A Year in the Life

[PilotMan]

Getting to sleep without an alarm to wake you up is not overrated. I needed it. There was a little issue of the dispatcher not getting the paperwork done for us early enough. We were within an hour of our departure and the paperwork needed to be in our hands by then or it starts to impact other things. We are busy and can't simply wait all day for them to get that done or we are late.

I'll get more into the preflight here in a bit, but part of that preflight is looking at things that are already "deferred." Deferred is when something is broken but it's on one of the aforementioned lists. Those lists lay out certain checks that the pilots might have to do to verify that the correct maintenance has been done and so we can expect certain errors or operating parameters in the flight. In this case we had part of the air conditioning temperature control for the cockpit that wasn't working correctly. During out checks we found something that needed a mechanic to look at it and get it rectified. This caused us to miss our departure time by a good 25 minutes today before it got fixed. Ignoring it isn't an option. The FAA is more than willing to take your license and violate you, putting your livelihood in jeopardy, if you allow something like that to happen.

We had a bunch of extra fuel on board so burning a little extra to try and make up some time wasn't a problem today. I think we ended up in the gate around 15 minutes late.

I didn't even realize it until the Captain brought it up that we had a 3 hour break in Denver today. I killed the time by walking the terminal two times and getting some food before I headed to the gate. I was only deadheading on my next flight. Riding as a regular passenger to Phoenix. That's it for today. Tomorrow is painfully early. Pacific time or not, when my alarm says 245a it's too damn early.

So how much of the preflight is automated? Hmm, there really isn't anything thats automated except the initializing of the flight computer. The list of things that I do for the preflight is substantial. This morning was a first flight for the plane so there were a couple of extra steps to get it ready to go.

I have to get on and introduce myself to the flight attendants, chat for a moment then put my bags away and unpack some of the things like my headset, logbook, sunglasses, ipad and so on. I have to check all the circuit breakers, make sure that the fire extinguisher is charged, that all the pins for the landing gear are on the plane. Then I can sit down turn the power on the plane on. I'll get the battery, position lights and external power turned on so the plane can start to boot up.

As the plane is booting up I'll start the alignment process for part of the navigation system and initialize the flight computer. The navigation system takes a full 10 minutes to be ready to it's one of the first things that get's taken care of. As the computer gets started it starts to spit out weather information for both airports and then throughout the next twenty minutes is spits out various regular messages on everything from our ATC clearance to what things have been serviced and whether or not we have live animals or dangerous goods on the plane.

I'll keep loading the flight computer with our position, yes I have to tell it where it is so it can cross check it with the navigation system. Then I'll start to load the performance information into the computer. I'll upload the winds and set some performance parameters depending on how I want the aircraft to be set up for speeds throughout the flight. After the winds are loaded I'll do a fire test on the engines and the cargo compartment.

In order for me to have a good walk around I have to pressurize all the fuel and hydraulic lines so the fuel pumps come on, the hydraulic pumps come on and I turn on some lights so I can see in the wheel wells easier. I'll finish by setting the parking brake. I'll head outside and do the walk around checking for major damage, leaks or anything that might need checked before we go.

Most of the time, before I even head outside we've started boarding. I might say hi to the flight attendants again, hit the lav, then jump back in my seat to finish my work. By now the ATC clearance has come up and I'll finish loading the flight plan and we both have to verify the routing.

Once I'm satisfied with the flight computer set up I start my panel checks. Starting up high I run a number of switch placements checks, flight recorder, stall checks, heated probes, air conditioning. I have to make sure that the pressurization is set right for the flight then continue with switch checks, set the auto brakes and run tests on the ground proximity warning systems, traffic collision avoidance system, and weather radar. I'll finish with my oxygen mask and then finish my ipad set up for the airport.

Once I've got all that done the Captain and I run through our briefings and checklists. Often times there are numerous interruptions from issues that the flight attendants have to jump seaters coming up to the cockpit to maintenance or even if you have kids come up. By the way, I love having kids come up. It was one of my strongest influences of commercial aviation and I try very hard to make it as fun of an experience as I can. It can be very easy to miss something if you don't stay diligent. All of that has to be done in 25-30 minutes or we won't be ready on time.

The most important thing is to get a very good, strong, efficient routine. There's no hard or fast rules about exactly how everything has to be done, just that it has to be done before you can go. There's two of you up there so it's as much on the other guy as it is on you to know that everything is done and ready to go.

As repetitive as my job is and as detail focused as it it, it's extremely important that I take it that way every time. There's just too much riding on it. Like I've told some of the guys I've flown with, If I don't get to go home at the end of this trip my wife is going to be really pissed at you.

[finkenst]

PM,

Great job still!

2 questions:
1. "Pressurization for the flight" -- Could you describe this a little more? I believe you said earlier that if you have turbulence that you can go up or down by some number of 1000 feet...

2. More importantly: Kids... As a passenger with a small child, what ages are appropriately to see the cockpit? What's the best way as a passenger to approach the flight crew about getting a look-see for him?

[claphamsa]

as a passenger with a GF who is terrified of flying...chat with people, and make lots of announcements.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by finkenst

PM,

Great job still!

2 questions:
1. "Pressurization for the flight" -- Could you describe this a little more? I believe you said earlier that if you have turbulence that you can go up or down by some number of 1000 feet...

2. More importantly: Kids... As a passenger with a small child, what ages are appropriately to see the cockpit? What's the best way as a passenger to approach the flight crew about getting a look-see for him?

So the pressure controller for the flight is automatic but we have to tell the plane what altitude to plan to pressurize it and what the altitude of the landing airport is. That way the plane makes the adjustments for the rate and pressure altitude of the cabin.

There are two main factors when it comes to the pressurization. The first being the cabin altitude or the altitude that you feel inside the cabin at altitude and the second is the pressure differential or the difference between the pressure inside and outside the plane.

At cruise almost always, the pressure inside the airplane is between 5000 and 8000 feet. Most passenger jets, at anything above 32000 feet will get you a cabin pressure of between 700-8000 feet. Of course it's going to vary here and there as the plane makes the adjustments, but these are what you will feel. There are a lot of medical issues that even being at this altitude can cause people that they are completely unaware of. A hangover for instance at altitude could actually lead you to feeling drunk again as the alcohol density in your blood goes up as oxygen density decreases. Blood pressure medication side effects can be exacerbated in the lower pressure environment and any kind of discomfort, say from dehydration (which is probably the most common issue) can lead to hyperventilation (that you may not even notice) and the associated hypoxia and light headed feelings of being sick.

The plane plans these altitudes out by calculating the differential pressure and the adjusting the desired cabin altitude as the pressure differential increases. It also controls the pressure in the decent. Most of the newer planes now have great pressure controllers and rarely will you experience a change in pressure of greater than 500/ft per minute. This is comparable to driving down a steep hill, when you might feel your ears pop. The only difference is that in a plane you are coming from say 8000 to sea level, where in a car you may only be coming down the 500 feet. That's why any sort of sinus blockage can cause significant pain. Older planes were not able to make such slow changes and hence sinus pain was generally more often and more painful.

As for getting your kids into the cockpit, I can't think of anyone who won't give some time. Your best chance is to try and board the plane as soon after boarding has started, try and pre-board if possible. Then politely ask the flight attendant if it might be possible for your son to go and see the cockpit. They will generally ask the pilots for permission and then let you go. Be prepared and have your camera ready. Most times one of the pilots will get up and let the child into their seat, talk to them, let them move the controls, that sort of thing. Nothing is guaranteed, but pilots generally are very welcoming to guests. There aren't any regulations or restrictions as long as we aren't actually flying or close to it. The only issue generally is time and how busy they are. That's why getting on early is your best bet. You may also have some success in trying this after the flight if you talk to the pilot, but many times the crew has taken off to their next plane by the time you may get to the front.

As for the appropriate age I'd say old enough that he could talk and get in and out of the seat on his own. That's about it. There is no upper age restriction on it. We really know it's all for you.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

as a passenger with a GF who is terrified of flying...chat with people, and make lots of announcements.

And I've had terrified adults come up to the cockpit just to meet and chat with the pilots and ask questions just so they can feel more comfortable. That's not a problem either.

Then there was that whole Liza Minnelli encounter I had a few years ago. She just wanted us to see if we could descent gently because she was having problems with her sinuses and was afraid of the pain.

