Hot N Sweaty....but not in a good way

Day 2 of my 3 day trip was supposed to be super easy. Just 2 legs for a total of 3 1/2 hours of flight time. Yeah about that easy part.

The inbound plane was delayed. It left the gate 10 minutes late. Further delays were caused by an equipment restriction.

The APU on the aircraft was INOP. There mechanics followed a procedure which limited the aircraft speed and altitude. The max speed under the procedure was 220knots. The max altitude was FL230. Yeah...like a turboprop. Due to the slow speed the inbound was going to be 30 minutes late. They could have (and in my opinion should have) followed the procedure that allowed the plane to fly at max altitude and speed. Unfortunately they never consulted me.

While waiting in the gate area I played around on my netbook. On the trip I brought two computers, my 15 inch Macbook Pro and my 10.1 inch HP Mini 5101 netbook. I am still working on getting the netbook up to speed as far as being able to travel with it alone. I got more than a few looks when I went thru security with two computers.

Eventually the plane arrived. The ground crew connected the external power and PCA  (pre-conditioned air, needed especially since here was no APU!). After the passengers and crew were off we made our way on board.

With the PCA connected the cabin temp was down to a decent 79 degrees. This was of course without 70 warm bodies on board.

Passengers began boarding and after all were on board the temperature rose to 88 degrees. Not comfy, but there was a stream of cool air blowing from the vents via the PCA. Then it happened.

Without warning the ground crew pulled the PCA off. Immediately the Captain got up and went out to see why and have it reconnected. The ground crew had it reconnected within 4 minutes, but the damage was done, inside temp was 90 degrees. There was no way to cool is back down.

We coordinated with the ground crew to pull the air off again and prepare to start an engine. Everything was in place.

They pulled the air and within two minutes gave the signal to start the right engine (which powers the right pack which cools the cabin). As soon as the Captain hit the start button (opening the start valve), the pressure dropped. No rotation. We tried again. Dropped. The ground crew went to find another air cart. Temp still hovering at 90 degrees inside.

Second cart connected. Same issue, as soon as the start valve was opened (via the start button) the pressure would drop. The PCA was reconnected. Temp holding at 91 degrees.

Third cart connected, PCA pulled off. Same issue. Temp too high inside, time to deboard. 70 mildly sweaty passengers happily got off the plane and were happy to feel the 88 degree air OUTSIDE the plane.

The ground crew (we only had 2 of the 6 rampers as the rest were working other flights) left to handle another flight and source out a fourth air cart. I stood at the main door to cool down.  Ten minutes later they found another air cart. This one sourced from Southwest Airlines. Surely their cart could handle a CRJ. The Captain and I climbed into the 94 degree stuffy cockpit and ran the checklist while they connected the air cart. The PSI was reading a solid 50 on the ECS page. The other 3 carts never went higher than 38 PSI. Thankfully the engine started without issue. Problem? The cabin was showing 100 degrees!

I monitored the cooling of the cabin. If I just set the temp all the way down the pack would freeze and no air would come out. I put the right pack in manual mode and set the output at 6C (42F). The CRJ is an international plane built by Canadians and thus uses Celcius. I have converted everything to Farenheit thus far in this post. Once the pack was steady I headed back to the cabin to cool down. The cockpit gets very little air until the left pack gets pressure (via the left engine).

Once the cabin cooled to 80 degrees (about 15 minutes), we began reboarding. Amazingly most of the passengers were very understanding and pleasant. This after being delayed in a warm and balmy aircraft.

After they were all on board the cabin temp rose, but held at 82 degrees with cool air a flowin'. Time to go!

We pushed out 2 hours late. My leg. On taxi out the cockpit hung around 88 degrees. Ugh. Finally the left engine was started. Relief.

I wrote in big numbers "220" on my notepad and put it on my yoke. The number was to remind me the max speed is 220 knots. Even with that my mind worked in the normal mode.

During the climb I still called for "flaps up, speed 250". The Captain came back with "Max 220" and set the speed. This is why there are two of us in the cockpit.

