FWIW, Matt D just rooled over the odometer once more....

Long overdue a powerhouse meet ....

Superfly stateside, PhilNYC, MattD, KROC, ScarlotHarlot Barcode and .....

dare I sat...

hepKat!

Quoting HT (Reply 195): I was the organizer of the Tokyo-Meeting in 2011 that got canceled on short notice after the Tsunami had struck the country (and TEPCO's nuclear plant at Fukushima).

You guys can come back now 
I always wanted to plan something but me not having a car makes reaching the cool aviation areas in Japan somewhat difficult.

Quoting B747forever (Reply 121): Nice trip report Great pictures. Thank you for sharing B747forever

Your responses to our trip reports were always so personal. Did you actually read them?!  

I'm just a very occasional lurker these days. I used to check a.net on a daily basis, but very rarely bother now. With various FB groups and contacts who I can exchange information with regarding my main area of interest (flying on rare/older types), there is less need to use a.net. Still good to know some of the a.net old timers are still around though.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 166): Another who hasn't been around much for a couple years is KevinL1011.

Isn't he dead?

Quoting Superfly (Reply 202): I was told that it's better than Betamax.

Let's not go crazy here...

Quoting carmenlu15 (Reply 197): That's not the one, I was thinking closer to my neck of the woods

Oh, you mean the tag-on to the regular one that is in planning for mid-January 2014 ?
see comment for Japan below.

Quoting PHX787 (Reply 204): You guys can come back now  I always wanted to plan something but me not having a car makes reaching the cool aviation areas in Japan somewhat difficult.

I would not mind to come to Tokyo or the place mentioned by Carmen, but the situation with my old parents (especially my father) have gone downhill too much recently.
I meanwhile have quite some record of European trips booked and either canceled, rebooked, or having become a no-show.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to get away for 3 days or more. That (and the outlook of serious financial losses in case I can't use the flights I have booked) for the time being restrict my travel to destinations within Europe.

I will keep an eye on the overall situation,
-HT

Quoting darksnowynight (Reply 203): Isn't he dead?

NO!
I spoke to him 3 weeks ago.
There was another L1011 aficionado that was in to classic muscle cars that was a friend of KevinL1011 that did pass away last year. He didn't post much and had one of those airplane registration usernames.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 166): KevinL1011

Yeah, I miss him...we had a lot of great conversations about military aviation, the TriStar, and FS screenshots...he and aerdingus and I were all frequent contributors to those threads   He came back for a little whil (I think he said he'd been having family/personal issues IIRC), but then he went away again. We also shared a lot of emails, but sadly I lost his address at some point.

Quoting UltimateDelta (Reply 206): He came back for a little whil (I think he said he'd been having family/personal issues IIRC), but then he went away again.

No worries. He's back in the saddle again!  

Quoting UK_Dispatcher (Reply 202): Your responses to our trip reports were always so personal. Did you actually read them?!

Of course I always read every sentence, and never only looked at the photos     

I have just spent a good 10 minutes reading this with a smile!
Ah the good old days, when Pilot Kaz and I were massive attention whores for being females. Oh how we loved the attention. These days, she tends to pick me up at the airport at 6am from a flight or we hang out at each others houses drinking alcohol.
How times have changed!

Long time browser and poster under an old username.

The transition from "family owned" to "corporate" really did change the way anet was. You could go into non av and see post after post after post. Lots going on at all times of day and night, now, sometimes, it's dead with a thread having last had a post in it 3 days ago near the top. It does not seem as social as it once was, having met some really good friends on here at meets back in the day which is sad really  

Quoting Jetsgo (Reply 199): She's still around, although much less.

That's good to hear  

Quoting mirrodie (Reply 200): hepKat!

        

Quoting HT (Reply 204): Oh, you mean the tag-on to the regular one that is in planning for mid-January 2014 ?

Yup! Nothing concrete yet, though.
Hopefully one of these days I'll win the lottery and be able to scoot myself to the other side of the pond -- then the beers are on me   

Yeah. I miss KevinL1011. We had great PM conversations. Very nice, classy guy. I hope to see him back

As someone has said above here, many of the old regulars have "grown up" and are busy with jobs and family. I usually browse by here once a week or something. I have a family now and are also busy refurbishing an old house, so i have limited time for forums now.

Quoting Jetsgo (Reply 163): Wow there are some names. What ever happened with DXing? He lasted quite a bit longer than most others in this thread.

He got banned. Still posts occasionally on one of the other sites, and keeps in contact some of us other "oldies"  

Quoting PHLBOS (Reply 172): I think the biggest issue regarding meets both A.net-based & otherwise is planning & logistics. One or two key people are usually needed to take the bull-by-the-horns, if you will, and actually do the legwork in setting the event up. In my experiences, many want to attend the event; but very few want to actually plan and coordinate such.

