Latest / The World of Phil Hendrie / Episode #3978 The New Phil Hendrie Show Radio Archive October 1999

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Episode #3978 The New Phil Hendrie Show Radio Archive October 1999 · The World of Phil Hendrie

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, welcome to another Radio Archive Hour today. This
0:03
Speaker 1: from the world-famous Phil Hendry Show archives, our Hall of
0:07
Speaker 1: Fame archives at philhendryshow.com. And it's a show that I
0:11
Speaker 1: always think back on this show, it's almost like it
0:12
Speaker 1: was the very first one of the ones we did, national,
0:16
Speaker 1: that made me laugh. I realize that so many of
0:19
Speaker 1: them were funny, but this one strikes the memory for
0:22
Speaker 1: some reason. It's Art Griego, who is our friend, our pilot.
0:26
Speaker 1: This guy is a private pilot. Sometimes he was a
0:28
Speaker 1: commercial pilot. He's one of these cats. He was a
0:30
Speaker 1: pilot that he said, we don't really know how it
0:32
Speaker 1: is that airplanes fly. Pilots are scared to death every
0:35
Speaker 1: time they go up there, but hey, we do the job.
0:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure.
0:38
Speaker 1: Anyway, here is Art talking about one of the great
0:41
Speaker 1: challenges to flying, and that is flocks of geese. And
0:45
Speaker 1: how does he deal with flocks of geese? Well, he
0:49
Speaker 1: sticks a shotgun out the window, and he uses a
0:51
Speaker 1: cricket mallet or cricket pad, whatever it's called.
0:54
Speaker 2: Cricket pad. What do you mean a cricket pad? It's
0:56
Speaker 2: a cricket bat. Cricket bat. Cricket bat. I see. You
0:59
Speaker 2: said Pat. That's a woman's name, isn't it? Cricket Pat? Yeah, thanks, Margaret. Oh,
1:06
Speaker 2: look at these guys. Like your comedy man of the year,
1:09
Speaker 2: is that right? Never mind.
1:11
Speaker 1: So now that we're way off base, let's listen to this.
1:14
Speaker 1: It's Art Griego with The Cricket Bat, The Shotgun, and
1:18
Speaker 1: The Problem of the Geese.
1:20
Speaker 2: Art Griego, old friend of ours, how are you tonight?
1:22
Speaker 3: I'm great, Phil. It's always great talking with you. And
1:26
Speaker 3: I have to tell you, I got a great kick
1:27
Speaker 3: out of listening to your program because you've always got
1:30
Speaker 3: some interesting guests on.
1:31
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about flying, huh?
1:33
Speaker 3: I love to talk about flying.
1:35
Speaker 2: And you have been doing that. You're a private pilot, right?
1:38
Speaker 3: I'm a private pilot, Phil. I do it for pleasure.
1:41
Speaker 3: I do a little instructing, too.
1:44
Speaker 4: One of the things we wanted to discuss is birds
1:46
Speaker 4: because I read where an AWACS Air Force surveillance plane
1:50
Speaker 4: went down as the result of Birds?
1:53
Speaker 3: That is correct, Phil. That was up in Anchorage, Alaska.
1:59
Speaker 2: At the end of the runway there, they said they
2:00
Speaker 2: saw Canadian geese.
2:01
Speaker 3: That's right. That's a hazard. I've been banging this drum
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Speaker 3: for a long time with the pilots that I know.
2:09
Speaker 3: The whole problem with birds and the real threat that
2:15
Speaker 3: they do show to and that they do pose to
2:18
Speaker 3: pilots is has been well documented, and I don't know
2:21
Speaker 3: that we're any closer to solving the problem. If you're
2:24
Speaker 3: in a jet aircraft, you have very little time to respond.
2:29
Speaker 3: If you are in a private prop job, which is
2:32
Speaker 3: what I fly, a Cessna 172, it's my old Betsy's
2:38
Speaker 3: first build in 1979. then you have, you know, you've
2:42
Speaker 3: got some problems because you're not traveling at as fast
2:46
Speaker 3: a speed. Although I think you're safer in a prop
2:48
Speaker 3: plane than you are in a jet. Why? Well, with
2:50
Speaker 3: a jet, you don't really see. If you're coming up
2:53
Speaker 3: on a flock of birds, they are going to get
2:55
Speaker 3: sucked into the turbine. And if you're coming up on
2:57
Speaker 3: those things pretty fast in a Cessna, in any kind
3:00
Speaker 3: of a private plane, a Mooney, a Cetabria, anything, you're
3:05
Speaker 3: going to have a little bit of time to react.
3:08
Speaker 3: And I have been banging this drum for the longest
3:10
Speaker 3: time that birds up in the air are especially dangerous
3:15
Speaker 3: for low-level flying aircraft and can be a hazard. And
3:18
Speaker 3: a lot of pilots deal with this difficulty the best
3:23
Speaker 3: way that they can for low-level flying aircraft, especially when
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Speaker 3: these birds are migrating. If you're in areas where birds
3:30
Speaker 3: are migrating or you are out over those migrating areas,
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Speaker 3: You are in trouble, and what we have to do
3:37
Speaker 3: is find a way to deal with it. I have
3:40
Speaker 3: gotten in trouble with the FAA this past weekend. I
3:43
Speaker 3: told you when we were on the phone this afternoon.
3:46
Speaker 2: Well, you had your son with you this weekend, right?
3:49
Speaker 3: I adjusted along with me, yeah. We were out over
3:52
Speaker 3: Lake Elsinore. We were flying from Santa Monica to Riverside.
3:55
Speaker 3: I know you have a national audience now, Phil, so...
