What do you hate most about the job?

[N519AT]

Personally, I hate going to the fuel farm. Especially doing the morning quality control checks. It gets so mundane and I find myself trying to do things in a different order just to make the time go by faster.

I just can't stand not being around airplanes.

Now, when others b!tch, moan and complain about a request from a crew (such as a base airplane leaving in 45 minutes, and they're piled behind 6 other airplanes in the hangar), I will be the first one to jump on it. I love working with airplanes.

[SY737]

-When nothing flies in.
-Doing things not related to aircraft.
-Filling a C-150 with 1.6 Gallons of 100LL

[BCTAv8r]

Doing the lav on the Challenger 600s (too tight). Hate it even more when the APU is on.

[n57flyguy]

-Nothing flying (bad wx)
-Gliders that wont shut up on the unicom
-just plain bitching about things beyond my control

Not that I hate my job, just some pet peeves of mine

[BCTAv8r]

Originally Posted by BCTAv8r

Doing the lav on the Challenger 600s (too tight). Hate it even more when the APU is on.

To give due credit to the Challenger, today was pouring and after 2 minutes of standing by the APU I was completely dry.

[RPJ]

Originally Posted by SY737

-Filling a C-150 with 1.6 Gallons of 100LL

LOL classic!

[Pietrantonio]

The managment.

They're lack of micromanagment skills, and their awesome ability to kiss A## to customers. It's not an everyone is treated equal place. If you ever want free fuel, stop in and complain about anything...I'm sure you can get something out of it. Not a bad deal with fuel prices the way they are.

Umm what else. Oh, when 0600 hits, and it's my time to pack it up and go home, but I'm still stuck fueling until 0615 because the next shift takes their sweet time to make coffee, chat, and then realize that they are supposed to be doing...what's it called...ummm WORK!

Other than that, I love what I do. I enjoy helping the crew out, learning about new airplanes, etc. It's just the internal operations that really bring down the moral of those that work there. That is something this company knows nothing about.

[beechpilot]

Originally Posted by SY737

-When nothing flies in.
-Doing things not related to aircraft.
-Filling a C-150 with 1.6 Gallons of 100LL

Gotta agree with the 1.6 gals. Man that's frustrating

[beechpilot]

I had a night when I had to fuel an old MU-300(Beechjet). The problem is the trunk fuel cap is about 3 feet forward of the newer Beechjets, so the only way to get to it is to put the ladder next to the right engine, climb to the top of the ladder, and then lay yourself over the engine. Oh, and you can't read the truck meter so you have to keep getting down to read it. I did this at 9pm in the pitch dark and pouring rain.....so I guess you could say I'm not a huge fan of the Beechjet.

[Taha]

Originally Posted by beechpilot

Gotta agree with the 1.6 gals. Man that's frustrating

Last summer when I was working line service we had a fueler put .2 gallons in a Cherokee, and one night a student asked me for "half a side" in a Tomahawk. I thought at first she must mean half tanks or something, but nope, just half a gallon.

[beechpilot]

Originally Posted by Taha

Last summer when I was working line service we had a fueler put .2 gallons in a Cherokee, and one night a student asked me for "half a side" in a Tomahawk. I thought at first she must mean half tanks or something, but nope, just half a gallon.

Crying out loud, I thought putting on 2 gallons wasn't much.

[Van_Hoolio]

When I did a little line service, the thing I hated most was washing airplanes. Months upon months of bugs, leaked oil and exhaust stains just does not want to come off. I hated being on my back on a creeper under an old 172, with the de-greasing solution dripping into my eyes.

That sucked. That was the worst.

Other than that, it was annoying putting small amounts of fuel into high wing trainers with two fuel tanks. Fueling anything with a ladder was a PITA, now that I think of it, especially a MU-2.

I'm glad I had some experience doing it though. I was only at it for around three months, and I think it was a valuable experience. I learned a lot about a wide variety of airplanes.

[n57flyguy]

Originally Posted by Taha

Last summer when I was working line service we had a fueler put .2 gallons in a Cherokee, and one night a student asked me for "half a side" in a Tomahawk. I thought at first she must mean half tanks or something, but nope, just half a gallon.

hahaha, .5 more in a Tomahawk??? I wouldn't worry if it was even half a tank (I fly and service the Tomahawk).

Originally Posted by Van_Hoolio

When I did a little line service, the thing I hated most was washing airplanes. Months upon months of bugs, leaked oil and exhaust stains just does not want to come off. I hated being on my back on a creeper under an old 172, with the de-greasing solution dripping into my eyes.

That sucked. That was the worst.

Thats why I charge ~$200 for a wash/wax

[JDE]

Originally Posted by beechpilot

I had a night when I had to fuel an old MU-300(Beechjet). The problem is the trunk fuel cap is about 3 feet forward of the newer Beechjets, so the only way to get to it is to put the ladder next to the right engine, climb to the top of the ladder, and then lay yourself over the engine. Oh, and you can't read the truck meter so you have to keep getting down to read it. I did this at 9pm in the pitch dark and pouring rain.....so I guess you could say I'm not a huge fan of the Beechjet.

