I noticed that we have not heard from him in over 2 years. He was always ready with intelligent replies. Is there anyone who knows anything?

I think he was pretty much run off after those 787 battery threads. Some of the replies weren't very productive to say the least.

Quoting AIRWALK (Reply 1): I think he was pretty much run off after those 787 battery threads. Some of the replies weren't very productive to say the least.

I am not familiar, I took a year off myself. I was suspended for a week, so I took a year off. Conditions seem better now. I did not like being treated like a child. It was probably during that time.

Quoting AIRWALK (Reply 1): I think he was pretty much run off after those 787 battery threads

From what I remember you are correct, it got pretty brutal at one point.

Actually, there are a few people I miss, most of them were, or claimed to be pilots, they just got sick of the arm chair pilots correcting them.......

Sad, those of us not in the industry need to sit back and learn.

Wish he was still around.

If memory serves, he also went back to school or something.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 4): Wish he was still around. If memory serves, he also went back to school or something.

He had one hell of a respect rating. 80. I remember the battery problems, but not the discussions on here. I am not tech educated, but he seemed knowledgeable on most matters to me. Two years of silence is pretty telling. He and I disagreed about unionism, but I had him on my respected list. Still is.

Quoting WarRI1 (Reply 5): He had one hell of a respect rating. 80.

That really means nothing though. I've seen folks here with RRs in the 90s displaying naked biases, making all manner of ridiculous proclamations, and actually lowering the value of this site as folks (stupidly) take their word as holy writ. Obviously that's not the case in all or even most examples, but it happens enough that I can't take it seriously.

Tom, though, is the real deal. If you have any manner of technical or operations background, it becomes apparent very quickly that this guy really does know a lot about everything, and with none of the ego baggage that a lot of us here carry. If he ever starts posting again, this site will be a lot better off.

Sadly, as others have mentioned, this is not a rare occurrence here. We've created a culture where folks who don't even work in the industry feel perfectly comfortable flaming or running off people who dare to correct pet beliefs and/or theories with actual experience based knowledge. While I certainly believe this site is nowhere near as bad as it has been at times, it easily can be a lot better too...

I'm not surprised if he has given up on the site.

There are far too many wannabes (People who's total experience with aircraft and the aviation industry starts and ends with flight sim and/or taking pictures) followed by sycophants here that flame the experts who are kindly commenting on threads, injecting real world knowledge into posts and teach us all post by post how it actually works.

There are very obvious biases to be found all over the forum. Some tolerated, some not. And it's this inconsistency that annoys me the most. There was a hell of a lot of it during the battery crises. Quite openly bias nonsense was allowed to stand as fact while real facts would be disregarded, or worse yet, trimmed out of threads by biased mods. (Yes, there are some).

I enjoyed his posts very much and missed him also but I thought maybe Boeing got on him about releasing information. I recall wondering at the time if he wasn't disclosing a bit too much for corporate interests.

It's always sad when a highly respected, valuable member is run off. It's not always the membership that pushes them away, though.  

Quoting DarkSnowyNight (Reply 6): Tom, though, is the real deal.

I thought so myself. I am no expert, never pretended to be, but he impressed me as not being a pretender as we know happens on here. Maybe he checks in and looks at the site like I did during my self imposed silence.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 8):

That is possble, maybe we will find out one day.

I can assure you all that he is alive and well. Spoke to him last week and am meeting him for a cocktail or two next week. For reasons some have sussed out above he doesn't frequent a.net any longer.

Quoting ER757 (Reply 11): I can assure you all that he is alive and well.

That is good to hear, and that is most important. Tell him some of us appreciated his knowledge, and realized he had knowledge.

Quoting AIRWALK (Reply 1): I think he was pretty much run off after those 787 battery threads.

I don't think this is it. The really hard part were those surprise 6 month delay announcements, one was 4 days before a scheduled first flight. Imagine going full speed to get the plane in the air, then standing flatfooted for a month trying to figure out which end's up.

Quoting jetwet1 (Reply 3): Actually, there are a few people I miss, most of them were, or claimed to be pilots, they just got sick of the arm chair pilots correcting them.

I miss them too and hope they were not run off, but instead found bigger and better things to do. You are right about some of the crap that floats up both there and on Civil Av. Sometimes I think I'm on the Non-Av forum.

Quoting DarkSnowyNight (Reply 6): Tom, though, is the real deal. If you have any manner of technical or operations background, it becomes apparent very quickly that this guy really does know a lot about everything, and with none of the ego baggage that a lot of us here carry. If he ever starts posting again, this site will be a lot better off.

I vote for this guy. Tom is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Pose a good question and he, and others like him, would work you through it. People like Tom motivate me to independently research the subject and construct a good, relevant post.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 8): I enjoyed his posts very much and missed him also but I thought maybe Boeing got on him about releasing information. I recall wondering at the time if he wasn't disclosing a bit too much for corporate interests.

I thought about this too but I don't think it's the case. As I recall, Tom often made it known that he used documents from the public domain to buttress his posts. If such documents weren't available to the public, he made that known.


Tom's back in the Seattle area from a Masters program at an east coast university....I'm sure he has a different job with different responsibilities.

Post on amigos,  
Cary

Quoting WarRI1 (Reply 12): Tell him some of us appreciated his knowledge, and realized he had knowledge.

I emailed him today and told him to check the non-av forum on a.net. I'll give him all your best wishes next week when he an I hoist a pint.