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

And I've had terrified adults come up to the cockpit just to meet and chat with the pilots and ask questions just so they can feel more comfortable. That's not a problem either.

Then there was that whole Liza Minnelli encounter I had a few years ago. She just wanted us to see if we could descent gently because she was having problems with her sinuses and was afraid of the pain.

OMG. That was the worst flight of my life... MSP - HNL (yeah, destination awesome). I had a raging head cold on that flight. I thought my head was going to explode during that landing, and to top it off, I had back spasms the next day that wiped out a snorkeling event as my sister wisely pointed out: "Better to spend one day in bed resting, than the next 12"...

[PilotMan]

So yeah, it was early, not super duper ridiculous early for this east coast boy, but early enough. It was a gorgeous morning in Phoenix I snapped this pic of the sunrise with Camel Back in the background.



Early Sunday morning flights are almost always quiet. There is a lot less traffic this time of the day and since the sun is still down the rides are almost always good. If the visibility would have been better it would have been perfect. As it was, it was still a pretty good flight. We blocked into Houston early with an hour til our next flight to Ft Lauderdale.

Our flight was already showing a 30 minute delay and it was inbound from Punta Cana, so it had to clear customs before we could get on board. We got off the gate as quick as we could (25 minutes late) and with a painless taxi out to the runway we were off. Again, no issues going into Lauderdale. And with a very short taxi to the gate we ended up being only 7 minutes late.

Looking forward to my "long" 14 hour layover. It's not too often that a layover as short as this one is, is the long layover. It's been a busy trip, tomorrow morning is going to be another very early get up, but it's go home day, so there's reason to be excited.

[PilotMan]

We all know the drill on go home day. We know the flight has to get out on time because we want to get home, and those of us with say 30 minutes to get out our connecting flight and change terminals get there start to get antsy if things aren't going our way. That didn't happen though as we got off the gate 10 minutes early and off the ground just 14 minutes early. That head start gave me enough time to get where I needed to be and with a seat I was on my way home.

The wakeup was the earliest of the trip and I felt it. Each day had gotten progressively earlier as we went from the west coast back to the east and like a Friday for those who work 9-5 my body knew it and I was done as I slept half the flight home.

This crazy month continues. I've finished 2 of the 4, four day trips for the month and then there's the matter of training after all that. The next trip is coming later this week and my days off are are short and flying by.

Bidding for July is also done. I've got another couple days left to modify my bid but July is a tricky month to bid. My birthday and the 4th are the two main "events" for the month, but I'm trying to bid the end of the month (first few and last few in a block of days) off instead. Since I likely can't hold a big block of days in the middle combining two smaller blocks at the end of one and the beginning of the next can give me the same effect. The Mrs. are trying to make plans to get away as a couple but in order to get the days off I need I'm going to have to give up the 4th as an option. I don't usually mind if I work the 4th. If I'm working at night and the sky is mostly clear the view is incredibly unique and ever changing. Imagine a stadium of flash bulbs popping across the earth.

So now the waiting for that begins. Another week until I know if I can plan a get away trip at the end of June. It's kind of ridiculous.

[britrock88]

Good luck, and I hope we get a chance to see a little of the July 4 view!

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I don't usually mind if I work the 4th. If I'm working at night and the sky is mostly clear the view is incredibly unique and ever changing. Imagine a stadium of flash bulbs popping across the earth.

I demand pictures of this. I think I had the oppurtunity to fly once on one of the fireworks holidays and it was pretty cool watching fireworks from 32000 feet.

[PilotMan]

Flew into Newark this afternoon for tonight's all night flight to San Francisco. I call these flights "reverse red eyes" because we don't leave quite as late, but the flights are a full hour longer than coming from the west to the east. I tried out our new sleeping room in our operations area and I was pretty impressed. The sleeping beds weren't very comfortable for someone my size but the spaces available were pretty good. I took a pic, but it'll have to wait til later.

Tonight's flight is 6 hours and 6 minutes, and thanks to the weather across the midwest we'll be flying over my home state of North Dakota on our way out west. And to jump start our late night the plane is late inbound so we probably won't be on time getting out of here.

I was trying to get myself ready while I was at home by staying up pretty late, but it wasn't enough. These flights wear me out. When was the last time you ate dinner at midnight? This trip is also interesting in that tonight and tomorrow are both late nights and then we start the last day at 630 in the morning. So I'll be jumping all over the clock. But it's essentially part of what I bid for, trips I can get to and from work on the same day. So the means have to justify the ends.

[PilotMan]

I forgot to add that today marked my 2 yr anniversary with the company. I got a nice pay raise to celebrate it. Only 25 years to go till I retire.

[Barkeep49]

Just caught up on this. It's really good stuff, I appreciate your taking the time and effort to do it.

[PilotMan]

We left Newark almost 45 minutes late, but with some rerouting enroute we cut that to 30 in the gate. I won't lie. This was a hard flight. It had just been a long day. I got to the hotel around 430a and that was the beginning of my screwed up sleep schedule.

The next day I thought "hey, you should get out and walk around, or eat, do something," but all I could manage was to sit in my room hooked up to Football Manager. I really should have done something else, but motivation had been sapped. Our layover was only 12 hours before we had to be back out the door to the airport.

The next flight was another transcon flight. This time to Boston. ATC had rerouted us pretty far north again. On paper it looks very out of the way when you fly up over North Dakota and Canada, but part of that was weather avoidance and part of that was great circle route stuff.

Just before we shut the door the gate agent comes up to the cockpit and tells us that a lady has hit another lady in the back and that she's being very disruptive and that he is taking her off the plane. That's really all I know about it. I didn't look back and didn't get any further information. When we are hooked up to the jet bridge that's above my pay grade. The gate agent is the person in charge of all of that.

This was a fun flight. I took a bunch of pictures and for the first time that I can remember we flew over places that are special to me and the weather was good enough for some good pics.



Climbing out over San Francisco. You can see across Downtown, the Bay Bridge, and Oakland across the bay. You can also see the fog layer drifting into the bay. That area it's covering is where the Golden Gate Bridge is. If you look close you can just see a spec of the top of it poking through.



The Great Salt Lake and Great Basin. One area that I've not spent much time. I just learned that all the water that drains into the lake can only escape through evaporation. It does not drain to an ocean.



This is just a sweet picture of the Grand Tetons. One of my favorite places in the world. I have many fond memories of camping here and in Yellowstone. I guarantee you this is an angle of the mountains that you don't normally see.



This is kind of a crappy picture of Bismarck. My hometown. It was on the wrong side of the plane for me and this was as close as I could get. The arrow is pointing to the airport in Bismarck, the site of my first job ever. Working in the Ice Cream Shop for the summer during an Airstreamer Convention.



Here's Fargo. That yellow arrow points to the Fargodome, home of the Back to Back to Back to Back FCS National Football Champion NDSU Bison. We are north of the city here looking south. As you go south from there you have the campus of NDSU, where I graduated from, and across the street from the Fargodome and along the arrow is University Village, where I lived while I was there. This town looks like it's grown a lot since I was there.



Sunset. I'm still trying to get that really awesome sunset pic. It's a little harder when you are flying east and the sun is behind you, but here you can still see a wide array of colors of the spectrum. I like the little faint line of green on the left of the picture.

So that was that. We landed in Boston around 1230a with all day Saturday to get recovered. At this point I've been flying for over 11 hours, in the plane for over 13 hours of the previous 28. So what do you do with a day off in Boston? There are plenty of options here, but I've never been to Fenway and the Red Sox happen to be in town. Plus it's only 2.5 miles from the hotel, a great day for a walk, and the Gay Pride Parade is happening as well. People everywhere, a good atmosphere and baseball. It made for a great day today.



I will say that the seats I had were not designed for anyone of my size to sit in them comfortably. I've heard about the seats in Fenway, but wow, 6'4", 290 pound guys need to buy the seat and the seat in front just to put their legs. Still the people were nice. It was a great afternoon.

Tomorrow is a pretty long day. I start off heading for Chicago and hope to end up at home by the end of it.

[britrock88]

For those that don't know Bismarck: as crappy as PM's picture may be, a better-quality shot wouldn't have shown you much more than you can see already.

Glad you got to fly an enjoyable route, PM!

[CraigSca]

Great pics!