The only good thing about having a max speed of 220? We climbed like a bat out of hell. I turned on the autopilot very early, around 8000 feet, as I was annoyed having to climb at a slow speed.

The plane leveled off at FL210 and that was it. It seemed like time stood still. I would look down at my MFD, see an airport, find it outside and the look elsewhere for a bit. A few minutes later I would repeat the same thing, the airport seemed to have not moved!

We were enroute to a base other than my own. I don't care for this other base. I joked with the Captain that I get Tourettes syndrome whenever I fly there.

I prepped myself for the arrival. Between the runway and the gate I have to use three different frequencies. One for ground, one for company and one for the ramp, which is controlled by another airline. Annoying.

Each controller along the way inquired as to why we were flying so slow. We told each one our max speed was 220 knots. Entering the terminal area we were vectored around quite a bit. The skies were very hazy. While on downwind we were advised to look for a 737 at our 1 o'clock and 4 miles. Then 1 o'clock and 3 miles. Then 2 miles. We never saw it. Finally just told to join the localizer. No problem.

The 737 was 2 miles ahead landing on the same runway. I never saw it until it touched down. My turn.

The winds were a little gusty. I was lined up for runway 10. This airport was launching planes off runway 32 which crossed my runway. The outbound planes would takeoff and turn left. A little unnerving seeing an airliner coming toward you.

The landing was uneventful. My second nice one in a row.

Clearing the runway the annoyance started. I called ground. Told to taxi toward the gate. Called company. Told the gate is open. Getting close to the gate I called the other airline which controlled the ramp, told to come in on the west line and hold behind another gate. We made it in. The flight was blocked for 1 hour 45 minutes. The flight took 2 hours 5 minutes. Mostly due to slow 220 knots.

I was hungry. We would be getting to the overnight at 10PM (at best) instead of 8PM. I needed food. I hurried around to a McDonalds. I didn't want McDonalds...it was my only option. McNuggets in tow I hurried back to the plane. We had a whopping 7 passengers. Seven. Wow. I scarfed down my McNuggets as I assumed we were leaving soon.

Stomach full of grease and chicken parts a new problem arose. Center of gravity. With such a light load we had to move all the passengers to the front of the cabin to keep from being aft heavy. Even then the ground crew had to move bags from the aft cargo to the front cargo. We started an engine and pushed out an hour after blocking in. Why did I rush again?

Taxiing out was just as annoying as taxiing in. Lots of radio frequency switching. This time I tuned 5 different frequencies before we took off. The flight to the overnight was to a city just a few miles from the previous overnight. Again we were limited to 220 knots. We had a (thankfully) light headwind. The Captain made a beautiful approach and did the best job he could landing the very light plane. The landing weight was just 50,950 pounds. The lowest speed card onboard was 50,000 pounds. The next highest up was 54,000 pounds which is what we used. Even on speed, the plane floated for a bit before the Captain just had to set it down on the runway. Somehow this late at night both of the gates my airline uses were occupied! Did they not know we were coming? After waiting 5 minutes we pulled in, two hours late.

We all were tired. We were on duty for 8 hours instead of the scheduled 6. All the heat and problems had taken a toll on us. Thankfully the Hyatt has awesome beds. After calling my wife I hit the bed and slept wonderfully.

One problem with this job is sleeping in a different city every night. On the first overnight I woke up and had no idea where I was. I had a small panic attack. I had to use the GPS on my phone to figure out where I was. Kinda scary.

This morning I woke up nicely. The van time was set for 9:40AM for a 10:40AM departure. The breakfast at this hotel is very nice. One problem, they ran out of coffee. Coffee is a "no go" item with me. If I have no coffee...I won't go!

I ate breakfast with Peggy, (again my favorite flight attendant) while discussing my plans to head out of town for the weekend. She was worried about the coffee situation as well and checked on the coffee twice for me. Thankfully they brought coffee right before the van time.

The van...wasn't really a van. It was a Ford 500 sedan. This hotel only has one van. Another crew (from my airline) had a 9:50 van. For whatever reason they ordered the taxi for us (a 4 person crew) and gave the van to them (a 3 person crew). The other flight attendant joked about how tight the back seat would be since none of us are small in stature. I jokingly asked her if she was calling me fat.

