I am supposed to be in the hotel van right now. The inbound flight is delayed. In fact it hasn't left the base yet.
The crew left my current out station this morning. They were simply supposed to fly to the base, turn around, and fly back using the same plane. Well that didn't happen.
Once they arrived their plane was sent elsewhere. This was likely due to 7 CRJs being down for mechanical this morning. The second plane they were given also had an problem. Now they are waiting on an inbound plane due in at 12:55PM. I am guessing they will leave around 1:45PM arriving here at 4:45PM. As of now we have a 3PM van. Now I have a problem.
I brought food to eat. I have one tuna snack pack, 2 ramen noodle packs and 2 fiber bars left. None sound appealing. I was going to hold out for the airport. With two hours left I have to eat something. Right now I am brewing hot water to clean the coffee pot. I will then brew hot water and likely eat ramen noodles. Oh joy!
The good thing about the delays is our next turn was taken away and given to another crew as we would be over 2 hours late. We still have the flight to the overnight.
My wife is waiting at the airport for a flight over to NY for the weekend. Her flight is delayed due to weather in the NY area. A day of delays. Good times.
Tomorrow I am still scheduled to simply dead head home in the morning. Nice.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Planes everywhere
Runway incursions. They happen everyday. I came close to having not only my first runway incursion, but first collision with another aircraft when I was just of IOE.
I was deadheaded from my home base to an outstation. A Captain was deadheaded from another base to the same outstation. The flight was one leg back to my base. Prior to this flight I had never met this Captain before.
Lucky for me I was to fly the same plane I was deadheading on. After the passengers deplaned, I made my way to the cockpit. The Captain's deadhead flight was running late. I began setting up the plane while the passengers boarded. This was in the middle of winter and there was quite a bit on snow falling.
The Captain arrived just prior to departure and quickly took his seat and we were out of the gate within minutes. For a reason I still don't understand he was rushing himself and me to get through checklist. Normally on the ground the First Officer handles the radio while the Captain drives. After de-icing he took over the radios and began taxiing. I had maybe 40 hours in the plane. My taxi flow has my head down quite a bit. I heard ground advise to taxi to 24R hold short 24L at Sierra.
[singlepic id=144 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The Captain was working the radios and repeated back the instructions. The ground controller then advise to monitor tower. I reached over and put the frequency into the radio. As soon as I flipped over to tower I heard our call sign and flight number followed by "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
The Captain hit the brakes hard and I looked up to see us just shy of the hold short line for 24L. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an ERJ landing on 24L just over the threshold. We almost had an incursion and a collision.
I looked over at the Captain who simply stated, "What did they not think I was going to stop?" I didn't say a word. I don't think he was going to stop. The rest of the flight went decently. Thankfully I have never seen or flown with this Captain since.
Since this flight I refuse to be rushed. Rushing in the cockpit will only lead to mistakes. This hasn't been a problem since almost every Captain I fly with works at a normal pace and lets me do the same.
Yesterday I flew out of an airport with several interesecting runways. While taxing around I was in awe at the number of planes being launched in all directions. This place was a zoo.
We were assigned to taxi to runway 9. We were number 2. Meanwhile a plane took off from runway 32, while another plane was waiting to take off from runwway 4, another plane was landing on runway 9. Wow.
[singlepic id=143 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Finally we were told to taxi into position and hold. At the same time an aircraft was cleared to land runway 9 and advised there would be one departure from runway 9 prior to his arrival.
I could clearly see another plane also in position on runway 4 and several more waiting for runway 4 and 9. While waiting a plane just took off from runway 32. A few seconds later it was our turn. Initally we were told to fly runway heading. After takeoff we were told to turn south heading 130. This place is nuts.
The first flight was mostly smooth. We tried climbing to FL390 to avoid weather. Didn't happen. Just a little light chop. It was worse down low.
[singlepic id=146 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The first flight was into a hub of another airline. Flying into major hubs while being a different airline just feels odd. I had never been to this airport before, but the Captain had. I reviewed the airport diagram and ramp procedures. We were assigned to follow in a heavy 757. The Captain stayed one dot high and slightly right of course as the winds were coming from the right. The landing was uneventful.
The return flight was fine. We climbed up to FL400 and were finally clear of weather. Nice sunset.
[singlepic id=147 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=149 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=148 w=320 h=240 float=center]
We were vectored in close so we thought we would get a short approach. I dirtied up the plane in anticipation only to be vectored out for a 12 mile final. Oh well...we got a nice view of the suburbs.