[PilotMan]

I still can't get over how early the sun comes up in Boston. Cincinnati is in the Eastern time zone, but we are on the far western edge. Under no circumstance should the sun be full up at 5 am. None.

The first flight today was off to Chicago where the weather looked like it had the potential to cause some issues for us. We loaded up and pushed back. After we got the engines started and ran the checklists we ran into a problem. Here's a heads up for travelers. After the plane pushes back and it seems like you've been sitting there for a while not moving one of a couple things is happening. First, you might just be stuck in a traffic jam and need to wait for your turn, or it's also likely that you've got a mechanical. They require some extra checklists and a phone call. So that was us this morning. It ended up being something that we were ok to continue with. Once we got going ATC had a slight delay to Chicago and that was just enough to put us a bit behind schedule.

Airborn we tried to make some adjustments to get a couple minutes back, but it wouldn't be enough. Shortly we got to cruise ATC had a weather reroute that would take us north of Toronto into Canada, adding almost 7 minutes to our flight time and guaranteeing a late arrival. We kept truckin' along until ATC slowed us down to keep the 20 mile spacing behind another flight also heading to Chicago. Chicago had heavy rain and while arrivals were slowed a bit it didn't impact us other than having to shoot an instrument approach and land with the wipers on. It was my leg and it wasn't easy to see through the rain, even with the wipers on.

After we landed we were supposed to have an hour to get to the next plane, heading to New Orleans. That plane was delayed inbound by 20 minutes so an on time outbound wasn't going to happen. I needed our flight to be kind of on time as I was a scheduled passenger on a flight to Washington DC about an hour after we were scheduled in in New Orleans. That plane came in and everything was done and ready as quick as we could. We pushed off somewhere around 30 minutes after our scheduled time and headed out. The rain had passed for the most part so we had nothing to delay us out. That was good news for me. It made sure that I'd have no problem getting on my flight to DC. We ran into a little line of developing thunderstorms that was just north of Pontchartrain that had to be navigated around. Here's what I was looking at from the cockpit:



We were already on decent for the airport and here you can see a pretty well developed and developing cell on the right and another lesser developed on the left. The hole that we are pointing toward is going to fill in eventually, it's only a matter of time, but we would be find. Thunderstorms are their most severe when they have that popped popcorn look. It signifies very strong updrafts as the storm continues to build. It will build until it can no longer support the moisture and then it will start to rain. After it's begun to rain, that's when you'll see the anvil top of a fully developed and dissipating storm. Thunderstorms build, blow up and blow out over and over again. These are still developing and we did our best to avoid them. They don't look like that much in the picture, but the clouds here are over 20,000 feet tall. Major thunderstorms regularly top 40 and sometimes 45,000 feet, while in the tropics they can reach upwards of 60,000 feet.

I was originally supposed to dead head (remember scheduled passenger, paid) to Newark, but our company has a policy that you are allowed to change your destination if it's the last leg of your trip and essentially get a ticket to go home. So that's what I did. It's crazy but today the easiest way for me to get home from New Orleans was to go through DC and then catch a flight home. I even got upgraded to first class for the flight to DC.

There were no issues with my flight to Cincy today either. I landed around 730 and headed home. I had been working for over 14.5 hours and flown from Boston to Chicago to New Orleans to Washington DC and finally to Cincinnati. I was gassed from the flying and gassed from the early morning. Frankly I'm surprised I'm even typing this right now.

I mentioned at the beginning of the trip that I tried out the new sleeping room in our operations in Newark. This is the ultra insiders look at it. The room is dark with some downlights on the floor, but you can see the general layout. This picture shows about 33% of the total space so you can see it's got plenty of room. I'll definitely use it again.



While I was home this week my kids started a week long Aeronautics camp at the local university. My middle son impressed one of the teachers so much that he asked if he could mentor him when he gets to high school. My son wants to pursue a path that somewhat mirrored this teachers and he wants to help him get as far down that path as possible. That's very rewarding to hear as a father. I was bumming on this trip because I missed parent day, where we could see what they worked on in the class and I missed the airport tour, complete with a flightline tour of a Cessna 172 and a tower tour at the original Cincinnati Airport, Lunken Field. Mark it down as more missed things courtesy of the career. Nothing is perfect, money has to be made and try as I might to be home for every single important thing there is just no way to make it all work every time. I still get to be a proud dad though. I'm just not sure if I want either of my children to think about a career flying an airplane. I'd be happiest if the middle one stuck to his plan of engineering no matter what field within that he chooses.

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I still can't get over how early the sun comes up in Boston. Cincinnati is in the Eastern time zone, but we are on the far western edge. Under no circumstance should the sun be full up at 5 am. None.

Hear hear!

Growing up in Dayton (1 hour due north of Cincinnati), the sun during summer should always be up until after 9 pm...

On a dynasty related note: PM, I flew through Chicago yesterday morning 6-9.30 am layover.. So close, yet so far...

I got to do my first go around... What causes things like that? We were on final and just about to land when you feel the full power and steep ascent happen. I had 3.5 hours, so i didn't care...

and in a strange twist of airline scheduling:

LAX-ord: one flight scheduled for 11.00 pm delayed for 90 minutes.
the other (mine) scheduled at 11:59 pm. So we arrived 30 minutes before a flight that was supposed to leave an hour earlier..


Finally, is it common knowledge who the company is?

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by finkenst

Finally, is it common knowledge who the company is?

I don't think it's mentioned explicitly. But PM's based out of Newark/EWR--that's a sufficient breadcrumb.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by finkenst

Finally, is it common knowledge who the company is?

I'd say it's common knowledge, but like britrock said, it's never been named and it won't be.

On a dynasty related note: PM, I flew through Chicago yesterday morning 6-9.30 am layover.. So close, yet so far...

Really? I was there! We got in from Boston at 8a and I was gone to MSY by 930! How about so close, yet so close!

I got to do my first go around... What causes things like that? We were on final and just about to land when you feel the full power and steep ascent happen. I had 3.5 hours, so i didn't care...

It can happen for any number of reasons. The absolute, most common reason though is loss of separation with the plane in front of you. Either from the plane you are following to the runway, or if the controller cleared a plane for takeoff and they didn't get off the runway before you needed it. So those instances are generally started because of ATC.

If it's not that then it was a decision by the pilots to execute a go around. Pretty much anything that might put the plane into an unsafe position to land could force a go around. Some examples might be too high/low on approach, poor speed control, loss of lateral guidance. It could be weather related. A windshear warning at the airport for your runway might do it, or a drop in visibility that would make the approach illegal. Of course, if the landing gear didn't come down, you'd end up going around as well.

and in a strange twist of airline scheduling:

LAX-ord: one flight scheduled for 11.00 pm delayed for 90 minutes.
the other (mine) scheduled at 11:59 pm. So we arrived 30 minutes before a flight that was supposed to leave an hour earlier..

It happens all the time. It just always seems like you're on the losing end.

[PilotMan]

I'm really struggling tonight. I have to leave again early tomorrow morning and I just don't want to go. I just haven't been home enough and the grind is really getting to me. Another 4 days on the road doesn't sound fun right now. I know that once I get going it'll be ok, but damn, that doesn't make me feel any better right now. Just kind of down tonight.

[PilotMan]

I know this is getting to sound like a broken record, but today was another long day. Up before 4 for the commute to Newark.

A National Weather Service weather computer crashed causing delays this morning. Basically, flights have to have the most current weather in order to be legal to depart. That weather can be electronic or something as simple as a brief from a flight service station over the phone. Some companies, such as mine, have their own meteorology department, others get their information from the National Weather Service or other places. When this computer went down it basically put flights on hold that needed that information in order to depart. So we were delayed. It got to the point that I called the company because if this went on for a while longer I was going to be in real danger of not making my flight.

Thankfully, it was resolved after an hour and we were under way. By the time I got to work I had just enough time to grab some food, download my paperwork and get to the plane without really needing to rush.

I started off the day with a flight to Minneapolis. Weather into MSP was not great, there were scattered storms here and there that we navigated around and the last 20 minutes of the flight were pretty turbulent. I won't lie, I had a good landing. We kept the airplane and turned back around and headed for Chicago next.

We got out of MSP at the right time as another thunderstorm was bearing down on the airport as we were heading out. No major issues going into Chicago and we weren't done yet.