3:58
Speaker 3: For purposes of your national audience, I will tell them
4:01
Speaker 3: that that is roughly an easterly, southeasterly course. Actually, it
4:07
Speaker 3: may be probably a little bit more due east, but
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Speaker 3: we found ourselves out over Lake Elsinore going south-southeast at
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Speaker 3: about 1250 in the afternoon. This is on Saturday. And
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Speaker 3: I saw them up ahead at about 11 to 12 o'clock.
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Speaker 3: I saw a flock of what looked like geese, very
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Speaker 3: large birds. And if you hit one of those in
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Speaker 3: a prop, you have got yourself a whole bag load
4:33
Speaker 3: of trouble because they are big animals. They can stop
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Speaker 3: an engine dead. They can shear a prop blade off.
4:41
Speaker 3: And I think about them every now and again. And
4:45
Speaker 3: I know you know Jim Freeman, who is a dear
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Speaker 3: friend of mine.
4:50
Speaker 2: Jim died a couple of years ago, didn't he?
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Speaker 3: He did. And that was as the result of a wildlife,
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Speaker 3: a bird-related accident. One of them went right through the windshield.
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Speaker 2: Boy, that was a terrible accident.
5:01
Speaker 3: Yes, it was. So we have to deal with it.
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Speaker 3: And I have thought about it, and I've certainly talked
5:06
Speaker 3: to other pilots about it. We were vectoring out of
5:09
Speaker 3: Santa Monica. It was a beautiful day. It was a
5:11
Speaker 3: clear day. We were probably not more than maybe 1,000,
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Speaker 3: 2,000 feet. And I saw a group of geese coming
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Speaker 3: from my left to my right. They were traveling from
5:22
Speaker 3: 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock. At that time, I asked
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Speaker 3: my son to take a hold of the yoke, which
5:28
Speaker 3: is the throttle stick. And I had packed a 12-gauge,
5:34
Speaker 3: which is a less powerful weapon, actually, than a 10-gauge shotgun.
5:39
Speaker 3: I went ahead and opened the win-win on that thing.
5:42
Speaker 3: And as soon as we came to within a safe distance,
5:46
Speaker 3: I went ahead and opened up on them. And I
5:49
Speaker 3: was able to scatter them a little bit. But as
5:52
Speaker 3: we went around them, I noticed that they were still
5:57
Speaker 3: basically maintaining their course.
6:00
Speaker 4: Now, you put a 12-gauge shotgun out the window?
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Speaker 3: And I pumped off one shell. And I scattered a
6:07
Speaker 3: few of them, but I came back around, and I
6:09
Speaker 3: noticed that they were still on the same vector, traveling
6:13
Speaker 3: again from my left to my right. So that would
6:16
Speaker 3: be from north to south. And I went back at them.
6:22
Speaker 2: Why would you go back at them?
6:24
Speaker 3: Why would I go back at them? They had it coming.
6:27
Speaker 2: The geese, you were not able to scan, but you
6:30
Speaker 2: made it through them all right, right?
6:31
Speaker 3: We just threw, by the grace of God Almighty, we
6:34
Speaker 3: made it through. But I went back at them because
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Speaker 3: they had it coming, and they knew. I knew. Everybody
6:42
Speaker 3: in that, my son and I both knew. The geese,
6:45
Speaker 3: if you can say that the geese knew, they knew
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Speaker 3: they had it coming. because they were traveling in a
6:51
Speaker 3: direct line that was going to definitely do damage to
6:53
Speaker 3: my aircraft and to my son.
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Speaker 4: Now, you guys landed, and immediately you had to talk
6:58
Speaker 4: to some officials there on the ground, and some of
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Speaker 4: this had to do with.
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Speaker 3: Well, we had, not to interrupt you, Phil, we had
7:05
Speaker 3: a problem. This was a problem with, you know, discharging
7:12
Speaker 3: the weapon.
7:14
Speaker 4: And you were discharging the weapon up in the air.
7:17
Speaker 2: You're about 2,000 feet up.
7:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, they had a problem. You have to be 18
7:21
Speaker 3: years of age or whatever to.
7:23
Speaker 2: Well, you're about 45. Yeah, I... Actually, it was really...
7:25
Speaker 2: It was my son.
7:35
Speaker 3: I let my son do that because obviously we needed
7:36
Speaker 3: somebody to.
7:38
Speaker 2: Who was flying the plane?
7:39
Speaker 3: I was flying the plane.
7:40
Speaker 2: And who shot at the birds?
7:42
Speaker 3: I let Justin go ahead and take a crack at them.
7:45
Speaker 3: And when he fired at.
7:46
Speaker 2: Well, was he... So in other words, he wasn't as
7:48
Speaker 2: accurate as you might have been.
7:49
Speaker 3: He was not able to... But he had one more
7:52
Speaker 3: shell in him, so we took a swing back by.
7:54
Speaker 3: And I got angry because these things were directly in
7:58
Speaker 3: my path. We were going to die, Phil.
8:02
Speaker 2: You thought it was that serious?
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Speaker 3: As simple as that. We were going to die. I
8:07
Speaker 3: got geese at 12 o'clock. I got that Cessna 172.
8:12
Speaker 3: I got that front blade going. I got to get
8:15
Speaker 3: rid of these geese. I got to get them out
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Speaker 3: of there. And I told him to go ahead and
8:20
Speaker 3: swing the 12-gauge out the window and pop off a shell,
8:23
Speaker 3: and he did. Didn't quite do it the first time.
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Speaker 3: A couple of them, we made it through by the
8:28
Speaker 3: grace of God Almighty. I will tell you that. I
8:30
Speaker 3: was saying a prayer. And that got me so, I
8:34
Speaker 3: guess it just riled me up. So I said, let's
8:36
Speaker 3: swing back back. And take another shot? Let's take another
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Speaker 3: crack at him. And he asked me the same question
8:42
Speaker 3: you asked me. Well, why are we doing that, Danny?
