RoyBatty: SpeedyBB: H31N0US: I imagine the change it weight distribution as a ton of meat jumped out of the plane threw the pilot for a loop.

That's probably what killed my elder brother Byron Eugene Black and nearly a dozen skydivers in 1980. He was rigging up the guys in the back and one of his sons was at the controls. Something caused the jumpers to bolt for the rear door and the plane went out of control, crashing into Pear Harbor.

So much for the halftime jump into the Aloha Bowl.

More here: Link

I'm sorry for your loss.

May I ask something completely irrelevant? What was your parent's naming convention that you and your brother have the same first and last names differing with a middle name?

Well, typical broken American family. My brother was the offspring of Maj. Byron Allen Black, and his Abilene-reared wife Evelyn. After they divorced he married my mother and had me, to their great and unending astonishment: Byron Allen Black Jr.

Gene went through the entire VN war flying tankers (he was too tall to be a fighter pilot) with nary an incident. Then he went and bought the farm in a light twin (avoid light airplanes). He never used the Byron, though when the FBI stopped him entering the US in Honolulu because they had a warrant for me (eating my draft card with catsup on it, to protest the American involvement in the war) it became an issue. Ha ha. Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson. West-More-Land. Light at the end of the tunnel Mcnamara. Agent Orange.

(Now just how many illegal pointless unwinnable wars ago was that one now?)

When I try to explain baby-name customs to the Indonesians it comes out a bit like quantum mechanics. Naming here's weird though too; when the NYT correspondent kept insisting that the first President's full name was "Sukarno" (or "Soekarno" in the old Dutch spelling) his editors refused to buy it. So they kindly attached an "Ahmad" to his name.

Single-name Indonesians who go to study or live abroad have a similar challenge, when the computer in the Driver's License Bureau or hospital or wherever demands at least two names. Some just double up, so they become "Sudarmono Sudarmono" or "Bakhirun Bakhirun" during their time overseas. Others adopt a corny nickname like "Rudy" or "Ricky" (hope you're not a Rudy or a Ricky).

My younger brother is George W. and I trust he received an appropriate amount of ribbing back in Texas for that moniker.

Rodeodoc: Did the pilot have the chicken or the fish?

Lasagna.