Slept in as late as I could today. After back to back days of getting up before 5 I have a hard time sleeping late. Shortly after I woke up I found out that my room was directly above the loading dock for the hotel. So I listened to the sound of truck after truck back up and unload. It didn't impact me really and who am I to complain. I'm in Aruba.
The hotel I'm staying at has it's own private beach and a free boat to take you over there. I headed over, got a workout in and then ate some lunch on the beach. I'm not one to really go all out with my meals but times like this call for taking some time for yourself and enjoying the day.
A couple hours later I was back in the plane and on my way back to Newark. Nice flight today, no major issues. After I landed I got some good news and some bad news.
The bad news was that the flight I was planning on taking home the next morning cancelled and that throws a wrench into things. I had the option of trying to hop a ride on a cargo company that has 1 direct flight from Newark to Cincy on weekdays, but after talking with the Mrs. and finding out just how much snow we got and how bad the roads were today the prospect of cleaning my car off at 130a and then trying to get home just didn't sound that great of an idea.
So now I'm going to try for the next flight which is 3 hours later and very full. If I get on that plane there's a good chance I'll be on a jumpseat. That's the plan for now anyway.
The good news was a message from the company that said that my trip was bought off for IOE. So what the hell does that mean? Well IOE is Initial Operating Experience. It's when a new pilot or a new captain is going to get to fly their first few legs with a pilot whose purpose is to give them their first on-line experience with the plane (or seat for the captain.) A pilot has to do about 25 hours in order to get signed off and there is certain training that must also be accomplished. So what does this mean for me? Well you may have figured. The term bought off means that the company is giving my the trip off with pay since I was awarded it and it's my trip and now they need it and are taking it.
This is maybe the second time in 13 years that this has happened to me and it couldn't have come at a better time. With only 2 days off between trips and this bad weather making my commute home more difficult I don't need to worry about that anymore. Even better? It was my last trip for the month. I'm going home and I'll be off until March. Super lucky.