On reserve at my airline I get 11 days off per month. Seeing as there are 31 days in the month of May, I am going to work 20 of those days. Each month when I am on reserve (and available on each reserve day) I am paid 75 hours. Take 75 hours divided by 20 days and the number is 3.75. Each reserve day I am paid 3.75 hours of pay (currently around $33 an hour). I get paid this as long as I am available. If I fly more than 75 hours in a month, I am paid for each hour over the 75. I have never flown more than 75 hours during a reserve month. For those days where I fly more than 3.75 hours....I am still only paid for 3.75 hours unless at the end of the month I exceed 75 hours. With that said let's look at what I earned today.
I was assigned morning airport standby. I signed in for duty at 6AM. My duty time started as well as my per diem clock.
When I signed in I saw the Captain I flew with on my most recent trip. He was also assigned morning airport standby. We talked for a few minutes before both heading to the quiet room to sleep. I had morning airport standby the entire month of February. I would sleep for 3-4 hours of my 8 hour shift. Sleeping made the time go by faster.
Just as I was falling asleep my phone rang. I had been assigned a turn. I left the quiet room and checked the computer. Within minutes the Captain was also out of the quiet room. As I prepared to head upstairs from breakfast, the Captain's phone rang....then mine. We were no longer needed as the turn had been given to another crew. Back to the quiet room we went.
I drifted in and out of sleep. Around 7:20AM my phone rang again. I was assigned another turn. I asked who the Captain was (in case it was the standby Captain I could give him a heads up), I was told it was not the standby Captain.
Again I made my way to the crew room and printed out my schedule. After grabbing my bags I headed up to the terminal.
On the way I grabbed a cup of coffee (also known as "go-go juice"). Close to the gate I passed a First Officer who looked familiar. He stopped me and asked if I was going to gate 5. I stated I was. He let me know the pre-flight was done and everything in the cockpit was done. He was heading home to care for a sick kid.
I arrived at the gate and greeted the Captain. I had flown with him a few times, nice older guy. After arriving at the plane I stowed my bags and took my seat. I went thru my flows and made sure everything was setup correctly. The Captain took his seat and before long we were being pushed out of the gate. The plane was setup for me to fly. I took a few sips of my coffee....just 25 minutes ago I was resting peacefully in a recliner.
The line for takeoff was kinda long. There was a large weather system just north of the airport that extended for over 100 miles. Normally this flight over to the mid-west is pretty direct. Due to the weather we had to fly 400 miles out of the way before turning toward our destination. This added 45 minutes to the flight.
Only 14 of the 70 passenger seats were occupied for the flight out. We had 15,000 lbs of fuel on board. We only needed 6000 lbs for the flight on a normal day. The excess fuel was due to the longer routing as well as the need for an alternate due to low clouds at our destination.
While waiting for takeoff the tower was clearing a few planes to quickly cross the active runway due to an arriving flight. One plane was deliberately (IMHO) taxiing slow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the arriving flight start to go around. A few seconds later the tower controller came on and advised the flight to go around. A formality I am sure. The flight crew saw the need to go around prior to the tower seeing the problem.
Eventually it was our turn. We used maximum power for takeoff due to the high winds in the area. We went from a standstill to over 145MPH in less than 15 seconds. One day I should time it for an accurate number.
The climb out was a little bumpy. After turning on the autopilot and clearing 10,000 feet I snapped a photo of the weather system over the airport.
[singlepic id=81 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Here is the same weather system from over 200 miles away
[singlepic id=84 w=320 h=240 float=center]
After heading more than 400 miles out of the way, we were allowed to turn toward our destination. We were level at FL360 waiting for higher. During the wait I snapped a photo of the reason we had to wait....crossing traffic.
[singlepic id=86 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=88 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Once the traffic was clear we were given a climb to FL370. After checking the performance charts on board, we requested and were approved to climb to FL410.
I finished off my coffee while watching the beautiful view outside. Clouds are beautiful masses of dense turbulent air.
Nearing the destination we hit bumps and I had to zig zag through weather. I avoided most of the big bumps.
[singlepic id=91 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The weather at our destination required an approach. The winds were 200@15 knots, 1900 broken, 10SM visibility...runway 13 was in use. I briefed the ILS to runway 13. The approach controller was a little late in giving us a turn to intercept the ILS. We blew through the localizer and I had to turn back to recapture it. The landing was average. Landing the CRJ700 when it's light is tricky. Most are bouncy or firm. Mine was just average. Average is fine with me.
After arriving at the gate, running the parking checklist, performing the post-flight and grabbing another cup of coffee (I live on that stuff), I made a call to my wife. Normally I would shoot a text message that I landed and what the flight number was for my next flight. She keeps track of me via Flightaware.com most of the time. Having her know my flight number gives her peace of mind in case something goes wrong...she knows where I am supposed to be.
Most airports I fly to have a PDC (Pre-Departure Clearance). I use the FMS keypad to access ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) to pull up our clearance. This morning I had to copy down the clearance the old fashioned way. I use hotel pens and pads of paper every time I fly. Today it was Crowne Plaza's turn on my yoke.
[singlepic id=93 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The clearance was written down in my shorthand. I digitally removed the departure procedure (I have to remove as much info as needed to protect my employer...one of those things). The rest is there. We were cleared to follow a radar vectored departure, climb and maintain 5000, expect FL380 in ten minutes, departure frequency was 123.9 and we squawked 2474.
