A few years later, as the jumpers and I climbed out of a very smoky Fresno one day, headed to a fire in the Sierras, the departure controller (on a very busy frequency!), called us and said "You must like your job"...
I thought we were hearing things -- no one goofs around on that busy a freq -- but the spotter heard it, too, so I just replied (a bit confused) "Uhm, yeah, it's a good job", still wondering why the guy would have said that when there were SO many aircraft on the radio.
He came right back and said "I know plenty of women who would KILL for your job! Throwing men out of your airplane into FIRES!!" I could hear people laughing in the background, and we cracked up, too, and I replied "Well, I guess I never thought about it like that!"
He snappily replied "My girlfriend would like to have your job!", then said Goodbye as we departed his radar area. We got a great laugh out of it.
Later I was telling Mike this story and he lit up, and said it would make a good strip. ALL of the Chicken Wings cartoons are based on REAL events that he hears or experiences at airports, dealing with pilots, OR the FAA (some of the funniest!). So, here's the strip he and his brother Stef did based on the our laughs with the Fresno controller...
(If you click on the strip, it will come up as regular-sized.)
