Aviation Related: Welcome to Washington, Bill Clinton

dbahn

dbahn

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Dave Bahnson
This shouldn't create a discussion about actual politics, but I'm still amused.

Years ago I flew into the Washington National (GREAT destination then, landing almost downtown, cheap tie down, great service, easy Metro access, etc.) and spent several days touring museums and other attractions. As I was about to leave the FBO area on my way home I was standing by the exit door to go to my plane and in walks Presidential candidate Bill Clinton. He looked at me, I recognized him, then I realized that he must have thought that I was his contact person there. He reached out to shake hands, which I did, and I couldn't think of anything to say except, "Welcome to Washington". He looked at me as if he was expecting the next instruction about where to go next, and I innocently just walked past him and out to my plane. True story. :)
 
I must be flying to the wrong airports, as I have never once met anyone famous while flying. Wait, considering that I don’t give a crap about famous people, I must actually be flying to the RIGHT airports!
 
He's the reason I carry a better camera around now on my trips. I was giving some seminars at Ol' Miss and he came there too. Very heavy crop in the first one, from a point & shoot.

I actually had my camera in Italy a couple of months ago and I just didn't believe I was looking at Bill Barr, so no shot of him. :(

DSCN1218.JPG DSCN1219.JPG
 
CSB! If you could see into the future you could have added: “beware women wearing blue dresses”

I saw Clinton while he was in Hawaii to view a military parade. Being voluntold to march in parades is quite annoying though.

Back in the day I used to joke that Clinton would lob off cruise missiles when he was sexually frustrated.

I neither liked nor disliked him.
 
Dave, we are almost certainly in a small group of members here who have DCA in our log books. I stopped there in May 1977, just to put it in my log book. In 1989, I had an opportunity to fly into Andrews for a meeting, and added it to my log. I have flown over a dozen instrument approaches there, for training or maintaining proficiency.
 
On a pre-9/11 night IFR flight home from KFDK, I was on a vector when ATC asked me my heading. Once stated they told me to turn 10 degree right “otherwise I’d fly over Bill’s house”. All 3 of us craned our necks unable to see thru the undercast.

Oh those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end...


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geezer said:
Dave, we are almost certainly in a small group of members here who have DCA in our log books. I stopped there in May 1977, just to put it in my log book. In 1989, I had an opportunity to fly into Andrews for a meeting, and added it to my log. I have flown over a dozen instrument approaches there, for training or maintaining proficiency.
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Back in the days, DCA was one of the most attractive destinations from anywhere in New England and other points an hour or two away. I always felt that it was because you felt like you were being treated like a legislator, because a number of them used the airport and wanted it to be user friendly for their own purposes. Even when you had to reserve a "slot" to get in it was easy to do, despite that horrible computer voice interface to do so.

I remember flying in over the Mall viewing the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the White House as we descended over the area, with Andrews off to the left, and on one flight an F 16 off to our side. The 911 attacks took that all away from the common aviator.

It's sad that the experience is gone for those following us in time.
 
My only celebrity experience involved the other Clinton, Hillary. This was pre-9/11, when Bill was Prez.

I worked for an independent oil & gas company, and we had a lot of institutional investors "back east". One of those was Fidelity, in Baahston. We were at the end of an exhausting week of investor relations visits in different cities, and had the company plane on the ramp at Logan for the afternoon. Got back to the airport late on that Friday to get ready for the long flight back home to the west, but weren't allowed to access our plane. The First Lady was in town to give a speech and a Presidential 707 was on the ramp, complete with stairs, red carpets, security cordon and flood lit all around with portable light stands. They would not let us on the ramp to walk to our plane until she returned and was in the Boeing with the doors closed.

It was a very late start for the trip home. Our plane was a Piper Cheyenne IV with the Garrett engines - basically a missile with props. Our pilot is a friend of mine, so I got to right seat the trip over the Dakotas in the wee hours of the morning. All I remember of that part is trying to stay awake during one of the most spectacular Aurora displays I've ever seen, on that winter night.
 
