I am a bot and this action was performed automatically | GitHub^(new issue) | Donate ^(Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Music recognition costs a lot)
I flew for United. For a very long time they had the ability to put radio communications on an intercom system throughout the cabin. I had a long list of AM radio freqs. I remember making an announcement saying we would try and offer audio for certain occasions like The World Series. As we flew across the country I would continue to find AM radio broadcasting the game. Most broadcasts would last for maybe 200 miles at best so it was a little work, but hey what else did I have to do as an F/O. I generally had the audio turned down so as we got beyond one station a passenger would ring the call button and inform a flight attendant who would call me to search for another station. Drove flight attendant crazy but passengers loved it. It was high tech at the time. Forgot to mention AM radio is in the same frequency band as the ADF. Shit I’m old.
If I ever end up with lung cancer, good chance it happened when I was 12, sitting in the cockpit of a 707 (my dad was the FO). Cross country flight all three pilots were chain smoking the whole time... But, I was a kid in the cockpit of a 707 so I guess it was the good ol days after all...
I miss when food was free, you did not have any limitation on food/drinks to bring, and also you could go to the cabbing and ask to see it, even I remember having metal cuttlery , not miss at all people smoking on planes tho
Ahh yes, the food was "free" but a coast-to-coast US flight cost $900, took 12 hours with 5 stops, fares were regulated and the accident rate per million flights was 250x higher than today. Bliss.
oh wow, nah Im in europe, the flight without spots is 2h 30min but having to do a stop at that time cos I guess was better for the company and the amount of people were flying that route, was 2hrs fly stop and then other fly 30min
I still have some of them, I know if you fly in premium you still have all that luxury but not anymore in tourist unless you fly with emirates? or some of them?
I remember as a college student in the aerospace engineering department years ago, an older professor told us when smoking was banned it made it harder for maintenance people to find tiny cracks starting to form in the aluminum on the interior of the planes because before the smoke particles would stick to the cracks and make them more visible. Can’t say for sure if it was true, but that’s what he said.
The DC8 I flew back in the 70’s had a standup bar in first class. Flight attendant ( stewardess back then) worked the bar and made martinis in long stemmed glasses. There would be a brandy snifter on the bar-top filled with complimentary cigarettes to enjoy. You stood up at the bar and mingled with the other first class pax. Good times!
OV-10 Broncos in the 1980s still had plastic funnels on their relief tubes plumbed to an overboard draft tube. Those sometimes got used as spit cups by tobacco chewing aircrew leaving the next user with a cup full of urine that couldn't drain.
Crew chiefs cleared such blockages by tying a cotton hardware bag to the funnel using its drawstring after placing a plastic bag over the funnel. They then blew the goo backwards by applying compressed air to the draft tube blowing (most of) the debris into the plastic bag.
Eventually the "piddle pack" was invented but nothing is perfect. During exercise Alarm Red meant closing canopies quickly to exclude possible notional NBC contamination. Cockpits in summer get impressively hot and that one did thenthe bag seal failed drenching the seat cushion....
My Life Support bro and his assistant rolled out to replace a soaked seat cushion after the cockpit had been closed for several hours in Shaw AFB summer. RHIP so the new troop got to swap out the fragrant cushion for a clean one. (Newer piddle packs may work better but this was in the late '80s.)
Am smoking a cigar while watching this. Back in the 80's one of the first time I flew I still remembered people smoking on the plane. Whole thing was yellow from the smoke
Yep, cockpits were not sterile in many ways back then.
I can remember smoking planes as a kid. Grandma was a smoker but refused to smoke on planes and thought it was dumb and unfair to non smokers.
I thought it was noble, but as a former smoker myself now it probably made sense. Why burn your own in flight when the cabin air itself has enough nicotine in it for the flight….😂
Retired mechanic. Tar from smoking impacted almost everything, and it was nasty, all kinds of increased maintenance cost. Aircraft manufacturers were really happy when smoking on airplanes stopped.