Not necessarily. Many of the meets (at least the European ones) were just "let's meet and do some spotting and drinking/eating" things. For example the annual meeting at MAN (witch is now more or less taken over by another site i think), and there used to be a couple of LHR meets a year. These "simple" meetings seems to be gone too.

Hmmm.....we really should try to have a "reunion"-meeting with as many of the old regulars as possible. Would be great to see everybody again.

U know I was a member (under the username Kuhndogg) from 2005 till around 2007 January. I never posted, but I sure as hell lurked around quite a bit. I was active on MyAv under the username F-WWCC from 2005 until around 2009, if anyone remembers or ever participated there  

But Looking back at some old Site-Related threads from the great purge of 2007, I still don't quite understand what happened. Many threads from back then are completely erased too....

Quoting Speedbirdie (Reply 209): I have just spent a good 10 minutes reading this with a smile! Ah the good old days, when Pilot Kaz and I were massive attention whores for being females. Oh how we loved the attention. These days, she tends to pick me up at the airport at 6am from a flight or we hang out at each others houses drinking alcohol. How times have changed!

How has anything changed?  

I do miss the old IRC. That was a fun place to be. Now I have to be told to take a break because I am "talking" too fast.  

For those who miss scottysair, take a quick side trip over to flyertalk.com. His username is N830MH. It has to be the funniest read, and sadly people still just rip into him on a daily basis. And he is 27,000+ post strong.

I remember living on the east coast of the US, being in chat and chatting with both the west coasters who were about to go to bed and the Euros who were just waking up.

I am not trying to include myself into the "original" anetters with this statement, but it truly has been an honor to get to know most of you over the years and to see how far things have come.

This site started (as airliners.net) 8 years before the first iPhone came out. 2 years before the enterprise version of Windows Millennium. Air carriers have come and went. Aircraft have PTVs and Wifi on board and horizontal lay flat seats. And I have to say that no matter how far we have come technology wise, the main forum layout hasn't changed at all.

This thread was great  

Quoting DYflyer (Reply 213): For example the annual meeting at MAN (witch is now more or less taken over by another site i think),

Keep in mind the meets are note really "insert_website_name_here"-sponsored meets, but rather aviation (in general) meets... everyone is welcome even if it's being organized elsewhere  

I really want to make it to SXM next year, but if my finances keep going like this, I'll hae to miss it yet again :'(

Quoting Superfly (Reply 207):

Awesome!

Quoting xjramper (Reply 215):

Hey, I remember you...did you ever log out of the chat?   Literally every time I was in there you showed up on the list whether you were active or not  

Quoting DYflyer (Reply 213): Many of the meets (at least the European ones) were just "let's meet and do some spotting and drinking/eating" things. For example the annual meeting at MAN (witch is now more or less taken over by another site i think), and there used to be a couple of LHR meets a year. These "simple" meetings seems to be gone too.

Anyone remembering the infamous CPH meet in 2006 ?!

The annual meeting at MAN is being held end of June / early July each year, but there was another one in April this year.

Any LHR-meeting has been limited to hanging out at TGM recently thanks to airport security 

I think we should consider to have another meeting in Prague next year. Nice airport, good airport tour, and very nice city. And infamous Death Marches if anyone desires.  

-HT

Quoting xjramper (Reply 215): For those who miss scottysair, take a quick side trip over to flyertalk.com. His username is N830MH. It has to be the funniest read, and sadly people still just rip into him on a daily basis. And he is 27,000+ post strong.

That was one of the early usernames he used to sneak back onto the site after getting permanently banned from here back in (IIRC) 2005. I guess he thought that his unique posting style wouldn't give him away.......    Needless to say that I am not surprised that nothing has changed with him.

Quoting DYflyer (Reply 213): Not necessarily. Many of the meets (at least the European ones) were just "let's meet and do some spotting and drinking/eating" things.

The only spotting during the second LAS Meet back in 2007 was in the parking lot of the Jack In The Box that happened to be by the airport. The first LAS Meet there was an organized spotting trip for those that didn't want to go to Hoover Dam (I was interested in either, so I went to a cigar bar in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and got drunk....). The second LAS Meet was pretty much a social meet, as there weren't any organized aviation-related activities that trip. A lot of drinking and hanging out in casinos went on that trip. Whenever I'm on Fremont Street and walk past the strip club that is there, I laugh, as I think about the group of us that went into it during the 2007 LAS Meet. I remember BMIFlyer looking at all of us while getting a lap dance and kept saying "I'm going to kill you guys...."    The two LAS Meets were classic events that burned out after two years because so much had changed around here and people left the site. The third meet ended up crashing and burning shortly before it was supposed to happen because so many people pulled out of the meet that it was myself and one or two others at the time it was canceled. An attempt the following year also failed badly and there's not been a serious attempt at another LAS Meet since.

