Same old, same old?
Yeah, me too!
Did any of you do anything novel, unique, or adventurous?
Category Archives: CAF
Spitfire Day
Yesterday at our CAF SoCal hangar we had a “Spitfire Day” presentation. It was the 80th anniversary of the introduction of the Spitfire.
Not only did visitors get to see our beautiful Mark XIV Spitfire up close and personal…
…but they got to hear from Steve Barber all about what it’s like to fly the Spitfire. Our wing historian, Ron Fleishman, also talked about the history of this particular aircraft.
Then, after everyone got to see the aircraft up close and do a pre-flight walk around inspection, it was time to get a brief flight demonstration.
The air traffic controllers at the Camarillo Airport tower are always great about working with us for these events. It was a regular operating day at the airport with dozens of aircraft coming in and going out every hour, from tiny Cessna 150’s up to very large Gulfstream business jets.
But they managed to squeeze in a couple of spots in the traffic pattern to allow Steve to do some high-speed passes down the runway. Nothing fancy, no aerobatics without an airshow waiver of course – but it sure is sweet to hear that 1200+ horsepower engine purr!
I Still Hate PayPal
Last night I went off on a full blown, adrenaline fueled rant regarding PayPal. I apologize for subjecting you to that.
I was angry. I was exhausted. I was frustrated. I was at my wits’ end.
What I was not was wrong.
Today, four phone calls, over an hour of waiting on hold, and another ten points on my blood pressure, I’m praying that I might have gotten the problem resolved.
On the one hand there was “Rod” on my fourth call of the day, who gave me a number of pieces of information which were demonstrably false, apparently in an attempt to simply get me off the phone with him. Or it might have been me not understanding him correctly (it wasn’t) since my Hindi is only slightly worse than his English. But when he refused to even let me talk to his supervisor and then hung up on me after the third demand – that’ll earn “Rod” a special place in my book of pressed flowers.
On the other hand there was Robert (whose name I have changed to protect the one person at PayPal who might actually be functional), who actually spoke English and may have been able to actually solve the problem. At the end I apologized to Robert for losing my temper with him, and I’ll public state that apology again here.
The best part of the whole thing though is the final revelation from Robert as he was taking the restricted status off of our account. (That’s the restriction that was preventing our IT folks and website developers from accessing our PayPal account in order to link it to the new functions on our website which will let you book a seat in our PBJ bomber.) It’s a fitting cap to the entire sordid affair.
Robert told me that, while the threatening and badgering emails I have been getting make it sound like our account (and all of our money in it) were going to be locked and restricted and frozen and taken away from us if I failed to solve the problem, there was in fact only one restriction – we wouldn’t have been allowed to transfer money from our checking account into the PayPal account.
This is something we have never done and can’t anticipate ever doing. Ever.
So we could still sell rides and have the funds put into our account, I could still log onto the site and access those funds, I could transfer those funds out of PayPal and into our checking account as needed, I could send invoices, I could issue refunds – all of it. Every single function would be just fine, even if I had totally ignored all of these dunning emails and never responded. Except for that one function, uploading funds into the PayPal account instead of taking them out.
We’ll see tomorrow if our web designer can get access to the account.
Filed under CAF, Freakin' Idiots!
I Hate PayPal
I’m starting to hate it with the fiery hatred fueled by a thousand white-hot suns.
We use it for our CAF SoCal site for fundraising. Months ago they started asking for ID to prove we’re who we say we are. I’ve sent them document after document. Then they started demanding my personal information, despite the fact that it’s not a personal account. I’ve been on the phone for hours over the last couple of months. It’s been like talking to a wall.
Fine. They’re now threatening to lock or cancel our account. I won’t penalize the CAF SoCal organization I volunteer for what I consider to be ludicrous and unreasonable demands that put my personal information in jeopardy and leave me open to identity theft.
So today I sent them my personal information.
I’ve now just gotten a new demand where their computer is giving me a new list of documents to provide, almost all of which do not and can not exist, in order to change the name on the corporate account to my personal name.
If I don’t, they’ll close the account.
- Does anyone know anyone at PayPal or any way of actually talking to a human with any shred of common sense?
- Does anyone have an alternative service to PayPal to recommend?
- Does anyone have any hope for our economy or our society if this is the kind of mindless stupidity that we’re all headed toward?
Filed under CAF, Freakin' Idiots!