Anyone know how much damage tobacco smoke used to cause to planes that needed cleaning?
I remember those brown marks on the sides of old planes were nicotine from the air filters or something. And as someone who has cleaned houses that had smokers in - that shit gets everywhere when hot, then cools and you get tar on everything.
Illustrious_geek@reddit
Tbh I would trust them any day.
qjxj@reddit
u/auddbot
auddbot@reddit
I got a match with this song:
Name: Memories that play
Artist: M kesuma agung mp
Matched: 100% (timecode: 00:16)
Album: Memories that play
Label: M kesuma agung mp
Released on: 2025-06-30
Links to the streaming platforms
I am a bot and this action was performed automatically | GitHub ^(new issue) | Donate ^(Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Music recognition costs a lot)
Interesting_Study998@reddit
Mayday, mayday, mayday! Smoke in the cockpit. Requesting immediate return for Scotch.
martbllart@reddit
No magenta needles to be found
Ok_Communication5221@reddit
Children of the magenta line.
mannpig@reddit
Did I see an 8 track player in the instrument console?
AV8ORA330@reddit
Back when the ADF receiver could get AM radio stations. Used to listen to Howard Stern between JFK and PHL…
Ok_Communication5221@reddit
I flew for United. For a very long time they had the ability to put radio communications on an intercom system throughout the cabin. I had a long list of AM radio freqs. I remember making an announcement saying we would try and offer audio for certain occasions like The World Series. As we flew across the country I would continue to find AM radio broadcasting the game. Most broadcasts would last for maybe 200 miles at best so it was a little work, but hey what else did I have to do as an F/O. I generally had the audio turned down so as we got beyond one station a passenger would ring the call button and inform a flight attendant who would call me to search for another station. Drove flight attendant crazy but passengers loved it. It was high tech at the time. Forgot to mention AM radio is in the same frequency band as the ADF. Shit I’m old.
blinkersix2@reddit
No, that was the beta video player for inflight entertainment
BrewCityChaserV2@reddit
Guess I need to break this out again
https://i.imgur.com/Wtby9V9.png
Guenther110@reddit
When you break it out the next time, why not link to the creator?
https://xkcd.com/2671
BrewCityChaserV2@reddit
Thank you for tracking down and linking to the source.
KoshV@reddit
Because if you read the panel that's rotated and it's smaller and it's harder to see
Ok_Resort_5478@reddit
I remember the first airline flight I was on where smoking was banned. Us nicotine addicts grumbled, but we were resigned to it.
Then the stewardess announced that they had failed to load any coffee for the flight. The caffeine drinkers nearly rioted!
Ashamed-Election2027@reddit
Back in the days when sex was safe and flying was dangerous?
AirlineFan93@reddit
Getting dangerous again and not in a good way
srv340mike@reddit
It's really not though
Ficsit-Incorporated@reddit
Tell me you have no idea what’s happening in aviation without telling me.
AirlineFan93@reddit
You’re an idiot
Designer_Buy_1650@reddit
Fabulous line. It’s been years since I last heard it.
49thDipper@reddit
Our parents smoked in our cars with us kids
All the armrests on the planes had ashtrays in them
Everybody smoked everywhere. Doctors smoked while they examined you
Born-Recognition-192@reddit
Where you fuckin died of 2nd hand smoke!!!
notnormal999@reddit
If I ever end up with lung cancer, good chance it happened when I was 12, sitting in the cockpit of a 707 (my dad was the FO). Cross country flight all three pilots were chain smoking the whole time... But, I was a kid in the cockpit of a 707 so I guess it was the good ol days after all...
GlassyComparison@reddit
Mmm, those secondhand nicotine buzzes were my favorite.
Great_Marzipan7720@reddit
Cigarette & cigar smoke in a small space? Not for none smokers
Renting_Bourbon@reddit
At least the pilot knew enough to take the band off his stoogie.
