Occupations?

Ah Benson - that's an airbase to the west of London, am I right? I remember flying past there on my long distance solo helicopter flight.

Seems there was nobody home, as I recall..

Cheers,

Jon

Ah yes, that sounds about right.

Thanks Mike.

Jon

I fly Merlin, as a few have guessed, out of Benson. RAF's newest Support Helicopter. All the toys. Started on Wessex in Northern Ireland many years ago. Oldest to the newest. My brain still hurts trying to remember all the stuff you need!!

Don't tell anyone (ssshhh..) but I often fly round with my iPod earphones under my helmet. Low level with a bit of Zeppelin or Who is a fine way to spend a morning.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Cork:
Fred,

Sounds like fun. Tell me, how do you end up doing that?

I presume you're a hi-fi enthusiast as well as a musician?

Phil

Big fun, usually. Started with music around 8 years old, still going at it 44 years later. Compose a lot, play a lot, and record when given the opportunity, which, most recently came from Ken Christianson, who records most of Naim's albums. There have been other albums over the decades for labels such as Columbia, Windham Hill, Flying Fish, and others.

You can check out some of my music here:
The Naim Label :: Fred Simon

As far as hi-fi, I love the way the gear sounds, but can't afford the good stuff because, like I said, I'm a musician.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by dazjones:
I fly Merlin, as a few have guessed, out of Benson. RAF's newest Support Helicopter. All the toys. Started on Wessex in Northern Ireland many years ago. Oldest to the newest. My brain still hurts trying to remember all the stuff you need!!

Don't tell anyone (ssshhh..) but I often fly round with my iPod earphones under my helmet. Low level with a bit of Zeppelin or Who is a fine way to spend a morning.

Nice one Daz, you lucky heli-pilot, you!

My current instructor used to fly Lynxes in the army - very fast they were apparently.

I've only ever flown Robinson R22s. At the airfield where I learn they used to have a couple of ex-Bristow R22s - they were equipped with extra instruments to train pilots flying out to the rigs. The extra stuff included a second radio, and once during a lesson with a former instructor, he tuned the second radio to some easy-listening radio station - mid-flight!

Cheers,

Jon

Cheers Fred,

I have the 'True Stereo' CD which I believe Ken recorded also. Sounds great, so I may have to give Remember the River a go.

I can't afford the best kit either - everything I have is second hand!

All the best,

Phil

a little pic of the Merlin for JonR. Also mate, I'm not a pilot, Air Loadmaster or Crewman as we're known on helicopters, is the guy or gal in the back. SAR Winchman, that sort of thing. The radio your talking about was the ADF - a navigation receiver. Atlantic 252 and 5 Live are often listened to by aircrew. Ever had a real bumpy landing on commercial jets? Toe tapping pilots!

ps I wish i was a pilot - they get paid a bit more and the pension's better!

quote:

Originally posted by Tarquin Maynard-Portly:
Daz

Remember those blokes that burned the LZ on Eagles Strike?..

TMP, been on lots of Eagles exercise's over the past few years. They're all a bit of a blur. Something outrendous always happens to brighten up your day.

Eagles Eye a few years ago.....

....8 brandnew AH64D Apaches parked on a disused airfield somewhere in Scotland. As night approached the wind was picking up to over 40 knots. We told our lovely friends in the Army Air Corps to move them because of debris hitting them in the strong winds. Our suggestions fell on deaf ears. Next morning.... a tree lying across the tail boom of a £20 million attack helicopter. I laughed for a whole week. Ha Ha.

Thanks daz, that Merlin looks massive - you could probably fit a whole R22 from nose to tail rotor under one of those rotor blades!

Ah, a shame you don't fly the things daz, it's a unique and very satisfying experience! Atlantic 252 - yep I think that was the station!

Cheers,

Jon

Maria,

Who's finances do you administrate? large company, small company, engineering, pharmaceutical?

Just curious

Phil

Since 12/2000 selling computer systems (mainframes to Wintel) into the UK public sector for a very very large American multinational.

Before that sales and sales management specialising in high performance computers into the defence and flight simulation industries.

I used to enjoy a life on the ocean waves, now chained to a desk most of the time which isn't nearly as much fun.

I've been a GP partner for 13yrs, I am also a GP trainer; teaching doctors who wish to become GP's.

In the last 12 months I have reduced my to 4 days a week, and I no longer work evenings or weekends on-call. This has made a huge difference to my quality of life, and also my enthusiasm (and I think my effectiveness) at work. Burnout avoided!

Bruce

Chris K - are you
chrismjkelly
or
chris.kelly

or perhaps neither

My Job ? - the ultimate conversation stopper at parties - Theoretical Physicist.

and the usual response before turning away to pastures new is "I hated physics at school"

The most interesting 'party' conversation I've had in years was with a Zookeeper for Gorillas just before Xmas. Perhaps I should fake-it as one of them

Ian

An ex-RAF friend of mine had a good conversation stopper a few years ago. He was the 1999 NATO machine gunning champion.


Tony

PS. Yes, he has an interesting attic.

They have championships?

Starch Handling/Engineering and application specialist for the paper manufacturing industry.
Part time turntable/arm designer.
Anyone else in the paper manufacturing industry?
Jag

CFO for Japan, Asia Pacific, Australia for division of large American multinational financial services organisation.

Sent to Sydney from the UK on the company's tab and loving every minute of it (I do not want to leave).

Job pretty good and pays well. Have my moments when it drives me mad but overall a great, dynamic company to work for with added advantage of travelling the world.

Derek
You got that from Blue Pages? I'm chrismjkelly.

The other is some poor guy in Scotland who still, after 5 years, gets mail intended for me!

I work (marketing) for Bollinger Champagne.

Which is nice.

engineer, again after 12 years of selling anything not screwed down, and dad.

Jono

quote:

Originally posted by rodwsmith:
I work (marketing) for Bollinger Champagne.

Which is nice.

I bet

Phil

I work as a consultant for an independent consultancy firm for 4 years now. More specifically I am specialized in evaluating for example public organizations that are set up as separate business units, but that are not totally privatized. By law these are required to get evaluated from time to time to check if they do what they should do and if they do this in an efficient way.
It's a great job as I am always working with other people and in other sectors. And it's always exciting, as there are always people that think an organization works just fine, and people that think there's a lot that has to be changed. Most of the time the truth lies somewhere in the middle...