Twenty-five minutes after arriving, we were being pushed out again. For departure the airport was using runway 25. There is a big hump in the middle of where runway 25 intersects runway 13. The first time I took off on runway 25 was over a year ago at 6:30AM. I didn't know about the hump. The Captain did. When the plane crossed the hump it caused the entire plane to shudder as though we ran over something. Really got my attention. Today the Captain and I both mentioned it so we both would expect it.
We left the gate 40 minutes late (due to us arriving late). The Captain used the 90 knot tailwind and Mach .83 to make up as much time as possible. We landed in base just 5 minutes late! Not too shabby.
Now back to pay. I flew for 4 hours 19 minutes. I was on duty for 8 hours. My total pay for today is $137.75 (33X3.75 + my per diem). Whenever I fly for more hours than I get paid for while on reserve...the airline wins. In this case they won because they paid me for less than I flew. Most days however, I win as I don't fly much.
I'm still waiting for my assignment tomorrow...pretty sure it will be morning airport standby again. Life at the bottom of a seniority list.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Where did I leave off?? Oh yeah....turbulence
So after getting kicked around during the flight covered in Rocking and Rolling, the next flight was kinda smooth. The leg back to base was mine. The flight was smooth for the first portion. The last 90 minutes were constant moderate chop and moderate turbulence. This meant for the last 90 minutes of the flight I had to babysit the controls. For the CRJ, when entering areas of turbulence, we are directed to fly at 280 knots indicated or Mach .75....whichever is lower. Instead of flying back at Mach .80....we flew at Mach .75 for most of the flight.
Turbulence doesn't bother me anymore. I was mentally drained though from having to babysit the yoke and controls for 90 minutes. Through periods of turbulence the airspeed would rise and fall. I wouldn't make any power changes though unless things got really out of hand. Making power changes will only increase my workload because after the turbulence settles down, the speed will go back to close to what it was prior to the upset.
Even though we flew slower than planned, we only went over scheduled block time by 5 minutes arriving at 9:00AM.
The next flight was scheduled for just an hour later. Instead of keeping the plane as originally scheduled, we had a plane swap. As it would turn out the plane we were to take was still sitting on the ground at an outstation with numerous issues. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:10AM. We were supposed to return and all be done at 1PM. With the delays our flight was pushed back till Noon! I opened my laptop and prepared to relax for a while.
I would periodically check the status of our plane and our flight. Around 11:10 AM, I saw that I was re-assigned to a new flight to a different city. The entire crew was reassigned! The flight was scheduled to leave at 11:20 AM! I quickly checked my cell phone...no missed calls...no voice mails. I then packed up my stuff and made my way to the gate. No other crew members were there. I went down to the plane and pre-flighted the aircraft. When I got back the Captain was there. We had the plane set up and then looked around for the flight attendants. The time was 11:20AM. I went up to the gate to find them. Nope. I helped a few passengers who had questions and let them know we would leave as soon as possible. After going back to the gate I decided I needed food. I grabbed a "healthy" bacon burger (as mentioned elsewhere extra lean beef and turkey bacon). I again stopped to chat with a passenger. This passenger was just an average guy....turns out he was much more.
Over the next 15 minutes the flight attendants were MIA. Finally at 11:45AM they arrived. No one bothered to call them. They assumed we were leaving at noon as previously delayed. Not their fault.
We loaded up and taxied out. I made a PA apologizing for the delay and that the first portion of the flight might be bumpy due to weather. I was the flying pilot for this leg as well. The weather en-route was horrible. So bad in fact that we had two alternates with the second being our base.
For the first 25 minutes we had nothing but constant light to occasional moderate chop. The winds at our destination were out of the north. Since we were coming in from the south it would be a straight in approach. I set up and briefed the ILS approach. The clouds were at 400 AGL and there was 2 miles visibility. There was a thunderstorm in the vicinity. While descending the weather radar on my MFD was displaying green, yellow and a lot of red. Good times. The Captain and I agreed we would do one approach, if I didn't feel right we were going to blast out of there for home.
While on the approach I listened in as another flight was coming in LOCALIZER ONLY! This means the glide slope in he aircraft wasn't functional. Looking down at the approach chart....they would have a hard time finding the runway environment with the localizer only mins are the MDA was 450 feet AGL. Again the clouds were overcast 400.
Once below the clouds the winds died down and the bumps stopped. I got a little under glide slope at 200 feet. I touched down softly right on the 1000 foot markings. Very nice. I used maximum thrust reverse as I didn't want to use the brakes until we were much slower to avoid sliding. The runway was very wet.
As the passengers left I stood in the doorway of the cockpit and thanked the passengers. On the way out, the passenger I talked to quite a bit in base handed me two pieces of paper and said "best flight I have had in a long time." The pieces of paper he handed me were part of a program my airline started to reward excellent service.
Passengers who have a top status at my airline (REALLY frequent fliers!) are given tickets to hand out for great service. Employees can then enter a contest to win 25,000 airline miles, enough for a free ticket. Not just a free ticket...a free ticket with a confirmed seat! Most of the time we travel on space available status, meaning only if there are empty seats. This program started last year and this was the first time I had even seen the tickets. He made my day as much I did his.
After the passengers were off the Captain stated we would NOT be leaving right away due to the weather. I disagreed...but I am not the Captain. I listened to the tower frequency as the localizer only flight came in...they made it. Good.