8:44
Speaker 3: I said, they got it coming. And at that point,
8:47
Speaker 3: I guess... So.
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Speaker 2: The FAA, now you've got a problem with them?
8:50
Speaker 3: You've got to do something. You cannot sit up there
8:55
Speaker 3: and allow these wildlife to take out aircraft to jeopardize
9:03
Speaker 3: the lives of pilots. We had to protect ourselves. And
9:06
Speaker 3: I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that. I
9:08
Speaker 3: asked the FAA, how am I supposed to do that?
9:10
Speaker 3: How do you protect yourself and your aircraft? How do
9:13
Speaker 3: we protect ourselves, our children, and our aircraft? And so
9:17
Speaker 3: the best thing that I could come up with was
9:19
Speaker 3: a 12-gauge. We carried it up there. It had two
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Speaker 3: shells with us. And we punched a hole in those
9:23
Speaker 3: geese that we want that won't soon be fixed. I'll
9:26
Speaker 3: tell you that right now.
9:27
Speaker 2: So when you say you punched a hole in them.
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Speaker 3: Well, we popped a hole in them coming back with
9:32
Speaker 3: a 12-gauge and with the props.
9:35
Speaker 4: And, well, if you're telling me that going through geese
9:39
Speaker 4: is dangerous, okay.
9:42
Speaker 3: Well, it is, but with a Cessna 172, you've got
9:44
Speaker 3: a pretty good, you've got yourself some horsepower. So we
9:48
Speaker 3: popped a hole in them. And I don't think, and
9:51
Speaker 3: I could be wrong, but I don't think those geese
9:53
Speaker 3: are going to be coming back for more. But you've
9:56
Speaker 3: got to do something. And when those things, when I
9:58
Speaker 3: saw them, all I could think, of, I saw my son.
10:01
Speaker 3: I remember him being born. I remember my wife holding
10:05
Speaker 3: him in her arms. And I remember thinking, please, God,
10:10
Speaker 3: let me be straight and true. And I said, go ahead, Justin,
10:13
Speaker 3: swing it out the window. He pulled the wind wing
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Speaker 3: open and he went ahead and popped off a couple
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Speaker 3: of shells.
10:19
Speaker 2: Art Griego is with us here.
10:20
Speaker 4: So you've got pilots out there dealing with birds in
10:24
Speaker 4: a lot of different ways. He and his son were
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Speaker 4: up there with a shotgun and shot at a flock
10:27
Speaker 4: of geese as they came into a direct striking distance
10:31
Speaker 4: of his aircraft.
10:33
Speaker 2: He is a private pilot.
10:34
Speaker 4: He flies a Cessna 172 constructed in 1979. He says
10:38
Speaker 4: the prop on that thing is strong enough to cut
10:40
Speaker 4: through a few geese, but it's a dangerous situation. I
10:43
Speaker 4: don't know if any of you are pilots and how
10:44
Speaker 4: you deal with the hazard of of birds, which this
10:49
Speaker 4: past weekend presented a danger to Mr. Griego and his
10:52
Speaker 4: son and brought down, at least according to some people,
10:55
Speaker 4: brought down an AWACS Air Force surveillance plane.
10:58
Speaker 2: The Phil Henry Show. Phil Henry Show, 1-800-449-8686. Art Griego
11:04
Speaker 2: is with us.
11:05
Speaker 4: He's a private pilot, had an encounter with a flock
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Speaker 4: of geese in his plane out over Lake Elsinore on Saturday,
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Speaker 4: had his son with him.
11:12
Speaker 2: You got yourself a firearms.
11:13
Speaker 4: Infraction because you had a kid shooting the gun, didn't you?
11:16
Speaker 3: Well, I was the only one qualified to fly the aircraft.
11:21
Speaker 3: I saw everything happen very, very quickly, Phil. We were
11:25
Speaker 3: flying along probably not more than 150, 160 miles an hour,
11:28
Speaker 3: and suddenly here's a flock of geese in front of me,
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Speaker 3: and I got to make a judgment call. I told Justin,
11:33
Speaker 3: pick up the gun, stick the barrel out the window,
11:36
Speaker 3: and let's have some fun.
11:38
Speaker 2: Let's have some fun.
11:39
Speaker 4: For crying out loud, you got down on the ground,
11:41
Speaker 4: and they were on top.
11:42
Speaker 2: Of you, right?
11:43
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you, I'll go ahead and deal with
11:47
Speaker 3: the FAA. But these geese, what are you going to do?
11:51
Speaker 3: You've got the safety of your aircraft. And we had
11:56
Speaker 3: anticipated this because we had brought along one of them.
12:00
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've ever seen a shrimp net, Phil.
12:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen them. They're big, long nets.
12:04
Speaker 3: That's a long net that you keep, and you can
12:06
Speaker 3: catch shrimp off of a pier with. You keep a
12:08
Speaker 3: shrimp net in a plane, and it is possible. I'm
12:11
Speaker 3: not saying we were able to do it, but it
12:12
Speaker 3: is possible to pick off maybe one or two of
12:14
Speaker 3: these geese and go ahead and stick the shrimp net
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Speaker 3: out the window, and you can bag one of these
12:19
Speaker 3: things and sort of turn it into a positive experience
12:23
Speaker 3: is all I'm saying. But when you're looking at about 30,
12:27
Speaker 3: 40 geese that got it in for you and got
12:30
Speaker 3: up this morning, ready to do you in and your son.
12:36
Speaker 3: I'll tell you something, I'm not about to lose that battle.
12:39
Speaker 2: All right, let me go to East Los Angeles on
12:41
Speaker 2: the Phil Henry Show.
12:41
Speaker 5: Hello.
12:43
Speaker 6: Hello.