We were all on board the plane (which arrived early) and ready to leave 40 minutes prior to departure. We actually pushed out 5 minutes early! My leg.

This plane had no MEL'd items. Nice. I was assigned one leg in bound, a 2 1/2 hour sit, then a quick 2 hour turn. I was set to be done at 5:05PM. My plan was to join my wife for a 6:20PM flight. Could be close. During the sit time I planned on driving home. Eating lunch then having my wife drive me back. This way she could later use my car to drive to the employee lot (saving on parking fees!) and meet me at the gate.

Since I had plans I flew a little faster than normal. Almost as though it were planned ATC gave us the runway closest too our gate.

The winds were blowing 040@16G24. Landing runway 2. Everything was kosher till about 10 feet when I chopped the power. A quick gust came pushing the plane up and left. I goosed the power and managed the smoothest landing in a while. Mostly due to the headwind I think.

We blocked in 12 minutes early. Twenty minutes after blocking in I was in my car headed home. Once home I checked my schedule. The turn was gone...it was downgraded to a smaller aircraft. I quickly called crew scheduling. There were no other First Officers on reserve available for the rest of the day. The contract states they must give me an assignment right away or release me. I checked before calling and there were no uncovered flights. I was released. Awesome!

My wife and I were free to leave early. Unfortunetly the first flight we tried was full. Well not really. There was one open cabin seat (for my wife) and the cockpit jumpseat. The flight was too long for me to want to sit in the jumpseat so we passed. Good thing we did as the next flight allowed us to snag seats in First Class where I am now. The plane has onboard Internet. Nice!

Headed to the Northwest for the weekend.

Tired. Slept very well last night. The Hyatt has awesome beds. I was supposed to do 3 legs today. First leg was mine. After that my next turn downgraded to a smaller plane. Released. Wife and I at the airport now trying to get up to the Northwest. I will write up a nice long blog on the flight. Yesterday was a VERY rough day.

Hmm when did the CRJ get a vibrating seat?

My 2:25PM departure left the gate at 4:40PM. Two hours late. I was in a good mood as I had a nice crew. My favorite flight attendant was on the trip. She is the nicest lady in the world and takes care of the crew as though we were her kids.

The damage to the wing was only surface damage, but it took a while for it to get signed off by a mechanic.

The first leg out was the Captains leg. I hadn't flow in almost 2 weeks. Sitting back was perfectly fine with me. Being 2 hours late there was no way we were going to make up the time. He climbed at a high speed and we flew a little faster than normal but only cut 5 minutes off the 2 hour 40 minute scheduled block time.

I was hungry when we pulled into the outstation. This airport has extremely long concourses. The area we park at is kind of isolated. No food nearby. There used to be a Chinese food place that gave flight crews huge portions, but it closed down. We were scheduled for a 30 minute turn. The walk to the food court is literally over 200 yards. Thankfully I had the post flight/dash to get food/stop by the mens room/prepare the plane for the next flight thing down to a science.

After running the parking checklist I stood in the cockpit doorway and thanked the passengers. They are the reason I am here. Once they were off I took my time with the post flight, no issues found. I then briskly walked all the way down to the food court. I ordered chips and guacamole (I love guacamole!) and made my way back to the plane. After stopping by the mens room I used a computer in the gate area to check the schedule. Being so late I was wondering if our overnight would be given away. Nope still there. The reason? There are no other crews available to fly it. Nice.

I stashed my dinner and began preparing the plane for the return trip. When I finished there was still 5 minutes to spare. Nice.

The return flight was nice. Coming into the airport area they changed the runway twice. Initially it was a runway close to our gates, then it was a runway far from our gates and finally it was one in the middle.

With all of the changes I turned off the flight director and and did a pure visual approach.

I configured the plane a little earlier than normal as I haven't flown in a while. By 1500 feet all the checklist had been run.