Over the next 6 hours our departure time kept being pushed back. First by the Captain, and then by ATC and our dispatcher. The passengers were getting restless as other planes were able to leave. The reason being, the storm was between the outstation and our base. Other planes had no weather to deal with, once they left the area.
I mulled around the terminal. There was an entire crew that would be deadheading if we left. The Captain of the crew is an awesome guy who I love flying with. He has a sense of humor as big as mine. Even the longest flights go by fast when I fly with him. His First Officer was one of the two women who are on my plane. I had not seen her before. She is also quite the character. They tend to fly together often. In addition to talking with them I talked with a few passengers, walked around outside the terminal and read a few magazines. My flight attendants took the time to nap.
I learn something new about my plane every time I fly. Last trip I learned how to raise the aisle seat armrest.
When I returned to the plane I saw the flight attendants sleeping across the aisles. I had no idea that the armrest went up! I took a seat and played with it for a while. I couldn't figure it out. When they woke up they showed me the trick. Nice.
Our last posted departure time was 5PM. I called up the ground controller and asked what our EDCT (Expect Departure Clearance Time) was. At the time the EDCT was 6:43PM. The current time was 4:45PM. I quietly informed the gate agents and the deadheading crew. Once back on the plane my crew discussed the situation. We had been on duty for almost 12 hours. We were tired. We all planned on being off at 1PM. At 6PM we all agreed we were spent. After working everything out with the deadheading crew (who agreed to fly the flight), our dispatcher, the station manager and crew scheduling...we left for a hotel.
The city we were in has two hotels. One is close to the airport and used for short layovers. The other is downtown and is used for long layovers. The short layover hotel has limited food options. The long layover hotel has much more. Originally crew scheduling advised us to go to the short layover hotel. I asked why and they stated the long layover had no rooms. After a few phone calls and standing my ground, we got the long layover hotel.
None of us had eaten dinner. The long layover hotel as a crew recreation room with a ton of snacks, soft drinks, coffee, 40 inch LCD TV, computer with internet access and comfy chairs. In addition there are lots of eating choices around. We were all thankful for all the options.
Once at the hotel I checked my schedule. We were assigned to deadhead out on the 6:55AM departure back to base. Once there I was going out right away for another overnight. The rest of the crew was done. The Captain and front flight attendant were off the following day. The rear flight attendant and I were both on reserve. One of the challenges crew scheduling has is dealing with each crew members schedule. Many times a crew is built with people having started and will finish at different times and days. It's a very daunting and confusing task. The flight attendants have items in their contract that are not in ours and vice versa.
The weather was still horrible all around our base. I looked on line (flightaware.com is an awesome site!) and saw no planes getting into the base. Lots of diversions. One flight on our mainline partner that normally takes 2 hours ended up taking 9 hours after TWO diversions. There were quite a few flights at my airline that had two diversions. The weather cleared up....then got worse. I had a good feeling the two remaining inbound flights to the outstation I was at would not make it in. If they didn't make it in, there would be no flight for us to deadhead on.
I went to bed around 11PM. At 4AM I woke up with an odd feeling. I fired up my laptop and checked my schedule. None of the flights made it in the night before. We were now flying the flight back at 12:55PM. In addition I was still going to an overnight after a 4 hour sit. I advised the rest of the crew and went back to bed.
The crew who brought the plane in was the same who flew our flight out the night before. The crew said the flight to base was horrible. They ended up holding for over 35 minutes. The First Officer said the turbulence and winds were so bad on approach that she had a hard time reading her instruments. Glad it wasn't me. They were all deadheading again back with us.
The flight back to base for us was fine. Kinda bumpy...but nothing horrible.
After my 4 hour sit I was off to the overnight. This was the same city as the second night of my trip, but a different hotel.
I checked the names of the crew. The front flight attendants' name looked familiar. I knew the Captain, great guy. The rear flight attendants' name didn't look familiar.
As I arrived at the gate the flight attendant greeted me with a big smile and hello. She is an amazingly professional and funny lady. Once I saw her I connected the name and face. Flight crews are really good at remembering faces...names...takes a few flights to sink in.
I don't talk enough about flight attendants. They are a vital part of a crew. They can make a great flight bad or a bad flight great. I prefer experienced flight attendants. The front flight attendant, Peggy, is my favorite flight attendant at the company.
The outbound flight was fine. The Captain and I caught up on each others lives since our last flight. The hotel bed was a welcome sight after we arrived. I was tired.
This brings me up to the point of For now…just today.
On a side note. Three years ago today I took my first flight lesson at ATP. I still don't believe how far I have come in a pretty short time. For all those thinking about learning to fly or are waiting for airlines to start hiring. Be patient. I am just an average guy who was just in the right place at the right time. Your time will come.
Tomorrow morning airport standby! BOOO! Haven't done morning standby since February. Ugh.
Turbulence doesn't bother me anymore. I was mentally drained though from having to babysit the yoke and controls for 90 minutes. Through periods of turbulence the airspeed would rise and fall. I wouldn't make any power changes though unless things got really out of hand. Making power changes will only increase my workload because after the turbulence settles down, the speed will go back to close to what it was prior to the upset.
Even though we flew slower than planned, we only went over scheduled block time by 5 minutes arriving at 9:00AM.
