Anorak Question (SO VILE IT WAS BANNED!!!!!!!)

[EDowning]

I have from time to time had people come up to me at an airshow and ask me a flurry of super detailed, parts specific questions (serial #, model # of minor components etc.) about my various airplanes.

Can anyone explain to me what the attraction is to this (highly annoying) aspect of the warbird community?

Last edited by EDowning on Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:17 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[P51Mstg]

Pretty simple. They are simply trying to determine if the pilot is smart enough to be flying the airplane he is standing in front of.

So far you have passed every test.

Good Job!!!

Mark H

PS: What was that National Stock Number on the oil filter on your SkyRaider?

[Toddb]

I found this on another forum, after reading the posts, I'm not sure if I want to ask any more questions at an airshow.

Todd

http://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/in ... topic=1112

[mike furline]

I have from time to time had people come up to me at an airshow and ask me a flurry of super detailed, parts specific questions about my various airplanes.

Can anyone explain to me what the attraction is to this highly annoying aspect of the warbird community?

Perhaps you can stop going to airshows, then you won't be annoyed by the people interested in your airplanes.

Mike

[EDowning]

Mike Furline wrote:

Perhaps you can stop going to airshows, then you won't be annoyed by the people interested in your airplanes.

Well, I certainly could do that, but the only reason I do airshows is because I enjoy meeting the people at the shows. There is no economic incentive to do it. I usually spend quite a bit of time at the aircraft answering questions of virtually all types. I have no problem answering questions about the aircraft, it's mission, history etc. I do think that when someone shows up with a written list of component serial # type questions, it detracts from the whole experience for the rest of the people around the aircraft.

This is clearly no more than a couple of % of the people who come by. Your response added virtually nothing of value in answering my original question. I am interested in trying to understand this super specific interest in this. Many of these interactions don't even take place at an airshow, most of them show up at my hangar unannnounced. I take time out of whatever I am doing at the hangar to answer questions as well, except when the Serial # sort of questioning starts. Once we get there, I end the drop by and go back to what I originally came to the airport for.

Last edited by EDowning on Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mudge]

I really have no explanation for this kind of obsession with minutae. There are a few on the forum who strike me as that type. Not a criticism. It's simply stuff that, for me at least, holds no interest. To those people, however, I say, "Wherever your interest lies, go for it". (Ain't that simply understanding of me? )

Mudge the magnanimous

[PeterA]

I do think that when someone shows up with a written list of component serial # type questions, it detracts from the whole experience for the rest of the people around the aircraft.

..., except when the Serial # sort of questioning starts. .

From my long experience in the Spitfire world the type of person you mention can be a prime source or route to a cherished or impossible to find spare part.

PeterA

[mlenoch]

Yee-Ha! O the joy of warbirds!
Maybe someone in the board can write a one page airframe history for each of your aircraft. That way you can just hand out the data to satisfy those so very interested in the minute details. The data sheet is indeed very appreciated by this crowd.
I have had one for the last 20 years......I only have a third memorized, so far!

[Forgotten Field]

I regret to say that I am one of those obstreperous people who will blatantly walk up to an owner and make inquiries about the parts on their airplane. Sorry that I am interested in the parts on aircraft and that irritates an owner/operator. I can understand why you would be irritated by parts inquiries from somebody blocking another interested spectator who has more relevant questions, like what is the name of your airplane, isn't it nice that the government maintains these, and do you think your airplane will ever fly? But from my standpoint, the knowledge of the parts on your airframe is a critical bit of information that can lend it's hand to maintenance, operation, and ultimately performance during flight. I like to fly the L-5 in ignorant bliss of the fatigue, wear, and failure status of all the components- all I'm legally required to do is know that a particular signature on the annual inspection is there. I'm trained to put the airplane down when something critical breaks. But when it is on the ground, my mechanic gets particular about the parts, and having the knowledge of them makes our discourse much easier. As regards the airplanes I have flown with, most owners were intimately familiar with the components.

I'm not trying to be derogatory about your opinion of this subject, but feel that most people who fly their airplanes have a degree of intimacy with them. Spectators, whether Amish chicks or parts nazi's, assume this and usually feel they have a right to ask about what you know of the airplane based on this perception of intimate knowledge. If you are uncomfortable with the parts aspect, keep a stack of cards for your mechanic and point them that direction or offer to sell them a CD of the parts manual for $100 or whatever it costs.

[Eric Friedebach]

It’s been well over ten years since I’ve crewed any big iron to an airshow, so my memory may be off, but I really don’t recall this being an issue in the 1980s and early 90s. I’ve run into poor souls who need some help in the social skills department, but that’s about it.

Is it possible that the internet now allows anyone to pursue their interests to an extreme? There’s an awful lot of lurkers on this website.

I’ve been meaning to post a picture of some NOS tubes that I’ve scavenged the bearings off of before throwing them in the dumpster. It’s just a casual curiosity to me, but perhaps I may be fanning the fire, LOL.

