Notes
Flight experiences reflections
Wed, 01 Jul 26
First Flight Memories
- First flight: evening departure on a large jet, food served that
looked like frog legs
- Speaker A and his brother had no idea what they were eating
- Overnight flight, landed around 8am
- First daytime takeoff: sitting at the window, plane appeared to “stop in the air” momentarily
- Worst flight ever: heavy clouds, rain, plane making strange noises and jerking violently
Turbulence and Physics
- Turbulence caused by heat waves rising above clouds
- As clouds clear, turbulence disappears almost immediately
- Plane drops during turbulence can be 200ft or more, not the “foot”
it feels like
- Confirmed by cousin Ed Ensen, a pilot
- Seatbelt rule: always wear it, people have hit the ceiling during sudden drops
Personal Flying and Navigation
- Flies on autopilot but must constantly adjust heading due to Earth’s
curvature
- Vancouver to Toronto: departs at 0.6°, but Toronto sits at ~120° bearing
- Vancouver to Japan: plane tracks northwest, not straight west
- Exception: Los Cabos to Honolulu is nearly straight west, minimal heading adjustment needed
- Still working out GPS button setup; buddy gave tips but it hasn’t clicked yet
Boeing Factory Tour
- Two security checkpoints: one in the main building, one before
entering the factory floor
- No cameras allowed; one visitor had his film confiscated on the spot
- Building sits on 90 acres, five doors each 125ft wide to move planes out
- 1 million lights generate enough heat to keep the building warm in
winter (workers in short sleeves)
- Summer: all five doors open, ocean breeze eliminates need for AC
- Planes painted in 40 minutes
- Engines installed only when the plane is nearly ready to ship; payment triggered at installation
- Tour guide told Speaker A he had exactly the mindset Boeing looks for and should have applied for a job
Transcript
Speaker ASince about. Six hour flight.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AI know from Rio de Janeiro to New York is 10.
Speaker BOkay. So you have to refuel in Caracas.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker ABut they have now a plane that can fly 18 hours state but fuel as far as fuel.
Speaker BThat is crazy. Hey.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BWhat was your thought when you first got to be on a plane like your very first flight, how did you feel?
Speaker AThat must have been quite fun. Yeah. We took off in our sunshine, had a big jet.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AIt was seven o' clock in the evening and we felt like we were in a jail even we didn't know what it felt like. But it was weird. It was a weird feeling. And then we got some food to eat from our sunshine and those almost like meat that looked like frog legs.
Speaker BOh yeah.
Speaker AI mean my brother, we thought oh, they're feeding us frog legs. We had no idea what it was. Yeah. So then from there we took off at 10 o' clock and then we flew all night till 8 o'. Clock. LA, New York.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AYeah. That was a long flight.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd then we took officer. So that was the first time that we took off in the daytime. Okay. I remember it was a four propeller engine plane and we took off and I sat on the window. All of a sudden looks like the plane is stopping in the air. You know what it looks like?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AWhen it just looks like it's barely moved. Yeah, that was, that was. I remember that was a very funny feeling.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThen we also we flew on real end up in real bad weather. The plane would made funny noise and it felt like we fell and then jerky. You know, we were flying heavy clouds and rain. You know. That was the worst flight I ever have experienced.
Speaker BPlanes must have been different back then too, right? Planes were different back then too.
Speaker AYeah. Every time fly on a cloud that will make the plane jerk because the, the air.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASee those turbulences they create from heat. Heat waves.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALast time when a couple years when we came from Hawaii we flew two hours above heavy clouds and turbulent to zero. And all of a sudden I realized the turbulence are getting less. And then I looked. Yeah, clouds less. As soon as no clouds turbulence are gone.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASee that's the heat above the clouds goes like this. That's what makes the plane just move and jerk and. Yeah, I don't mind. I love going turbulence are.
Speaker BIt's fun.
Speaker AOh yeah. When we flew Christmas to. To Madison hat oh, when we were coming down our way to Calgary. All of a sudden a plane that felt like.
Speaker BOh really?
Speaker AThat was a funny feeling. Yeah. See that's why the pilots say that they wish that people would. These days I'm always on seat belt because they really wish that the people would build seat belts. Then it's the last chance. I know some people one time they put a plane. The plane really jerked and they jumped up and hit the ceiling, you know?
