Date:         Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:45:11 -0600
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Friday: Best Stupid Automotive Product
Comments: To: Pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <HHEAJIOMDPBGGCKHACGJMEKHCOAA.al_knoll@pacbell.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Pensioner wrote:
> John, where do you buy that pucker sucker?  I asked my FLAPS Dude and he
> almost choked.  Tearily guffawed that he thought it was a great idea.
> Probably the same with the prop wash, fallopian tubing, and catalytic
> converter belt.
>
>
48 years ago - Gad, I hate talking like that - when I was neophyte
student pilot just getting my wings - there were all sorts of little
goodies you could find around the old airfields which had not come under
such tight control of the FAA and DOT. All this was back in the day
...... It wasn't uncommon at all for fixed base operators to have cans
of "Cone Remover" in the showcase along with the maps, E6B flight
calculators, etc, etc. You could even find a sign in the restroom that
said "Pilots with short stacks and low manifold pressure please taxi up
close. The service crews don't appreciate the slipperiness of a wet
ramp!" These were the days when a fellow could proudly announce of his
kids he had two on the ramp and one in the hangar - the meaning being
pretty obvious to those in the know. There were grand traditions to be
observed - as in having ones shirt tail cut away and having scribed upon
it in some scrawl that one had flown solo - all by oneself sans flight
instructor - and lived to tell the tale. Brave soul, and he didn't even
have to use the cone remover he had brought along just in case. Little
did he know how many thousands of incredibly tedious, boring, flying
hours would be accrued, interspersed with moments of shear terror. But
if he were a true aviator - he would not trade a single moment of it for
another point in time.

Ah, the Good Ol' Days.

John

BTW, years ago, Sporty's Pilot Shop had some of that mystic cone removal
stuff. Who knows - it may still be around.