For the first time in a while I nailed the landing. Nice and smooth.
We had an hour and change between flights. I didn't want tuna fish for dinner and went on the hunt for food. For some reason the eating choices at 9PM are slim. I settled on a small cafe. They had a Salmon and Veggie Quiche. I risked it. Turned out it was quite tastey.
[singlepic id=150 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:55PM. We pushed out 5 minutes early due to a light load. My leg again. Being a hotel leg I flew a little faster than normal. Ok a lot faster. The dispatcher filed us for 280 knots indicated. I flew at 330 knots. We would have been 15 minutes early, but the airport put us behind two Citations.
It had been a long day. Winds were calm and the sky was clear. I was following the VASI down, backing it up with the ILS. At 100 feet it looked good. I was right on approach speed with not a knot extra. At 50 feet I was a little under speed. The ground was approaching quickly. The long day slowed my thinking process and I pitched up and only added a little power. Instead of a thumper of a landing I had a slightly better than average. The deck angle though was higher than normal. We weren't near a tail scrape, but if I had kept rotating we would have been. Eh. I admitted my mistake with the power and pitch. No big deal. The Captain realized what I was doing and knew what I meant to do. We arrived 5 minutes early.
This outstation has two hotels. One for short overnight, one for long. From my base we used to have short overnights. That hotel is awesome. My second favorite. From the other base they have a long overnight. This hotel is horrible. I don't use that word lightly. It really is the pits. I won't proffer for this overnight again.
Today all I do is a flight to MY base and then over to the northeast for an overnight.
Still looking at going to Washington, D.C. next week. I think I will fly into DCA, see the Air & Space Museum in the mall then take the 5A bus to IAD and catch a ride to the Air & Space Museum there and fly out of IAD that night.
I was deadheaded from my home base to an outstation. A Captain was deadheaded from another base to the same outstation. The flight was one leg back to my base. Prior to this flight I had never met this Captain before.
Lucky for me I was to fly the same plane I was deadheading on. After the passengers deplaned, I made my way to the cockpit. The Captain's deadhead flight was running late. I began setting up the plane while the passengers boarded. This was in the middle of winter and there was quite a bit on snow falling.
The Captain arrived just prior to departure and quickly took his seat and we were out of the gate within minutes. For a reason I still don't understand he was rushing himself and me to get through checklist. Normally on the ground the First Officer handles the radio while the Captain drives. After de-icing he took over the radios and began taxiing. I had maybe 40 hours in the plane. My taxi flow has my head down quite a bit. I heard ground advise to taxi to 24R hold short 24L at Sierra.
[singlepic id=144 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The Captain was working the radios and repeated back the instructions. The ground controller then advise to monitor tower. I reached over and put the frequency into the radio. As soon as I flipped over to tower I heard our call sign and flight number followed by "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
The Captain hit the brakes hard and I looked up to see us just shy of the hold short line for 24L. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an ERJ landing on 24L just over the threshold. We almost had an incursion and a collision.
I looked over at the Captain who simply stated, "What did they not think I was going to stop?" I didn't say a word. I don't think he was going to stop. The rest of the flight went decently. Thankfully I have never seen or flown with this Captain since.
Since this flight I refuse to be rushed. Rushing in the cockpit will only lead to mistakes. This hasn't been a problem since almost every Captain I fly with works at a normal pace and lets me do the same.
Yesterday I flew out of an airport with several interesecting runways. While taxing around I was in awe at the number of planes being launched in all directions. This place was a zoo.
We were assigned to taxi to runway 9. We were number 2. Meanwhile a plane took off from runway 32, while another plane was waiting to take off from runwway 4, another plane was landing on runway 9. Wow.
[singlepic id=143 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Finally we were told to taxi into position and hold. At the same time an aircraft was cleared to land runway 9 and advised there would be one departure from runway 9 prior to his arrival.
I could clearly see another plane also in position on runway 4 and several more waiting for runway 4 and 9. While waiting a plane just took off from runway 32. A few seconds later it was our turn. Initally we were told to fly runway heading. After takeoff we were told to turn south heading 130. This place is nuts.
The first flight was mostly smooth. We tried climbing to FL390 to avoid weather. Didn't happen. Just a little light chop. It was worse down low.
