A turtles race to takeoff
Posted by slyskyflyby@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 34 comments
The video isn't super impressive but the story is fun. My father-in-law is a pilot for Kalitta Air and I fly for the U.S. military. One late night in Japan I saw a Kalitta 747 parked next to us on the ramp and texted to see if it was him, turns out it was! We were both busy getting our jets ready to go and unfortunately didn't have an opportunity to see each other but after he picked up his clearance I quickly piped up on the clearance frequency "Connie go fingers." He swapped over to meet me on 123.45 and we caught up for about 10 minutes while we prepped our jets. We both ended up taxiing at the same time and were "racing" each other to see who could take off first but we had an advantage in my plane: due to our weight bearing capacity we had to be given a back taxi clearance on the runway while he taxied on the parallel taxiway. Right as he got to the hold short we flipped a 180 and blasted off out of there.
It's so fun having a father-in-law who is a professional international cargo pilot who flies in to a lot of the same destinations I do. This was the only time we've crossed paths so far but I'm sure it won't be the last.
ScallywagBeowulf@reddit
Very cool video and fun story, OP! Hope you and your FIL can race again at some point, because I’d love to see it.
shivelymachineworks@reddit
The title immediately made me think of that old video of the 747s racing around the airport
https://youtu.be/Q7FXfkS4d_U?si=oEV0xj0-mlw7oaU0
jay_in_the_pnw@reddit
isn't this part of the plot of the next heist movie?
LittleGanache_1984@reddit
OP, You're on a McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III while wishing you were on the Kalitta 747-400F instead....
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
Who said anything about wishing I was on a Kalitta 747?
LittleGanache_1984@reddit
Seriously? This is your response? See this is why i REALLY dont like people. Try to break the ice with a motherfucker and you bite his fucking head off?
Mean_Alternative1651@reddit
JFC, dude! I can’t imagine why you have difficulty connecting with people.
hat_eater@reddit
I think it might be because you often don't understand others, and you keep being misunderstood.
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
Uhhhhhh
Chiantiandfava@reddit
My god you’re such an a hole op!
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
I know my father-in-law is also a lurker on this sub. Let's see if he recognizes this video.
Mr_Ga@reddit
Your father in law is going through your post and comment history as we speak.
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
lol hopefully it's entertaining
Sound_Indifference@reddit
Wait until he sees that PBY Catalina morph art 😂
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
lol friggin r/aeromorph is a strange place. But he's definitely seen them before haha. He's got a great sense of humor.
TheSportsLorry@reddit
Hey uhhmmm yeah you FIL here, Imma need you to leave my daughter alone.
Also, get some damn help buddy
jutct@reddit
This gives me the warm fuzzies
Ndawson96@reddit
How is the C-17 to fly?
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
She's an agile beast. I own a super cub and honestly I think the C-17 has lighter controls and is more maneuverable than my cub haha.
jtshinn@reddit
The c17 seems to have the advantage there of significantly more hydraulics.
BadMofoWallet@reddit
More hydraulics, bigger control surfaces and when loaded lightly it might as well be a Ferrari lol
cheetuzz@reddit
what does “connie go fingers” mean?
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
"Connie" is the callsign used by Kalitta Air, and Fingers is known throughout the aviation community as a "common frequency." It's just 123.45 (five fingers).
Crazy__Donkey@reddit
I saw this post at first, scrolled forward cuz not interesting.
Than I saw your comment on another post, and the link to the clip.
Very cool!😇
hajileeeeeee@reddit
You’re allowed to take videos while piloting?
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
I wasn't driving :p
blinkersix2@reddit
Bam!!!
A_Very_Bad_Kitty@reddit
I love everything about all of this. Thanks for sharing!
bumble_beer@reddit
I hope you don't mind, not a pilot and I have a couple of questions.
1) Why do you get a 'back taxi clearance' based on the weight bearing capacity? How does it work?
2) As a US military plane, what do you guys transport to have to do the same routes as a cargo plane? Just items for the various bases around?
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
For your first question, every taxiway and runway has its own weight bearing capacity and it's limited by the landing gear configuration of the aircraft as well. Based on our type of landing gear and our weight, we were too heavy for the taxiway but because the 74 has more gear spreading the weight out over more points, they were able to use the taxiway. Everywhere we go, before we land there we have to make sure we won't be too heavy for the taxiways or runways.
For your second question, it's actually more the other way around. Companies like Kalitta, National Cargo, Western Global, Atlas etc, fly a lot of military cargo. This is for any number of reasons, they might be cheaper to contract than a C-5 or something, and sometimes they are used to carry less important cargo like household goods for military members who are moving. They can also carry military equipment in to countries that military aircraft are not legally allowed to operate in to.
StopDropAndRollTide@reddit
That is fantastic. Bet he was in his rig bragging to his buddies, "that's my son-in-law"!!
slyskyflyby@reddit (OP)
Haha and I was doing the same with my crew. They were like "he sounds like a bro" lol.
My_useless_alt@reddit
They're not wrong though, he does sound like a bro if he's willing to have some fun with you like that
triple7freak1@reddit
That post is hilarious lol what a coincidence 😅