Flyin'

Flew 23 hours in 4 days. Two 2 day back to backs.

The first two day trip was easier than the first.

I had a 7PM report time. Boarded up on time and things were looking good.....until a ramper reported the lav wouldn't drain from the outside. This is normally due to a passenger flushing something they shouldn't be flushing. With a 2 1/2 hour flight ahead we needed a lav. Plane swap.

We blocked out almost 2 hours late. My leg. Long flight. I joke that "Same Day Service is Guaranteed". Well we were supposed to arrive at 11:30PM. Instead we blocked in at 1:02AM. Late and tired.

We got to the hotel at 1:35AM. Van time was set for 11:15 AM.

Fell asleep around 2:10AM. Woke up at 8:45AM so I could rush downstairs before breakfast was over.

Tired. Waffle made and coffee poured I headed back to my room.

Day 2 was a 5 leg day.

Loaded up in the van at 11:10AM with my Captain. No Flight attendant. Waiting. He finally arrived at 11:20AM. We were annoyed. Van time is "but in van time" not "leave your room time."

It was just 5 minutes, but it can cause all of us to have to rush.

Lucky for us the in bound was deplaning as we arrived at the gate.

Blocked out 2 minutes early and arrived 5 minutes late, but still on time in the eye  of the Department of Transportation.

Plane swap. Inbound late causing us to block out 15 minutes late while blocking in just 6 minutes late. We had a very good ground crew and did a fast 22 minute turn blocking out 2 minutes early. I still find it funny how much I can get done without feeling rushed.

That 22 minutes included all the inbound passengers getting off, my post flight, using the restroom, chatting with the gate crew, setting up the flight deck, loading up the outbound passengers and pushing out.

Arrived 3 minutes late....to have another plane swap.

Once again the inbound caused us to blocked out 8 minutes late.  I flew fast, but still arrived 2 minutes late.

We were supposed to have an abnormal 45 minute sit before returning to base.

Tired.

With one passenger returning we hoped to leave early. Then 4 passengers from another airline arrived as their flight had cancelled. We could have left 25 minutes early with one passenger, but we left 7 minutes early as we had to wait for checked bags to be passed between airlines.

Captains leg. Flew very fast arriving 20 minutes early at 8:45PM.

I walked in my back door at 9:50PM.

Up at 6:30AM the next day to the sounds of my daughter calling me.

After a nice breakfast of waffles and chocolate milk we enjoyed an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before I dropped her off at daycare.

I then returned home for some more honey do items. Moving into a new house is way more work than I thought it would be. I don't remember being this busy with our first house.

I had a 1:35PM sign in for the next trip.

Three legs on day one. I took the first. Left early and arrived early. The controller at the out station seemed overly cautious as we were vectored for a 20 mile final.....with 10 miles between us and the next RJ. Eh.

After arriving back in base we were to have just 35 minutes before the final flight. Supposed to.

Plane swap...and the inbound was running late. We blocked out 48 minutes late. Long line for takeoff. No amount of flying at "hotel leg"speed would help. We blocked in 47 minutes late.

Our 9 hours 45 minute overnight was supposed to be under 9 hours. Scheduling reduced our show time for the morning to give us exactly 9 hours.

Hotel van was late. It arrived at 10:30PM. I walked into my hotel room at 10:50PM. Van time was 7AM.

Groggy. First two legs were mine and were easy. We did have a 2 hour sit at an outstation before the third leg.

The short overnight was really hitting me hard. I ate lunch and had a big soft drink. Still dragging.

I got something I rarely get....a Starbucks frappuccino. Helped a little.

Last flight of the day for me was to DCA.

I haven't been to DCA in over two years.

Going to DCA is stressful.

We were assigned the Trups2 arrival. The arrival has a lot of step down fixes. It was busy as we were told to "descend via" meaning altitude was our discretion as long as we met the restrictions. We went from FL370 to 13000 feet....all on our own.

LDA 19 approach in use. We picked up the Potomac early. It was nice to have a backup to the LDA. I'd flown the River Visual 19 before.

My Captain made a beautiful approach and landing. It's easy to screw up the approach as you have to swing out while under 800 feet AGL to align with the runway.

I then had a 2 hour sit before deadheading home. The rest of my crew continued on as they were on a 4 day trip.

Two hours later I was sitting in a First Class seat headed home.

I'm off till Tuesday for another 2 day...then off for 5 more days.

Sorry for the lack of post....been busy flyin'.