Nok1a_@reddit
I miss when food was free, you did not have any limitation on food/drinks to bring, and also you could go to the cabbing and ask to see it, even I remember having metal cuttlery , not miss at all people smoking on planes tho
superfriendlyavi8or@reddit
Ahh yes, the food was "free" but a coast-to-coast US flight cost $900, took 12 hours with 5 stops, fares were regulated and the accident rate per million flights was 250x higher than today. Bliss.
bonjelea@reddit
Thank you. Always hate that "flying was so much better back in whatever era" comment
Longjumping-Boot1886@reddit
Where is your spirit of adventure?
superfriendlyavi8or@reddit
😂
xRaynex@reddit
In the grand canyon with two burning airliners.
NobodyTellPoeDameron@reddit
Surely the flames are out by now!
Nok1a_@reddit
oh wow, nah Im in europe, the flight without spots is 2h 30min but having to do a stop at that time cos I guess was better for the company and the amount of people were flying that route, was 2hrs fly stop and then other fly 30min
StuckinSuFu@reddit
Still have metal cutlery in full fare cabins and none of the smoke
rocbolt@reddit
There’s still metal cutlery in the premium cabins, my kitchen drawer is full of it
Nok1a_@reddit
I still have some of them, I know if you fly in premium you still have all that luxury but not anymore in tourist unless you fly with emirates? or some of them?
ThatGuyNamedDanny@reddit
Neither do you miss the fact that tickets back then costed as much as a new car.
Nok1a_@reddit
Maybe in your country , not that much on mine, not that cheap as nowadays but still cheap
meansamang@reddit
As someone once said, having a smoking section on an airplane is like having a pissing section in a swimming pool.
forgottenkahz@reddit
And now we are safest cattle ever to fly.
mattincalif@reddit
I remember as a college student in the aerospace engineering department years ago, an older professor told us when smoking was banned it made it harder for maintenance people to find tiny cracks starting to form in the aluminum on the interior of the planes because before the smoke particles would stick to the cracks and make them more visible. Can’t say for sure if it was true, but that’s what he said.
SergiouseMaximus@reddit
"Crack the window open..."
AV8ORA330@reddit
Flew as an engineer on the 727. Captain would smoke but opened his vent so smoke blew right at me…second hand smoke was a bitch.
hr2pilot@reddit
The DC8 I flew back in the 70’s had a standup bar in first class. Flight attendant ( stewardess back then) worked the bar and made martinis in long stemmed glasses. There would be a brandy snifter on the bar-top filled with complimentary cigarettes to enjoy. You stood up at the bar and mingled with the other first class pax. Good times!
loasdrums@reddit
The C-130s I served on in the mid-2000s still had ashtrays. By that time even chewing tobacco use was prohibited.
CretinousVoter@reddit
OV-10 Broncos in the 1980s still had plastic funnels on their relief tubes plumbed to an overboard draft tube. Those sometimes got used as spit cups by tobacco chewing aircrew leaving the next user with a cup full of urine that couldn't drain.
Crew chiefs cleared such blockages by tying a cotton hardware bag to the funnel using its drawstring after placing a plastic bag over the funnel. They then blew the goo backwards by applying compressed air to the draft tube blowing (most of) the debris into the plastic bag.
Eventually the "piddle pack" was invented but nothing is perfect. During exercise Alarm Red meant closing canopies quickly to exclude possible notional NBC contamination. Cockpits in summer get impressively hot and that one did thenthe bag seal failed drenching the seat cushion....
My Life Support bro and his assistant rolled out to replace a soaked seat cushion after the cockpit had been closed for several hours in Shaw AFB summer. RHIP so the new troop got to swap out the fragrant cushion for a clean one. (Newer piddle packs may work better but this was in the late '80s.)