One of the great things about today was not having to change planes one time. Having your stuff out and just leaving it out and not having to mess wtih all that is a massive time saver. Our last fight sent us back to Minneapolis to finish the day. The weather in MSP had gone downhill, heavy rain, thunderstorm over the field, etc. It was predicted to improve before we got there though. The only issue would be if there were going to be delays or any kind of ground stop heading there.

We lucked out and were on our way. We dodged around some smaller storms inbound and my landing was sub-par, but a landing you can walk away from is a good landing so I won't dwell on it too much. lol

I spent a good part of the evening wandering around the Mall of America. I've done many laps around this place over the years. Staring with college and taking day trips down here from Fargo to the many times I've laid over here and killed time. It's a place of comfort. eh, that probably sounds crazy.

I think that in this job you have to have a bit of introvert in you, but you have to be able to fake being an extrovert a lot. As the only child of a single mom, I spend a lot of time by myself. I dont' mind being alone, but I can tell you that this job will bring out the crushing loneliness of being alone. Just being on the road as much as I have lately and not getting enough family time is kicking my ass right now.

You'd think that being around so many people all day that wouldn't happen, but it's not as if I'm hanging around with friends. Just some random collection of other people who I've never met before and may never see again. Aside from the cockpit, it's pretty impersonal. Even in the cockpit though, unless you really click with each other, it's just not there either.

The July schedule came out today! Remember I said I bid the maximum of 20 different bids in an effort to maximize just what I wanted? Well I ended up with #11, which isn't terrible! Basically I got the majority of what I asked off for. I've got some time between trips and the best part of all of it is that I don't have to take either proposed trip off the table! Everything can just keep moving in the right direction.

Sadly though, you wont' get any July 4th nighttime flight videos. I get to San Francisco before noon and have a full 24 hours off. So what's to do in SF on July 4th?

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

We kept the airplane and turned back around and headed for Chicago next.

We got out of MSP at the right time as another thunderstorm was bearing down on the airport as we were heading out. No major issues going into Chicago and we weren't done yet.

i had a colleague on a flight from msp to ord today. he landed in ord between 7 and 8 pm//

[PilotMan]

Today I was planning to jet back to Chicago from Minneapolis first thing this morning. We were over half done with boarding when we got a message from operations that there was a ground stop to Chicago due to heavy fog and low visibility. It wasn't super low, just 1/2 mile vis and about 300 overcast, which is right down to the minimums for a standard instrument approach. So nothing to get too excited about, but it was enough that Chicago went into this delay program.

Like I've mentioned before, stopping inbound traffic when the airport can no longer handle the arrival rates keeps planes from holding and diverting en route. They had an "update" time of an hour later. An update time means that no further information will be given within the time frame and they will reevaluate in one hour and from there they can either extend the ground stop of end it.

But mostly, thats bull, they extend stops and end them within that time frame if the conditions improve of fail to. This is usually the time that I hear "this is crazy! I'm never flying "bumfuck" airlines again because this happens ALL THE TIME!" You can rest assured that all of this happens well above my pay grade and that I'm only passing along the information that I have. I may give opinions on what I think may happen next based on my experience, but that's all it is, pure opinion. This is also the time I hear that we aren't communicating well enough or that nobody knows whats going on, but in reality, that's all the information that there is and people just can't accept that that's all there is to it.

So the ground stop extended beyond that hour for another 45 minutes. Then they call us and tell us that we have a wheels up time in 10 minutes. Of course they don't know that we are at the gate, not boarded up, and it's going to take time to fix that. Sometimes you'll have a crew that will board up early and go sit at the runway and try and wait it out. With the limitations on how long passengers can be on the plane on the ground it's a gamble. Sometimes it works and you can get going faster or sometimes it backfires and you have to go back to the gate, deplane and reboard.

We boarded up and had no further delays. The weather had cleared out by the time we got to Chicago, but by now we were 1h45m late. We were scheduled to switch planes and take another plane to Dallas for the layover. That flight was supposed to leave 45 minutes before we even got to Chicago.

After we parked, I packed up and the Captain and I decided that we'd better stop and grab some food because there were no meals on this flight to Dallas. I told him that I was sure that we'd get to the gate and the plane would be boarded up and they'd all be sitting there waiting for us to show up. Well we did get there, just as they were finishing the boarding.

I was supposed to have lunch with my Dad in Dallas before he went to work, but with the delay that plan had to be nixed. It took us about 30 minutes to get everything caught up and ready to go. We actually did pretty good at getting everything up and running. The biggest challenge in this situation is trying to avoid rushing. Staying steady, deliberate and maintaining the normal routine to get everything set up. Giving in to the pressure to rush simply invites trouble. It can set you up for failure or a mistakes that while small might lead to bigger mistakes. Patience and discipline will keep it all together.

If you've seen the weather map lately you are aware of the tropical depression, or now the low pressure system that has been making it's way up from the south. That low is driving a lot of moisture as it spins. All that added up to some really crappy rides from Chicago, south. We were supposed to be at 34000, but went to 32000, then to 30000 then to 28000, then to 26000 and back up to 28000. It wasn't until we passed south of Oklahoma City that we found any smooth air.

So this was the long layover, that was shortened by almost 2 hours already. Then the ride to the hotel was made extra long with Dallas traffic. I guess there had been an accident and our trip was doubled. The nice thing was that my Dad was able to make it down and we had dinner. It's the first time that I'd seen him in 9 months.

[PilotMan]

Another silly early report time this morning (430a in Dallas) to work a flight to Denver to start the day. I've completely lost track of what day of the week it is. Each week has progressively gotten more mixed up and more mixed up, until yesterday I really had no idea. And I have a watch that tells me!

This morning's flight was very nice. We climbed out to a beautiful sunrise and I was somewhat thankful that we weren't heading east and directly into it.



We landed in Denver and parked, unloaded and packed up to switch planes for our next flight. I had about 30 minutes to kill so I walked around and went to ops. Nothing terribly exciting at all. The next destination and my second to last real flight of the month took me out to Seattle. This was the nicest flight that I've had in over a week. Glass smooth, good views absolutely no issues whatsoever.

I took this great shot of Mt Rainier. It's a very intimidating mountain in looks and just how it towers over everything else. We were on time into the gate and I headed for the hotel. I've got to get some sleep this afternoon. Another red-eye awaits me tonight as I head back to Newark and then home tomorrow. I'm excited to be home for Father's Day and a weekend. My only weekend of the month.

[claphamsa]

even if this wasn't awesome...its worth it just for the pics!

[PilotMan]

Thanks for the encouragement! I need it after last night. The inbound flight was delayed out of Newark and we didn't see it until we were already heading to the airport. That flight got in over 90 minutes late so I just had to sit and wait it out. After they got in we tried to go quickly and get moving, it being the last leg of the trip but we ended up waiting on fuel. I swear that was the slowest fueling of my life. We needed 30,000 lbs and it was going in about 100 pounds every 5 seconds. So we just sat there....waiting.

Once we got moving things went quick and we got out of there. We knew that there was some pretty severe weather over the Dakotas and we were supposed to fly north over Minot past it. The reports from the previous crew said it was bumpy and over central Montana our dispatcher sent us a number of pilot reports from other aircraft that had gone over the same area. They ranged from severe to occasional moderate turbulence. With a plane full of sleeping passengers the goal was to keep the ride as easy as possible. We were already flying as fast as we could and asked dispatch to come up with an alternate route.

Instead of our routing going over Minot we were now heading for Nebraska and over Rapid City. Even that routing saw us deviate even further south until we finally past that nasty weather. For the most part the ride was good. There were areas that weren't great but nothing on the order that we might have faced had we stayed on our northerly routing. We heard Minneapolis having a hard time with things. The weather had shut off a number of their arrivals and they were reporting holding times of an hour or more. I heard a few planes simply head to their alternates because they couldn't hold that long.

This flight seemed to take forever. Getting up and midnight and then not even getting to leave until after 3a (body clock time) is never easy.

Now I'm stuck in part two of this adventure...trying to get home. There are only 3 direct flights out of here today, 130p, 430p and 530p. The first one was my original plan, even though we were scheduled to get in at 730a. Then I saw the flight fill up and my name slide down the stand by list. So I decided that I'd try and go through Charlotte, but our delay caused me to miss that flight. Flights to Chicago look terrible and at this point any 2 leg flight doesn't really get me home any earlier than the first direct does. My hope now is that I get that first direct flight home. I will probably need to sit up front again. If I can't get that one I'll have to wait around for the next couple. I think that the second flight has at least a couple seats available. For now though I'm going to try and catch a nap and cross my fingers that this 3 hours to wait for the next flight will be worth it and I can just go home. I'm tired.