[singlepic id=146 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The first flight was into a hub of another airline. Flying into major hubs while being a different airline just feels odd. I had never been to this airport before, but the Captain had. I reviewed the airport diagram and ramp procedures. We were assigned to follow in a heavy 757. The Captain stayed one dot high and slightly right of course as the winds were coming from the right. The landing was uneventful.
The return flight was fine. We climbed up to FL400 and were finally clear of weather. Nice sunset.
[singlepic id=147 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=149 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=148 w=320 h=240 float=center]
We were vectored in close so we thought we would get a short approach. I dirtied up the plane in anticipation only to be vectored out for a 12 mile final. Oh well...we got a nice view of the suburbs.
For the first time in a while I nailed the landing. Nice and smooth.
We had an hour and change between flights. I didn't want tuna fish for dinner and went on the hunt for food. For some reason the eating choices at 9PM are slim. I settled on a small cafe. They had a Salmon and Veggie Quiche. I risked it. Turned out it was quite tastey.
[singlepic id=150 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:55PM. We pushed out 5 minutes early due to a light load. My leg again. Being a hotel leg I flew a little faster than normal. Ok a lot faster. The dispatcher filed us for 280 knots indicated. I flew at 330 knots. We would have been 15 minutes early, but the airport put us behind two Citations.
It had been a long day. Winds were calm and the sky was clear. I was following the VASI down, backing it up with the ILS. At 100 feet it looked good. I was right on approach speed with not a knot extra. At 50 feet I was a little under speed. The ground was approaching quickly. The long day slowed my thinking process and I pitched up and only added a little power. Instead of a thumper of a landing I had a slightly better than average. The deck angle though was higher than normal. We weren't near a tail scrape, but if I had kept rotating we would have been. Eh. I admitted my mistake with the power and pitch. No big deal. The Captain realized what I was doing and knew what I meant to do. We arrived 5 minutes early.
This outstation has two hotels. One for short overnight, one for long. From my base we used to have short overnights. That hotel is awesome. My second favorite. From the other base they have a long overnight. This hotel is horrible. I don't use that word lightly. It really is the pits. I won't proffer for this overnight again.
Today all I do is a flight to MY base and then over to the northeast for an overnight.
Still looking at going to Washington, D.C. next week. I think I will fly into DCA, see the Air & Space Museum in the mall then take the 5A bus to IAD and catch a ride to the Air & Space Museum there and fly out of IAD that night.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Packing for a trip
When I first started at my airline I had no idea how to pack. My first trip was a nightmare. I packed way too much. Since then I have refined what I bring. I'm starting a 4 day trip tomorrow.
In my main suitcase I have:
1 spare Uniform Shirt
3 undershirts
2 regular colored tshirts (for working out/walking around)
1 pair of jeans
1 collared shirt
4 pairs of black socks and boxers
1 pair of tennis shoes
1 pair of white socks
4 pair of contact lenses
Shaving supplies
Network cable (for hotels without wireless)
3 tuna fish meals (more on that in a bit)
3 Snack bars
With the exception of the last two items, this is my standard 4 day trip suitcase. I have rarely needed more than this. Getting down to this level took a while. Sometimes I would not bring enough...other times too much.
The trip I am leaving for has two overnights I have been too before, one I have not. One of them I know for sure has no food available at the hotel or nearby. We get in at midnight and leave at 3PM the next day. I plan on eating the fiber bar for breakfast and the tuna fish meal for lunch. I might get the hotel van to take me for food. Maybe.
Tuna fish packs well for trips. I used to bring a lunch bag with associated ice blocks. Keeping food cold while on the road can be a challenge. I found it too much of a hassle. Having snack bars is a must as I never know about delays or how energized I will be once I get to a hotel.
[singlepic id=141 w=320 h=240 float=center]
My flight kit (the big black bag you see many pilots slug around), I carry a few items as well. In addition to the required manuals, I carry my headset, umbrella, alcohol wipes, lotion (skin get very dry flying around all day), chapstick, notepads, pens, a snack bar or two and of course the most important item...my easy button.
[singlepic id=137 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=139 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=138 w=320 h=240 float=center]
I love stickers...my flight kit has a few.....
[singlepic id=142 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The third bag I carry (flight crews are supposed to only carry 3 bags...most people abide by this rule) is my "man purse" AKA laptop bag.