12:43
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, hi.
12:44
Speaker 3: Hi, this is Leon.
12:45
Speaker 2: Are you a pilot?
12:46
Speaker 7: Yeah, my name's Leon. I've been a private pilot for
12:48
Speaker 7: about nine or ten years now. Yeah, I just think
12:51
Speaker 7: it's inappropriate to.
12:54
Speaker 7: Fire a weapon out of an airplane or out of
12:56
Speaker 7: your car window or whatever the case may be. I
12:59
Speaker 7: think it should be understood that any, at least as
13:03
Speaker 7: far as I'm concerned, any private pilot recognizes that there's
13:06
Speaker 7: a chance that you're going to run into birds. They
13:09
Speaker 7: have just as much right to navigate the airspace.
13:13
Speaker 3: Well, I think, if I can interrupt the gentleman, I
13:15
Speaker 3: don't think they have a right to bring your aircraft down.
13:18
Speaker 7: Well, yeah, well, I don't think it's a matter of
13:21
Speaker 7: you're talking about them almost as if they have reasoning
13:25
Speaker 7: capabilities like we humans do. I think we need to
13:27
Speaker 7: recognize that that's a possibility, and that's why we have,
13:32
Speaker 7: you know, that's why we're trained to be private pilots,
13:35
Speaker 7: to train to see and avoid traffic, not only other aircraft,
13:38
Speaker 7: but also natural disasters. not dangerous, such as airborne animals, birds.
13:44
Speaker 3: Well, that's true. But I mean, there are times you
13:46
Speaker 3: can't avoid it. And we've got the example of the
13:49
Speaker 3: AWACS plane. You know, they got brought down by geese.
13:52
Speaker 3: This is a government aircraft. Now this guy's the most
13:55
Speaker 3: trained pilot in the world.
13:56
Speaker 6: Right.
13:57
Speaker 7: We recognize that. I mean, it's a fun thing. You know,
14:00
Speaker 7: you never know.
14:00
Speaker 3: You live under a runway.
14:03
Speaker 7: You might get an airplane on the out someday. You're
14:06
Speaker 7: a pilot. You might get involved in just like you're
14:09
Speaker 7: in a car. You know, there's risks. But I think
14:14
Speaker 7: we need to respect wildlife. And I think most pilots,
14:17
Speaker 7: by and large, recognize that... That simply, that's a possibility,
14:24
Speaker 7: and we're trained to, you know, to avoid those things. Well,
14:28
Speaker 7: you know what?
14:28
Speaker 3: We're trained to avoid it, but you can't always avoid it.
14:30
Speaker 3: You've got to have a backup plan. You've got to
14:33
Speaker 3: have a backup plan, and that's my backup plan.
14:35
Speaker 6: Well, yeah.
14:36
Speaker 7: Well, then everybody has a right to a choice.
14:39
Speaker 3: Let me just say this. I guarantee you those geese...
14:42
Speaker 3: will not get in another aircraft's way again.
14:44
Speaker 7: Well, actually, you know, I don't think that you're talking
14:46
Speaker 7: about them as if they have reasoning capabilities like a human.
14:48
Speaker 3: I'm saying that those geese are going to remember. They're
14:51
Speaker 3: going to long remember. When they tried to mess with
14:53
Speaker 3: my aircraft. Well, I disagree with you. My son was
14:57
Speaker 3: in the aircraft with me.
14:58
Speaker 7: I think most people would agree that the geese.
15:00
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know. I'm not interested.
15:02
Speaker 7: They probably look at your plane.
15:03
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. I'm not
15:05
Speaker 3: trying to win a popularity contest. I showed the geese
15:09
Speaker 3: what it's about. And that's really what, you know, that's
15:12
Speaker 3: what it's all about, Phil. I mean, when you get
15:14
Speaker 3: up there and you have got those geese, you've got
15:18
Speaker 3: to show them what it's all about. And I think back,
15:23
Speaker 3: I could have lost my son. I could have lost
15:24
Speaker 3: it all.
15:26
Speaker 4: I know it was a scary situation. I'm curious about
15:28
Speaker 4: the boy shooting a shotgun out of the window.
15:32
Speaker 3: I just got to tell you this much, Bill. There's
15:34
Speaker 3: an old saying, a man is the king of his castle, okay?
15:37
Speaker 6: Right.
15:38
Speaker 3: I take that saying, and I kind of transport it
15:42
Speaker 3: up to the heavens. I say, I am the lord
15:43
Speaker 3: of my airspace. I am the lord of my airspace.
15:46
Speaker 3: This is where I fly. Any geese want to fly,
15:50
Speaker 3: they can fly wherever they want. There's all kinds of sky.
15:53
Speaker 3: They can fly at 3 o'clock. They can fly at
15:55
Speaker 3: 9 o'clock. They can fly on my 6. But they
15:59
Speaker 3: don't get in my face because that's the name of
16:03
Speaker 3: that tune, and that's just how it is.
16:05
Speaker 2: Okay, Portland on the Phil Henry Show.
16:07
Speaker 1: Hello.
16:08
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just want to agree with the man here.
16:11
Speaker 7: Thank you.
16:12
Speaker 8: I was attacked by a gang of geese as a
16:14
Speaker 8: young child, and I know that they do have reasoning capabilities,
16:17
Speaker 8: and they do... They do plan together, and they can
16:21
Speaker 8: go after you and mess you up pretty bad.
16:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely. That was your experience on Saturday.
16:26
Speaker 3: That was my experience on Saturday, and I think that
16:29
Speaker 3: a lot of people need to understand that.
16:30
Speaker 2: Let's go to Hollywood on the Phil Henry Show. Hello.
16:33
Speaker 6: Yeah, hi.
16:34
Speaker 9: Hi.
