Drifting off topic in Hangar Chat..

[birdguy 3,943]

Sometimes a thread in Hangar Chat drifts off subject.  What we are doing is having a conversation and that's what conversations do.  We are chatting.  Anyone who has hung around a 'hangar' or and FBO office knows that the conversation isn't always about flying or airplanes.  Probably we mostly talked about women.  Just like any conversation over the table at McDonalds or in one's living room we don't restrict ourselves to talk only about what the person who started the conversation was talking about.  Conversations almost always drift off course.  We are chatting and as the thread progresses someone who wasn't interested in the initial subject gets drawn into the changed subject.  It's never intentional.  Someone will mention something and another person will pick up on it and the conversation continues.

In the old ORBX forums they had Hangar Talk.  Get a Coke out if the machine, sit down, and talk about something.  It was fun until Hangar Talk was shut down and it became a strictly business forum.

Let's not let that happen here.  We are friends who get together and talk about what interests us...mostly aviation and simulation; but not always.

I do understand that in the formal forums like P3D and FSX and specific subject forums drifting off topic is inappropriate.  But Hangar Chat is just that...chat.

Just my two cents worth.

Noel

Edited October 22, 2019 by birdguy
Spelling

[charliearon 3,017]

Noel, not to worry!  Like you said it's about sitting around and having a conversation.  They are not restricted to only the opening topic.  As long as everything remains friendly, it can be about A-Z minus anything that is offensive and against the Terms of Service.

If you have noticed, Jim took off the requirements of the conversation being limited to Aviation.

Any new UFO sightings there in Roswell....not to change the subject?

[Jim Young 2,356]

The rules also state:  Please make sure that your topic isn't covered in another forum before posting here.  See description for this forum. 

[jon b 2,041]

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

 Probably we mostly talked about women.  Just like any conversation over the table at McDonalds or in one's living room.....

That just needs one carefully (mis)placed comma and this thread would certainly drift off 😉😄😄

[Paul Deluca 164]

How about this one Noel:  Norman Petty  Recording Studio Museum in Clovis New Mexico? I would love to visit that place. I would start playing around with  the musical instruments, and possibly get yelled at  LOL!!!!!!!  PS. There are flights to Clovis onboard  a Pilatus PC-12

Edited October 22, 2019 by Paul Deluca

[birdguy 3,943]

No sightings that I know of Charlie.  I'll have to speak to someone on the city council.  They schedule all the UFO flights.

Boutique air also flies Beech King Air 350 Paul.  Or, if your are military or retired military you might be able to get a space available hop to Cannon AFB.  A decade ago my pilot friend and I would share the cost of renting a C152 and fly to nearby airports.  Clovis was one of our destinations along with Canyon City, Hobbs and Sierra Blanca airport.  One of us would fly the leg out and the other would fly the leg back.

Noel

[Mace 1,902]

Noel, did you ever fly down to Carlsbad?  See the cave there?

[birdguy 3,943]

Rhett, I've been to the cave a number of times.  It's a must trip when we get out of state visitors.

When my grandson was about six years old we took him down.  At one point we came to place where there was a hole in the rock next to the trail.  I told Dakota to put his hand in there.  After he did I told him if he ever told a lie it would chop his hand off.  You never saw anyone move his hand out so fast.

Until a couple years ago we always walked down the trail from the cave entrance.  But lately I have to take elevator down.  I'm not up to the hike anymore.

One trip we took a tour of the Kings Room.  While we were there they turned out the lights.  You have never seen dark as dark as that.  My granddaughter was standing next to me and I could not see her white blouse.

But the most exciting trip I took was with one of the biologists when I was volunteering at the wildlife refuge.  A group of us went down there to help count the cave swallows.  The swallows nest in the cave entrance and fly around inside the entrance feeding on insect.  We would set up a net to catch them and then collect them and take them to the counting and banding station.

Just before dusk we put everything away and then moved further down into the cave and sat down.  A while later the bats came out.  They were flying all round us.  One girl who was with us got smacked in the forehead by one of them.  The beeping was so loud we could hardly talk to each other.  And after about ten minutes you could feel the temperature in the cave rise from the body temperature of a half million bats.  It took over 30 minutes for those bats to clear out before we could leave.  It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

This was one event in my life I crossed off my bucket list before I had even written it down.