Quoting jetwet1 (Reply 3): Actually, there are a few people I miss, most of them were, or claimed to be pilots, they just got sick of the arm chair pilots correcting them.......

This always gave me a good laugh when I'd see a post from a member who I've met and who I know and some kid sitting in his Mom's basement would reply to one of their posts with something like "you have no idea what you're talking about." If only that kid knew what that person's job was.....such was the case with those 787 threads.

I used to specifically search for Tom's posts. Massively interesting, technical, prolific responder across the board and reasoned in his responses.

I've never met him, never will, don't know what he looks like or what he does (apart from work in the aviation industry and drink cocktails) but when I read his posts I think: "I wish I were like this guy".

The www is a darker place without his presence. Enjoy the beers guys.

[quote=ER757,reply=14]Quoting WarRI1 (Reply 12):
Tell him some of us appreciated his knowledge, and realized he had knowledge.

I emailed him today and told him to check the non-av forum on a.net. I'll give him all your best wishes next week when he an I hoist a pint.
[/quote


Ok, give him our regards.

Hi all!

Thanks to emails from ER757 & Caryjack, I'm checking in. Reports of my demise are somewhat exaggerated. I was never very active in Non-Av so I never thought to look here. It feels slightly awkward to have an whole thread about oneself, but I'm going to do the best I can to honour all the wonderful compliments here.

Quoting WarRI1 (Reply 10): Maybe he checks in and looks at the site like I did during my self imposed silence.

This is actually the case, although I dropped from daily to every few months and was mostly monitoring IM. I haven't read a full thread in years.

To put the speculation to rest, yes, I stopped posting to a.net (or anywhere else on aviation matters) near the end of the 787 battery issues. It had absolutely nothing to do with the conduct on a.net, although keeping up with the posting volume on threads like that is challenging. Yes, there are biases and lack of respect sometimes, but those people are in the minority (they're just loud). Even then it was pretty obvious that lots of honest aviation enthusiasts were interested in learning about what was really going on and it's worth dealing with some of the "overhead" of the forum to work together with those people to enhance understanding all around. I wasn't driven away by any pressure from this site. Frankly, I'm a little glad I was out of the loop for MH370 though, I don't think I could have kept up with that one.

I'd actually left my old position somewhat before that (June 2012) to go back to school at MIT, with the support of my employer, then came back into the "real world" this past summer. I never left the industry, just went to add a few tools to the toolbox.

Partially as a result, my career progressed to the point that posting publicly about certain topics, even if those posts contain nothing but public information, presents something of a conflict-of-interest. The 787 battery events merely highlighted an issue that always exists for people that work within the same industry and "business family" as the topics they sometimes comment on. I made a voluntary decision to stop posting as a result; a few other members of the forum made similar decisions at the same time for the similar reasons. They can tell their own stories if they wish.

I do respond to IM and am happy to maintain many great friendships that were born here on a.net, and create new ones as the situation arises, but my participation in the Commercial Av forum will be zero for the foreseeable future.

With deep respect,
Tom.

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 17):

A mystery with a good ending. I for one am glad to hear all is going well on your career path.   

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 17):

Good to hear from you, dude.

Miss your posts in Tech/Ops.

Good to see you back, even if it's only for a brief moment!

We'll be in touch!

No Tax On Rotax

Glad to read from you. Miss your posts too… All the best in your job.

I agree with all of the above. Thanks for your excellent past posts, they were very insightful. Best of everything to you, and if circumstances and inclinations ever permit, please do join us again in the future.

A couple really respected pilots were run off here by their employers. Far too many excellent contributors disappeared with blue flags in 2007-2008, and a lot of those close to them stopped or slowed their posting. I certainly don't post nearly as much as I used to, and have taken a lot of long breaks over time.

Good to read you Tom. You were the greatest force for accurate, balanced information in this asylum and you're much missed. If you ever punch out the boss and wind up as a Walmart greeter or cleaning windshields at I5 rest stops, be sure to come back.
I noticed that LightSaber eased off the technical posts about the same time you left, so I'm guessing you weren't the only one whose employer was getting nervous. I don't see Ferpe much any more either. Startin to miss the old days.

Interesting is that in the really old days of A.net there were several real airline CEOs members of this site. IIRC Herb Kelleher of SWA was a member for a while.

Jan

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 17):

Good to hear all is well!

Regards, JetMech

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 17): I was never very active in Non-Av

Ditto - I came here to see if anyone was discussing the solar eclipse! I'll just endorse the gist of what's been said above. All the best.

  

Speaking of people, where's David L?

 

Quoting md11engineer (Reply 25): Interesting is that in the really old days of A.net there were several real airline CEOs members of this site. IIRC Herb Kelleher of SWA was a member for a while.

Really? I don't even remember that.

Quoting N1120A (Reply 29): Really? I don't even remember that.

Far as I know, it was always just a rumor. Not sure anyone knew if it was actually true, and if it was, what his screenname was.

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 17):

Good to see you back, Tom. Glad to hear you're still making the industry a better place!

Glad to hear you are OK !, hope your new "tools" propel to better employment and professional fulfillment.

Quoting md11engineer (Reply 25): Interesting is that in the really old days of A.net there were several real airline CEOs members of this site. IIRC Herb Kelleher of SWA was a member for a while. Jan

Can you imagine if someone blamed the real Herb, of being and ArmChair CEO...that surely would be EPIC...then again A net has a lot of weird unbelievable members (like Mr. Bruce Dickinson and Ii hope he recovers promptly from his illness UP THE IRONS)

TRB