16:35
Speaker 10: Sir, I think that you're being rather unreasonable here shooting
16:39
Speaker 10: at these birds that you feel had it coming.
16:42
Speaker 11: I mean, these birds are flying migratory routes.
16:45
Speaker 3: I understand that. And it's a very dangerous time for
16:48
Speaker 3: pilots when they're flying a migratory route, especially this time
16:50
Speaker 3: of year. But what are they doing flying directly in
16:54
Speaker 3: the path of 150 miles per hour with a Cessna 172?
16:58
Speaker 11: Well, who was flying first, the bird or man?
17:02
Speaker 3: I was the guy off the ground. As far as
17:04
Speaker 3: I'm concerned, I got off the ground first on Saturday morning. Okay.
17:09
Speaker 6: Yeah, right.
17:09
Speaker 10: The bird's been flying from Canada since probably three months ago.
17:13
Speaker 10: So who was in the air first?
17:15
Speaker 3: Well, what does that mean? So we should ground all aircraft?
17:18
Speaker 3: What's that? Should we ground all aircraft and wait for
17:21
Speaker 3: the geese to land in South America?
17:23
Speaker 6: No, no, no.
17:23
Speaker 11: You don't ground all aircraft. What you do is you
17:26
Speaker 11: pay more attention. If you were a good pilot, you
17:29
Speaker 11: would have seen them coming. You could see a flock
17:31
Speaker 11: of geese.
17:32
Speaker 3: Can I ask you a question? How old is the
17:35
Speaker 3: average goose? A mature goose.
17:37
Speaker 6: How old is the average goose?
17:39
Speaker 11: That I couldn't tell you.
17:40
Speaker 3: All right, a mature goose. How old would you say
17:42
Speaker 3: it is?
17:43
Speaker 10: I'd venture to say maybe between the ages of 3
17:46
Speaker 10: and 7.
17:47
Speaker 3: All right, 3 and 7. I'm 45 years old. Okay?
17:52
Speaker 3: I'm 45 years old. So I've been around longer than
17:56
Speaker 3: that goose.
17:57
Speaker 11: Okay, let me ask you this, sir. If you're flying
18:00
Speaker 11: at Lake Elsinore.
18:02
Speaker 10: Why are you so worried about birds when you have
18:04
Speaker 10: people jumping out of airplanes that are going to do
18:06
Speaker 10: a lot worse damage to you?
18:08
Speaker 3: I don't know what you're talking about.
18:11
Speaker 2: He's talking about skydiving.
18:12
Speaker 3: Oh, that.
18:15
Speaker 4: Bill Henry Show, 1-800-449-8686. Art Griego, private pilot, was with
18:20
Speaker 4: us last Saturday. They were flying out of Santa Monica
18:22
Speaker 4: Airport and encountered a flock of geese at what, about
18:26
Speaker 4: 2,000 feet?
18:27
Speaker 3: Approximately 2,000 feet.
18:30
Speaker 2: And you guys stuck a gun out the window.
18:34
Speaker 3: My son, Justin, and we got a little bit of
18:37
Speaker 3: heat for that, but he popped off to... Two shells,
18:41
Speaker 3: and it wasn't too successful the first time, so we
18:44
Speaker 3: went ahead and swung back around because that wasn't going
18:48
Speaker 3: to happen. I was going to punch a hole in him.
18:51
Speaker 3: We went back and fired off another shell, and we
18:53
Speaker 3: punched a hole in him.
18:53
Speaker 2: All right, can I ask you a question?
18:56
Speaker 3: One other thing, too, Phil, is the whole idea, if
18:58
Speaker 3: you don't mind me interrupting.
18:59
Speaker 9: No, go ahead.
19:01
Speaker 3: This idea of firearms, and we've taken cricket bats up there.
19:04
Speaker 2: A cricket bat?
19:05
Speaker 3: We've taken... About $ 300 worth of cricket bats we lost
19:09
Speaker 3: last year because we dropped two of them. But you
19:13
Speaker 3: can take a cricket bat and do just as much damage.
19:17
Speaker 3: A cricket bat, as you know, Phil, is long and
19:18
Speaker 3: very flat. And I've got my right hand on the yoke,
19:23
Speaker 3: and I've got my left hand out the window, and
19:25
Speaker 3: I knock hell out of those things because you can't.
19:30
Speaker 2: You've got a cricket bat in your left hand.
19:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I knock hell out of the goddamn things. You see,
19:37
Speaker 3: it's either me or them. My aircraft, my baby, my
19:40
Speaker 3: Cessna 172, 1979. I just whacked living hell out of
19:45
Speaker 3: the bastards. And come what may.
19:50
Speaker 2: But what about the gun, though?
19:51
Speaker 3: I understand the guns. That's a tough deal. That's a
19:54
Speaker 3: tough deal. But it was an idea that I had,
19:57
Speaker 3: and we punched a hole in them.
19:58
Speaker 2: All right, Cartersville on the Phil Henry Show.
20:01
Speaker 6: Hello.
20:02
Speaker 9: Hello.
20:02
Speaker 6: How are you?
20:03
Speaker 2: Good.
20:04
Speaker 9: Good.
20:05
Speaker 6: I'd like to address the issue of the geese.
20:09
Speaker 3: We just got to protect ourselves.
20:11
Speaker 6: Pardon?
20:12
Speaker 3: We just got to. If a goose ever falls in
20:14
Speaker 3: your car, I guess you can thank me. You know, because.
20:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're knocking.
20:23
Speaker 3: I'm knocking the hell out of them, yeah. All right.
20:27
Speaker 6: Hello, Cartersville here. Do you hear me?
20:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, hi, I'm Mark Drago. How are you?
20:32
Speaker 6: I'm doing absolutely wonderful. Am I addressing the pilot?
