Writers Harbor

Author: Francis Meyrick

  • Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual “GPS 4-4 “

    Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual Section 4. GPS Systems and Offshore Navigation Issues 4-4 Limitations and Failures 1) Limitations You need to consider carefully that a ship can move quite a distance in the two hours you are away. Some purse seiners can cruise at 18 knots. That’s 36 nautical miles! If you are in a…

  • Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual “GPS 4-3 “

    Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual Section 4. GPS Systems and Offshore Navigation Issues 4-3 Digital Select Calling, the Ross DSC500, and other clever stuff Okay, we’ve given you some anecdotes, to wet your appetite, now for some clever ‘technical schtuff’… To recap, these days just about everybody uses GPS systems. There are a few purists left,…

  • Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual “GPS 4-2 “

    Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual Section 4. GPS Systems and Offshore Navigation Issues 4-2 Hey Moggy, I can’t find my boat and I’m almost outta gas…! It was a pretty horrible day. When there’s lots of wind, and therefore a rough old sea state, and lots of low, scudding cloud into the bargain, it’s a lot…

  • Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual “GPS 4-1 “

    Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual Section 4. GPS Systems and Offshore Navigation issues 4-1 The long, dark tunnel Before we delve into tuna helicopter specific GPS systems, first a general warning about GPS and the over reliance many pilots place on it. In two short sentences: “Don’t be one of those GPS slaves who always meekly…

  • Castles in the Sky “The Expert “

    Castles in the Sky The Expert A buddy had told me that it wasn’t a problem. I can still remember the authoritative look in his eye when he said it: “No problem… “ I believed him implicitly. He was after all, an Irish Parachute Club expert. A really seasoned skydiver. Had at least ten jumps.…

  • Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual “Too much Gloom and Doom? “

    Moggy’s Tunaboat Helicopter Manual Too much ‘doom and gloom’? 4/6/2010 I’m enjoying the feedback I get from pilots, usually total strangers, who kindly drop me an email from time to time. I had one today, and it just brought a smile to my face. I have to thank you for the time you spent assembling…

  • Untold Stories from Vietnam (2) “Chance Encounters “

    Untold Stories from Vietnam (2) ” Chance Encounters “ a War Experience of Jay Fitch (as told to, and written up by Francis Meyrick) A decade and a bit after Vietnam, back in the eighties, I was flying single pilot over the Gulf of Mexico, ferrying oil rig workers to and from their various platforms.…

  • PCP Madness

    Law Enforcement Stories PCP Madness Few things get your attention as quickly. The sound of an officer in serious trouble over the radio. The gasping, breathless, half strangled attempt to call for backup. Clipped, short, half sentences, never finished. With the sound of a desperate struggle going on, cursing, yelling. You can almost sense the…

  • Short term Greed, long term Loss

    video by AdmiradorSP SHORT TERM GREED, LONG TERM LOSS How the world’s sharkfin and sushi diners don’t think, don’t care, and just guzzle I lifted the following report off the Internet. It makes sad, sad reading. I’ve watched them cut the fins off the sharks, small or large, and then kick them back into the…

  • Of Helicopters and Humans (8) “The Sports Section “

    “The good-looking guy is ME. C’est MOI. As for the ugly looking weirdo, with his arm around me… Some crazy old chopper jockey, I believe… “ Of Helicopters and Humans (8) The Sports Section It was just another routine helicopter flying day in the Gulf of Mexico. I had landed on a platform, and I…