The winds on the ground were 040/15 and I was landing on runway 8. At 1000 feet the winds were 020/30. The nose was pointing a good deal to the left of the runway but the plane was tracking straight to the runway. At 500 feet all was looking well. The controls did feel a little stiff. I looked down and noticed I had the trim up to 7.4. A little high. With my right thumb I lowered the trim down to 7.0. Better. I began straightening out the nose at 20 feet and adding left aileron. I noticed I was a bit left of centerline. There was too much correction in. Thrust levers idled at 10 feet. I eased up on the yoke and left the plane drift more towards centerline. I held off the main gear for a few seconds and made a surprisingly nice landing just slightly on the upwind side of centerline.

On the way back to the base, the flight attendants let us know about a piece of metal carpet trim that was sticking up in the aisle which could cause a safety hazard.

When we pulled into the gate and finished the checklist the Captain called a mechanic. I thanked the passengers and was happy to hear many comments about the smooth/nice flight and landing. I never get tired of hearing attaboys!

Thankfully the mechanics/rampers/ground crew all wanted to get us out to our overnight. We were the LAST fight to leave. We were still running nearly 90 minutes late. It's amazing how fast people work when they have a desire to be home. Just 30 minutes after we pulled in we were being pushed out! Carpet fixed!

During the push out the Captain started the left engine. Once started we both heard and felt a vibration that wasn't present on the last two flights. The vibration gauges won't appear until both engines are started. He started the right engine which felt normal. Once the vibration gauges appeared the left engine showed .6 while the right showed .2. Both in the "green" range.

Taxiing to the runway the left engine dropped to .4 vibration. Better.

On the takeoff roll to vibration gauge surged higher and went to 1.0. I was expecting a master caution light if it went past 1.6. Didn't happen. I announced "V1, rotate" and we climbed into the sky.

We were all tired. Long day. Being so late at night ATC gave us a clearance to FL310 very early. En route the vibration gauge for the left engine rose to 1.3...but held. Again still in the green.

Forty-five minutes after taking off the Captain landed the plane at the outstation. We were supposed to arrive at 10:40PM. Due to all the delays we landed at 11:50PM. We officially blocked in at 11:54PM. Same day service.....best we could do.

We used to stay at a nice downtown hotel in this city. The downtown area is a little seedy. A number of flight attendants from another base complained loudly enough and caused the airline to change. No one from my base complained. The old hotel had free breakfast, an awesome gym and an entire room just for crews to hang out and relax. The room had a fully stocked (free!) snack area with soft drinks, coffee, cereal, crackers, chips, candy, milk and more. There was a computer AND printer with Internet Access.  It was awesome! The new one has NONE of those. Not a single perk beyond a decent gym. The new hotel is also further away from food. I'm sure we will be stuck here for at least a year. At least the hotel tonight is my second favorite hotel, The Hyatt Place.

Not a good way to start a trip

As soon as I signed in for airport standby my phone rang. Not wanting to waste my cell phone minutes for work, I didn't answer. I knew what they wanted. I had a flight.

Crew scheduling tried calling me 2 hours prior while I was at home and OFF DUTY. I had no obligation to answer the phone...and didn't. Any voicemail left while off duty doesn't constitute official contact, so I ignored it. I did check the uncovered flights and saw a 4 day trip open. I'm only good for 3 days.

I called back from a gate telephone and confirmed my assignment. A flight leaving at 2:25PM. Hmmm okay. I have 45 minutes minimum to get ready for a flight. The reason they called earlier while I was off duty was to let me know about the flight. If I knew about the flight and it left late they could point at me. No thanks. I told the agent I would do my best to get the flight out within 45 minutes. Done.

Next to me at the gate was my favorite flight attendant. She is the nicest flight attendant at my airline. She is just an awesome person in general, very motherly like.

I went down to the plane and chatted with the Captain. He was flipping through the MEL book. Not good. Thankfully just a burned out bulb for the lavatory occupied sign. I then stowed my bags I went out to do my pre-flight.

As I walked toward the right wing something didn't look right. There was paint missing on the flap fairing. A lot of paint. Like something hit the wing.

I finished the preflight and told the Captain.We both then went out and inspected the damage. Something hit it. Likely on the ground. Another call the maintenance.