I remember the one and only ATL Meet I went to, as it was done during the week, as Capt. Clog himself, OYJRA, was in Atlanta for a time visiting his brother and a Wednesday night gathering morphed into a meet, as LHMARK and Logan/CastleIsland both flew down to join in the festivities. There was another ATL Meet I was supposed to be involved with, but was uninvited from it (as was another attendee that was on the crew at the time) by one of the organizers in revenge for having been recently kicked off the site. I was mad about it for a time, but a better opportunity came my way and I went to Vegas that weekend.

Quoting UltimateDelta (Reply 217): Hey, I remember you...did you ever log out of the chat? Literally every time I was in there you showed up on the list whether you were active or not

Haha. That lasted for only a little bit, as LFutia would constantly be on. Usually I could sneak back up to the top if he had a power outage or he had to restart his computer. But after a while I grew up and out of my parents house, went onto graduate school and have moved around a fair bit which makes it rather difficult to keep up here.

Quoting mirrodie (Reply 200): dare I sat... hepKat!

You did NOT just go there!   

Quoting Speedbirdie (Reply 209): Ah the good old days, when Pilot Kaz and I were massive attention whores for being females.

The ladies here were always the porch lights to the geeky avnerd moths.
I can't believe no one has mentioned SophieMaltese (along those lines).
I can mention many names I remember from my early days, some as my earlier username, but does anyone remember the Aussie lady who is not to be named because she once threatened to sue the site if she was mentioned?

Quoting 4holer (Reply 222): I can't believe no one has mentioned SophieMaltese

Ah yes, the squirrel lady.

She's the girl on the monitor.

Quoting 4holer (Reply 222): but does anyone remember the Aussie lady who is not to be named

Alpha, Delta, gotta go...

Quoting Confuscius (Reply 223): Quoting 4holer (Reply 222): but does anyone remember the Aussie lady who is not to be named Alpha, Delta, gotta go...

That's the one! Had I mentioned her by name I would have been Already Deleted, Gone!

Classic pic of Superfly...

A few a.netters...past and present.

Quoting garnetpalmetto (Reply 25): I do miss Kaz. Anyone know what became of her?

As said before, she is still around. More like flying around as opposed to kicking though. After a brief stint in Scotland, she is back near or in London, I believe.

Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 44): You unban the ScottysAir mods for fun ok talk ya later

GAH!!!

Quoting Marcus (Reply 93): Oh and I was wondering if BMW is still making cars with KIA interiors...

Actually, nowadays, I believe KIA is making cars in Korea with BMW interiors made in China.

Quoting xjramper (Reply 220): Haha. That lasted for only a little bit, as LFutia would constantly be on. Usually I could sneak back up to the top if he had a power outage or he had to restart his computer. But after a while I grew up and out of my parents house, went onto graduate school and have moved around a fair bit which makes it rather difficult to keep up here.

Ah, gotcha   I've had that happen too (well, only recently, but still)...though actually it's still been several years since I visited the chat because it went pretty dead for a while...I checked recently and that seems to still be the case.

Oh, and another bit of nostalgia...anyone remember the Airline Mogul threads and competitions?

I mostly just read these days as well. Glad to see so many from the old days are still here. I'll always refer to the TWFirst threads as the peak of Non-Av.   Miss those days.

I do think changes to rules and deletion policies are a major factor in why users like myself barely post anymore.

Shame too. Bet you all miss those bikini pics of girls in Hawaii.  

Quoting Aloha717200 (Reply 228): Glad to see so many from the old days are still here. I'll always refer to the TWFirst threads as the peak of Non-Av.

TWFirst thread? What's that about?  

Whatever happened to Joona, the chain-smoking Finn and his self-pleasure exploits. 

I remember the 2005 meetup in SEA where we got to tour the Boeing 737 line on the factory floor. We had good attendance for that one. But I think there may only be one or two people left on this site who attended that meet up. BCAInfoSys, Windowseat and Dinker225 were all there. But there were lots more. It was definitely a fun time.

Quoting ManuCH (Reply 30): Honestly, I wonder myself what would happen if you bought someone a snowglobe

That was the most memorable nonav thread to me, I still laugh about the snowglobe!