Working The Airshow
Working the airshow is not quite as much fun as just going to an airshow. But it was a good day, even if I did have a 15 hour day there.
Tomorrow will probably be another 12+ hour day, so if you’re in SoCal, feel free to come out and say howdy!
Gates ooen at 10:00, flying starts at noon and goes until about 16:30. If you’re there, wander by the CAF hangars & chat. Don’t sweat finding me – just ask anyone working at any of the CAF booths there and they’ll track me down.
See you there, maybe?
Pretty Lady
Our PBJ has been flying regularly the last few weeks after her maiden flights following restoration, and this week in particular she’s been flying a ton as we had two of our pilots getting their training and type rating check rides done.
“Our” of course is defined as the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, out at the Camarillo Airport.
One of these days, perhaps I’ll be able to report on a ride myself. But not this day.
Filed under CAF, Photography
The Sun For A Minute
The day, she was chilly and damp and cloudy. It didn’t matter that much since I was indoors with no windows, trying to make the best of my one regular day per week at the hangar. All of those number things and bank things and statement things and moths in the purse things, don’cha know.
When I was getting ready to leave, having assumed that it had gotten dark long before (it was a loooooong day playing catch up) I was surprised to see that the setting sun had finally found a way to peek out from under the persistent cloud deck. It probably had to go all the way past Santa Barbara to do it, but there it was.
As it got closer to the horizon, a bit more illumination crept through and showed that the clouds were actually breaking up just a touch.
I wanted to boogie home, but before I left I walked out to the edge of the taxiway for the pig bicture.
(As always, click on the image to get the full-sized version.)
Filed under CAF, Panorama, Photography, Weather
Multiverse Clone Pauls Needed
Hello, haven’t forgotten about y’all. It’s just been a long, hard day at work at the end of a long, hard week at work following a long, hard weekend at the hangar last weekend which followed a full, long, hard week at work before that — and I have a CAF staff meeting at 09:30 tomorrow so I’m up burning the midnight photons to get figures ready for that.
If there are any multiverse-generated alternative or clone me’s that are out there and can come and pitch in a little, I would appreciate a call. Since I don’t seem to be doing too well at getting any more hours in the day or surviving on any less sleep, maybe I could have more me’s?
Our PBJ Flies Again!
At the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, where I’ve been Finance Officer for the past two and a half years, our longest ongoing project has been the restoration of our PBJ.
The PBJ looks like a B-25 bomber, but it is in fact a different bird. The Marines took the B-25 model and made some significant changes, particularly in adding more armament, and turned it into a low-level attack bomber. This Marine variant on the B-25 was designated the PBJ.
Something like 800 of these were flown during WWII and afterward. Before this weekend, there were zero of them still flying. You may increment that number by one.
It’s been 23 years since this plane last flew. We had an event open to the public for the occasion, and senior staff from CAF Headquarters in Dallas came in for the celebration.
It was a triumph.
Yesterday she was prepped and ready to go.
Two big engines that roar and drip oil and blow smoke the way big radial engines are supposed to!
Yes, we do have an authentic Norden bombsight up there in the nose. Isn’t that where they’re supposed to be?
Pre-flight this morning, part of the CAF SoCal brain trust on the left (Steve Barber and Ron Missildine), one of today’s pilots (Dana Dorsey) with his back to us, and Steve Brown, President/CEO of the Commemorative Air Force.
The photographers, news folks, and social media savants all getting in their pre-flight photos of the flight crew.
She started up and took off like a champion. She looked freakin’ AMAZING in flight after all of that work by so many people.
CAF Headquarters put together a nice video of the takeoff and landing here.
Marc Russell was the crew chief who has spearheaded the restoration for many years. After the flight he was being interviewed by the local CBS affiliate. I’m only surprised that he was able to not be grinning from ear to ear for a few seconds.
Then they let the KCBS/KCAL reporter up into the co-pilot’s seat to finish his report. You can see that news report here.
It was a very long, but very successful weekend. Congratulations to Marc, everyone in his crew, and everyone who has worked on this glorious plane for the last twenty-three years.
Give it a few weeks for some training and shakedown flights and you’ll start seeing her at West Coast airshows. Give it a few months and you’ll be able to buy a ride in her, just like you can in several of our other planes. (Hey, I’m the Finance Officer! If you want me to be less insane than normal, you want us to sell lots of rides!)
Filed under CAF, Flying, Photography
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 