Bob Ackley -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 BA> Replying to a message of Ed Hulett to Bob Ackley:

 SH>>>>>> SV:  Airman can't talk politics, may as well be
a busybody.
 SH>>>>>>  Chatty people are that way, I guess.

 BK>>>>>  Same for airborne taxi drivers.

 EH>>>> Are you suggesting that a Cobra pilot is an
"airborne taxi driver?"

 BA>>> No.  He's saying that all pilots are airborne taxi drivers (airline
 BA>>> pilots are airborne bus drivers, cargo pilots are airborne trash
 BA>>> haulers, both are subsets of 'taxi drivers').  Very common usage to
 BA>>> those of us who have served in the military, particularly in the AF.
 BA>>> Helicopter pilots are a subset of pilots, obviously.

 EH>> So, you are as clueless as Klahn is regarding Cobra pilots. A Cobra
 EH>> doesn't haul anything. It is an *attack* helicopter. There is only
 EH>> room for the pilot and the gunner.

 BA> A fighter aircraft has only one seat and carries no one besides the pilot,
 BA> yet the pilot can still be referred to as an airborne 'taxi driver.'  The
 BA> term applies to pilots in general; as I said above, those of us who have
 BA> served in the military know that.

I doubt you'd call a pilot that to his face. A Cobra pilot doesn't just
deliver the weapons platform to where it's needed. He is an entegral part
of the system. He controls most of the same weapons as the gunner, who is
also a pilot.

 EH>> I'm sure that Stan is well aware and appreciative of his ground crew
 EH>> and all those who made it possible for him to successfully accomplish
 EH>> his missions.

 BA> Even the radar people who guided his chopper in zero/zero visibility?  Even
 BA> the maintenance people who kept that radar running?

Good grief, stop digging already.

 EH>> That said, it is foolish of Klahn to make the comment and it is even
 EH>> more foolish of you to defend his mistake.

 BA> Whatever you say, Ed.

Why did you even attempt to defend Klahn's foolishness? Is it hatred that
motivates you?

Ed

-- 
"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to
destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution
and no property can bear taxation."

-- John Marshall (McCullough v. Maryland, 1819)

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