20:35
Speaker 3: I'm the pilot, yes, sir.
20:36
Speaker 6: Okay.
20:37
Speaker 3: I am, too.
20:38
Speaker 6: I'm 61 years old. I've been flying since 1966. Where
20:40
Speaker 6: do you vector out of?
20:42
Speaker 11: Pardon?
20:43
Speaker 3: Where's your vector?
20:44
Speaker 6: I'm out of Cartersville, Georgia.
20:46
Speaker 3: All right. Great.
20:47
Speaker 6: That's great. We've got a lot of Canadian geese around here.
20:50
Speaker 6: I've also done extensive flying in and around the Bahamas
20:54
Speaker 6: and South Florida where we had to contend with seagulls
20:58
Speaker 6: and pelicans.
20:59
Speaker 3: I fly over Cartersville. Is that south near Kansas?
21:03
Speaker 6: No. Cartersville is in Georgia.
21:05
Speaker 3: In Georgia.
21:05
Speaker 1: All right.
21:05
Speaker 6: Yeah. Anyhow, the point being, we have migratory birds down here. Right.
21:12
Speaker 6: And my viewpoint is that you and I are the
21:18
Speaker 6: intruders in the airspace, not the Canadian geese or any other.
21:21
Speaker 3: Bird for that matter. I don't want to start mugging trees, okay?
21:24
Speaker 3: I mean, how do you combat geese?
21:27
Speaker 6: Well, they're not the intelligent being that you like to
21:32
Speaker 6: think they are. You're the intelligent being, supposedly.
21:35
Speaker 3: I know that.
21:36
Speaker 6: But I question the degree of intelligence of anyone who
21:41
Speaker 6: would stick a cricket bat or a shotgun out the
21:44
Speaker 6: window of an aircraft and, i.e., blast a hole through
21:48
Speaker 6: those bastards because they deserve it. It does not compute.
21:56
Speaker 6: You know, you're talking about watching your son's life go
22:00
Speaker 6: before your eyes and your wife and whatnot, and yet
22:03
Speaker 6: you're trying to fly an aircraft while shooting at birds
22:07
Speaker 6: when all you had to do was to go ahead
22:11
Speaker 6: and alter your course. Sounds to me like you've got
22:15
Speaker 6: a problem other than blasting a hole through— a flock
22:22
Speaker 6: of geese. I don't think you need to be flying.
22:25
Speaker 3: Well, sir, that's... You know, that's your opinion, okay? I'm
22:29
Speaker 3: the lord of my airspace.
22:31
Speaker 6: But you're not the lord of your airspace, sir.
22:34
Speaker 3: Well, sir, I've talked to other pilots who have come
22:37
Speaker 3: up against this problem. Now, I talked to Ray Chandler,
22:40
Speaker 3: who is out of Santa Monica Airport. I don't know
22:42
Speaker 3: if you've flown to California. But Ray is kind of
22:45
Speaker 3: the dean of a lot of the guys around here.
22:48
Speaker 3: He came up with the idea of a slingshot are
22:51
Speaker 3: you familiar with an M-80?
22:52
Speaker 6: Yes, I am. And I also know when I'm dealing
22:57
Speaker 6: with stupidity and anyone... Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no,
23:02
Speaker 6: you wait. Anyone who's going to take a high-performance aircraft,
23:06
Speaker 6: which is a 172... How could.
23:08
Speaker 3: You be a pilot and not be the lord of
23:10
Speaker 3: your airspace?
23:11
Speaker 6: No, sir, I am not the lord of my airspace.
23:13
Speaker 3: Well, then I question your credentials as a pilot.
23:15
Speaker 6: We are intruders. Okay, God did not grace us with wings.
23:21
Speaker 3: God graced us with intelligence to make aircraft.
23:23
Speaker 6: Okay, we fly through artificial means, and that means that
23:27
Speaker 6: you and I have the obligation.
23:29
Speaker 3: Are you saying we should not put an airstrip where
23:31
Speaker 3: there are birds? Is that what you're telling me?
23:33
Speaker 6: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We put airstrips,
23:36
Speaker 6: but it's up to you and I to... protect ourselves
23:42
Speaker 6: as well as our environment. And I'm not going to
23:46
Speaker 6: put my life at risk by opening up the window
23:50
Speaker 6: of any aircraft and concentrating on shooting birds with shotguns, M-80s,
23:57
Speaker 6: or cricket bats, because that is just absolutely aphrodisiac.
24:03
Speaker 4: I want to ask a question here, if I could.
24:05
Speaker 4: When you put a cricket bat out the window of
24:07
Speaker 4: an aircraft that's going about 150 miles an hour.
24:11
Speaker 2: Isn't that hard to hold on to?
24:12
Speaker 6: You better have an arm like Popeye.
24:14
Speaker 3: Well, some guys might not be able to do it.
24:16
Speaker 3: Maybe this guy can't. I can. I'll tell you right now,
24:19
Speaker 3: what I did is I cut holes through it to
24:22
Speaker 3: vent the wind. What is so funny? I mean, do
24:27
Speaker 3: you cry over dead birds, sir?
24:29
Speaker 6: No, I don't cry over dead birds. Let me tell
24:32
Speaker 6: you what I do cry over. I cry over pilot error.
24:36
Speaker 6: And if something were to happen to you or your son,
24:41
Speaker 6: because you want to punch a hole through a flock
24:46
Speaker 6: of birds that you feel deserve to be taught a lesson, sir,
24:52
Speaker 6: I have to question... Your degree of intelligence. You know,
24:57
Speaker 6: I just don't see sharing airspace with you.
25:01
Speaker 3: Sir, I don't mean anything in person, but I would
25:05
Speaker 3: say you are, you know, a disgrace to pilot them.
25:10
Speaker 6: I am.
