fantom Posted July 18, 2014 Report Posted July 18, 2014 On a recent landing in Billings the pilot set his brakes on fire. He taxis in, and the airport parks him on a taxiway and then puts cones around him until parts and mechanics can be brought in from Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City, the next day. The next day is a Saturday, which doesn't have much going on, so we get to talking in the tower that maybe somebody should hang a For Sale sign on the plane. We convince one of our guys who's well known for doing things like this that it would be a good idea. So he takes off for the hardware store to buy a For Sale sign. On the way back he stops at a car dealer and gets one of those "As is/No Warranty" signs that hang in all used cars. On that sign was written something like low miles, new engines, needs brakes and tires. Those signs were taped together, and off goes our hero. He climbs over the fence, leaving some skin on the barbed wire, and makes his way the 1000 feet or so to the aircraft. As he's doing that, we see a couple of airport vehicles starting to gather with the recently arrived mechanics as well as the plane's crew. Not looking good for our intrepid airplane salesman. He gets to the nose wheel and tapes the sign to the nose strut. Then he starts to make his way back from the plane as the vehicles start to head out from the shop on the way to the bomber. Somehow he makes it without being seen. The vehicles arrive at the plane, and of course notice the sign right away. The Air Force guys are in stitches, funniest thing they've seen in a long time. Airport guys are not sure what to think. Airport management is livid as they've been tasked with security. Pretty soon a camera appears and all the Air Force guys are taking pictures of each other by the sign. Our hero is back in the tower now, and notices the bomber's commander is talking on a cell phone. Our guy gets on the radio to the airport truck and asks for that guy's phone number. As soon as he finishes that call, our guy calls the aircraft commander. When he answers, our guy says "I'm calling about the plane you have for sale." Aircraft commander about falls over from the laughter It just so happened that the chief photographer for our local newspaper is a pilot and he may have been called prior to the sign being placed. He was told to get up here with a big lens. Here's one of the pics he got: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3315809933_35fa96d641_o.jpg An article showed on the front page of the Sunday paper. When that came out, the Colonel running Ellsworth called the airport director and read him the riot act, wondering what kind of dog and pony show he was running up there. We were later informed by the crew that the sign was framed and is now permanently mounted inside the aircraft. Yeah, maintenance might be a bit more than your Mooney 13 Quote
Marauder Posted July 18, 2014 Report Posted July 18, 2014 Funny stuff Gary. Thanks for cheering me up on a rather rotten Friday at work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote
DS1980 Posted July 18, 2014 Report Posted July 18, 2014 I'm surprised you were able to get that close to a BONE without getting shot. Quote
Randy_B Posted July 19, 2014 Report Posted July 19, 2014 That's a great story. A good laugh on a Friday. Quote
Hank Posted July 19, 2014 Report Posted July 19, 2014 I have to forward this story! Even made my wife laugh. Thanks for sharing! Quote
Bennett Posted July 25, 2014 Report Posted July 25, 2014 Made me laugh! Thanks for the photo and story. Quote
inktomi Posted July 26, 2014 Report Posted July 26, 2014 What's the asking price? I could use a cheap multi-engine time builder! Quote
1964-M20E Posted July 28, 2014 Report Posted July 28, 2014 What's the asking price? I could use a cheap multi-engine time builder! If you have to ask then….. Heck I’ll give you the plane and do all the maintenance. I doubt there are any of us here who could afford to feed it fuel well maybe one or two. 1 Quote
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