[PilotMan]

A total of 16 hours after my day started. I'm home. The first flight worked out to be the right choice and I was able to crash in a recliner for an hour in ops too. The next trip out is Tuesday morning for my yearly requalification (2-day event) in Houston. Father's Day is tomorrow and I'm excited to actually be home. We were planning on going to the local minor league baseball game tomorrow, but the weather doesn't look like it's going to help out there so I don't know what the next plan will be. I'm just happy to be home again.

It always feels like this when I get home again:

Thirty Seconds To Mars - City Of Angels (Lyric Video) - YouTube

[finkenst]

so, my friday:
Go to Airport at 1.45ish.
Desk Agent: Are you interested in volunteering to be bumped.. Get you to LA 1-2 hours later..
me: Well....

didn't need anyone to get bumped on the first flight...

SEcond flight home to La from ORD... Catastrophe.. Cancelled mechanical..

REscheduled: ORD-SFO landing at 10.40pm. SFO-LAX departing at 10.30pm... Umm.. Hello?

Anyway.. Made it to hat flight to LAX as they were delayed via mechanical, as well...

Got home.. Almost died as i was too tired to really drive and had to stop in a parking lot for a n hour...

[britrock88]

Yeah, that stuff over the Dakotas was no joke. It was a derecho with 80mph winds, flash flooding, a lot of downed trees, some torn roofs. Then there was another front yesterday that forced me to pull over on I-94 for a little while. Glad you made it back!

[PilotMan]

Finally, I've reached the finish line of this scheduled that I've been on the last few weeks. I've been on the road for 19 of the last 27 days and it's worn me thin. It's the nature of summer flying in the airline business. Schedules get more hectic and the pressure to work is doubled up on by having the kids home on summer break. It's been a slog to get this far, but I'll admit it's going to pay off. Literally.

I flew down to Houston yesterday for my yearly requalification training, generally called "recurrent." The idea is to get crews in the simulator doing things that they have to be able to do, but probably haven't done in a while or ever in the last year. It's a 2-day event and it used to be coupled with classroom ground school, but that has been replaced with the computer distance learning. So what the hell do you do for training?

Crews are paired up so I'm working with another Captain also based in Newark. Day one starts off with a 2 hour brief where the instructor goes over specific items that have been decided ahead of time, usually via analytical analysis of data and safety reports. Together, with the Union, the company creates a training schedule with hot topics and things that are going to be checked and refreshed. The FAA also mandates that certain things be accomplished every year so those are added in as well. The instructor gives us an idea of where we will be flying and what approaches will need to be accomplished, what maneuvers have to be done and the rough outline of the timeline for executing the ride.

Once the briefing is done we have a few minutes to go to the sim and get our stuff set up, generally the same way that we would in the real plane. In fact, one of the things I try and do is approach everything the exact same way each time. The routine of it helps the mindset for the flight. The sim is the sim however, and while it's certified to be an exact replica of the plane it has enough differences in how it handles and feel that you notice it. After everything is set up we go through the normal set up and preflight that we would in the plane. All the checks and checklists, weights, calls etc. Then we'll get fast forwarded to the end of the runway where the real work starts.

The Captain takes the first half of the ride. So when I say this I mean he is flying, he is being primarily evaluated and trained, but the cockpit is still a two person job, and I still have all the non flying pilot duties to attend to. Sometimes those are much busier than simply flying. So even though he starts we are both heavily involved. His takeoff is at min visibility, he get's a distraction that has us continue the climb out. We climb up to do some air work, namely stalls and steep turns. We take turns so we both can get our evaluations. From there we continue on and step through a security scenario where the result has us divert back to our departure airport where we have to set up for an approach that we don't shoot that often. All of our landings and missed approaches are with direct crosswinds at or near approach minimums. Some approaches are designed to have us land others to have us go around. We do another takeoff that results in an abort. Another low vis take off that results in an engine failure at the most critical point of the takeoff. All the checklists and emergency procedures that have to be followed are done, some of these take quite a while. Then that's followed by a couple of single engine approaches to a landing and one to a go around. The company also has some other specific events that they like to train, that were briefed in prior. This year happened to be some windshear escape maneuvers, a landing with flaps less than 30% extended, and an emergency decent. It's all pretty exhausting. Two hours for his flight, a short break and then it's my turn for a similar, but not identical ride. It's not merely good enough to struggle through all of these, there is a lot of communication and tolerances that cannot be exceeded. If they are, or if something isn't done good enough then it's got to be redone until it is.

When we are done it's a short debrief session to talk about everything and go over the things that we missed, did right/wrong. And a chance to ask more questions and generally discuss anything pertaining to the ride.

Day 2 is a little different. It's what we call a Line Oriented Evaluation. The instructor who is with us this day isn't teaching. He is evaluating. His job is to determine if we are doing things the right way, the safe way, the standard way, and making good decisions in the meantime. He is the guy with the power to take you off line, disqualify you from flying and so on. However, this ride is geared around a normal timed leg and flight to a destination planned ahead of time. Just like it would be on a normal schedule. So while it's important it's not as hectic and action packed as the day before. It's about doing your job the way you do it every day. It's not a big deal if that's how you operate every day. Generally there are a couple of "incidents" that happen on the flight that require some work and communication. We start with another 2 hour brief that isn't just about the flight but a chance for the evaluator to check your knowledge of the plane and the limitations and memory items associated with it. The flight is then scheduled for 4 hours and it'll take most of that. Hopefully, it's a happy ending and I can call myself qualified for another year.

[PilotMan]

So yesterday went as well as I had hoped. The Captain and I worked well together and he had some very flattering things to say about yours truly. Basically that I flew the plane very well and that I was very easy to work with in the cockpit. He said that I communicated clearly and efficiently and was a pleasure to work with. So my big head just keeps getting bigger.

The checking instructor had kudos for us as well, saying that we exceeded expectations and passed us with no issues. So this whole event is done for another year. I hopefully won't have to worry about the things that we did in the sim happening for real, but if they do I will be ready!

So yeah, the sim is a love/hate relationship. It's a great opportunity for learning when you are learning a new plane or just receiving general instruction. It can be insanely exhausting as one thing upon another happens and you struggle to keep it all together. It can be stressful when you are expected to perform to a certain level of proficiency and you just can't seem to pull it together. The stress can build as you fight with yourself to do better, to keep it together mentally while performing physically. You can fly a single engine approach over and over and over again until you get it right, so many more times than you could for real in the plane. The sim condenses everything and forces you to stay focused on what you are doing and where you are. In the end though you always get to walk away. It can be fun at times as well, but it's certainly where a lot of the money is made.

I'm now home for some well deserved time off. This was one of the breaks that the Mrs and I were going to try and get away with some friends of ours but that plan fell through. We still have the plans at the end of July/first of August time in the works, pending my days off in August. My bed is happy to have me back again.

So my big shock of the day was finding out that Shipley Do-nuts (and another favorite of mine Panchitos Mexican) in the B terminal is closing next week. I'm assuming because some larger entity is forcing them out for more expensive food options. No matter what it's crushing. These doughnuts are possibly some of the best I've ever had and I'm sad that they won't be there anymore. So I bought 2 dozen of them and brought them home for everyone to enjoy. Sorry, but you can't have one.

[Izulde]

Now I'm hungry for doughnuts

[Barkeep49]

Congrats on your work in Houston. Glad it went well and you received such positive feedback.

[Barkeep49]

Listened yesterday to a podcast whose topics of the week was Air France 447. Essentially it talked about the dangers of automation and how the crash happened because the pilots didn't realize the autopilot had changed from fly by wire, didn't realize they were in a stall and so they didn't correct. Don't know if you know that about that or have thoughts about pilots being in control vs autopilot but thought I would throw it out there. The podcast (which I think is really good) can be found at: Children of the Magenta (Automation Paradox, pt. 1) | 99% Invisible

[PilotMan]

There was a whole lot going on in that cockpit that is beyond the understanding of most of the non-aviation world. I don't fly the Airbus, but I'm somewhat familiar with the limitations and rules that they put in place. To start with this writer's use of the term "fly-by-wire" is wholly incorrect. The writer is trying to say that the laws and automation make it fly-by-wire, when in reality the term means "by electronic control." Let me explain.

