Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Thanks...........

Interesting 3 day trip.

The Captain for my actual trip is a former Air Force pilot. He is new to my base.  He is the most thorough Captain I've ever flown with. He went through a 5 minute (not exaggerating)  crew briefing with me and the cabin crew. He included security information, evacuation procedures, weather and more. My lead flight attendant was taken back a bit. I was a bit shocked. No Captain had ever gone through so much during a briefing. I appreciated it.

He then read out loud the last 4 days of issues in the maintenance log. Normally I read it myself. Since he read it to me I was able to complete my pre-flight duties.

While boarding a note and snack was passed up to the flight deck. I was shocked.

A 7 year old girl and her mom were on board today and brought us a thank you note and snack. It was a great way to start the trip.

thanks0002

My Captain continued on to read the NOTAMs for the departure and destination airport. Again not normal....but I appreciated it.

Three legs on day one. First one was his. The first two legs were quick, the last was long.

Snow, high winds and low clouds were on order.

While desending from 10,000 to 4000 we got a master caution for BLD LOW TEMP for both engines. I had the engines idled during the desecent. We were in icing conditions. The anti-ice was on thus increasing the speed as they rev up to supply bleed air.

I shallowed out the descent and raised the thrust levers to supply more bleed air. Normally the caution goes out. Not this time.

Just in case we did have ice accreting I advised I'd wait until we turn final to lower the flaps.

Turned final. Still had a master caution posted. My Captain ran the checklist which didn't really help as it was refernencing ONE of the engines having low bleed air, not both.

Broke out at 800 AGL. Heavy snow. Picked up the runway at around 500 feet. Winds were gusting 28 knots, thankfully right down the runway.

Nice landing and done.

He wrote up the master caution. We were at a maintenance base so it would be addressed overnight.

I'd been to this overnight a lot lately. Always at the Hampton Inn.

While waiting at the curb a Double Tree van pulled up. I called the Hampton Inn.

"I think you guys are at the Double Tree, my next flight doesn't come in for 2 hours." stated the Hampton Inn front desk clerk.

I walked down to the Double Tree van, "Are you here for flight 5813?"

Indeed he was. Fine with my crew, we get free cookies at the Double Tree.

Decent overnight.

Next morning started off with a lot of waiting.

Departure was 8:20AM. We took at 7:20AM van as we wanted to get breakfast since the hotel is....expensive.

We arrived at the gate at 7:35AM....and we waited. The station was very short staffed. We didn't get access to the plane until 8:04AM. Ridiculous.

Pushed out at 8:39AM. Thankfully we didn't need to deice. Blocked out 19 minutes late, blocked in 10 minutes late.

One hour sit. Long flight to the overnight.

The next hotel was located next to the airport. Within walking distance. So close that all crews just walk.

Another fancy hotel. I grabbed lunch before leaving the airport.

Later that night I ordered a $15 burger and fries for dinner from the hotel....and that was with our discount.

The next morning started early. Walked over at 5AM for a 6AM departure. My Captain had been in the cockpit since 5AM. He likes getting there early.

Pushed back 5 minutes early, quick de-ice and we were out. My leg.

Smooth flight. Low clouds and 1/2 SM visibility at the hub. Full ILS approach.

I left the autopilot on until about 300 feet. Runway came into view around 200 feet.

Blocked in 10 minutes late at 7:50AM.

My 3 day trip officially ended. I had previously requested a turn for overtime.

The flight left base at 9AM and returned at 12:10PM. Nice 2 hour 40 minutes worth of time and a half.

Easy flight for the most part. The Captain was new to me. Former Marine. He was interesting. He took it out and I brought it back. I shot the same approach as before. I was home by 1PM.

My line for January is a little odd.

I have a day trip on January 2nd followed by a 2 day trip on January 3rd. The 2 day trip is an international overnight. Bleh.

 

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