The next flight was scheduled for just an hour later. Instead of keeping the plane as originally scheduled, we had a plane swap. As it would turn out the plane we were to take was still sitting on the ground at an outstation with numerous issues. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:10AM. We were supposed to return and all be done at 1PM. With the delays our flight was pushed back till Noon! I opened my laptop and prepared to relax for a while.
I would periodically check the status of our plane and our flight. Around 11:10 AM, I saw that I was re-assigned to a new flight to a different city. The entire crew was reassigned! The flight was scheduled to leave at 11:20 AM! I quickly checked my cell phone...no missed calls...no voice mails. I then packed up my stuff and made my way to the gate. No other crew members were there. I went down to the plane and pre-flighted the aircraft. When I got back the Captain was there. We had the plane set up and then looked around for the flight attendants. The time was 11:20AM. I went up to the gate to find them. Nope. I helped a few passengers who had questions and let them know we would leave as soon as possible. After going back to the gate I decided I needed food. I grabbed a "healthy" bacon burger (as mentioned elsewhere extra lean beef and turkey bacon). I again stopped to chat with a passenger. This passenger was just an average guy....turns out he was much more.
Over the next 15 minutes the flight attendants were MIA. Finally at 11:45AM they arrived. No one bothered to call them. They assumed we were leaving at noon as previously delayed. Not their fault.
We loaded up and taxied out. I made a PA apologizing for the delay and that the first portion of the flight might be bumpy due to weather. I was the flying pilot for this leg as well. The weather en-route was horrible. So bad in fact that we had two alternates with the second being our base.
For the first 25 minutes we had nothing but constant light to occasional moderate chop. The winds at our destination were out of the north. Since we were coming in from the south it would be a straight in approach. I set up and briefed the ILS approach. The clouds were at 400 AGL and there was 2 miles visibility. There was a thunderstorm in the vicinity. While descending the weather radar on my MFD was displaying green, yellow and a lot of red. Good times. The Captain and I agreed we would do one approach, if I didn't feel right we were going to blast out of there for home.
While on the approach I listened in as another flight was coming in LOCALIZER ONLY! This means the glide slope in he aircraft wasn't functional. Looking down at the approach chart....they would have a hard time finding the runway environment with the localizer only mins are the MDA was 450 feet AGL. Again the clouds were overcast 400.
Once below the clouds the winds died down and the bumps stopped. I got a little under glide slope at 200 feet. I touched down softly right on the 1000 foot markings. Very nice. I used maximum thrust reverse as I didn't want to use the brakes until we were much slower to avoid sliding. The runway was very wet.
As the passengers left I stood in the doorway of the cockpit and thanked the passengers. On the way out, the passenger I talked to quite a bit in base handed me two pieces of paper and said "best flight I have had in a long time." The pieces of paper he handed me were part of a program my airline started to reward excellent service.
Passengers who have a top status at my airline (REALLY frequent fliers!) are given tickets to hand out for great service. Employees can then enter a contest to win 25,000 airline miles, enough for a free ticket. Not just a free ticket...a free ticket with a confirmed seat! Most of the time we travel on space available status, meaning only if there are empty seats. This program started last year and this was the first time I had even seen the tickets. He made my day as much I did his.
After the passengers were off the Captain stated we would NOT be leaving right away due to the weather. I disagreed...but I am not the Captain. I listened to the tower frequency as the localizer only flight came in...they made it. Good.
Over the next 6 hours our departure time kept being pushed back. First by the Captain, and then by ATC and our dispatcher. The passengers were getting restless as other planes were able to leave. The reason being, the storm was between the outstation and our base. Other planes had no weather to deal with, once they left the area.
I mulled around the terminal. There was an entire crew that would be deadheading if we left. The Captain of the crew is an awesome guy who I love flying with. He has a sense of humor as big as mine. Even the longest flights go by fast when I fly with him. His First Officer was one of the two women who are on my plane. I had not seen her before. She is also quite the character. They tend to fly together often. In addition to talking with them I talked with a few passengers, walked around outside the terminal and read a few magazines. My flight attendants took the time to nap.
I learn something new about my plane every time I fly. Last trip I learned how to raise the aisle seat armrest.
When I returned to the plane I saw the flight attendants sleeping across the aisles. I had no idea that the armrest went up! I took a seat and played with it for a while. I couldn't figure it out. When they woke up they showed me the trick. Nice.
Our last posted departure time was 5PM. I called up the ground controller and asked what our EDCT (Expect Departure Clearance Time) was. At the time the EDCT was 6:43PM. The current time was 4:45PM. I quietly informed the gate agents and the deadheading crew. Once back on the plane my crew discussed the situation. We had been on duty for almost 12 hours. We were tired. We all planned on being off at 1PM. At 6PM we all agreed we were spent. After working everything out with the deadheading crew (who agreed to fly the flight), our dispatcher, the station manager and crew scheduling...we left for a hotel.
The city we were in has two hotels. One is close to the airport and used for short layovers. The other is downtown and is used for long layovers. The short layover hotel has limited food options. The long layover hotel has much more. Originally crew scheduling advised us to go to the short layover hotel. I asked why and they stated the long layover had no rooms. After a few phone calls and standing my ground, we got the long layover hotel.
None of us had eaten dinner. The long layover hotel as a crew recreation room with a ton of snacks, soft drinks, coffee, 40 inch LCD TV, computer with internet access and comfy chairs. In addition there are lots of eating choices around. We were all thankful for all the options.