The only time I mildly enjoyed fueling Beechjets was during a COLD Kansas winter. It was nice to get the heat off of that engine. I fueled a Learjet 28 one time and had the same problem as on the Diamond Jets. One of the pilots finally came over to me and told me to just get up and sit on the engine...made it much easier.

I do kinda miss working the line. That was a fun job.

[BCTAv8r]

Originally Posted by Van_Hoolio

Other than that, it was annoying putting small amounts of fuel into high wing trainers with two fuel tanks. Fueling anything with a ladder was a PITA, now that I think of it, especially a MU-2.

Lol, I was complaining about the same thing to myself at work today. We have a flight school based here that gets all their 172s topped off and it sucks. Sometimes I just use the step on the side and hold on to the handle.

Originally Posted by beechpilot

I had a night when I had to fuel an old MU-300(Beechjet). The problem is the trunk fuel cap is about 3 feet forward of the newer Beechjets, so the only way to get to it is to put the ladder next to the right engine, climb to the top of the ladder, and then lay yourself over the engine. Oh, and you can't read the truck meter so you have to keep getting down to read it. I did this at 9pm in the pitch dark and pouring rain.....so I guess you could say I'm not a huge fan of the Beechjet.

Not only that but for the last 100 gallons or so you have to wait for the fuel to slowly go down so you can refill it.

[beechpilot]

Originally Posted by BCTAv8r

Lol, I was complaining about the same thing to myself at work today. We have a flight school based here that gets all their 172s topped off and it sucks. Sometimes I just use the step on the side and hold on to the handle.


Not only that but for the last 100 gallons or so you have to wait for the fuel to slowly go down so you can refill it.

Yeah, I was training a guy to fuel a Beechjet once and he didn't hear me say the part about slow. Needless to say there was a fountain of Jet A all over the place. I laughed my ass off.

[beechpilot]

Originally Posted by JDE

The only time I mildly enjoyed fueling Beechjets was during a COLD Kansas winter. It was nice to get the heat off of that engine. I fueled a Learjet 28 one time and had the same problem as on the Diamond Jets. One of the pilots finally came over to me and told me to just get up and sit on the engine...made it much easier.

I do kinda miss working the line. That was a fun job.

You call that easy? Haha I remember putting the ladder back in the usual spot and I could not reach that damn trunk. That's when the FO came over and was like oh yeah just lay over the engine. I'm glad they updated that when the Diamond became the Beechjet.

[JDE]

Originally Posted by beechpilot

You call that easy? Haha I remember putting the ladder back in the usual spot and I could not reach that damn trunk. That's when the FO came over and was like oh yeah just lay over the engine. I'm glad they updated that when the Diamond became the Beechjet.

What I can't figure out is why they never made it SPR. The T-1's have SPR, and I thought maybe when they made it the Hawker 400 they'd do it, but nope. I'm guessing it probably added too much weight, which maybe wasn't an issue on the T-1, but a big deal on the pax version.

[Taha]

Turbo Commanders were never fun. They combined all the things I didn't like. You needed a screwdriver to open the caps (which was never where it shold be in the truck), a ladder, the nozzle never fit quite right, and with the interconnected tanks it would take forever to top-off.

[aviatorrbt]

I was going to copy and paste to agree to everything here but that would take forever... anyways, I TOTALLY agree with everyone of you. I HATE when people want anything less than 10 gallons, let alone .5 . . .


most of all though, I really dislike doing lavs on anything that cannot use the lav cart (ie PC12). It always seems the lav is filled a little to much and some blue juice spills... eww.

[BCTAv8r]

Dry lavs REALLY suck.

[ljg]

When I was working line, we had a new guy that was paired up with us and responsible to train. His goal in life was to work line, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. If you didn't watch him he was literally going to walk into a prop. It took almost 3 months of near death experiences, spilled fuel, scrambled paperwork, and irate rich 172 owners before he was.....no, not canned...demoted to yard man. Two months after daily near death-by-lawnmower he got canned. That was probably what I liked least about line.


Most?,...Counter girls.

[MFT1Air]

Originally Posted by ljg

Most?,...Counter girls.

As sexist as it might sound. . .AMEN!!!

http://www.fbohotties.com/page2.html

[aviatorrbt]

Counter girls can go well with this thread. I really dislike how they never know what is going on. Not only that, some of them are pretty immature and do not know how to deal with people which in turn makes me (and the business) bad.

[Gumps]

Pretty much every thing written so far on this thread. I'll add these two:

"Working" with lazy people who have bad attitudes. These people could be other line guys, desk girls, and the fractional pilot who thinks everyone in the world is stupid and dispatch is out to get them!

Some corporate pilots will call themselves "limo drivers", not to disregard their profession but as a sign of humility. Others think they are as important and deserving of kow towing as the billionaires who own the airplane they are hired to fly.

For the record, the people who worked the desk at my FBO on my shift were among the finest in the business.