Inside my laptop bag is my Macbook Pro, headphones, Zune MP3 player, associated charging cables, book, magazines, car keys (hate having them in my pocket), lotion, snack bars, cameras, spare coins (I dump them in when going through security), notebook lock (used in hotels), alcohol wipes and my laptop ac adapter. I bought a second laptop ac adapter that I only use on the road. Remembering to pack my main one with my laptop was too hard. Having one only for travel is much easier.
In my main suitcase I have:
1 spare Uniform Shirt
3 undershirts
2 regular colored tshirts (for working out/walking around)
1 pair of jeans
1 collared shirt
4 pairs of black socks and boxers
1 pair of tennis shoes
1 pair of white socks
4 pair of contact lenses
Shaving supplies
Network cable (for hotels without wireless)
3 tuna fish meals (more on that in a bit)
3 Snack bars
With the exception of the last two items, this is my standard 4 day trip suitcase. I have rarely needed more than this. Getting down to this level took a while. Sometimes I would not bring enough...other times too much.
The trip I am leaving for has two overnights I have been too before, one I have not. One of them I know for sure has no food available at the hotel or nearby. We get in at midnight and leave at 3PM the next day. I plan on eating the fiber bar for breakfast and the tuna fish meal for lunch. I might get the hotel van to take me for food. Maybe.
Tuna fish packs well for trips. I used to bring a lunch bag with associated ice blocks. Keeping food cold while on the road can be a challenge. I found it too much of a hassle. Having snack bars is a must as I never know about delays or how energized I will be once I get to a hotel.
[singlepic id=141 w=320 h=240 float=center]
My flight kit (the big black bag you see many pilots slug around), I carry a few items as well. In addition to the required manuals, I carry my headset, umbrella, alcohol wipes, lotion (skin get very dry flying around all day), chapstick, notepads, pens, a snack bar or two and of course the most important item...my easy button.
[singlepic id=137 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=139 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=138 w=320 h=240 float=center]
I love stickers...my flight kit has a few.....
[singlepic id=142 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The third bag I carry (flight crews are supposed to only carry 3 bags...most people abide by this rule) is my "man purse" AKA laptop bag.
Inside my laptop bag is my Macbook Pro, headphones, Zune MP3 player, associated charging cables, book, magazines, car keys (hate having them in my pocket), lotion, snack bars, cameras, spare coins (I dump them in when going through security), notebook lock (used in hotels), alcohol wipes and my laptop ac adapter. I bought a second laptop ac adapter that I only use on the road. Remembering to pack my main one with my laptop was too hard. Having one only for travel is much easier.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Ask and ye shall not receive
My quick turn today was okay. I "Princess Parked" at the terminal to save time. "Princess" parking is parking at the terminal instead of the employee lot. I have to pay to "Princess Park" but I save 30 minutes on each side of my trip. Since I was only going to be gone for 3 hours it would only cost $5. Not bad at all.
The plane I flew had been down for maintenance all day. The rampers pulled it over to the gate 30 minutes prior to departure. I went down to the plane to find a steaming hot cabin. The rampers had not bothered to hook up external air or power. Thanks guys!
After turning on the battery master and performing a fire test (required before starting the APU for the first time each day), I fired up the APU and turn on both packs. Once I saw it cooling down I went out to do my pre-flight.
During the walk around I noticed gear pins in each main gear. They had been left over from the mechanics. Nice. A quick call to maintenance and they came and removed them.
The Captain I flew with is one of my favorites. Nice guy with a sense of humor like mine. This should have been an easy turn. It's VFR outside, the plane is ready and has plenty of fuel. Wait....too much fuel.
The plane had been fueled to go across the country, not across the state (like my flight was). We only needed 6400 pounds of fuel....there was 15,800 pounds on board. Ooops. Technically we could have taken off with all the fuel and been under max landing weight (only 35 pax on board). The problem would be the return flight. We were scheduled to be full. No bueno.
De-fueling an aircraft takes time. Today it took an extra 20 minutes to pull of 6000 pounds of fuel. The dispatcher had us ferrying over 3500 pounds of fuel so we ended up leaving with around 9700 pounds total.
With VFR skies we actually made up the 20 minutes in the air and arrived just 1 minute late. The Captain took this leg and had one of "those" landings. We both laughed it off. After running the parking checklist I stated I would go out and make sure the tires were still round. Ha!