Speaker BYeah. Yeah.
Speaker ANow if you have your seat bel on it doesn't.
Speaker BIt's not going to happen.
Speaker ANo. I don't fly anymore but not have a seatbelt on. Years ago, my second cousin, he went as a pilot. Ed Ensen is his name. My. My dad asked him how far do we fall down? If it feels like we fall about a foot.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AHe said 200ft or more. What the plane drops so I don't feel like it's only a foot. Yeah.
Speaker BWow. I had no idea.
Speaker ANo, I had no idea.
Speaker BThey were easy.
Speaker AI learned a lot about how that aviation situation.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThe only thing I seems to can figure out to go into gps. I. My buddy told me that which button I have to push for gps. I tried and it doesn't work. There's something else. Not a trick to it. I don't know. I mean I can go on autopilot. You know I'm flying autopilot now.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ABut I have to. You see, when you fly. Let's say when I fly to Japan, I take Vancouver off straight west. But the plane goes like this.
Speaker BYeah. Yeah.
Speaker AJapan was way down there.
Speaker BOkay. Yeah.
Speaker ANine hours. The plane does not see enough gps. My plane was three. But the GPS follows, follows the GPS line. You don't have to do nothing.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ABut autopilot is just like fly. I'm flying and I constantly have to go and watch see if I am still. Because like for instance, Toronto, when I fly Toronto's when I take off Vancouver, it's 0.6 degree. My time on Toronto, it's over the solid 120 degrees.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker AThat pulls like this too.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker ASee, did you know that Toronto's in line with but not California?
Speaker BI didn't know that.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BIt's so low.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASee that's why I constantly have to go and adjust my, my, my autopilot. Okay. To fly. The only thing where I don't have to adjust Microsoft fly from Las Cabos to Honolulu. Honolulu is almost straight west from. From Los Cabos.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BInteresting.
Speaker AWhen I fly From Vancouver, it's 230 degrees off north that way. Okay.
Speaker BInteresting. Yeah.
Speaker AI probably told you already a couple years ago we were at Boeing, we were at Navarter Yeah, touring in there. And the lady, tour lady had found out my interest and my what my interest was about. All about playing what I did. She said, you should have came and asked for a job. You would have gotten a job immediately.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker AShe said, that's the kind of people we're looking for up there. Their mind is all about flying, right?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThese are those kind of people they want. Yeah. But said, sorry, too late. You should have told me years ago. Oh, yeah. When you go there, you go to real type security too.
Speaker BYeah, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker AGet first to one place there and there's a big building and you go in there and from there comes a bus. Oh, yeah. When you go into building and you go to security already, then it comes the bus and picks you up. And then we have to go to another security before we can go into the building. No cameras allowed. Years ago, first time we went there, the lady told us, no cameras, no picture. One guy was brave enough, he stayed a little bit behind and he took a picture. And I said, that gentleman was taking a picture. She went and took him camera everything away.
Speaker BReally? Wow.
Speaker ANo, you better not try it. I said, well, they just took everything away. Yeah, well, she took all the films away.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker AYou know, Very interesting. That building that time. I don't know when we went first time, that building was on what, on nine acres of land? Was it more? No, 90 acres of land. Has had five doors, 125ft wide doors to open up.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker ATo get the, to get the planes up.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AHad 1 million lights that time. And the lights, that gives her the winter time. The guys were working Houston. Short sleeve. This was wintertime. Fair sleeve shirts nice in there. She said, we don't need no heat because the lights keep it nice. Warm it all up in the summertime. She said, what we do, we open all the five door big doors.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThere's a breeze coming off the ocean. She said, we don't need no air conditioning here.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BHuh.
Speaker AThat is interesting. When you walk in there, then they have. Once the plane comes out, the plane goes into paint building with the paint. What did she say? It takes 40 minutes. The whole plane was painted.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker AThat's quick, eh? Yeah.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AAnd they put the engine. They only put the engines on when it's. When the plane is ready, almost ready to go out. She said they don't have to pay for the engines until they're onto the plane. Really? Then they have to pay for the engines.
Speaker BInteresting.
Speaker AIt.