Saturday, April 18, 2009

Great couple of days away from work

Despite being displaced, I have had a fabulous last two days. Friday I flew to New York to go to the New York Auto Show. I flew into Newark and flew out of JFK. Thanks again for the tips on traveling. I had one problem at Penn Station on my way out...that place is huge.

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I have a strict 'no shaving' policy when I don't work. The NY Autoshow beats the Detroit show by a long shot!




I learned to not like JFK. The delays there are legendary. The weather was beautiful Friday...and there were still lines of planes waiting to take off.

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My flight left an hour late. I relaxed in my First Class seat and listened as the Captain fired up both engines on push out. I thought "great this must mean we will be leaving quickly as standard procedure is to taxi out on one engine,". As we taxied around I heard a sound I didn't want to hear. I first heard the left engine power down. Then the plane stopped....and the other engine powered down. The Captain came on stating we would be delayed for at least 45 minutes. Ugh. We ended up landing in base very late. I got home at 11:30PM. At 5:30AM I woke up to go to Minneapolis for the day with my wife. We had a good time. The flight loads were very light both ways. It was our first time there. We went up to visit the Mall of America. One thing we did notice...the public trainsit system there is on an honor system. We bought tickets and signs stated they would be checked...but they weren't. Anyone could have just walked on board and taken a ride. Odd.

Not flying anywhere tomorrow...just going to a ball game.

Despite all the crap this job brings.....I can't imagine doing anything else. Being able to fly my wife wherever she wants to go whenever she wants to go is an awesome benefit.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for your wonderful reports on what being an airline pilot are all about. I enjoy every post. I'm glad you and your wife got to see Mall of America. My wife, who is from the Philippines, and I got to visit MOA not long after she came to the US. She was struck by the courtesy of the city bus operator who drove us to the Mall from MSP. We wanted to buy two RT tickets but we were short a buck or two of the exact change price, and the operator didn't carry change. The driver just took what we had and said, "Here's your passes back to the airport, we want you to have a nice visit to out city". I don't know if the driver made up the difference from her own pocket or what, but it was a gesture that will not soon be forgotten.

    I guess I'm surprised that you were surprised by the honor system. Maybe it's becuase I'm an older guy, but I seem to remeber lots of things on the honor system. Has our country deteriorated to the pont where honor is that rare a commodity? Much of European public transport, also Japan and some other places I have been operate in whole or part on the honor system ... thank goodness there is at least a little bit left at home.

    It shouldn't be a surprise to you, given your chosen career. In spite of all the frequent checks, to a very significant degree, the difference between a successful airline flight and a sad newspaper headline is the honor, or integrity, of the crew ... they have to do things the correct way, even when no one is looking ... and we who sit in hte back appreciate it.

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