Most planes going back as far as the first are controlled by a pulley and cable system used to control the different surfaces of the airplane. This set up works great on smaller planes. Larger and heavier planes are incredibly hard to control with this setup. The inputs necessary to fly the plane solely by cables are damn near impossible to manage. Now it can be done, and it's great as a backup, but let me tell you, it's really, really challenging.

So all modern jets have some other form of hydraulic control mechanism that can adjust the amount of force depending on airspeed and so on to allow for more accurate control. In the event of hydraulic failure the plane can still fly on the cables. Well as time goes on and multiple redundant hydraulic systems are put on planes the safety margin gets much bigger. Now you can save weight by getting rid of the cable and pulley system and use a straight electrical system to simulate the feel for the pilot and then the pilots inputs are sent to the control surfaces electronically. It's lighter, there are still redundant controls so it's not any more dangerous. This is fly-by-wire. Not what ever this guy is trying to say.

One of the biggest issues that these guys had in the cockpit was a failure to define who was doing what. Both of these guys were first officers. The Captain was taking his break. When their pitot tubes froze they failed to follow standard procedures to keep the plane in a stable state. It's been repeated many times in the sim that if they had just stuck to the procedures none of it would have happened.

Once they were in the shit, the lesser experienced of the two pilots sort of froze up. He was unable to get control of the plane back and told the other guy to take over. This Airbus has side sticks. They move independently of one another as opposed to the yolks you find on most other planes that are linked so when one guy moves the controls, both sets of controls move. The guy in the other seat always knows what you are doing. That wasn't the case here. The problem though was that the lesser experienced guy, the guy who had just told the other pilot to fly, was in the left seat. He didn't completely relinquish control and kept pulling back and pulling back on the stick, even after he had told the other guy to take over. His controls are designed to be able to override the inputs of the right seat. So the plane kicked itself out of some of it's protections when it noticed the significant control input differences between the two sticks.

The guy in the left seat, who was scared, froze up, didn't tell the other guy what he was doing. The guy in the right seat is trying to size up the situation but none of his inputs are working either because he doesn't know that the guy in the left seat has overridden his controls. They aren't working together because they are both still trying to fly the plane. By the time the Captain gets up there it's way too late. He is still trying to assess the situation but he realizes that they have no airspeed and have no altitude left to recover the plane.

I don't lay this crash at the feet of automation. I lay it at training. You don't see this type of thing in the US (much, not saying it can't happen, but it's a much different environment otherwise), but you do see it in foreign countries where pilots are trained more rote repetition rather than the more complete thinking assessing, communication and teamwork. You'll find guys who can fly the airplane day in and day out under most circumstances, but struggle in an emergency. Also these long haul flights are very different than say what you find in domestic operations in the US. On a domestic trip I might do 1 or 2 landings a day, or 4 for a 4 day trip. There are up to 4 pilots scheduled on these long haul flights and only 1 of them will takeoff and land. So over a trip the captain and first officer might get 1 landing each, while the relief pilots get none. In order for the relief pilots to even stay current they have to go back to simulator training every 3 months just to get the required 3 take offs and landings. It's very easy for your skills to decline when you aren't using them.

This is a perfect example of a training failure:

Flight captain: 'Wow, pulled back the wrong throttle' - CNN.com

[PilotMan]

Back at it again.

I know that I was home for over a week, and we had tried to plan a trip with some friends to Florida to get away for a couple of days but that plan fell through.

We did get to attend the wedding of an old friend of ours. They had planned their wedding in advance, but the Supreme Court decision just happened to come down the day before so it made it that much better. Got to catch up with an old co-worker that we hadn't seen in 15 years so that was good. But the main part of the time off was finishing a shed project that we had had in the works since early this spring. It involved hauling and spreading close to a ton of rock and paver stones, and then actually putting the stupid thing together.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the handiest guy. Hell, my wife is handier than I am but some projects are only possible when the big guy takes charge and this was one of them. We got it built in between rain storms. Good god, when is this rain pattern going to end? The ground is so soggy it feels like you are stepping on a sponge. I haven't even been able to season my new grill yet! It just sucks to be outside right now.

Today I got to experience one of the joys of holiday travel as the number of direct flights to Newark was cut from 7 to 2 with the last leaving home at noon. My showtime is very early tomorrow morning, but still, I'm pretty much blowing my day off today to fly to Newark so I can work tomorrow.

I should also be hopping the train to Manhattan just to hang out and go look around, but my motivation level for it just isn't there. Besides, I've got this dynasty to keep updated!

Either way, I've found myself back into FM14 again, picking up an old save that I've run for 12 years now. It's so freaking addicting. I feel like I'm answering that question, "so PilotMan, you've had a quite a break since you last stepped into the plane. How do you think you'll respond?" So it's either going to be "We have enjoyed the break and feel invigorated because of it," or "We may have some rust that we'll have to shake off so we'll just have to deal with it." Lol.

Tomorrow though holds a lot of potential if everything goes according to plan. One leg, across the country to a long layover in downtown San Francisco for the 4th of July. No night flying to show you, sorry guys. You really ought to do it sometime though. The fireworks from 30,000 feet are quite the sight to see.

[PilotMan]

Nothing like getting up at 0330 coming off of a bunch of days of to get you right back into the swing of things. I had a 500a show time yesterday morning for a 600a departure. I was the only one leaving the hotel to head to the airport at that awful hour of the day. I downloaded all my paperwork for the flight on the way to the hotel and looked it over. The flight was scheduled for 5:33 across the country and had us planned to get in 10 minutes early. Everything went smooth on the gate and we got off on time.

A short taxi out and we were off earlier than planned. That's always nice on a 1 leg day. There was a little leftover rain in the area that caused some turbulence for us as we climbed out over New York. Once we cleared that at the western edge of the state it was smooth sailing. A very pleasant ride. The only problem was that it was just so early in the morning and it was a long flight. So staying alert and focused on the task at hand for that time was probably the biggest challenge.

Somewhere, whether it was a person of a computer that allocated flight numbers, a bad idea was hatched. We were numbered flight 1415 from EWR to SFO, and coming behind us, same company, flying from JFK to SFO was flight 415. Virtually the same route as well. So for the next 5 hours both of us were on the same frequencies. They were a 757, and cruising faster than we were so they ended up passing us enroute, but all the same, we were pretty much together. It only caused a bit of confusion. So as pilots go, I needed to pay very close attention to the call sign and enunciate my readbacks very clearly. At one point a controller, who was not paying attention, told me we were already at FL360, after we asked to climb. He was pretty adamant about it too after we reassured him we weren't. That was when he noticed the other flight. See on his screen all he sees is XX1451 or XX451. And he's looking at a big area with probably 20 or more airplanes on it with their altitudes, speeds and id blinking along. So you can see what a pain this whole thing was.

No delays for us in the airport and we parked a full 20 minutes early. Next we headed downtown for the layover. I was beat. I immediately went back to bed for a nap. My room had a tremendous view of Coit Tower and Telegraph hill. I thought that maybe I'd be able to see the fireworks last night from my room, and I could, sort of. But between the low cloud layer and the hill all I saw were the flashes of light. I decided not to hike down there because of the time and my body clock. It would have been 2a by my time, when I got back, so I just stayed. I did get out to enjoy some of the culture and had some good food, and wandered around China Town for a little bit. The musicians were out in full force yesterday and playing very festive, patriotic songs for the passersby.

This morning, I snapped this pic from my hotel room, just before sunrise.

[PilotMan]

We didn't even leave the hotel until after 9 Pacific time. That's after noon by my body clock. It was great to get to sleep in, even if there were some incredibly loud fireworks around the hotel. If you ever want to know what the fireworks sound like when they explode just go up to the 18th floor. The Captain and I were both laughing this morning that it felt like we were being shelled with mortars last night.

It took the ramp crew, what seemed like, an extra long time to get everything loaded onto the plane before we left. We even ended up going out about 7 minutes late as a result. Nothing much we could do about it, we just sat there until everything got done. Taxi out was uneventful until we got a message from the company that there was a chance that the plane might be in a tail tip situation when we got to Chicago. So the remedy for that situation was to unload all the cargo out of the aft bin before we could unload any passengers. I don't think anyone wants to see this happening:



This is actually the first time that I've run across this situation, and while I'm sure it's frustrating for passengers who just want off and now have to wait. In the end, it's well worth the hassle. To me anyway.