My leg back was pretty normal. This airport gives an initial climb to altitude of 17000 feet....most of the time. Today after takeoff we were assigned 9000 feet and to turn left heading 130. We took off from runway 31. Around heading 250 the sun was shooting straight into my eyes. I had enough and turned the autopilot on.
Total air time between the two cities is only 40 minutes on average. Pretty quick.
During training on my plane I was taught to cut the power at 50 feet. Doing do is perfectly safe...but will almost guarantee a firm/rough landing. Most of us simply start reducing power at 50 feet and have it closed by 10 feet. Today, for a reason I am still not sure of, I reduced power just slightly at 100 feet. By 10 feet I had the power closed. I then noticed a higher than normal sink rate. Quickly I added powered and pushed forward on the yoke a bit, waited for the engines to spool and then pulled back on the yoke. If I had simply pulled back on the yoke it would have made things worse due to the thrust vector. All in all I scavenged up from a firm landing into an average one.
Most of the time the Captain take over steering at 80 knots. Today the Captain offered to let me steer...kinda. I have up to 8 degrees steering with the rudder pedals. I can't make 90 degree turn offs, but I can make high speed turn offs. Around 40 knots I made the left turn off. From there I was able to taxi pretty well for a while before encountering a 90 degree turn where he finally took over. It was fun though.
Since I "Princess Parked" there was no way we could be assigned a gate anywhere near where I parked (near gate 6). We were assigned gate 26! Long walk. Yeah I am lazy.
Tomorrow. Oh tomorrow.
I proffered (bid) for a trip out of another base. This particular trip had 3 overnights in the city I grew up in. The overnight were long enough that my dad could come up to the hotel and have lunch with me. Technically my bids for trips in other bases while on reserve are ignored by crew scheduling. I put it in anyway, just in case. I checked my assignment when I got back to base. I got a trip out of the other base alright.....but not the one I wanted!
I really, really, really don't care for this other base. I've said before that I hate it. Thankfully I only fly in and out of it tomorrow. The trip is 4 days long. After going in and out of hell tomorrow, days 2 and 3 are out of my current base. On the last day I simply deadhead home early in the morning. I should have the rest of Saturday off.
Gotta pack for a four day. Not sure what's worse...going through the city I call hell....or afternoon airport standby.
The plane I flew had been down for maintenance all day. The rampers pulled it over to the gate 30 minutes prior to departure. I went down to the plane to find a steaming hot cabin. The rampers had not bothered to hook up external air or power. Thanks guys!
After turning on the battery master and performing a fire test (required before starting the APU for the first time each day), I fired up the APU and turn on both packs. Once I saw it cooling down I went out to do my pre-flight.
During the walk around I noticed gear pins in each main gear. They had been left over from the mechanics. Nice. A quick call to maintenance and they came and removed them.
The Captain I flew with is one of my favorites. Nice guy with a sense of humor like mine. This should have been an easy turn. It's VFR outside, the plane is ready and has plenty of fuel. Wait....too much fuel.
The plane had been fueled to go across the country, not across the state (like my flight was). We only needed 6400 pounds of fuel....there was 15,800 pounds on board. Ooops. Technically we could have taken off with all the fuel and been under max landing weight (only 35 pax on board). The problem would be the return flight. We were scheduled to be full. No bueno.
De-fueling an aircraft takes time. Today it took an extra 20 minutes to pull of 6000 pounds of fuel. The dispatcher had us ferrying over 3500 pounds of fuel so we ended up leaving with around 9700 pounds total.
With VFR skies we actually made up the 20 minutes in the air and arrived just 1 minute late. The Captain took this leg and had one of "those" landings. We both laughed it off. After running the parking checklist I stated I would go out and make sure the tires were still round. Ha!
My leg back was pretty normal. This airport gives an initial climb to altitude of 17000 feet....most of the time. Today after takeoff we were assigned 9000 feet and to turn left heading 130. We took off from runway 31. Around heading 250 the sun was shooting straight into my eyes. I had enough and turned the autopilot on.
Total air time between the two cities is only 40 minutes on average. Pretty quick.
During training on my plane I was taught to cut the power at 50 feet. Doing do is perfectly safe...but will almost guarantee a firm/rough landing. Most of us simply start reducing power at 50 feet and have it closed by 10 feet. Today, for a reason I am still not sure of, I reduced power just slightly at 100 feet. By 10 feet I had the power closed. I then noticed a higher than normal sink rate. Quickly I added powered and pushed forward on the yoke a bit, waited for the engines to spool and then pulled back on the yoke. If I had simply pulled back on the yoke it would have made things worse due to the thrust vector. All in all I scavenged up from a firm landing into an average one.