[EDowning]

Forgotten Field wrote:

I can understand why you would be irritated by parts inquiries from somebody c*ck blocking another interested spectator who has more relevant questions, like what is the name of your airplane, isn't it nice that the government maintains these, and do you think your airplane will ever fly?

I see these questions and the serial # questions as the same type.

I really was looking for some explaination that would enlighten me to what would make a total stranger think that they are entitled to this level of access. So far, I see none.

But from my standpoint, the knowledge of the parts on your airframe is a critical bit of information that can lend it's hand to maintenance, operation, and ultimately performance during flight. I like to fly the L-5 in ignorant bliss of the fatigue, wear, and failure status of all the components- all I'm legally required to do is know that a particular signature on the annual inspection is there. I'm trained to put the airplane down when something critical breaks. But when it is on the ground, my mechanic gets particular about the parts, and having the knowledge of them makes our discourse much easier. As regards the airplanes I have flown with, most owners were intimately familiar with the components.

If the implication here is that because I choose not to provide this info, it is because I somehow have a weak knowledge of my aircraft, then you would be wrong.

Still looking for some insight into the specific use of this relatively useless serial # info.

[mike furline]

A total stranger asking for serial. #'s, quick call the Feds.

Maybe the guy with all the annoying questions has a Skyraider in his barn that he is trying to piece together, maybe he has an attic full of warbird parts, maybe his Dad or Grandfather flew them? Who knows?

Perhaps you could come up with a list of permissible questions that the general public could follow so as not to annoy Sir Eric.

Good grief, we should all have such big problems in life.


Mike

Last edited by mike furline on Fri Aug 03, 2007 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

[astixjr]

Eric,
I think some of the WIXers posting replies here do not understand that you are asking a serious question. You are as baffled by some of these "aircraft minutae information collector" types as I was when I first started to encounter "tailspotters" when I moved to Tucson, Arizona in
1982. I have an answer, at least I have a theory.

I think these folks are an Internet phenomenon and I don't think they really existed as a discernable group in the 80s and early 90s. However, I started to notice them myself in the mid to late 90s. For the most part, they are fairly harmless and can, at times, be great sources of information. On the other hand, a few too many at any given airshow can really drive a person nuts.

[JDK]

I have from time to time had people come up to me at an airshow and ask me a flurry of super detailed, parts specific questions (serial #, model # of minor components etc.) about my various airplanes.

Hi Eric,
Like some others here, I didn't at first realise this was a serious question. Can you elaborate a bit, as I remain nonplussed?

As an aviation journalist and writer, I regularly ask a lot of detailed questions, but never serial numbers of bits - and I've not heard of that happening before - it's a new one to me of the wide and wild world of aviation enthusiasm. And when I talk to someone they know who I am and why I'm doing it, and generally it's been a mutually useful discussion.

The Reggie spotters (primarily from the UK) are one of the facets of aviation enthusiasm. Some are serious aviators (including pilots) others great people and some, sadly, obsessive idiots who give the rest a bad name. But AFAIK they collect registrations and serials, only.

Perhaps it's worth pointing out that of the vast number of people interested in aviation only a small percentage are well heeled enough to actually own and operate their own vintage aircraft. The rest of us find cheaper things to do, some play, and some more seriously or even obsessively.

A psychologist would probably be quick to draw comparisons between a person operating a 1940s era military aircraft and someone else, probably less trained and funded, developing a fascination with the same type's technology. Much as we might all argue otherwise, there's few compelling, justifiable reasons to actually operate or preserve 'old airplanes'. (and if anyone's sucking-in breath here, don't beat me up about 'education' 'commemoration' etc - that's a whole other argument, for another day.)

However general and vintage aviation needs all the friends it can get, faced with the continual assault of the grey people. Maybe we need to figure out how to be inclusive rather than exclusive (and there's some you'd never want in your team, of course...).

Regards,

[Dan Johnson II]

Gonna try and answer this one seriously.

First off, there are always going to be folks who have read a little and think they know a lot. That may make up part of the crowd you are talking about.


Second, is there probably are folks who are genuinely interested but aren't ever going to be in the world of owning a warbird. That doesn't mean the obsession is any less real.

I've been an aviation history nut since I was 6-7 years old, which puts it in the 40 year range now. I've never been a nuts and bolts, whats this bit do kind of history nut, much more interested in the people, but I think the issue is the same.

When I think of some of the dumb questions I asked over the years as I went hunting for info, I kind of shudder at how I must have come across. The interest was genuine, but I just didn't have a clue.

I'm most grateful for those folks who were patient enough with me to point me in the right directions or share the wealth so to speak so that I could learn more and not come across like some half clueless type.

While I'll never own a Spit XII a 51 or a 38 I have been lucky enough to get to talk to and know folks from that world and for that I'm grateful.

I don't think that applies to all the folks you are talking about, but I'm sure it's some of them.

Dan