I've had young helicopter pilots introduce themselves to me
and try to come off as big experts because they have a thousand hours or so of flight time. I met one who claimed
to know everything about the Bell 206. I
asked him how much flight time he had? “About 2,000 hours,” he said,
which I knew was a lie…okay, an “exaggeration.”
And, I pressed a little further, how much time of that is in the
206? “About 50 hours.” Hmm.
I let him talk on and on for a while. I did not mention
that of my 11,000 hours of flight time, over 7,000 hours have been spent flying
the various models of the Bell 206. Does
this make me the most knowledgeable 206 expert in the whole universe?
Hardly. But you could say that I’m
“familiar” enough with the type. And I was
familiar enough with the ship to know that this young pilot to whom I was
talking didn’t know shit about the Bell 206.
The point is, you never know who you’re talking to. Especially in my current line of work, you
never know who’s getting in the cab. I re-learned
this just yesterday. A guy hopped in at the airport and asked to be taken
to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Hotel out on Pensacola Beach (a $35.00 fare). Sure thing!
Off we went.
I usually ask my passengers what brings them to Pensacola? This guy tersely said he had a meeting, but
didn’t offer any details. “Well,
you sure picked the right place to stay!” I offered. “The Margaritaville is one of the nicest
hotels on the beach, *and* it has a great restaurant, Frank and Lola’s right
inside.”
In the first place, both statements are true. There are good and not-so-good hotels out on the beach; Margaritaville and the Hilton are two of the best. But I'd never want to insult
anyone about their choice of hotel. Making
people feel bad about themselves is never a good idea.
It turned out that my passenger was in charge of all
Margaritaville facilities worldwide, the number two man under Jimmy Buffet
himself. Yikes!
Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is important, obviously,
but knowing what to say and what not to say when you do open your mouth is
equally important. It's a lesson it took me a very long time to learn.