Most of the time the Captain take over steering at 80 knots. Today the Captain offered to let me steer...kinda. I have up to 8 degrees steering with the rudder pedals. I can't make 90 degree turn offs, but I can make high speed turn offs. Around 40 knots I made the left turn off. From there I was able to taxi pretty well for a while before encountering a 90 degree turn where he finally took over. It was fun though.
Since I "Princess Parked" there was no way we could be assigned a gate anywhere near where I parked (near gate 6). We were assigned gate 26! Long walk. Yeah I am lazy.
Tomorrow. Oh tomorrow.
I proffered (bid) for a trip out of another base. This particular trip had 3 overnights in the city I grew up in. The overnight were long enough that my dad could come up to the hotel and have lunch with me. Technically my bids for trips in other bases while on reserve are ignored by crew scheduling. I put it in anyway, just in case. I checked my assignment when I got back to base. I got a trip out of the other base alright.....but not the one I wanted!
I really, really, really don't care for this other base. I've said before that I hate it. Thankfully I only fly in and out of it tomorrow. The trip is 4 days long. After going in and out of hell tomorrow, days 2 and 3 are out of my current base. On the last day I simply deadhead home early in the morning. I should have the rest of Saturday off.
Gotta pack for a four day. Not sure what's worse...going through the city I call hell....or afternoon airport standby.
Quick turn
I just was called with an assignment. The flight leaves at 15:20. The turn is scheduled for one hour ten minutes out, a thirty minute turn and one hour five minutes back. If everything goes as planned I will finish duty at 18:20 (15 minutes after arrival). This will put me on a 14 hour 20 minute duty day.
There is a little weather in the area today. If the flight is delayed more than 1 1/2 hours I will be close to being illegal for the trip. I can only work 16 hours a day. I doubt it will happen, but I need to be aware. If I go over maximum duty day it's my certificate on the line, not the airline.
Tomorrow it looks like I will get afternoon airport standby. The pilot that has this as a line is off tomorrow. Morning airport standby is covered. I requested to pick up a trip out of a different base....doubt it will work. There is always hope.
There is a little weather in the area today. If the flight is delayed more than 1 1/2 hours I will be close to being illegal for the trip. I can only work 16 hours a day. I doubt it will happen, but I need to be aware. If I go over maximum duty day it's my certificate on the line, not the airline.
Tomorrow it looks like I will get afternoon airport standby. The pilot that has this as a line is off tomorrow. Morning airport standby is covered. I requested to pick up a trip out of a different base....doubt it will work. There is always hope.
I really like flying....but this guy is crazy
Some nutball is going to live on an Airtran 737 for a month. Yes you read that right...live on a 737 for a month. I suspect this is a marketing ploy by Airtran and this nutjob. More here http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6842551&rss=rss-wabc-article-6842551.
He has his own website...so yeah Airtran is surely involved. http://markonairtran.com.
He has his own website...so yeah Airtran is surely involved. http://markonairtran.com.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sitting at home with pay
Today I will be paid roughly $115 to sit at home. That sounds good, but it's only about 4 hours of pay. I am on call today from 4AM (when I was comfy in bed) until 7PM. I've covered the Rules of Engagement before. I will be the first reserve to be called if needed. For the next 6 days I am on reserve. Looks like I will get afternoon airport standby later in the week for at least one day...maybe two. Eh.
I flew 58 hours 35 minutes last month. By contract I was paid for 75 hours of flight time. If I were to have flown more than 75 hours, I would have been paid the extra time. So far I have never flown more than 60 hours in a reserve month. Who knows, maybe this month will be "the month". I have a feeling it could get ugly. Who knows.
With my request to move my reserve days around this month denied, I began thinking of things to do on my off days. Most of my off days are weekdays. Since my better half has to work anyway I began thinking of places to go.
Next Monday I might take a day trip to Washington, DC to visit the Air & Space Museum. I have been there once before in December 2007. That trip was the first time my wife and I used our Non-Rev benefits.
The flight out was fine, we enjoyed the morning flight in First Class. The Capital has an awesome subway system. The trains are clean and are cheap to travel on. We were able to go straight from the airport to the museum for $2.50 round trip! We had an awesome day walking around before heading back to the airport. Once there we had our first case of "WTF??"