Quoting type-rated (Reply 230): I remember the 2005 meetup in SEA where we got to tour the Boeing 737 line on the factory floor. We had good attendance for that one. But I think there may only be one or two people left on this site who attended that meet up. BCAInfoSys, Windowseat and Dinker225 were all there. But there were lots more. It was definitely a fun time

I actually still owe someone for a polo shirt from that meet....! I never made it out but I still wear the shirt, people at work always react with hate!

Quoting UltimateDelta (Reply 217): Awesome!

We'll be crusing in his Torino GT in a few months.

Quoting 4holer (Reply 224): That's the one! Had I mentioned her by name I would have been Already Deleted, Gone! Classic pic of Superfly...

I hate that photo.   

Quoting Confuscius (Reply 225): A few a.netters...past and present

We are a strange bunch aren't we?

Quoting ual747den (Reply 231): I actually still owe someone for a polo shirt from that meet....! I never made it out but I still wear the shirt, people at work always react with hate!

DIO21 had me laughing my @ss off when he called and told me about that meet up.
Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

1) Johan sold out, and he was the reason many of us were here. It was much easier to interact with someone who was as passionate to aviation as we were, and he did a lot to make this site what it WAS.

When he sold out (a decision that still disappoints me to this day, much like the punk rock world views Green Day in the early days for selling out to a major record label), he sold out to a company that manages web pages, and that is ALL they do. DemandMedia is NOT an aviation company, but we had a few admins from DM that were fans of aviation. None to the extent that Johan was though. When Johan left, The "Originals" slowly started to leave with him, as they were not happy with the direction the site was headed in. As mentioned above, it appears that DM has kind of abandoned this site, as it really doesn't make exhorbitant amounts of money for it. When Johan first started, it was plane to see (pun intended) that he did it for the love of airplanes, and he didn't start out in the hopes to make millions of dollars. It just kind of turned out that way, and I know of quite a few who left when he sold out. The others were banned by breaking the rules, protesting the new rules, or by some of the former mods who were jerk-happy.

Today, I see a more mature, grown-up, Airliners.net. just like a child, a.net was young, and so were most of us. Now some of us who were in our 20s-30s, or 30s-40s are now in our 30s-40s, and 50s-60s, and we have all matured a bit, just like the site. (Some of us have married, had kids, and instead of having time to surf the site, we have to now attend PTA meetings, and soccer/football games) It will never be what it once was. but that's just the way it goes.

If it's any consolation, the reason this site was first developed is still here today. Great pictures of airliners. The forums didn't come until a few years after the site was even developed. So, as to what happened to a.net? It's still here, just more mature.

Quoting type-rated (Reply 230): BCAInfoSys

I will always remember him for something that happened during the first LAS Meet. While I was not there to witness it (I had just gotten into town and was waiting for some of the group to head up to O'Sheas.), I heard about it when everyone got up to O'Sheas. He mooned a bachelorette party, and the kicker is that there was a cop that saw it and all they did was laugh.

Quoting carmenlu15 (Reply 171): Ctbarnes, I think?

Yep. He was one of the more levelheaded posters here.

Side note: I reviewed some of my old posts, because I got nostalgic about the old TWFirst thread--posts that were written when I was in high school--and it is quite embarrassing to see just how stupid I was back then.

After IADCA brought it up in another thread, I spent a god 25 minutes searching to no avail...

Does anyone have link to THE "Singapore_Air" trip report?

Quoting ual747den (Reply 231): I actually still owe someone for a polo shirt from that meet....! I never made it out but I still wear the shirt, people at work always react with hate!

Ah ha! I was the one who fronted the money for those shirts. I still have mine as well, but never get a reaction.

I'll send you an e-mail where you can send your check to. To tell you the truth, I never thought I'd see the day.......

Quoting srbmod (Reply 234): He mooned a bachelorette party, and the kicker is that there was a cop that saw it and all they did was laugh.

Yeah, he was a kind of wild n' crazy guy. Last time I spoke with him he was living in New Mexico with wife and kid.

Quoting Grisee08 (Reply 233): 1) Johan sold out, and he was the reason many of us were here. It was much easier to interact with someone who was as passionate to aviation as we were, and he did a lot to make this site what it WAS. When he sold out (a decision that still disappoints me to this day, much like the punk rock world views Green Day in the early days for selling out to a major record label), he sold out to a company that manages web pages, and that is ALL they do. DemandMedia is NOT an aviation company, but we had a few admins from DM that were fans of aviation. None to the extent that Johan was though. When Johan left, The "Originals" slowly started to leave with him, as they were not happy with the direction the site was headed in. As mentioned above, it appears that DM has kind of abandoned this site, as it really doesn't make exhorbitant amounts of money for it. When Johan first started, it was plane to see (pun intended) that he did it for the love of airplanes, and he didn't start out in the hopes to make millions of dollars. It just kind of turned out that way, and I know of quite a few who left when he sold out. The others were banned by breaking the rules, protesting the new rules, or by some of the former mods who were jerk-happy.

