Not so bad after all

My actual line for the month was the same 4 day 19 hour trip.

I am only flying this sequence once....and I'm happy about it.

The trip looks good on paper...late start (2PM) and an early finish (noon). Super commutable.

Delving into the details shows the ugliness.

Day one is a 12 hour 55 minute duty day. Add in my 3 hour commute..plus getting ready in the morning. Long day.

I slept in till 7AM and started getting ready. At 8:20 AM I left the house and dropped my daughter off at daycare. She's almost a year old. Crazy how time flies.

I commuted up on a 10AM flight. That gave me one additional flight in case I didn't make it on to satisfy the commuter policy.

The agent handed me a boarding pass..a window seat...nice.

I knew it was going to be a long day. I avoided my morning coffee so I could sleep on the flight.

I napped away and woke up about 2 hours into the flight.

Landed on time. One hour to spare.

I stopped by Dunkin Donuts for coffee (headache had set in...as well as still being tired) and updated my Jepp charts.

Very senior crew. Blocked out on time. Right pack was MEL'd. The right pack cools the cabin. Thankfully the ground air had cooled the cabin enough to make it pleasant.

Long flight. VFR at the out station...but they do things oddly.

Long downwind. We were set up for a 21 mile final....on a VFR day...four runways for arrival...and we had a 21 mile final.

Blocked in 10 minutes late.

Two hour and 45 minute sit time.

Next plane was late. We blocked out 15 minutes late.

Headed west we chased the sunset for 3 hours. Getting closer to the next base we got slowed.

The normally VFR airport had 500 overcast and 3 miles vis. Center was slowing all aircraft to minimum forward speed. Lots of turns off course. Finally lined up for final.

Landed on time and blocked in within 14 minutes of on time (satisfies DOT for an on time arrival).

The entire crew was tired. We all commuted in. Our 40 minute turn was down to 23 minutes. Blocked out 5 minutes late.

Due to weather we had a takeoff alternate. Not needed. Quick flight. Landed on time.

Exhausted.

By the time I got to the hotel I had been up for 20 hours. I'd flown on 4 flights for 10 1/2 hours. Of course 3 hours was my commute.

Straight to bed. Slept 7 hours and still tired. I'm glad I traded away this trip next month. It's an exhausting first day.

The rest of the trip is easy.....so there's that. Two legs today, two tomorrow and one on Sunday.