25:10
Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
25:11
Speaker 6: I am. You don't see me risking my life or
25:14
Speaker 6: the life of anyone else by punching a hole through
25:18
Speaker 6: a flock of birds because they deserve it.
25:21
Speaker 2: That's what you said, Art.
25:22
Speaker 3: Well, what I'm saying, you know, you make me sick, soldier.
25:26
Speaker 3: You really do.
25:27
Speaker 2: Wait, Art, you were the one that said.
25:29
Speaker 3: I said that they had it coming.
25:32
Speaker 6: You said that? Yes, sir. They had it coming. How
25:36
Speaker 6: can an intelligent human being compare themselves to a flock
25:41
Speaker 6: of birds by making the statement they deserve it, they
25:46
Speaker 6: knew that they had it coming?
25:49
Speaker 3: And you call yourself a wind warrior.
25:52
Speaker 6: Of course I am. Of course I am.
25:55
Speaker 3: You're a wind warrior. And in all of pilotdom, even
25:58
Speaker 3: though you're vectoring out of Cartersville, which I got a
26:03
Speaker 3: lot of respect for the guys down in Georgia, but
26:07
Speaker 3: you got geese down there that are worse than we
26:09
Speaker 3: got them out in California. You know it. I know it. Sure,
26:11
Speaker 3: I've got geese down here.
26:12
Speaker 6: And you know what?
26:13
Speaker 3: Well, you know what they're thinking. You know what?
26:14
Speaker 6: I've never hit one. And you know what?
26:16
Speaker 3: You know what they're thinking.
26:17
Speaker 6: They're not thinking, you know, really, really.
26:20
Speaker 3: Seriously, they're going to take you out. when they see
26:23
Speaker 3: an opening.
26:24
Speaker 6: Oh, come on. Come on. You're trying to convince me
26:28
Speaker 6: and anyone else that's listening that this goose is going
26:31
Speaker 6: to look at your 172 and say, oh, let's go
26:35
Speaker 6: get them, guys.
26:37
Speaker 7: Come on.
26:37
Speaker 3: Give me a break. All I'm saying to you is this.
26:40
Speaker 6: If you've got a pilot's license, that means that you're
26:42
Speaker 6: an intelligent human being.
26:43
Speaker 9: Yes, sir.
26:43
Speaker 3: I'm saying they're not getting the airspace back from us.
26:45
Speaker 3: They're not getting the airspace back from us. And as
26:48
Speaker 3: the lord of my airspace.
26:49
Speaker 6: How do you feel that they're trying to get... You
26:51
Speaker 6: don't own the airspace, pal. You don't own the airspace.
26:56
Speaker 6: It is not yours.
26:58
Speaker 3: Well, you may not have hit a bird, but you
27:00
Speaker 3: are probably flying like a madman dodging birds out there.
27:02
Speaker 6: No, no, no, no, no, no.
27:03
Speaker 3: Well, how are you dodging birds? You must be flying like... No, no, no, no, no.
27:05
Speaker 3: You must be flying like something out of World War I.
27:07
Speaker 6: No, no, no, no, no.
27:08
Speaker 3: Dodging birds.
27:09
Speaker 6: No, no, no. I'm a very responsible pilot. I've got
27:13
Speaker 6: a lot of hours behind me in several different aircraft.
27:16
Speaker 3: Well, I will say to you.
27:17
Speaker 2: This is interesting. This is Phil Hendry. I'm just jumping in.
27:20
Speaker 4: Listening to two pilots talking back and forth about the
27:24
Speaker 4: various hazards.
27:25
Speaker 3: I can stay on the ground, sir.
27:28
Speaker 2: Well, wait a second.
27:29
Speaker 4: He's making some points here about sticking guns and cricket
27:31
Speaker 4: bats out the window of an aircraft to beat hell
27:34
Speaker 4: out of birds.
27:35
Speaker 3: I'm just saying to the gentleman, the day's going to
27:37
Speaker 3: come when his number's up. Because there's a goose out
27:41
Speaker 3: there Looking for you. And he laughs.
27:45
Speaker 7: And he laughs.
27:46
Speaker 3: I hope you don't have your grandchildren. I don't have you.
27:49
Speaker 3: I hope you don't have your grandchildren with you or
27:52
Speaker 3: your children with you. Please, God, I hope you're just alone.
27:57
Speaker 3: You know what? You're not prepared.
27:59
Speaker 7: You know what?
28:01
Speaker 6: Preparedness is not going up in the air with your
28:05
Speaker 6: son in the aircraft. and saying, let's open the window
28:12
Speaker 6: and blast these bastards because they're out to get us.
28:16
Speaker 6: That is not responsible flying. That is stupid flying. That
28:22
Speaker 6: is a pilot that should have his license revoked by
28:28
Speaker 6: the FAA for gross negligence, gross irresponsibility, and disregard for
28:36
Speaker 6: human life.
28:37
Speaker 3: I'll tell you right now, there's a goose out there
28:38
Speaker 3: with your name on it, and your day's going to come.
28:42
Speaker 6: Could be.
28:42
Speaker 3: All right.
28:43
Speaker 9: Could be.
28:44
Speaker 7: Say love me.
28:46
Speaker 6: But I won't be responsible for the accident by virtue
28:51
Speaker 6: of spending my thought process on opening up a window
28:56
Speaker 6: on an aircraft flying in exceed of 150 miles an hour,
29:01
Speaker 6: and sticking a cricket bat out or a shotgun to
29:06
Speaker 6: shoot a goose. Sorry, pal. Well, that does not compute.
29:10
Speaker 3: When you get goose ass in your engine, don't cry
29:12
Speaker 3: to me.
29:13
Speaker 6: No, I won't cry to you. I hope I just
29:16
Speaker 6: never share the airspace with you.
