back returning to Lane. The right seat wanted to get some hood time. While under the hood he had some difficulty keeping the aircraft level. Of course the four of five bodies moving from one side of the aircraft to the other had nothing to do with it.