So we had to brief everyone who was listening. So that meant that most everyone had no idea what was going on so they had to be told a second time.

Chicago was the destination this morning and we had been remarking that it was really nice to have a smooth flight with really no weather to worry about when the ride suddenly got choppy and lasted for the next hour and a half. We couldn't fly as fast as we were supposed to so the idea of making up the time we had lost was out the window as well. We got into Chicago a few minutes late, landed on the far north runway and taxied a long way back to our gate. Ops was aware and said they were ready to get the bags and cargo off as fast as possible, which they did. It took about 6 or 7 minutes to get all that done. So not a stellar day as far as time was concerned, but another safe trip with over 185 people in a tube, 7 miles over the earth, going over 500mph.

Oh and as a note, don't make negative comments about landings unless it was a real fuckup. My landing today wasn't awesome, but it was better than most in a gusty cross wind. Someone made a sarcastic comment that they loved the bouncy landing and thanks for that (which it wasn't, it touched down and the shocks extended as it lifted up some, but it never left the ground after it touched.) The Captain jumped right up and defended it saying it was about as normal a landing as you'd get. Hey, you just flew 1500 miles in my plane and got here safe and sound. Why would you insult me now? Whatever, maybe he thought he was being funny or something. Its not anything I especially care about. Just trying to pass on my day.

That's all I had today. I've got a short layover here tonight and an early get up to finish up tomorrow. This was only a 3-day trip, one shorter than my standard 4 that I've been doing. But it only means that tomorrow is go home day! Woot!

A couple of new pics for you today. The first is inside the wheel well of the 737 on my walk around. It's taken across the bay, you can see the opposite landing gear and the spot it takes in the gear bay when it's retracted. Plus you can see the massive network of guts just in this section of the plane.



The next is a snapshot of my view in the right seat just before we pushed back today. You can see most of the good stuff that I have to look at. The engine instruments towards the left (which is right in the middle of the cockpit), the flight management computer next to that, my map and primary flight instruments on the screens right in front of me. I've got my scratch pad with my standard set up of information for the start of the flight with reminders like callsign, flight time, min fuel, departure and arrival weather in addition to various other odds and ends in the cockpit.

[Barkeep49]

Thanks for your perspective on that crash. Really helpful to understand.

[PilotMan]

Yesterday ended up being the longest of the three day trip. I started the day early, getting up and walking over to the airport. On short Chicago layovers we stay at the airport hotel. It's not great for the layover, but it maximizes your available rest time better than say, going downtown does. Being able to walk to the plane is nice too.

I got to the plane with plenty of time to get it ready. Chicago is the place where things can unravel pretty quick. Any seasoned traveler can tell you that, but this day was different. Today, it all fell into place and went the way it's supposed to. The plane was closed up, no delay for pushback. No delay from ground to get to the runway. Then number 1 for takeoff and cleared off with almost no delays.

The first flight was down to Dallas. No issues, no problems. Got into Dallas almost 20 minutes early thanks to our smooth departure out of Chicago. A whole lot of delays and the determination on how early you will be is decided on the ground after you push back and before you take off. And while that part may have nothing to do with me the pilot, I'll be happy to take full credit for getting you to your destination that early.

That flight down from Chicago had a brand new flight attendant on it. She was working her first flight so when we got to Dallas I took her outside and took some pics of her with the plane and in the engine like has been the tradition for flight attendants for decades. That made her day, I was glad for it.

The next leg was our final leg to Newark. Nothing special about it. A very standard flight, and again we got in a solid 10 minutes early. Always great to finish a trip early.

I had a couple hours until my flight home, so I went down to the employee cafeteria and ate some dinner. My flight home was full so my only hope was for the jump seat. Someone once asked me how I liked sitting in the jumpseat. My response is that it's always more comfortable going home, than going to work, and it's much more comfortable than every seat in the Newark airport. Meaning that I'd sit on the toilet if it meant I could go home.

Got home around 7 after starting the day at 6. Ended the day at 2. So a 5 hour commute home and if you add that to the 18.5 hours I had before my trip I lost an entire day off. So while my trip was only 3 days, it really played almost like a full 4 day trip.

It's nice to be home for my birthday. I'm having issues accepting that I've turned the corner on a new decade of life. I don't feel that old, but the guy I look at in the mirror is starting to. The weather at home is messing with me. I still haven't gotten to season the new grill or even try it out. We were supposed to go to the drive in for a double feature of Inside Out and Lost World, but it's going to storm again here on my days home so even grilling out is probably out of the question.

So this morning I got woke up by some lovely person mowing their grass at 730a. Except that the person mowing was my 13 yr old, and he was doing it because he got in trouble for not doing it the day before even when he had been told it needed to be done and that I was very disappointed that it hadn't been done because it hadn't rained in a couple of days. So in his 13 yr old mind this is what I had in mind. Sigh. Trying to just stay relaxed and not put to much thought into this. I'm sure it'll get better from here. At least I'm home to enjoy it.

[finkenst]

PM,

Still following and keeping up.. Thanks for pointing me to this from steam...

How would this morning's issues have affected you? Particularly if this were your commuting day?

--t

[PilotMan]

Happy I wasn't working today for sure.

As a commuter I would have been in the same boat as any passenger. As a commuter I have to have 2 flights that I can take that will get me to Newark in time for my scheduled trip. Let's say for instance I was to take the 0600 on my companies flight and had a backup of a 0730 flight on another company plane. If the first flight is delayed or cancelled then I have the second as a backup.

In this case the backup can either work or not. If it works, great, but say I don't get on that either, then I can call the company and let them know, I can be taken off my trip and stay home, but I lose my pay for the trip.

Most likely I miss my trip and lose my pay, but then I either make it Newark and get reassigned to something else and get that pay, or I am essentially reserve available for the days I've missed and get paid accordingly, which is almost always less.

I don't fret about getting to work as long as I've got my bases covered. If something happens, it happens. I've been commuting for 3 years now and haven't missed a trip yet. That's a pretty good record. Now if I was missing a trip every other month I might have to talk to the boss and find out why exactly this was happening.

[PilotMan]

God, bidding can just be a big giant pain the ass!

Especially when it seems like every month it's crucial to get specific days off. My bidding seniority has gone up over the last couple of months. Right now I'm bidding at 57% of all the pilots in my plane and base, and 71% out of the lineholders. That means that I'm still safely in the bottom half for bidding purposes. I can't just throw a bid out there and expect to get anything out of it. It's got to be crafted the right way. Bid too aggressive and you'll get nothing out of it, bid to general and you'll leave stuff on the table that you could have gotten.

So it's a matter of looking at past bids, seeing what you have been awarded in the past, mixing it with what you need for the next month and then throwing a detailed, specific net wide and detailed enough to capture what you want without going overboard.

Now add the pressure of not getting the right days off so you and your wife can go on your first (big) vacation ever, with the first day of school and a local neighborhood party that you are trying to spearhead and plan because you decided that the community needed more togetherness and you've been throwing your opinion around the board trying (and succeeding) to win support for a variety of projects. But this one is the biggest yet and if you aren't there will it go the way you want?

So yeah. I've been procrastinating taking the time to sit down and do this for 4 days. I've got a couple days until it closes, but I have to go back to work and I needed to get this done while I could discuss it at home.

Now in the past, I know I've gone on tirades about what to bid, and pretty much I've been successful about how I've bid, but until I see that award in 9 days I just sit around on pins and needles and wait and hope that it's good enough. Plus every month that goes by and my seniority gets better improves my chances of getting what I want.

I've got another trip starting tomorrow that will involved heading out today to the crash pad. Looking forward to tomorrow as I'm going to one of the better international layovers that I've never been to before. Stay tuned.

[pbot]

Just posting to say that I still follow this and look forward to each update.

Maybe a dumb question, do you ever use any of the pc flight sims? Microsoft FSX, X-plane, P3D?

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by pbot

Just posting to say that I still follow this and look forward to each update.

Maybe a dumb question, do you ever use any of the pc flight sims? Microsoft FSX, X-plane, P3D?

