Flying for warmth....FAIL

On day 2 of a 4 day.

This trip is a 3-4-4-3 worth a decent 23 hours.

The Captain is very senior...in the top 1% and 63 years old. I am in the top 61% and 36 years old. Very different worlds...but thankfully we both enjoy our jobs. Sometimes it's a bit too much enjoyment as the Flight Attendant said a few passengers could hear us laughing up front. Hey if you can't laugh you can't live.

This trip has double Florida overnights. I was hoping for warm weather. Well last night it was in the 40s while today it's in the 60s. Tomorrow night I'm in Cedar Rapids...so much for warmth.

One perk of double overnights at this out station is free dinner! The hotel serves dinner each night for free. Additionally they have free breakfast but we leave too early to get it.

This morning started with a o'dark thirty departure. My leg out. This Captain likes to trade every other leg vs the more normal swapping at the out stations. No biggie I get paid the same.

Fairly standard first flight.

The second leg was fine until we got close to the airport. Haze and dust prevented us from finding the airport visually. We both knew where the airport was as we'd be there before, we just couldn't see it. We were vectored for an approach instead. I didn't call the airport until about a five mile final straight in. Windy and dusty. Landed fine. A Cirrus behind us went missed due to the high winds.

My leg back. Taking off to the north and told to climb to 6000. There was a Cessna entering a right downwind also at 6000. Again very windy day.

While climbing out the tower verified the Cessna had us in sight. I saw the Cessna on TCAS but not visually until about 5600 feet. At this point we got a yellow TCAS caution.

The Cessna was being blown toward us due to the wind. I pointed the Cessna out to the Captain and no sooner we got a TCAS Resolution Advisory "Climb, Climb". We are not allowed to ignore TCAS RAs. I pushed the thrust levers up, pulled the yoke back and used the VSI to climb into the green recommended rate to avoid a collision. The TCAS then stated "Increase Climb" so I pulled back a bit more.  The green arc indicated 2500 feet per minute.

The Captain advised we were responding to a RA. Clearing 6300 feet we got the "Clear of Conflict". Now there will be paperwork to file as we are required to document any TCAS RAs.

The rest of the flight was fine. The flight back to Pensacola was ok as well.

Back at the same hotel I went down the gym for a quick workout then met my Flight Attendant for dinner. It's nice to work with people who have a sense of humor. Great meal and now off to bed as tomorrow will be long.