Once at the hotel I checked my schedule. We were assigned to deadhead out on the 6:55AM departure back to base. Once there I was going out right away for another overnight. The rest of the crew was done. The Captain and front flight attendant were off the following day. The rear flight attendant and I were both on reserve. One of the challenges crew scheduling has is dealing with each crew members schedule. Many times a crew is built with people having started and will finish at different times and days. It's a very daunting and confusing task. The flight attendants have items in their contract that are not in ours and vice versa.
The weather was still horrible all around our base. I looked on line (flightaware.com is an awesome site!) and saw no planes getting into the base. Lots of diversions. One flight on our mainline partner that normally takes 2 hours ended up taking 9 hours after TWO diversions. There were quite a few flights at my airline that had two diversions. The weather cleared up....then got worse. I had a good feeling the two remaining inbound flights to the outstation I was at would not make it in. If they didn't make it in, there would be no flight for us to deadhead on.
I went to bed around 11PM. At 4AM I woke up with an odd feeling. I fired up my laptop and checked my schedule. None of the flights made it in the night before. We were now flying the flight back at 12:55PM. In addition I was still going to an overnight after a 4 hour sit. I advised the rest of the crew and went back to bed.
The crew who brought the plane in was the same who flew our flight out the night before. The crew said the flight to base was horrible. They ended up holding for over 35 minutes. The First Officer said the turbulence and winds were so bad on approach that she had a hard time reading her instruments. Glad it wasn't me. They were all deadheading again back with us.
The flight back to base for us was fine. Kinda bumpy...but nothing horrible.
After my 4 hour sit I was off to the overnight. This was the same city as the second night of my trip, but a different hotel.
I checked the names of the crew. The front flight attendants' name looked familiar. I knew the Captain, great guy. The rear flight attendants' name didn't look familiar.
As I arrived at the gate the flight attendant greeted me with a big smile and hello. She is an amazingly professional and funny lady. Once I saw her I connected the name and face. Flight crews are really good at remembering faces...names...takes a few flights to sink in.
I don't talk enough about flight attendants. They are a vital part of a crew. They can make a great flight bad or a bad flight great. I prefer experienced flight attendants. The front flight attendant, Peggy, is my favorite flight attendant at the company.
The outbound flight was fine. The Captain and I caught up on each others lives since our last flight. The hotel bed was a welcome sight after we arrived. I was tired.
This brings me up to the point of For now…just today.
On a side note. Three years ago today I took my first flight lesson at ATP. I still don't believe how far I have come in a pretty short time. For all those thinking about learning to fly or are waiting for airlines to start hiring. Be patient. I am just an average guy who was just in the right place at the right time. Your time will come.
Tomorrow morning airport standby! BOOO! Haven't done morning standby since February. Ugh.
Monday, May 4, 2009
For now...just today
I'm home! After 96 hours and 56 minutes...I'm home. The time spent away from home on this 5 day trip is more than I get on per diem for an entire month doing airport standby. On top of that I flew 18 hours which is almost as much as I flew in the entire month of April. Nice.
I am tired, but want to write about today before I write about the other 4 days.
The hotel bed was the best of the trip. When I woke up this morning I realized that, over the course of the 5 day trip, I stayed overnight in just two cities. I stayed in 4 different hotels though. Many cities have a "short" layover hotel (close to the airport) and a "long" layover hotel (closer to activities/food/entertainment). The first night was as short layover. The second was a long. The third was a long. The fourth was longish...but didn't qualify for the long layover hotel. Fine. I was happy.
I woke up this morning and walked next door to a Denny's. I haven't been there in years. I had the $3.99 Grand Slam special and coffee....just $6. This is only a little more than McDonald's but way more filling.
Our van time was noon. The inbound plane was running 40 minutes late. The time between my first flight and second flight? Forty minutes.
The Captain on this trip is a really nice guy. Some First Officer complain about him, but I have had nothing but great times with him. We talked the whole way up to the overnight. He decided he would fly to the overnight, then I would fly to base and the following leg to an outstation. He would then fly the last leg. I prefer this versus trading every leg. If I trade every leg, one guy always lands in base while the other guy always lands at out stations. The front flight attendant , Peggy, was awesome. I have flown with her many times. Each time I see her I always think she is really junior. She is an older lady who is actually quite senior. I always think she is junior because she is extremely nice and caring. Most senior flight attendants are not so nice. Peggy goes above and beyond to make sure I am taken care of all the time. I can't stress enough how important flight attendants are. A good flight attendant makes sure the passengers are safe. A great flight attendant makes sure the passengers are safe, happy, comfortable and goes above and beyond when things are normal. When things are not normal a great flight attendant is a lifesaver....literally. I have yet to have a flight with Peggy where the passengers didn't leave happy. No matter how late we were.
My leg back was finally a mostly smooth flight. No more turbulence! We flew at FL380 for most of the flight. On our arrival into base there was moderate turbulence and chop reported all the way from FL410 to FL180. Nice. I delayed the descent until the last minute in order to dive down at 3500 feet per minute to avoid as much turbulence as possible. It kinda worked.
The landing in base was interesting. We were following a 737 who was 4 miles ahead. The spacing looked fine. Five miles is normal. Four can work. Well the 737 slowed to approach speed way early. I had to quickly slow down as well. Everything worked out. My landing was flattish. I thought it looked good, but with a light 11 knot direct crosswind, I must have put the right wing down a little too early. Oh well.