Well if you were indeed around back then, then you also remember that it had become too much for Johan alone. He was worn out and had even taken some time off because it was negatively impacting his health trying to keep it going. He was completely fried. And part of the reason, as I recall, was that "his" site grew and evolved slowly with him throwing a few lines of code to fix bugs and add features and he did it in his own "unique" way not typical to larger websites (for better and worse) so that the website became, behind the scenes, a huge tangled mess of code that was getting away from him a bit and even more "professional" coders struggled to figure out. And I also think that this has contributed to the non reliability we've seen in the DM era as they have tried to standardize the site behind the scenes on a code level.

Quoting doug_Or (Reply 236): Does anyone have link to THE "Singapore_Air" trip report?

Singapore Airlines: LHR - SIN - SGN (1st Part) (by Singapore_Air Feb 19 2003 in Trip Reports)

Is this what you were looking for? A user posted it in the Roman Empire thread.

Quoting Grisee08 (Reply 233): the reason this site was first developed is still here today. Great pictures of airliners. The forums didn't come until a few years after the site was even developed. So, as to what happened to a.net? It's still here, just more mature.

I found the site by something called Ask Jeeves back in 1999. I remember when there was only one forum. I lived, quite literally, next to Seattle Center. And not the one where Space Needle is. I remember how it was all over the place. Pictures from everywhere of different airliners. I even tried submitting my own. They were too grainy, said the mods at the time. Yes, they were. But, I gave it a go. I still look in on pictures. That was why I came to this site. The pictures. I grew up in Oregon and still want to see pictures of my home airport and PDX. And SEA. And my favorite jet, the BAe146.

Sure, I am sad that the "old" a.net is no longer around. But, I can still log on and find great pics and find people whom I have known (as screen names) for years still holding their positions. It is a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter night.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 181): There something I'm missing here?

Yes

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 181): (there usually is)

As is here, apparently.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 240): It is a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter night.

I'm sorry. But knowing half of these guys on here, it's more of a 1700 departure from any central Tokyo subway line going to see a new aircraft than a hot cup of coco and a blanket. On the bright side, the blanket and coco would be redundant with all that sweat  

Quoting Superfly (Reply 205): NO! I spoke to him 3 weeks ago. There was another L1011 aficionado that was in to classic muscle cars that was a friend of KevinL1011 that did pass away last year.

Oh ok, that makes sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYAq-7sOzXQ

Quoting xjramper (Reply 242): the blanket and coco would be redundant with all that sweat

great....

Now you have ruined cocoa and blankets for me....

Quoting Superfly (Reply 205): There was another L1011 aficionado that was in to classic muscle cars that was a friend of KevinL1011 that did pass away last year. He didn't post much and had one of those airplane registration usernames.

I think you're talking about 474218?

Quoting xjramper (Reply 215): the main forum layout hasn't changed at all.

Yep, it's remained the same. I know this thread is about the old a.net, but if the forums were to give us the ability to tag users like on fb, it would make things interesting. On the plus side you'd be able to direct questions to the experts especially in threads like the ones covering the A350, but on the negative side the A vs B and political threads would descend into anarchy.. 

Quoting sturmovik (Reply 245): I think you're talking about 474218?

Yes, his name was Carl.
Here is the thread about his passing.

We've Lost A Fellow Member, 474218, Carl (by KevinL1011 Apr 17 2012 in Non Aviation)

Quoting sturmovik (Reply 245): On the plus side you'd be able to direct questions to the experts especially in threads like the ones covering the A350, but on the negative side the A vs B and political threads would descend into anarchy..

You should have seen the A vs B threads back in the early days of A.net.
My goodness, they would be a flame-fest by the 3rd reply.

Quoting HT (Reply 218): I think we should consider to have another meeting in Prague next year. Nice airport, good airport tour, and very nice city. And infamous Death Marches if anyone desires.

I was actually thinking the same thing the other day. I think that would be a meet witch could gather some of the "old" members.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 244): great.... Now you have ruined cocoa and blankets for me....

Sorry! Wasn't my intention.

Ok now I know why airliners is sucking right now....I spent the day yesterday being productive, meeting my friends, women, and partying.....and there's like 14 new threads about politics, obamacare, and fox news, and most of that crap is factually incorrect. Y'all suck. Seriously.