Dutch_Disaster@reddit
Am smoking a cigar while watching this. Back in the 80's one of the first time I flew I still remembered people smoking on the plane. Whole thing was yellow from the smoke
Beahner@reddit
Yep, cockpits were not sterile in many ways back then.
I can remember smoking planes as a kid. Grandma was a smoker but refused to smoke on planes and thought it was dumb and unfair to non smokers.
I thought it was noble, but as a former smoker myself now it probably made sense. Why burn your own in flight when the cabin air itself has enough nicotine in it for the flight….😂
Massive-Ad-2048@reddit
Can’t he roll the window down at least ? /s
Fit-Function-1410@reddit
Where are their iPads?
MavenAloft@reddit
I would love to smoke a cigar while flying.
painfully_blue@reddit
It's probably a Connie(?)
97esquire@reddit
Thanks. They had Lycoming engines as I recall. I want to say the same core engine found on M1A1 tanks.
widepantz@reddit
Was there ever any problems with nicotine coating the instrument clusters over head?
97esquire@reddit
Retired mechanic. Tar from smoking impacted almost everything, and it was nasty, all kinds of increased maintenance cost. Aircraft manufacturers were really happy when smoking on airplanes stopped.
LostPilot517@reddit
It used to gum up the pressurization outflow valves on aircraft with the valve up front. It would become an issue over time.
oalfonso@reddit
It was even better when you had fuel fumes in the cabin
gsmitheidw1@reddit
Well...Lots of Avro RJ/BAe 146 still in service
97esquire@reddit
..
??
gsmitheidw1@reddit
The Avro RJ and BAe 146 is notorious for fumes entering the cabin. Something to do with the bleed air and oil seal leaks.
Kaiisim@reddit
Anyone know how much damage tobacco smoke used to cause to planes that needed cleaning?
I remember those brown marks on the sides of old planes were nicotine from the air filters or something. And as someone who has cleaned houses that had smokers in - that shit gets everywhere when hot, then cools and you get tar on everything.
AverageSubmarinesFan@reddit
It's simple, just open the window and fly the whole time under 10'000
SofaAloo@reddit
That... Does not look like a cigarette. Maybe a cigar or handrolled rolled tobacco. Was the pilot flying high high?
BorisBolockov@reddit
It’s a cigar
AverageSubmarinesFan@reddit
Or maybe a blunt, then he would be flying really high
svt4cam46@reddit
I didn't know Hunter S. Thompson held a commercial license.
Ryrose81@reddit
I flew a Cherokee Piper (1964?) a few times that still had an ashyray. Also was missing some instruments on the panel... Flew great though!
oktsi@reddit
This is not one of things I miss about aviation tho.
Ustakion@reddit
Seems like nothing has changed much
neurotichamster8@reddit
lol
ScaryPhotograph7132@reddit
Even if copilot is a smoker that's not a polite thing to light up lmao.
Reminds me of Bender looking for somebody to blow cigar in their face.
Need_For_Speed73@reddit
Tower, can you confirm visibility is excellent? Because I can't see the runway yet and looks like you have thick fog down there./s
kyriosity-at-github@reddit
Cheers from today
https://www.istockphoto.com/de/video/verrückte-pilot-alkoholkonsum-im-cockpit-und-flugzeug-gefährlicher-verrückter-gm543633790-99839327
panzerboye@reddit
Nah man I prefer the boring and safer planes of today
NxPat@reddit
I didn’t know Hunter S. Thompson was a pilot!
3Cogs@reddit
He would have had a cigarette holder, and probably be fighting with his copilot :-)
strandy76@reddit
Nice!
Probably got a flask of good ole sippin' whisky to go with it!
Bring back the good old days!!
Quirky-Property-7537@reddit
Looks like a Constellation cockpit… I’d certainly go back for a ride with them…!
jackfruitshell@reddit
When pilots use to fly with plane. Now it’s just pilots flying the plane.
triple7freak1@reddit
Thank god they are over we‘ve come a long way