And this is but one example of a conversation drifting off topic to something even more interesting.  I'm sure we all have interesting experiences to share when triggered by something a responder says.  I would never have shared this experience with you had not Rhett brought the subject up.  And my cave experience was the furthest thing from my mind when I started this thread.

And yes, my friend I have flown to Carlsbad more than once, but not to visit the cave.  We always drive down there visit the cave.  It's about 100 miles from my front door.

And if you ever visit the place there is an interesting back country drive.  Just ask one of the rangers how to get there.  Carlsbad Caverns is more than just the cave.  Betty and I have hiked in the back country a number of times.  But that is a story for another time.

Noel

[Paul Deluca 164]

Hey Noel: You are right about Boutique Air King Air 350. They  have a Piaggio 180 to experiment with for certain flights.I also remember long defunct Rio Grande Airlines.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Paul Deluca

[birdguy 3,943]

And I remember when Mesa Airlines flew Beech 1900Ds from Albuquerque to Roswell.  They stopped several years ago.  Our air service has been upgraded.  American Eagle now services Roswell from Dallas and Phoenix.  But to get from Roswell to Albuquerque you have to go the long way via Dallas or Phoenix.

Currently we have no direct public transportation from Roswell to Albuquerque.  I usually travel by Amtrack now.  I have to catch the Southwest Chief in Albuquerque so to get there I have to rent a car one way to ABQ, drop it off at the airport, and take a cab to the Amtrack station.

Noel

[HighBypass 2,339]

15 hours ago, Paul Deluca said:

... They  have a Piaggio 180 to experiment with for certain flights...

Ah, the Avanti. A pretty little turbo twin bizprop IMHO. One good looking Catfish 

[W2DR 1,859]

You Da Man Noel. I couldn't agree more................Doug

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

3 hours ago, HighBypass said:

Ah, the Avanti. A pretty little turbo twin bizprop IMHO. One good looking Catfish 

Isn't this covered in another forum...somewhere?

[Jim Young 2,356]

I apologize for locking the other topic (Bye-Bye P3D) but a lot of it was covered in other forums (like Rob's setup).  Tom, the late owner, never wanted the Hangar Chat non-aviation related but we listened to some of the members and opened it up to about anything (unless it is covered in other forums).  The CEO and Board of Directors are trying to maintain Tom's legacy.  The topic saying bye-bye P3D would have been best moved to the P3D Forum when it was first originated.  The title and the OP defines the discussions within a topic and where the topic is placed on AVSIM.  The good thing about locked topics is that you can still view the threads about why someone is saying goodbye to P3D, a very expensive product for those who are not Academic's.  The good thing about forums is that you can start up another topic here at AVSIM anytime you want (and anywhere).  The mods will move, lock, merge, or remove it as they deem appropriate.  It is one of the main functions required by a moderator and the CEO expects them to do their job. 

As volunteer Moderators and Staff here at AVSIM, it is difficult to make the right decisions all of the time, and then take the abuse of others who like to mock AVSIM Staff when they did not like the decision the volunteer moderator or staff member made.  Although I could have removed the off-topic posts in the locked thread I figured it best to lock it and let another one start up and see how far that one goes before going off topic.  It's hard to move off-topic posts in a topic and capture all of the subsequent responses!!  If you have information about yourself, you post that in the About Us Forum.  If you have a nice cockpit, it is best to start a new topic so there can be just discussions about the cockpit or maybe in the Home Cockpit Forum and not in topics where the title says Bye-Bye P3D.  If you have a fancy racing car, best you start a new topic about that.  Those posts, especially, had nothing to do with the title. Members do not like to have to wade through posts that are off-topic to the title of the topic to find out more why the OP decided to leave P3D (although the home setup was great to look at!!)  Anytime the topic is off-topic, it is a responsibility of the AVSIM moderators to hide these posts or send them to the correct forum.  AVSIM will continue to hide topics even though some disagree.  Be nice to your fellow members and don't try to make it difficult for them to wade through your topic with posts that are totally unrelated. 

Lastly, and most important, do not mock the volunteers staff members when they take action on your topic.  They are just doing their job.  It can really get you into a lot of trouble.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Jim if I could buy you a beer for you for what you do I would. All the years I have been on this forum only one member (Oracle427) has come to Wellington and I bought him a beer, we had a great time. If anyone else on this forum ever comes to Wellington the beer is on me