Working for a living

Forgot what it's like to work for a living. Ouch.

I fly a smaller plane now. Smaller plane = more legs per day...for the most part.

Doing a 21 hour 3 day trip. Day one was 5 legs including an international turn to start. First flight had a fuel readout MEL. We had to use measuring sticks to verify the fuel quantity. Time consuming.

Blocked out an hour late. And so it began.

Lots of weather. Bumped around most of the flight to and from. Heavy wind and rain during my landing. Cleared customs on the return leg. Takes time. My crew then had to change terminals. Due to being an hour late getting back we had only 45 minutes to connect instead of an hour and forty five minutes. Hungry.

I learned long ago to not rush and take care of myself first. I grabbed a sandwhich and headed to the plane. Raining.

Boarded up including a cockpit jumpseater. Closed up. Ding! The flight attendants phone got soaked with water and was inop. Delayed.

Blocked out 45 minutes late. More weather. Light to moderate turbulence the entire flight. Still getting comfortable in the plane and the avionics. I Dodged storms the best I could.

Another windy and heavy rain on approach and landing for me.

There were no passengers for the return leg so we had a very fast 20 minute turn.

Same moderate turbulence on the return leg. All the turbulence was wearing on us physically and mentally.

It would have been nice to keep the same plane to the overnight, but it wasn't to be. We parked at gate 56 and were leaving out of gate 55. Fine.

Swapped, boarded up. Then DING! a flight control malfunction posted. Delayed more. Yadda, yadda, yadda blocked out an hour and 7 minutes late. Short flight.

Still got knocked around. We blocked in having flown 7 hours and 21 minutes. Ugh.

Due to the overtime I picked up on Friday that went 30 minutes over block,  I was now in a 30 in 7 situation.

I can only fly 30 hours in a rolling 7 day period. When I blocked in Saturday night I was scheduled for 29 hours and 57 minutes. Close. If I went over I would be removed from flying but still paid for it.

Nine hour overnight. I was exhausted mentally and physically.  Was supposed to be 10 hours 30 minutes.

This morning we blocked out 7 minutes early. It looked like the 30 in 7 wouldn't be an issue.

Another gusty and heavy rain landing for me. Due to weather the ramp was clogged. And then it happened. We went over block by 18 minutes. I was now scheduled for 30 hours 12 minutes.

Scheduling advised they would keep an eye on me as I still had 3 legs left. I could still under block enough. Hmmm bet it won't happen.

I have a 3 hour sit. Since I live close I came home for lunch. Great perk of living in base and close to base.

Working for a living....still love my job though.