Early TNG... no Chief Engineer?

[Praetor]

That sounds about right. Now my mind will be spinning trying to figure out in what Ep when I take my daughter in for softball practice, here in a few minutes.

Edit:

Was it the same Ep that Geordi was talking about doing the "Titan Turn" or something like that.

I wasn't kidding about that part.

It hit me on the way back. It was from The Next Phase when Picard was talking to Riker at the service. Here's the quote:

PICARD
I've been thinking about the first
time I met Geordi La Forge. He
was a young officer assigned to
pilot me on an inspection tour...
I made some off-hand remark about
the shuttle's engine efficiency
not being what it should... the
next morning I found he'd stayed
up all night refitting the fusion
initiators.
(beat)
I knew right then that I wanted
him with me on my next command.

Edit:

I also remembered that the "Titan Turn" manuver was in the conversation with Jellico in Chain of Commond Pt II.

Wasn't there some reference to Picard first meeting LaForge as a shuttle pilot or something like that?

I think it's mentioned in The Next Phase, when Picard and Riker are talking about the eulogy/wake/funerals for Geordi and Ro.

Re: Titan's Turn. When's that mentioned? Is it Chain of Command? Is it Geordi talking to Jellico and persuading him to ask Riker to pilot the shuttle? Or is it The Outcast when Riker and Soren are swapping piloting stories?

It's "Chain of Command" all right. What is left unclear is whether the Titan's Turn thing is related to Starfleet or not. Jellico says he "started his career" that way, and LaForge did it at some point in his life. But perhaps hauling cargo in an apparent single-person shuttle between Jupiter and Saturn is something you do before you enter the Academy, to gain points? It does sound like a strangeish occupation for a junior Starfleet officer...

Timo Saloniemi

Ahh, synchronicity.

So the LaForge as pilot reference was 'The Next Phase' and Titan's Turn was from the talk between LaForge and Jellico in 'Chain of Command, Part 2.'

I'd bet that Titan's Turn is something pilots do when they're out on training runs - similar to the illegal maneuver that got Wesley's group in trouble in 'The First Duty,' just not so dangerous.

 

[Alrik]

I'd bet that Titan's Turn is something pilots do when they're out on training runs - similar to the illegal maneuver that got Wesley's group in trouble in 'The First Duty,' just not so dangerous.

I was pretty much agreed that it was a 'no-no'. Jellico was talking to Geordi about being on the Jovian run, Jupiter to Saturn and back, once a day every day. Geordi describes Titan's Turn and Jellico says "...and pray like hell nobody saw you."