No way we were leaving at 2:25....or 2:45. At 3PM we were told the mechanic estimated a 4:15PM repair time....maybe. With that news I grabbed my laptop bag and went up to the terminal....where I am now.

Once I get back on Saturday I plan on leaving with my wife that night to go to Oregon to visit my mother in law and help her get a new computer. Should be fun.

I really hope my airline starts hiring again and brings back the furloughed pilots. It's not a good thing to have zero reserves available during a normal week. There was no bad weather this week to cause delays and thus staffing issues. Normal operations. For now.....I have an hour until the next update time.

Republic is Hiring?

Bryan Bedford, Republic Airways Holdings CEO, stated Republic Airways IS hiring pilots and flight crews. I find this highly suspicious. Take it for what you will. Interview starts about 1 minute 48 seconds in.

http://www.wisn.com/video/20337448/

I'm staying put again

For the third time in a row I have weathered the displacement storm.

The final bid came out today (due out yesterday). Just like on the preliminary result I am staying put. This is only due to one person above me choosing to move to a different base on the same aircraft while another pilot is moving into my base on my current aircraft creating a one for one swap. No pilots displaced into my current status.

I really thought the third time was the charm. My wife and I discussed the real possibility that I would be come a commuter. Thankfully it didn't happen. I do feel bad for all those who will be forced to now commute across the country. It could just have easily been me.

That's all for now.  I am spending the day trying to install Mac OS on my new netbook. So far...not going very well.

I haven't actually flown in August

So it's August 10th and I haven't flown yet. I've gotten as close as the cockpit door.

As normal I have airport standby this month. I had my 2PM-10PM shift Wednesday last week thru Saturday. Yesterday I was on at home reserve. On Thursday I would have flown, but I called in sick. I made it all the way to the airport, signed in and then realized my sinus pain wasn't going away. After about 10 minutes I realized I am in no condition to fly and made the call. On that day I was the only First Officer available. The flight I was supposed to fly was flown by two Captains instead. In fact I have seen at least 5 Captains fly as First Officers due to a lack of First Officers over the last few days.

Friday I had another chance to fly. There was a long overnight open. I had plans on Saturday to meet up with a friend who was flying out of my base at 4PM. The long overnight got back at 4PM. No bueno. I called a buddy of mine who was already flying a trip on overtime and asked if he wanted another overnight and more overtime. He did. Awesome. So I went home without flying.

Saturday I spent a good 2 hours catching up with my best friend from high school. I haven't seen her in over 10 years. While perusing Facebook a few months ago I came across her name. Yadda yadda yadda we planned to meet up and thankfully it all worked out. After she left I did get a call for an overnight. I was given 2 1/2 hours notice which is kind of annoying as I could have just as easily been at home. Again I was the only First Officer available.

When I looked up the flight info I noticed the plane was currently down for maintenance and has been down for hours. Hmmm. I kept an eye on it. The ETA for the repair was pushed back to 10 minutes prior to departure. Yeah. I made my way over to the plane 40 minutes prior to departure. The plane had power and PCA (nice), but there wasn't a mechanic in sight. I chatted with the Captain for a few minutes before heading back up to the gate area. Sure enough the repair ETA was pushed back again. I helped a few passengers with questions (the gate agent was very busy with answering questions about the new delay) while keeping an eye on the repair and flight status. The flight was to leave at 7:10PM. New time was 7:25PM. Another First Officer walked up with his wife and kid. He was flying out to an overnight and trying to non-rev his family home. He had hoped to get them on my flight instead of the later flight. I then let him in on the news. Not good news mind you.

A few minutes before 7PM I noticed the flight had cancelled. I quietly showed the gate agent the bad news on the computer I was using. She sighed and went back to her desk. I felt bad for her as she had to rebook 70 passengers who most likely ended up staying in a hotel for the night. There was one more flight that night, but it was already full. The First Officers family had to either fly to a nearby city and drive or stay the night in the hub. The joys of non-rev travel.

Sunday I had a 2 hour reserve call out. Never got called. Good times. Off for 3 days. Still waiting on the final displacement results.