The flight loads looked great in the morning before we left. We listed on the last flight out that night. When we got to the airport we checked in and then waited. Standby passengers were being called to board...a lot of them. Something was off. Why weren't we being called!?!!?!?
The gate agent called me up, there was only room for me in the cockpit jumpseat. Uh oh. My wife would have to stay the night. Not good. I stated I would wait with her. Then it happened.
A passenger had a dog in a dog carrier that was an inch or two too big too fit under the seat in front of him. He couldn't board. My wife and I were rushed down the jet bridge. She grabbed a seat while I turned into the cockpit. I had never been in a cockpit jumpseat before. Heck I had never been in the cockpit of an airliner before (this was right after my initial check ride in the simulator, but before me actually flying). I introduced myself to the crew and thankfully they were very helpful. They showed me how to operate the jumpseat and where my oxygen mask was.
The flight was fine. I even got a First Class meal! Sitting in the jumpseat of a 737 was interesting. The workload seemed a little higher than my aircraft. The crew told me that Southwest airlines was the initial customer for this model. Even though the plane was just a few years old, all of the overhead panel was designed more than 10 years ago. Why?
Well Southwest wants all of their cockpits to be the same. Southwest flies several versions of the 737 including some that have "steam gauges" and switches. On newer 737's the cockpit has LCD's for the gauges, which are quite different than steam gauges. In order to maintain commonality Southwest projects steam gauges on the LCD'S and requested the overhead panel feature the old fashioned switches and knobs versus the more recent flat buttons. This causes the workload to be a little higher as systems that could be automatic, are still manually operated. A Southwest pilot flying a 737-300 sees the same cockpit when he flies a 737-700.
Next week the flight loads look good. I will check again on Saturday and make my decision.
I flew 58 hours 35 minutes last month. By contract I was paid for 75 hours of flight time. If I were to have flown more than 75 hours, I would have been paid the extra time. So far I have never flown more than 60 hours in a reserve month. Who knows, maybe this month will be "the month". I have a feeling it could get ugly. Who knows.
With my request to move my reserve days around this month denied, I began thinking of things to do on my off days. Most of my off days are weekdays. Since my better half has to work anyway I began thinking of places to go.
Next Monday I might take a day trip to Washington, DC to visit the Air & Space Museum. I have been there once before in December 2007. That trip was the first time my wife and I used our Non-Rev benefits.
The flight out was fine, we enjoyed the morning flight in First Class. The Capital has an awesome subway system. The trains are clean and are cheap to travel on. We were able to go straight from the airport to the museum for $2.50 round trip! We had an awesome day walking around before heading back to the airport. Once there we had our first case of "WTF??"
The flight loads looked great in the morning before we left. We listed on the last flight out that night. When we got to the airport we checked in and then waited. Standby passengers were being called to board...a lot of them. Something was off. Why weren't we being called!?!!?!?
The gate agent called me up, there was only room for me in the cockpit jumpseat. Uh oh. My wife would have to stay the night. Not good. I stated I would wait with her. Then it happened.
A passenger had a dog in a dog carrier that was an inch or two too big too fit under the seat in front of him. He couldn't board. My wife and I were rushed down the jet bridge. She grabbed a seat while I turned into the cockpit. I had never been in a cockpit jumpseat before. Heck I had never been in the cockpit of an airliner before (this was right after my initial check ride in the simulator, but before me actually flying). I introduced myself to the crew and thankfully they were very helpful. They showed me how to operate the jumpseat and where my oxygen mask was.
The flight was fine. I even got a First Class meal! Sitting in the jumpseat of a 737 was interesting. The workload seemed a little higher than my aircraft. The crew told me that Southwest airlines was the initial customer for this model. Even though the plane was just a few years old, all of the overhead panel was designed more than 10 years ago. Why?
Well Southwest wants all of their cockpits to be the same. Southwest flies several versions of the 737 including some that have "steam gauges" and switches. On newer 737's the cockpit has LCD's for the gauges, which are quite different than steam gauges. In order to maintain commonality Southwest projects steam gauges on the LCD'S and requested the overhead panel feature the old fashioned switches and knobs versus the more recent flat buttons. This causes the workload to be a little higher as systems that could be automatic, are still manually operated. A Southwest pilot flying a 737-300 sees the same cockpit when he flies a 737-700.
Next week the flight loads look good. I will check again on Saturday and make my decision.
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