How I make money after retirement.

[Rockie]

Jesus .. Those stories are simultaneously entertaining and educational because what you describe are basic survival strategies that believe or not can be applied to any aircraft. Where the hell has this side of you been all this time? I like it.

A word of friendly advice you can take or leave...you’ve got nothing to prove. Don’t feel like you have to.

[Cat Driver]

Thanks Rockie, your opinion is important to me believe it or not.

If you knew me one on one you would understand I do not ever feel I have anything to prove because my life has been very busy doing really interesting things and I gravitated towards interesting and relatively risky flying for a lot of my flying career because deep down I like challenging jobs.

Risk taking requires close examination of how to minimise the risk as much as possible..

The flying risks were no where near the risks we were exposed to in a lot of the areas we flew in.

I was fortunate to have been in the employ of TF1 French television for several years flying all over Africa in Project Okavango and South America flying the route of Aeropostale for the French government.

Probably the most worrisome thing for me was the constant risk of malaria in a lot of Africa, we could not take drugs to reduce the risk because of the long time frames we were there, several of our people in the project did come down with malaria and one sadly died from it.

By the way malaria is still prevelent in some of South America.

So I guess I am a thrills junkie and for sure do not feel I have anything to prove.

I will post another short story when this thread gets really slow.

[Phlyer]

Glad to see this .. I remember Duke posting his stories and I always hoped the senior folks on here would post their best stories too. Experience comes hard fought and it is not only entertaining but educational for all. Cheers

[Spandau]

You have a gift, .. As was said of Ernie Gann's writing, "You can smell the fear in the cockpit." Great stories - stick with it.

[justwork]

Thanks for sharing Cat. Really enjoy stories like these.

[TG]

Great stories.

This part is unfortunate

Probably the most worrisome thing for me was the constant risk of malaria in a lot of Africa, we could not take drugs to reduce the risk because of the long time frames we were there, several of our people in the project did come down with malaria and one sadly died from it.

Unfortunate that you and your collegue were led to believe that anti malaria drugs were more nocive in the long run then getting malaria itself.
I too know someone who got convinced about the same thing by some South African guys. As a reward he almost passed away from getting cerebral’s malaria.


I grew up in Africa religiously taking « nivaquine » everyday until we moved out (in my teens)
This stuff was way more nocif to take at that time than what it’s available now. But whatever its side effects, it still would outrun malaria by a long shot.


Sorry, back on topic, yes! Great reading...

[Cat Driver]

I would like to reply to your opinion on taking drugs to prevent malaria TG,

The drug we were taking was Larium and it was supplied by the people we were working for TF1 French Television.

I stopped taking it on the advice of my Aviation doctor who did not want me taking it due to its side effects.

I am well aware of the different opinions on this subject but in my case I took the advice of my Aviation doctor and quit taking it. Instead I used misquito repellent and wore long sleeve shirts etc.

Fortunately I never contracted malaria either in Africa or South America.

[confusedalot]

Thanks Rockie, your opinion is important to me believe it or not.

If you knew me one on one you would understand I do not ever feel I have anything to prove because my life has been very busy doing really interesting things and I gravitated towards interesting and relatively risky flying for a lot of my flying career because deep down I like challenging jobs.

Risk taking requires close examination of how to minimise the risk as much as possible..

The flying risks were no where near the risks we were exposed to in a lot of the areas we flew in.

I was fortunate to have been in the employ of TF1 French television for several years flying all over Africa in Project Okavango and South America flying the route of Aeropostale for the French government.

Probably the most worrisome thing for me was the constant risk of malaria in a lot of Africa, we could not take drugs to reduce the risk because of the long time frames we were there, several of our people in the project did come down with malaria and one sadly died from it.

By the way malaria is still prevelent in some of South America.

So I guess I am a thrills junkie and for sure do not feel I have anything to prove.

I will post another short story when this thread gets really slow.

Wow, you are a forgiving soul, which makes you a bigger man. Can't say that have I that in me, being mentally retarded and all.

Carry on.

[Hockaloogie]

There's no need to worry about .'s ability to make money after retirement. After all, he's been dining out on that Arcturus story since at least 2006.

http://www.ebushpilot.com/arcturus.htm

[Spandau]

I don't mean to hijack the thread here, but my first couple of tours in Africa I took a tablet daily of "Malarone" (my spelling might be off a little) that could be taken daily as a preventative, or in much larger doses, as a cure, but I was informed later that besides being hard on the liver (and my liver has never been cut much slack) that taking the drug as a preventative could give you a false negative if you got sick and they tested you for malaria. After about two tours I switched to just keeping it in my pack in case I got sick. Fortunately, despite being in some fairly nasty places, I came home malaria free but I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of having a false negative test result because of taking the preventative medication? I still laugh when I remember the prescription on another drug that I carried: "For memorable diarrhea." Mexico has nothing on Africa!

[Cat Driver]

No problem about hijacking the thread, the more people who share their experiences the better.

Did you take medicines to protect you from the night fighters?

[Spandau]

It seemed the best course of action was to leave the nightfighters to the Russians!

[cncpc]

Great story, well written, ..