Slashers LAX Night stops

[Fliegenmong]

Go on then.....

[Slasher]

When I have time Fliegs!

I'll start off with the forgotten car rental at Ontario.

[Magnus]

LAX Marriott, #3 bus into Santa Monica, Hooters. Always worked for me.

[Slasher]

Scene: Renaissance Hotel Marina Del Rey in the shopping area. 2 min walk to Aunt Kizzie's Back Porch (soul food!) and TGIF. 😋

Got in from TPE with an Oz capt. 5 day layover. Quickly got bored shitless. Girls were boring so we decided to hire a car and drive around. Our alt for LAX was ONT so thought we'd check it out. We set forth at 7am. All I had in me pants was my dick and $174 cash. I thought that'd be more than enough.

After parking the rent-a-wreck we wandered around the tmnl in our shorts, t-shirts and thongs (known as flip flops outside Oz) and then we saw a $30 promo to LAS return with Southwest. What the hell? So we bought the tickets and boarded the next flight. We had NOT planned to do this but thought a few hours wander around in Vegas wouldn't hurt. Both of us had never been there anyway.

Went up and down the Strip gambling boozing and eating. Dinner was an all-you-can-eat gut-busting pigout at Caesars for 2 bucks. As we got drunker we started losing money (me betting against red and Bill on the poker tables) and when the sun went down we were pissed and broke. Bill somehow managed to get our return tickets sold and we swore it would be used to get a ride back to the airport and he'd buy the tickets back to ONT using his credit card.

We blew all that in 10 mins on booze and some more betting.

In a freezing blustery wind with dust in our faces we walked all the way from the Strip to Macurran as we didn't have enough for cab fare. Stopped off at Planet Hollywood to share a coffee with the loose change in our pockets and to warm the hell up!

At Macurran, freezing and barely bloody sober, Bill bought our tickets to LA. Flight left 30 mins later. Enroute we slept and felt a bit sober by the time we staggered off the plane.

Arriving LAX Bill got a credit card advance from the station SQ office and we took a cab back to the hotel, went straight up and
ate a late room service dinna in his room, knocked off a beer and shortly after I left to go to my room. I had this nagging feeling though that something wasn't right.

Resting on the bed I called Bill and told him the Universe doesn't feel the way it should. He said he had the same feeling. I hung up and went to sleep.

Five minutes later the phone rang. Bill said "I think [hic] I know what's wrong."

"Well out with it mate."

"Um...we departed from Ontario right?"

Took a while for me to catch on, but I recalled just then we left the car not only at ONT but in the free 30 min zone! 😱

Next morning took a cab out there, paid the towing and storing charges, and a 100 buck fine for staying 18 hours over the 30 min rule. Rent-A-Wreck was alerted but no hand phones in those days to call us and ask WTF?

A one day off-the-cuff impulse cleaned me out. Rest of the stay was gloomy to say the least.

[Ex-Ascot]

Often went to LAS for operational reasons. Lost 50c once. Never betted again.

[1DC]

Mrs1DC likes a gamble but always stops when i tell her she has lost enough, without complaint. It has never really interested me but one time in Reno Mrs 1DC was having a small sesh on some loss maker so i started on a bandit with a 10c piece, after an hour or so i was winning about 150$. I thought that the signs were quite clear that this was my lucky day so i changed my winnings to dollar coins and moved on to a more powerful machine Three minutes later i was broke.

[Pontius Navigator]

Just once, decades ago, taken to this theatre where scantily clad ladies performed strenuous exercises in stage. It was free entry and the place was packed. You had to have a drink.

We all nursed cokes, made them last ages. The skipper didn't hold on tight enough and had to buy a c second drink and lost his seat to boot.

I still remember Tornado Tonja, backward press ups on a rotating bed. Contra rotating tassels too!

[ExSp33db1rd]

Recall some of our crew taking the $10 promo. bus fare from SFO to Las V. ( in the days when $10 was our daily allowance ) On arrival they were given a return ticket and their $10 back. On the return trip they didn’t even have enough cash for coffee at the rest stop ! Future adventurers were advised to tuck a $5 bill into their shoes.

Off to LAS at the weekend ( to stay with friends !)

