DB Cooper..is that you? Or just a paratrooper.
I just thought it was a funny thing to say, that's all.
Yes, I have been in some pretty sever landings where the pilot basically flew over an area and then said, Hey, I think that's a runway down there. Let's see if we can land on it, whatever it is. And we did. Even though it felt, to me, like a crash landing, the pilot knew what he was doing (I guess) and everything was alright.
No idea what service the pilots were in. Most of the time I never saw the pilots. But the take off and landing depended on too many factors to make a generalization. The length, the weather, the type of aircraft, what is going on around you, even the mission would all effect how we flew, low and fast or high and tight.
Until I read this thread, it never even occurred to me to think about the pilots, or what service they were in. Never met them. Never talked to them. They were there to do their job. I was there to get somewhere. That was the extent of our relationship. Just cogs in a machine. They always got me there.
We were all just separate parts of a bigger mission.
Now I feel bad. The cockpit was open, I probably should have said hello, or something, I guess. I really never thought about it.