I was starving. After my post flight inspection, I ran inside and bought a "healthy" bacon hamburger. The meat was extra lean and the bacon was turkey bacon. Pretty tasty.
Thirty minutes after pulling into the gate, we were being pushed back out. We lost Peggy (she dropped the rest of the trip) and had a new front flight attendant. Thankfully this lady was almost as awesome as Peggy. This new flight attendant was hoping to make a 7:10PM flight to Boston to visit family. We were pushing out of the gate at 3:55PM. The flight each way is 1 hr...add in a 30 minute turn it looks impossible for her to make the flight. The Captain and I were determined to get her on that flight.
We pushed out 2 minutes after a plane a few gates down pushed. That 2 minutes would end up costing us 10 minutes later. When we reached the runway the other plane took off, then the tower started letting other planes take off besides us. The airport I am based at is quite large. There are 2 to 4 taxiway hold short lines per runway. Just because we are next, doesn't mean we are going next as there could be three other planes waiting NEXT to us.
Eventually we took off. As we reached 11,000 feet we were told it would be a bit for a higher altitude. There were towering cumulonimbus clouds all around. I felt like I was in a Seminole again as I dodged the build ups and avoided the bumps. ATC would give us a heading to follow and we would wiggle around build ups. It was fun for about 5 seconds. Then the annoying turns and twist got annoying.
[singlepic id=68 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=71 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=74 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=76 w=320 h=240 float=center]
After about 5 minutes we were finally allowed to climb up.
Normally we climb at 290 knots above 10,000 feet. I climbed at 320 knots to make up time. Somewhere around 28,000 feet a single chime went off and the master caution light was flashing in my face. I looked down at ED1 and saw AFT CARGO DOOR in amber. I looked over at the Captain...he glanced at the caution, then ED2 and went back into looking outside. Hmmm okay. A moment later a PROX SYSTEM 1 FAULT status message appeared on ED2. Again the Captain wasn't concerned. Hmm okay. After leveling off at FL320 I grabbed my "red" book and looked up the checklist. Turns out no action was required. With a master caution, no immediate action is ever required. The Captain explained that he had seen this before. If there had truly been a problem we would have seen the cabin pressure rise (on ED2) followed by him taking the controls as we donned oxygen mask as we dove down to a lower altitude.
He went on to explain quite a bit more about cabin pressure and differential. I learned quite a bit. I have had a lot of interesting plane discussions with this and other Captains. I never stop learning and I love it. The caution could have been caused by a handle being slightly out of place on the aft cargo door or simply a glitch. During the descent...the light went out.
Fifty-two minutes after taking off, the wheels greased onto the runway. Much better than my last landing. This outstation has a crazy long 13,000X200 foot runway. The airport is a former military base, thus the long runway. Throughout the day there are only 30 commercial flights at this airport. With a long runway and a very unbusy airport...smooth landings are easy. The winds were gusting out of the east giving me a 14 knot quartering crosswind. The touchdown was very smooth. Nice. The 200 foot wide runway makes a CRJ700 feel really small.
Twenty-one minutes after pulling into the gate we were turning out for the runway. The time was 5:45PM. We only had 20 people on board giving us a takeoff weight of just 58,000 pounds. By comparison the flight to the outstation was 71,000 pounds. The plane feels very different at a low weight.
The Captain took off and we blasted into the sky. He kept the speed up as much as possible the entire flight. The builds up were still in the area of our base. There was a huge mushroom shaped cloud right over the airport
[singlepic id=77 w=320 h=240 float=center]
We were turning downwind at 11,000 feet just 37 minutes after taking off!
The approach controller was working hard to get all the planes in line. He squeezed us behind a MD80. The spacing looked a little tight. As we passed 1100 feet AGL we were just 2 1/2 miles behind him. Tower came on and asked if we would like to land on a parallel runway. We accepted. Good thing. The MD80 just cleared the runway while we were 300 feet AGL.
Just 45 minutes after taking off, we touched the runway. At 6:41PM the cabin door was opened and the 20 passengers left the plane. I just checked the Boston flight, my flight attendant made it!
I am off for one whole day. Starting Wednesday I am on reserve for another 6 consecutive days. I am betting I will get morning airport standby for most of those days. Fun.
For now...it's beer time. Oh yeah I am now using Twitter to have mini-updates throughout the day. Just click on the Geek on the go! link in the upper left hand corner.
I am tired, but want to write about today before I write about the other 4 days.
The hotel bed was the best of the trip. When I woke up this morning I realized that, over the course of the 5 day trip, I stayed overnight in just two cities. I stayed in 4 different hotels though. Many cities have a "short" layover hotel (close to the airport) and a "long" layover hotel (closer to activities/food/entertainment). The first night was as short layover. The second was a long. The third was a long. The fourth was longish...but didn't qualify for the long layover hotel. Fine. I was happy.
I woke up this morning and walked next door to a Denny's. I haven't been there in years. I had the $3.99 Grand Slam special and coffee....just $6. This is only a little more than McDonald's but way more filling.
Our van time was noon. The inbound plane was running 40 minutes late. The time between my first flight and second flight? Forty minutes.
