Gone Tech or U/S???

Personally it has always been a cockpit as far as I’m concerned though I may accept the term flightdeck in reference to airliners of the jet age.

I was under the impression that the term “Going tech” was the P.C. way of saying U/S so as not to upset our poor easily upset American cousins.
I have never seen or heard the term “U/S” used by an American, every other nationality I deal with use it though.
Also “Cockpit” is being P.C’d into “Flightdeck” Aswel

Rgds Cking

Perhaps the Yanks found it confusing having “gone U/S” and “gone US” :diablo::diablo:

Roger Smith.

😀 😀 😀

That’s OK, they’re easily confused anyway.

IIRC “Gone tech” is a US (as in country, not serviceable state) term – when something got broken or didn’t work as it was meant to it was always “U/S” in my day…

Perhaps the Yanks found it confusing having “gone U/S” and “gone US” :diablo::diablo:

Roger Smith.

If not then I think it should be, there’s enough confusion without adding to it.

When I was in, used ‘u/s’ mostly, even in F700s. Term that has not yet been mentioned, but used extensively in my day, is when something goes ‘t i ts up”.

:rolleyes:

You know I did mention ‘T*ts Up’ in post 5 Les,nice to see some sayings never change :D.
Our a/c ‘state’ board still uses ‘S’ (green) or U/S (red) ,I was under the impression that the word ‘Pan’ (for parking area) was discouraged so as not to be confused with a ‘Pan’ Radio call.

cheers baz

A hanger was also an edged weapon in Nelson’s time.

……………..and a wood on a steep hillside, frequently of beech trees – or maybe that is where the aircraft are put to keep to keep dry when there is a convenient hangar available!

When I was in, used ‘u/s’ mostly, even in F700s. Term that has not yet been mentioned, but used extensively in my day, is when something goes ‘t i ts up”.

Agree about the term stateside ‘ramp’ though. Aircraft were on the pan or on the ‘line’.

:rolleyes:

It still is to me, strangely my wife seems to have picked it up too although she uses the term kaput more often. I’m sure you all know that kaput is the German equivalent of broken (or at least that’s about as close to an English meaning of the word as is likely to be found).

IIRC “Gone tech” is a US (as in country, not serviceable state) term – when something got broken or didn’t work as it was meant to it was always “U/S” in my day…

Thank you Steve, I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates Americanisms creeping into our vocabulary and the inacuracies you mention. The media don’t seem to understand the difference between taxiway and runway, I get the impression that they think anything on an airport resembling an extremely wide road has to be a runway. A hanger was also an edged weapon in Nelson’s time.

“Gone tech” is one of those awful Americanisms which have crepped in to our vocabulary on the European side of the pond. It’s “Unserviceable (U/S)” please.

The other one which annoys me is “ramp” for an aircraft parking area. It is either “apron” or “pan” please.

Then there are TV reports which insist on talking about airliners being parked “on the runway”.

Not to mention the eternal confusion between “hangar” (where aeroplanes live) and “hanger” which you put your coat on.

Moan over.

That would keep me amused for a few days and I could add a few of my own that I haven’t come across on there yet.

When you have a rainy day (!), this is the dictionary to read!

http://www.biscuitsbrown.com/forces_dictionary/dictionary.php

That sounds like a reasonable explanation of how it would gather widespread usage in the forces. I’d never considered the possibility of rhyming slang being the source but now that I have it makes sense and would also explain why half inched also finds such a lot of use there as well.

I used to work with an ex-FAA fitter who used to say something had ‘gone for a ball of chalk’ when it was broken or u/s…..does anybody know where that expression comes from?

And of course there is the classic ‘gone for a Burton’ with slightly different connotations.

I used to know someone from the East End of London who said “ball of chalk” is Cockney rhyming slang for “walk”, so “gone for a ball of chalk” would literally be “walked off”. Therefore it might also mean stopped working, or maybe even stolen (that’s “half-inched”, of course).

Or MMI, man machine interface.

Normally to find it’s a pilot interface problem:diablo:

😀 sometimes called the ‘seat to stick interface’ 😀

cheers baz’

Either way you say it, the crew get to retire to the crew room / hotel, whilst the poor unloved grasemonkey gets to go out in the cold , rain , wind or snow on a dark night and fix it!!!
Belive me, I know.

The way of the world I’m afraid, all you can do is live with it as nothing we do is likely to change things.