I got what I wanted...just not when I wanted it

Day 2 was a cluster F.

Supposed to fly one leg, DH to base and fly another leg.

I was hoping to misconnect to my deadhead as they gave me just 35 minutes between block in and the departure of the deadhead.

The Captain I flew with does IOE. He's a really nice guy and I enjoy flying with him.

During the first leg he said how out of place he felt as I was the first pilot he's flown with in over 2 months that hasn't needed IOE. He didn't know what to do with himself.

One day 2 it looked like we would block out early. Nope. Late bags. Things were looking good for a misconnect!

We left the gate 10 minutes late. Took off 20 minutes after scheduled departure.

I climbed out on profile. I flew 250 knots to 10,000 feet, 290 knots to around FL270 and transitioned to .74 Mach. Once at FL360 I cruised at Mach .785.

No luck. Computer showed arriving 10 minutes early. Damn over blocking!

We talked about pilots at my airline who make the job harder than it should be. Since my Captain has been around for a while (he's in the top 1% seniority) he knows a lot of pilots.

I'd tell a story about a Captain that I have problems with and he guessed the name first try. He'd then tell a story about a Captain he gave IOE to that was a problem, and I guessed the name first try. Only a small handful of guys...but they make names for themselves.

The arrival involves a bunch of step-down fixes. I've done it many times.

Finally on the approach. A thick layer of clouds was over the city..1000 overcast.

The runways are all parallel. During the approach the approach controller called out traffic for a parallel runway. We didn't see the traffic. The controller then cancelled our approach clearance. I chuckled. My Captain knew why....I was hoping to be delayed.

No such luck. We finally saw the other traffic and were recleared for the approach.

Nice landing and then we were delayed 8 minutes crossing the inboard runway due to traffic.

Blocked in 6 minutes early. Booo. I took my time packing my kit bag, doing the post flight and making my way to the deadhead. No matter how much I drug my feet I arrived at the gate 20 minutes prior to departure.

Fine.

Four hours later I was back in my base. I had an hour and ten minutes before I was to depart. As is I was scheduled to be on airplanes for 8 hours 40 minutes but only flying in the cockpit 4 hours 40 minutes.

I grabbed dinner and headed to my gate. No airplane. Hmmmm. There was a lot of convective weather in the area.

I checked the computer. My flight was to leave at 5:20PM. The plane was still on the ground at an outstation and wasn't scheduled to arrive until 6:20PM....yet the gate display was still showing on time. Quite optimistic my airline is eh?

Headed to the crew room. I saw a pilot who is 1 junior to me. I haven't seen her in almost 4 years since we got hired though I do talk to her on Facebook.

She had her overnight cancelled and was looking at getting a hotel. In the back of my head I knew it could happen to me as well.

I ate dinner and kept an eye on the inbound plane and my schedule. Flight was delayed till 7:20PM giving me a 14 hour duty day.

At 6:50PM I checked and the plane was STILL on the ground at the outstation. It was estimated to arrive at 8:00PM meaning at best we would leave at 8:40PM. I had to be off the ground by 9:15PM in order to legally complete the flight inside of 16 hours (max duty day limit).

Flight now delayed until 8:20PM. Quite optimistic my airline is....a 20 minute turn with a crew swap.

I called scheduling at 7:40PM when the plane finally left the ground at the outstation. My new departure time was 9:10PM....giving me just 5 minutes to push off the gate and get off the ground for a 16 hour duty day.

Scheduling saw the issue and was realistic. I was pulled from the flight. Because it wasn't my fault I was given a hotel room.

I now deadhead back to the same base I was deadheaded from yesterday. Kind of bummed as I will miss out on 6 hours of flight time. I get paid for it, but my Captain upgrade is coming soon....and I need to meet company mins on flight time. Every hour helps.

So today I deadhead out at 1:30PM. Four hours later I have an hour break and then start the first of 3 legs. The first two are really short....under 100 NM.

Tomorrow I am supposed to deadhead back to base and then commute home. I am pondering just commuting home from the out station.