The Captain on this trip is a really nice guy. Some First Officer complain about him, but I have had nothing but great times with him. We talked the whole way up to the overnight. He decided he would fly to the overnight, then I would fly to base and the following leg to an outstation. He would then fly the last leg. I prefer this versus trading every leg. If I trade every leg, one guy always lands in base while the other guy always lands at out stations. The front flight attendant , Peggy, was awesome. I have flown with her many times. Each time I see her I always think she is really junior. She is an older lady who is actually quite senior. I always think she is junior because she is extremely nice and caring. Most senior flight attendants are not so nice. Peggy goes above and beyond to make sure I am taken care of all the time. I can't stress enough how important flight attendants are. A good flight attendant makes sure the passengers are safe. A great flight attendant makes sure the passengers are safe, happy, comfortable and goes above and beyond when things are normal. When things are not normal a great flight attendant is a lifesaver....literally. I have yet to have a flight with Peggy where the passengers didn't leave happy. No matter how late we were.
My leg back was finally a mostly smooth flight. No more turbulence! We flew at FL380 for most of the flight. On our arrival into base there was moderate turbulence and chop reported all the way from FL410 to FL180. Nice. I delayed the descent until the last minute in order to dive down at 3500 feet per minute to avoid as much turbulence as possible. It kinda worked.
The landing in base was interesting. We were following a 737 who was 4 miles ahead. The spacing looked fine. Five miles is normal. Four can work. Well the 737 slowed to approach speed way early. I had to quickly slow down as well. Everything worked out. My landing was flattish. I thought it looked good, but with a light 11 knot direct crosswind, I must have put the right wing down a little too early. Oh well.
I was starving. After my post flight inspection, I ran inside and bought a "healthy" bacon hamburger. The meat was extra lean and the bacon was turkey bacon. Pretty tasty.
Thirty minutes after pulling into the gate, we were being pushed back out. We lost Peggy (she dropped the rest of the trip) and had a new front flight attendant. Thankfully this lady was almost as awesome as Peggy. This new flight attendant was hoping to make a 7:10PM flight to Boston to visit family. We were pushing out of the gate at 3:55PM. The flight each way is 1 hr...add in a 30 minute turn it looks impossible for her to make the flight. The Captain and I were determined to get her on that flight.
We pushed out 2 minutes after a plane a few gates down pushed. That 2 minutes would end up costing us 10 minutes later. When we reached the runway the other plane took off, then the tower started letting other planes take off besides us. The airport I am based at is quite large. There are 2 to 4 taxiway hold short lines per runway. Just because we are next, doesn't mean we are going next as there could be three other planes waiting NEXT to us.
Eventually we took off. As we reached 11,000 feet we were told it would be a bit for a higher altitude. There were towering cumulonimbus clouds all around. I felt like I was in a Seminole again as I dodged the build ups and avoided the bumps. ATC would give us a heading to follow and we would wiggle around build ups. It was fun for about 5 seconds. Then the annoying turns and twist got annoying.
[singlepic id=68 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=71 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=74 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=76 w=320 h=240 float=center]
After about 5 minutes we were finally allowed to climb up.
Normally we climb at 290 knots above 10,000 feet. I climbed at 320 knots to make up time. Somewhere around 28,000 feet a single chime went off and the master caution light was flashing in my face. I looked down at ED1 and saw AFT CARGO DOOR in amber. I looked over at the Captain...he glanced at the caution, then ED2 and went back into looking outside. Hmmm okay. A moment later a PROX SYSTEM 1 FAULT status message appeared on ED2. Again the Captain wasn't concerned. Hmm okay. After leveling off at FL320 I grabbed my "red" book and looked up the checklist. Turns out no action was required. With a master caution, no immediate action is ever required. The Captain explained that he had seen this before. If there had truly been a problem we would have seen the cabin pressure rise (on ED2) followed by him taking the controls as we donned oxygen mask as we dove down to a lower altitude.
He went on to explain quite a bit more about cabin pressure and differential. I learned quite a bit. I have had a lot of interesting plane discussions with this and other Captains. I never stop learning and I love it. The caution could have been caused by a handle being slightly out of place on the aft cargo door or simply a glitch. During the descent...the light went out.
Fifty-two minutes after taking off, the wheels greased onto the runway. Much better than my last landing. This outstation has a crazy long 13,000X200 foot runway. The airport is a former military base, thus the long runway. Throughout the day there are only 30 commercial flights at this airport. With a long runway and a very unbusy airport...smooth landings are easy. The winds were gusting out of the east giving me a 14 knot quartering crosswind. The touchdown was very smooth. Nice. The 200 foot wide runway makes a CRJ700 feel really small.
Twenty-one minutes after pulling into the gate we were turning out for the runway. The time was 5:45PM. We only had 20 people on board giving us a takeoff weight of just 58,000 pounds. By comparison the flight to the outstation was 71,000 pounds. The plane feels very different at a low weight.
The Captain took off and we blasted into the sky. He kept the speed up as much as possible the entire flight. The builds up were still in the area of our base. There was a huge mushroom shaped cloud right over the airport
[singlepic id=77 w=320 h=240 float=center]
We were turning downwind at 11,000 feet just 37 minutes after taking off!
The approach controller was working hard to get all the planes in line. He squeezed us behind a MD80. The spacing looked a little tight. As we passed 1100 feet AGL we were just 2 1/2 miles behind him. Tower came on and asked if we would like to land on a parallel runway. We accepted. Good thing. The MD80 just cleared the runway while we were 300 feet AGL.