[llondel]

The first time I flew into LAX they broke the aircraft on its way out again. To briefly touch on the crossroads thread, that's sort of how I ended up here, an interest in what happened and how they went about the investigation.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Often went to LAS for operational reasons. Lost 50c once. Never betted again.

Once won the jackpot on a LAS slot machine - the 5c one, as was in those days - think I cleared round $3. Still big money to me, then.

[Slasher]

Correction: that should've read the Hard Rock Cafe while walking to the airport not Planet Hollywood.

I forget the total bill for that day but apart from the 174 bucks in my shorts I think I forked over an additional $480 to Bill to cover my share of the day. I'd also borrowed cash from him for more betting money after I blew the lot.

What hurted most I was about $500 up on roulette in the early seshes of casino trading till the booze kicked in.

[Stoneboat]

I was a Flight Safety once with a guy from Texaco. He and I were both by ourselves, so FSI threw us together in the sim. One evening during an elbow bending he told the following story. He once worked out of Vegas, for Howard Hughes. Hughes had bought a DH-125 when they first came out . My guy was co-pilot and Hughes hired an ex-mil guy as the Captain on the Hawker, who made it known his job as co-pilot was to handle the radio, raise and lower the gear and see to the catering. This was an early model a 1A, no reverse thrust. The internal elevator and aileron lock was a claw shaped affair that held the left hand ram's horn control wheel immobile. One morning on departure out of LAS with Hughes onboard, the Captain omitted to disengage the claw-shaped affair. As the airspeeds came alive he became aware of that fact, handed the airplane to my guy and attempted to disengage the lock with the airplane still accelerating. My friend moved to abort the takeoff, but Captain America is saying "No, I got it, I got it" meaning he still thinks he can disengage the control lock. They were still on the ground past Vr and by this time the end of the runway is coming up. Finally my guy pulled the power off, yanked the lift dump and stood on the brakes, but the airplane still managed to go off the end. They finally stopped in a cloud of dust about a hundred yards into the desert. Hughes came storming up front wanting to know what the fcuk had gone on. The Captain made some excuse that the control lock had become engaged, but Hughes still fired him on the spot.

[Ex-Ascot]

Took off from LAS once with some pretty dodgy stuff as freight.. The airport was surrounded by thunderstorms. Just couldn't find a gap on radar. Circled for 30 mins before getting through. Fortunately as usual I had loaded loads of gass so made the UK in one hop.

[Slasher]

Once casually asked by the Fleet Office in an email why I took an additional 2h fuel (about 5t) going from the Gulf to Rome once. Anything above 501kg had to be explained.

My reply:

Dear Captain xxxxxxx,

1. LIMC TAF and wx satt indicated heavy TSRA at ETA with an area cluster of developing cells. Forecast vis 1000m. Alternate was forecast 3000m in SHRA.

2. I was the captain. And in no mood to divert to a place that I
a) don't want to go to
b) have no business being in
c) don't give two hoots about.

Thank you & regards.
RKF

Didn't hear a peep after that.

PS: I recall we just made it into FCO R34R by the skin of our arses just before all of Nature's hell broke loose as we took the turnoff. Saw the roll cloud about to hit when at 500ft. Lasted just over an hour. Radar was solid red and purple forever to the West on the 40 mile scale.

[probes]

...got drunker...
...barely bloody sober...
...a bit sober...

interesting gradation

[Ex-Ascot]

May have mentioned before my boss was always nagging me
about fuel loads until he had to divert into Shannon from IAD.

I just asked how was Shannon with a big grin. Can't remember what the reply was but not very polite. He never got onto me again.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I feel a God-forsaken Places I Have Diverted Into thread coming on..

Window Rock, AZ would be my nomination.

[Ex-Ascot]

Just trying to think. Only LHR twice, MAN.once and Blackpool. So guess Blackpool.wins. Got into really ***** about LHR because of the cost but all my pax were going to London so they were happy. Never gave me a tip though.

[ian16th]

Every flight I have been on has landed at the intended destination. Never a diversion.

Only one flight failed an attempted take off, A Transport Command Hastings suffered a mag drop half way along the runway at Marham and aborted.
We had to hang around while Station Flight did a plug change.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I think I've diverted at least once in every aircraft I've flown except the Tiger Moth, about half and half wx and emergencies, with a couple of operational reasons. Longest was an extra 4 1/2 hours flying.