Where are you when landing?

I guess it all depends on whether you have passengers on board or not.  If not then it pretty much does not matter as long as you are comfortable and have yourself braced for landing.  Where should you be with passengers on board?  My suggestion is in the front with your back toward the landing and your face toward the passengers. In this manner if one of your passengers has a fall or begins to fall your able to see them and prevent any major incident.  This will also prevent your passengers from extending arms out of the basket trying to catch themselves and breaking an arm.  This does not mean that you face away from the landing when your making your approach.  But..  When your ready to open the top your work is done facing forward so turn around and keep an eye on your precious cargo.  The Passengers.

Keeping your burner fittings in good shape.

Many of us use caps on our burners.  Did you know that if you go to the local Hydraulic hose company you can get metal caps?  Metal caps will not strip out like the plastic ones.  They cost just pennies and will last for a long long time.  I also put a little Vaseline in the cap to help lubricate the threads and fittings.  I have burners with several thousand flights on them and can still finger tight the hose and it wont leak.

GPS 12XL