Just 45 minutes after taking off, we touched the runway. At 6:41PM the cabin door was opened and the 20 passengers left the plane. I just checked the Boston flight, my flight attendant made it!
I am off for one whole day. Starting Wednesday I am on reserve for another 6 consecutive days. I am betting I will get morning airport standby for most of those days. Fun.
For now...it's beer time. Oh yeah I am now using Twitter to have mini-updates throughout the day. Just click on the Geek on the go! link in the upper left hand corner.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Still going
Nice overnight. My crew was to deadhead back to base at 6:55 this morning. I woke up at 4AM with an odd feeling that the flight was canceled. I fired up my computer and saw my schedule had been adjusted. We were now flying a flight back to base at 12:10PM. Crew scheduling never called or notified us. We would have all left the hotel this morning and gone to the airport if I had not checked. I called the Captain at 5AM (he had a 5AM wake up call anyway) and told him the news. He then informed the flight attendants.
I was supposed to deadhead back and then fly out on the same flight I flew on Thursday for the same overnight. Since I was now coming in much letter, Crew scheduling assigned me a later flight to the same city. That flight is now delayed as well.
Pretty tired. Not fatigued....just tired. Long overnight tonight (14 hours). Tomorrow I fly back to base and then a quick turn, finishing my day at 7PM. Tomorrow is my day 6. I will have been gone for 5 days, 4 nights when all is said and done.
The storms that caused all the havoc the other day blew down part of my fence. Really sucks not being home to take care of things. My wife (all of 5'3) can't pick up the fence alone. During the break between flights she picked me up and I was able to rig up the fence so it's at least upright and can dry out.
I'll have a long write up/rant tomorrow morning or Tuesday morning covering the trip. Lots of stuff came up....some good...some not so good.
Off to the overnight. At least this hotel has REALLY comfy beds.
I was supposed to deadhead back and then fly out on the same flight I flew on Thursday for the same overnight. Since I was now coming in much letter, Crew scheduling assigned me a later flight to the same city. That flight is now delayed as well.
Pretty tired. Not fatigued....just tired. Long overnight tonight (14 hours). Tomorrow I fly back to base and then a quick turn, finishing my day at 7PM. Tomorrow is my day 6. I will have been gone for 5 days, 4 nights when all is said and done.
The storms that caused all the havoc the other day blew down part of my fence. Really sucks not being home to take care of things. My wife (all of 5'3) can't pick up the fence alone. During the break between flights she picked me up and I was able to rig up the fence so it's at least upright and can dry out.
I'll have a long write up/rant tomorrow morning or Tuesday morning covering the trip. Lots of stuff came up....some good...some not so good.
Off to the overnight. At least this hotel has REALLY comfy beds.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Timed out
I started duty this morning at 10:18 ZULU. After sitting around all day waiting for the weather to clear....never did. Our last EDCT time was 23:55 ZULU. We would be illegal at 23:29 ZULU. Thus the crew left the plane and headed to the hotel. There was a deadheading crew on board that agreed to fly. Who knows if they will get off the ground. Long day...over 14 hours. Time for rest.
As of now I deadhead back to base in the morning and fly out to an overnight.
As of now I deadhead back to base in the morning and fly out to an overnight.
Stuck
I have one turn to finish. At an outstation now.....stuck. Horrible weather here and base. My approach into here was bumpy due to thunderstorms in the area. Broke out of the clouds right at 400 feet. Good times. Sitting in the terminal now with a bunch of upset passengers. Nice. Just want to get home. More later.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Clear right! Not!
Three things I was told to memorize being a First Officer:
1. Clear Right
2. Don't worry you can tell the pax that was my landing
3. I'll take the fat one
Now that my attempt at humor is over, a friend of mine forward me the following pictures and text.
Pictures forwarded on by a friend…
I guess a GPU almost sitting on the J line wasn’t a big enough THREAT to notice! So much for assuming that the obvious will be your guide…NOTHING, as witnessed here, replaces following Policy & Procedures 100% of the time (like physically clearing the A/C Clear Zone). We can only imagine what the person sitting in the seat next to the prop arch must have been thinking…
Pictures of a Dash 8, Mesa owned, in Phoenix. They were being parked and no one saw the power cart on the right side of the airplane, including the crew. Shrapnel everywhere. No one was hurt, amazing considering the pieces and parts flying around.
[singlepic id=58 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=59 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=60 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=61 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=62 w=320 h=240 float=center]
1. Clear Right
2. Don't worry you can tell the pax that was my landing
3. I'll take the fat one
Now that my attempt at humor is over, a friend of mine forward me the following pictures and text.
Pictures forwarded on by a friend…
I guess a GPU almost sitting on the J line wasn’t a big enough THREAT to notice! So much for assuming that the obvious will be your guide…NOTHING, as witnessed here, replaces following Policy & Procedures 100% of the time (like physically clearing the A/C Clear Zone). We can only imagine what the person sitting in the seat next to the prop arch must have been thinking…
Pictures of a Dash 8, Mesa owned, in Phoenix. They were being parked and no one saw the power cart on the right side of the airplane, including the crew. Shrapnel everywhere. No one was hurt, amazing considering the pieces and parts flying around.
[singlepic id=58 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=59 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=60 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=61 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=62 w=320 h=240 float=center]
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