I’ve seen lots of NASCAR guys coming and going from Concord and living in NASCAR country. I’m not the star struck type. I notice them, think oh I’ve seen them before and move along.
 
Ok since you guys are writing about "politics" I ll give it a go in the same type of story. I was a student at U of Texas, back when they used to win football games in the 60s. LBJ was Pres and one of his daughters, I think Lynda was a student, not really very much Secret Service with her daily. LbJ escalated the Vietnam War in 1964which made both him and the war pretty much a pariah. So this goes on a few years and he just gets tired of it, and announces he won't run for a 2nd term. I had a friend in school who got a job with the secret service after gradation, named Joe.

So we went to the Cotton Bowl game and watched to Texas upset Notre Dame, and LBJ was at the game and was ind. We then went to the FBO to see my Dad and Brother off in the plane, and I got ready to go to the restroom when I saw Joe standing by the mens room door. We said hi and I said what are you doing and he just said, "working". I then went inside and there were only 2 people in there, me and LBJ. Here he had been this figure of war for years and anti student, and he was 5 feet away at the urinal. I couldn't think of any thing at all to say, he looked old and like a worn out grandfather. I was and still am amazed it was just the two of us in there, he didn't look like a larger than life villain, and he didn't live much longer.
 
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dbahn said:
Back in the days, DCA was one of the most attractive destinations from anywhere in New England and other points an hour or two away. I always felt that it was because you felt like you were being treated like a legislator, because a number of them used the airport and wanted it to be user friendly for their own purposes. Even when you had to reserve a "slot" to get in it was easy to do, despite that horrible computer voice interface to do so.

I remember flying in over the Mall viewing the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the White House as we descended over the area, with Andrews off to the left, and on one flight an F 16 off to our side. The 911 attacks took that all away from the common aviator.

It's sad that the experience is gone for those following us in time.
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there was no reason for that to be taken away from us. We surrendered.
 
The last convocation I attended was to hold one of my students. They brought all the faculty in a line at the end. And as I’m walking to my seat who do I see right in front of me but Bill Clinton, I think he was ex-POTUS by then. I would have walked over to say hello but for the rather formidable looking Secret Service agent next to him.
 
Grum.Man said:
I’ve seen lots of NASCAR guys coming and going from Concord and living in NASCAR country. I’m not the star struck type. I notice them, think oh I’ve seen them before and move along.
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I’ve been into Concord a few times. Yes it seem like a Small Fedex hub on certain days but best to avoid those I think unless a real fan.

Otherwise it’s not a particularly good stop for Charllotte area visits. FBO is blah. Prefer KCLT (top 10 FBO!!) or any of the other satellite airports, whichever fits the mission. Used to stop by Bass Pro Shop but we now have one in Cary.


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Bill Greenwood said:
So we went to the Cotton Bowl game and watched to Texas upset Notre Dame, and LBJ was at the game
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Good story.

I remember seeing him there on TV. He was just sitting in the stands. We wondered if he would be invited to the press box, to get out of the cold. (He had been out of office for a year.)
 
I never met Lady Bird Johnson, but I was accused by the Dean of Middlebury College of trying to create a disturbance during her appearance at a graduation, using fireworks and a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The Secret Service responded immediately, but I was innocent and stayed in school until my own graduation. I kept the Dean's letter.
 

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dbahn said:
I never met Lady Bird Johnson, but I was accused by the Dean of Middlebury College of trying to create a disturbance during her appearance at a graduation, using fireworks and a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The Secret Service responded immediately, but I was innocent and stayed in school until my own graduation. I kept the Dean's letter.
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These days, such an incident that didnt happen, would get you expelled (and the University police swat would shoot your dog and burn down your house for good measure).

Is that the 'Deans Letter' you submitted for medical school applications :)
 
I was at a fly in over in Springfield TN last year. Most the tables were full, but there was a table with just one person sitting there. I walked up and asked if he minded if I joined him. We hit it off, said his name was 'Dave'. But it was Billy Bob Thornton. We had a great conversation and he came out to see my plane when I left. Afterwords I couldn't get dirty Santa out of my mind lol.....
 