29:18
Speaker 2: All right, sir. Thank you for your call. That man
29:20
Speaker 2: made a lot of good points.
29:21
Speaker 3: He made some good points, but I don't think he
29:23
Speaker 3: recognizes the threat to himself and his family. That's all.
29:27
Speaker 11: All right.
29:27
Speaker 2: Here is Atlanta on the Phil Henry Show. Hello.
29:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just want to make sure I understand the gentleman.
29:33
Speaker 5: He was saying that he actually came back around and,
29:38
Speaker 5: in essence, flew through the floor. trying to chop these.
29:42
Speaker 3: Well, we swung back around to just give him a
29:44
Speaker 3: little something to think about. Yes, sir.
29:46
Speaker 5: Well, can I tell you, I've met the seagull that
29:49
Speaker 5: had my name on it at 9,000 feet. I've taken
29:52
Speaker 5: a bird strike, and I want.
29:54
Speaker 6: To tell you.
29:54
Speaker 2: Are you a pilot, sir?
29:55
Speaker 7: If you're out there with a cricket bat.
29:56
Speaker 2: Are you a pilot? What kind of pilot are you?
29:59
Speaker 5: I'm sorry?
29:59
Speaker 2: What kind of a pilot are you? Are you a
30:01
Speaker 2: commercial pilot?
30:02
Speaker 5: I flew in the military, and I'm an airline pilot now.
30:07
Speaker 3: Okay.
30:08
Speaker 5: I've taken a seagull through the front canopy in an airplane.
30:12
Speaker 2: Right.
30:13
Speaker 5: And I'm going to tell you, if you're out there
30:14
Speaker 5: trying to smack birds, that's got to be, I won't
30:19
Speaker 5: call it stupid, I'll just call it uninformed and ignorant.
30:22
Speaker 5: Because I'm going to tell you, if you've ever taken
30:24
Speaker 5: a bird through the canopy, you don't ever want to
30:26
Speaker 5: do it again.
30:27
Speaker 3: My very best friend took one right in the face.
30:29
Speaker 3: came out of the windshield i mean they pray they
30:32
Speaker 3: had a peeled bird off of them well if i
30:35
Speaker 3: don't know if you know what i'm saying though how
30:38
Speaker 3: do you want to go and it's hard to do
30:40
Speaker 3: it to your face but what you're saying.
30:43
Speaker 5: Is that you're going to watch you're going to go
30:44
Speaker 5: out there and smack birds.
30:46
Speaker 6: With with uh.
30:47
Speaker 5: cricket bats Which seems like just a supremely good idea
30:51
Speaker 5: to you until you don't see the other one that's
30:55
Speaker 5: coming in from the other side ends up hitting the
30:57
Speaker 5: canopy and coming through, and your son's picking feathers out
31:00
Speaker 5: of his teeth. I've got to tell you, that's a
31:02
Speaker 5: very ignorant idea.
31:03
Speaker 3: And what are you laughing at, Phil?
31:05
Speaker 2: Just what the man said. I appreciate your call, sir.
31:10
Speaker 2: Thank you. Your son's picking feathers out of his teeth.
31:14
Speaker 3: What are you laughing at? The idea that my son
31:16
Speaker 3: would get.
31:17
Speaker 2: No, sir, I'm sorry, Mr. Griego.
31:19
Speaker 4: And you know, I know you and your son very well.
31:21
Speaker 4: It's just the pilot made me laugh with that line.
31:23
Speaker 4: All right, so what are we talking about here? Taking
31:25
Speaker 4: geese out at 9,000 feet with a cricket bat?
31:28
Speaker 2: This is the Phil Henry Show. 1-800-449-8686. Phil Henry with
31:34
Speaker 2: you here tonight.
31:34
Speaker 4: We have Art Griego on the line with some crazy
31:36
Speaker 4: stories here about birds and how he deals with it.
31:40
Speaker 4: And I'm gathering you're violating a lot of FAA regulation.
31:43
Speaker 3: Phil, I'm dealing with that. But I do know that
31:47
Speaker 3: it is a very dangerous situation.
31:49
Speaker 4: Now, what we have here and what I was handing
31:52
Speaker 4: from Mike, Mike Schaefer just gave this to me. You
31:55
Speaker 4: have tape recording footage. Between yourself and the tower?
32:00
Speaker 3: This was the tower at Lake Elsinore, yeah.
32:03
Speaker 2: All right. Is this what I'm going to be hearing?
32:05
Speaker 3: Well, what you're going to be hearing is essentially our
32:07
Speaker 3: flyby of the geese. And that was when I swung
32:11
Speaker 3: back around. We did a basic flyby, and then I
32:14
Speaker 3: had to swing around to try to maybe punch a
32:17
Speaker 3: little hole in them.
32:19
Speaker 2: So this is the tape of you on the radio?
32:21
Speaker 3: This would be the tape of me on the radio
32:24
Speaker 3: and what was going on there. Keep in mind, too, that...
32:27
Speaker 3: By this point, I'd had a beer.
32:31
Speaker 2: You'd had a beer?
32:32
Speaker 3: Yeah. The cricket bat's out the window. My son's got
32:36
Speaker 3: a shotgun.
32:37
Speaker 2: Well, let's listen to this.
32:38
Speaker 9: I'm going to take him out. I'm taking him out.
32:57
Speaker 9: I will not let the sons of bitches make me
33:00
Speaker 9: look bad.
33:00
Speaker 3: Go ahead, son. Outstanding, yeah.
33:04
Speaker 9: I got another person.
33:05
Speaker 3: Look at that son of a bitch. What do you want?
33:08
Speaker 3: What do you want? You're dead.
33:11
Speaker 1: World-famous Phil Hendry Show, executive produced by Phil Hendry for