Thanks pbot, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying it. I'm enjoying doing it and we've made it over the halfway point! Just a few more months to go!

Sorry I've been slacking here this week. My trip started off with no internet and I just haven't gotten caught up yet. Planning to try and remedy that tonight.

To answer your question I used to play Microsoft regularly. I used a program called Pro Pilot '99 with the whole yolk/rudder pedal set up and would practice on that, especially when I was working on my instrument rating. However, I will tell you that once I got my instrument rating, and I could do all of that for real. I stopped cold turkey. It simply held no more enjoyment for me.

My dad was a pilot in the Air Force and I couldn't understand until that moment why he would never play any flying games. I figured that he should, because he flew and all that, but I found all the understanding I would ever need after this experience. I've got Microsoft on Steam right now, but I still haven't fired it up yet.

[pbot]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

To answer your question I used to play Microsoft regularly. I used a program called Pro Pilot '99 with the whole yolk/rudder pedal set up and would practice on that, especially when I was working on my instrument rating. However, I will tell you that once I got my instrument rating, and I could do all of that for real. I stopped cold turkey. It simply held no more enjoyment for me.

Makes sense, thanks. When I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is open up Excel so I can see why since you do this for real, the pc sims would hold no interest.

I've spent a good bit of time flight-simming, and some of the add-on planes I have purchased through the years claim to be quite realistic, at least procedurally. I have no way of knowing if that's true as I have never been anything but a passenger back in coach, but reading this thread has given some sense that they are "reasonably" close. Not that I could land a plane if the pilots became ill due to eating a bad meal in flight or anything like that of course.

[PilotMan]

So, let's see if I can remember back to 3 days ago. The only reason that I'm hesitating is that I killed a fair number of brain cells and I flew with a guy that I'd rather forget about. It's not that we were at each others throats or anything, but we simply disliked each other.

So commuting to work proved to be a bit of a thing this week. The plane was late coming from Chicago due to an ATC delay to we didn't get boarded up until late. I had an early morning and was anxious to get to the bed. We taxied out to the runway only for Newark to go into a ground stop with a 45 minute update time. So we just chilled on the taxiway until they told us it was being extended by an hour. At that point the crew threw in the towel and went back to the gate to wait it out. It was only another 30 minutes before we were back on the plane and this time it was for real, but not without being seriously behind the ball. I finally rolled into the crash pad at 1230a and hoped to be in bed by 1a. I was number 3 in the pad that night so at least I got a lower bunk. I didn't sleep that great and was up at 530a to get ready for the trip.

Saturday was only 1 leg to a new destination for me, Punta Cana in the D.R. Just a couple of storms to dodge here and there, but it was an otherwise easy flight down. Our hotel is an all inclusive and I've never been to one of those either, but I do like to eat and drink and check out hot summer beaches I didn't complain. It was a really nice layover and I look forward to getting to head down there a second time. Here are a couple of shots I took from the resort. I wasn't too impressed with D.R. on the whole though. It's not a very scenic area, and it's all inclusive because there is simply no reason to leave. Nothing else to, but eat and drink and lay in the sun, which certainly has it's time and place.





Day two was another 0 dark 30 start as we got to the airport seemingly before anyone else. It sure felt like it at 5a. We got stopped going through security because they said that they didn't have us listed as crewmembers. They didn't speak English, we didn't speak Spanish, but after about 10 minutes of just standing there looking at one another they managed to find a way to get us through.

The plane hadn't even gotten here yet. It was on it's way from Houston on a red-eye. I'm not a morning person. By the time it got there they didn't leave us much time to get it turned around and make an on time departure, especially in the islands. It worked out alright though, the flight to Houston was blocked heavy so we had some time to play with. There were some big storms south of the Bahamas that we had to deviate around which makes things more interesting when you are heading right toward Cuban airspace.

I like to take pics of things that I think people just don't think about or get to see. So here is a picture of the Mississippi River delta, where the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. There is a very distinct line here where the fresh, muddy, river water mixes with the salt of the Gulf.



No rest for the weary traveler however. We weren't done in Houston, there was one more leg to complete the cross country trip, San Diego. The flight there was easy. No weather, no issues. I'm going to try and get a pic of the border sometime. It's so very interesting to see the stark difference between the two borders even when they are just a few feet apart. I took another pic on this leg too. If you've ever driven across west Texas you'll recognize this. Thousands upon thousands of Oil and Gas rigs as far as you can see.



Normally my biggest excitement in San Diego is Fish Tacos in the Gas Lamp District, but our normal hotel downtown had made arrangements to sell our rooms for a lot more money ('cause of Comic-Con) so we were moved to a nice hotel in La Jolla. Another really nice area. I did succeed in finding some fish tacos, btw.

This morning was West coast time, so the 0330 wake up was the latest of the entire trip. I nearly ran into Seth Myers at the airport. By the time I realized it we were already past one another and I wasn't about to go chasing him down. The morning was spectacular. Aren't they always in San Diego? Here's a shot of the sunrise coming over the hills while I was doing my walk around, preflight check. Completely unedited or enhanced.



On climb out I snapped this pic of the Sierra's. All cloud covered and looking smokey. The cloud formation creates a really nice perspective on the entire shot.



The flight today was smoooooooth and painless (except for that not liking the guy you are stuck in a broom closet for hours on end part.) When I got to Newark I found out that a flight home was delayed but getting ready to leave soon. All the flights home were sold out with a bunch of stand by passengers, I'm guessing due to the All Star game. I hustled to the gate only to find that it had just left a few minutes before. I talked to the agent and I guess I wouldn't have gotten on anyway, even the jump seat was taken.

So I had about 90 minutes til my flight. Like I said the flight was full, and I was now down to number 6 on the stand by list. I needed to get on that plane! My only option is to go to the gate and wait for the agent to show up. The jump seat can be all about first come, first serve so being early always pays off, even if it means standing there for 30 minutes. Just like being in line at Disney...without the ride part that is.

So this long story ends with me getting the last seat on the plane. I didn't even need to sit in the cockpit. The door was closed and we were on our way. Then the armrest on my seat broke. Not a little. It broke off and just hung there. Nothing embarrassing about that! Last guy on the plane, breaks it and now they have to pull the jet bridge back up, they have to call maintenance and the work has to get done and the log book signed off. Nothing like 49 people looking at you, blaming you for their late flight to Cincy. I can see it now, "Big pilot breaks seat, now we are delayed. I hate this airline!"

My day was pushing 12 hours by the time we landed back home. Even though it was only a 3 day, I'm done, tired and in need of some family time.

[claphamsa]

how often do you see similar pilots? can you schedule around the ones you dont like?

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

how often do you see similar pilots? can you schedule around the ones you dont like?

It's somewhat random. I say somewhat because a lot has to deal with seniority and bidding preferences. For example, with the kind of trips that I'll hold I'll line up with captains that have similar seniority or bid similarly to me, like commuters for example.

If you look at the math of it all and assume that it's a perfectly equal chance of flying with the same captain twice then it looks like this:

Say I fly an average of 4 trips per month and on each trip I fly with 1.2 Captains (totally unscientific, but there are trips on occasion where scheduling is covering the trip with reserves and I'll fly with 3 guys for that trip. So 1.2 is an extra captain every 5 trips.

4 x 12 x 1.2 = 57.6 ~ 58 Captains in a year.

There are roughly 400 737 Captains in Newark and 1944 company wide. Figure that 5% of those guys aren't flying, either because of illness or management so that makes our numbers: 380 and 1845.

So 15.3% that I'll fly with the same Captain who is based in Newark in the same year. Or you could say that I could go 6.5 years without flying with the same guy twice.

Company wide (just for comparison, I mean, I think I've only flown with guys from other bases a few times in 2 years), those same numbers are 3.1% or 32.3 years (which is longer than my career will be there without a rule change.) And all of this is just on the 737. Each fleet type is a little different due to size and crew requirements.

To answer your second question, yes I can bid against certain guys. It's a part of the preferences I can set in our bidding program. Some companies have policies that allow first officers to bid against Captains, but not the other way around. The reason being that good Captains have to be able to manage any situation and work with anyone, the cockpit IS truly a reflection of the personality of the Captain. They set the tone for every one else in the crew. If a Captain finds himself on too many 'do not fly' lists then he might get called into the office for an informal chat. And yes, there are guys like that.