Secret Service made my unit reorient 21 parked AH-64s on the ramp so the 30 mm cannon could not be pointed at AF1...never so ****ed in my life getting my maintenance guys to come in after hours and ground handle and rechain and block all the aircraft.
 
Warlock said:
Secret Service made my unit reorient 21 parked AH-64s on the ramp so the 30 mm cannon could not be pointed at AF1...never so ****ed in my life getting my maintenance guys to come in after hours and ground handle and rechain and block all the aircraft.
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Were they even loaded?
 
I've met a few celebrities. My grand parents are good friends with the parents of one of the Sex In The City women, the brunette, I couldn't tell you her real name without Google. Drank beer with a few pro basketball players when they played at Wake Forest. Drank beer with a few Nascar drivers, threw up in a Nascar Hall of Fame driver's hot tub. Drank beer with Zack Galifinakis before he was famous, the goofy dude in the Hangover movies.

Only time I was ever star struck was when I met Matt Rutherford. He was sitting on Ault waiting for a weather window, I was drinking beer and putting around the inlet in my dinghy. Talked to him for a while about his trip around the Americas and the voyage on which he was about to leave.

https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2014/june/matt-rutherford-vs-the-world.asp
 
No not loaded and nearest live ammo 200 miles away...KEFD...Houston
 
One day back in 2005 I was at Meeker, Colorado (EEO) to look at some cracks in the runway. There were many black Suburbans and nearly every law enforcement vehicle in the county was on the field. A G-IV landed and George H. W. Bush got out of it. The picture I took of him getting out of it that day helped the Denver ADO come to the realization that a bigger runway was needed there.
 
Warlock said:
No not loaded and nearest live ammo 200 miles away...KEFD...Houston
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lol! Yeah that’s crazy. I could understand if you all had a hot ramp and they didn’t like the aircraft pointed in that direction. Now that I think of it, outside of theater ops, most Apaches I saw loaded up when they got to the range and not at home base.
 
What do NASCAR drivers do during the week to unwind? They deliver packages for UPS.

(let's see if anyone gets that joke)
 
timwinters said:
What do NASCAR drivers do during the week to unwind? They deliver packages for UPS.
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I got it... :lol:

I remember the time when the real stock car races started when 2 rival teams picked up their rental cars at the same time.

NASCAR is almost as tame as coordinated swimming events now. Thanks to PC fears.
 
timwinters said:
What do NASCAR drivers do during the week to unwind? They deliver packages for UPS.

(let's see if anyone gets that joke)
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They dont do that anymore at least not in our area.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
I must be flying to the wrong airports, as I have never once met anyone famous while flying. Wait, considering that I don’t give a crap about famous people, I must actually be flying to the RIGHT airports!
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kind of funny, I walked by the guy in your profile picture this summer at our local airport
 
No heat. your are right. LBJ was in the stands. not up in the press box. I was so into football in those days and Texas was so football. Notre Dame was favored, the were a big team with the leading defense in the country. not supposed to be able to run on them. Texas was not a good passing team, but could block and run. when the media ask coach Royal how he was going to handle this, he said an old OK saying from his teenage years. "We're gonna dance with the ones who brung us." txas got I think 284 yards rushing and Billy Dale scored the winning touchdown with a few minutes left on a short run. Dale was 3rd string, there had been injuries. One of the great N D players was Bob Golic, middle guard and immovable, he's on a morning talk show now.
 
Weekend Warrior said:
I must be flying to the wrong airports, as I have never once met anyone famous while flying. Wait, considering that I don’t give a crap about famous people, I must actually be flying to the RIGHT airports!
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I met Bill Gates, Jeff Foxworthy (he engaged with everyone, it was awesome), and Jimmy Buffet at three different FBOs. I was with a friend when I waved to Jimmy, who smiled and waved back, but my friend didn't recognize him.
 
woodchucker said:
Back in the day I used to joke that Clinton would lob off cruise missiles when he was sexually frustrated.
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This is me standing in front of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan that Clinton attacked with the above mentioned cruise missile.

DSCF9536.jpg
 
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