i decided to bring my laptop with me on this trip to see if it was worth the hassle of dragging it around, along with the 100 lbs of other stuff i have to drag along with me everywhere i go.
chicago is a busy place tonight.
i flew jumpseat in the cockpit of a super 80 with two fantastic pilots with american. i even got a free meal out of the deal.
people are frantically moving to and fro; occassionally 500-yard dashes are performed for those trying to make their connecting flights.
i observe the fact that people at the airport are so consumed with getting on a flight, that it is suddenly a national crisis. sure, it's an inconvenience if your flight is late or, worse yet, you miss your flight. but let's step back and take a look at the bigger picture here: what is the worst that will happen if you can't make your connecting flight?
your probably going to have a warm, dry bed to sleep in tonight; your probably going to have the best food that micky-d's or burger king has to offer, or better yet, chili's; and your probably going to make it to that all-important meeting, interview or seminar, albeit maybe not at the time you originally planned.
we need to remember that travelling by air is a privilege and not a right. our society of entitlements has produced a culture of demanding, selfish and downright rude people and it is interesting to see how it comes out at the airport.
so, calm down, relax and enjoy your delay at the airport; it's probably the most down time you will see in your day.
Monday, February 26, 2007
>i've been everywhere
you know that johnny cash song, "i've been everywhere"? well, i've pretty much been living that for that last few weeks. i won't bore you with every place i have been, but trust me, i really have been everywhere! there are two things that i can rely on to get me through those 8-leg days...
starbucks and iPod.
for early morning flights, nothing wakes up the junior first officer like a venti-sized hot plain coffee with lots of sugar and cream. yep, pretty much any airport you go to has a starbucks, and hence a reason to be excited at 6 am in the morning before your first flight of the day. does it really take a starbucks coffee to make me happy? nah...just give me a cup of coffee from the airplane coffee maker and the fact that i have a full day of flying ahead of me and a great overnight and this has the same effect. but, nevertheless, starbucks is a great morale booster no matter what my day looks like. i was having a somewhat bad day last week on a trip and a captain offered to buy me a coffee from starbucks. wow!! this really picked me up and my outlook for the day instantly changed. all of a sudden the fact that i was going to get back to chicago so late that i couldn't catch a flight back to dfw for my four days off no longer mattered. what do they put in their coffee??
my iPod is probably the most important piece of equipment i pack for my trips. ok, slight over statement...but it's a lifesaver on days that your sitting in the terminal waiting on your flight with nothing to do. glenn over at RantAir has the same affinity for his iPod. the fact is, that it's a hunk of metal, plastic and 
wiring that produces the sounds and images that make the sometimes unbearingly long waits into a great time to catch up on your favorite podcasts. for me, the nano is my model of choice. it's small, extremely compact and great for strapping to your arm when on a treadmill on an overnight. but, i am increasingly becoming interested in the video ipod. i will wait until this one gives out until i make that approximately $350 purchase. for now, audio podcasts will have to do.
wiring that produces the sounds and images that make the sometimes unbearingly long waits into a great time to catch up on your favorite podcasts. for me, the nano is my model of choice. it's small, extremely compact and great for strapping to your arm when on a treadmill on an overnight. but, i am increasingly becoming interested in the video ipod. i will wait until this one gives out until i make that approximately $350 purchase. for now, audio podcasts will have to do.rebekah and i just got back from a weekend triste to the bahama's. the temperature hovered right around 80 degrees and the water was bright blue. we decided to 
capitalize on the flying for free benefit and also were able to lock in a great rate at our hotel because it's the same one our crews use for overnights. the weather on saturday in dallas caused more than 300 flights out of DFW to cancel and forced an hour late departure out of the bahama's to dallas on sunday. that left me with very little options to get up to chicago to start my four-day long reserve. i was able to snatch a jumpseat on a super-80. but before i boarded, crew scheduling told me that my flight on monday morning was canceled and i didn't have to be back up in chicago until late the next day. so, here i am updating my blog and getting ready to go catch my flight to chicago.
capitalize on the flying for free benefit and also were able to lock in a great rate at our hotel because it's the same one our crews use for overnights. the weather on saturday in dallas caused more than 300 flights out of DFW to cancel and forced an hour late departure out of the bahama's to dallas on sunday. that left me with very little options to get up to chicago to start my four-day long reserve. i was able to snatch a jumpseat on a super-80. but before i boarded, crew scheduling told me that my flight on monday morning was canceled and i didn't have to be back up in chicago until late the next day. so, here i am updating my blog and getting ready to go catch my flight to chicago. 
at the beach
tacoma getting some "rest." she really has a tough life.
Monday, February 12, 2007
>flyin the line
i completed my ioe (initial operating experience) yesterday with two turns from chicago o'hare. one turn took us down to oklahoma city and the other turn took us to peoria, illinois. the latter was about a 30 minute flight from wheels up to touchdown. so ioe is done and that marks the official end of my training. it seems like it took forever from the time i walked into the doors of the training center on dec 11 until now. but everything i have learned since i started will shape my experiences flying the line.
during ioe the past week i had two classmates conduct their mandatory observation flights as i was conducting first officer duties for revenue flights. when one of the guys showed up to observe a sequnce of flights, i was happy to have him on board and hopefully learn from some of my successes and mistakes. within the first turn he was making observations of mistakes i was making and readily pointing them out to myself and the check airmen. at one point, i turned to him and said that i was glad we had him on the flight, because we would surely be in trouble without him. he apologized because he didn't "want to sound like a teacher or anything." to add insult to injury the guy proceeded to continue. the only experience he had prior to this ride-along was the standard sim training that everyone gets before starting ioe. i did complete the flight sequence with him as cordially as i possibly could, but i had to bite my tongue.
i also had the opportunity to have an faa representative come observe one of my turns from dfw to baton rouge. i felt like it was yet another checkride. on our debrief he didn't have much to say, but he did point out one "gotcha." overall, considering it was only my third or fourth time as the pilot flying the erj, i felt pretty good about my performance.
so now, i am waiting for crew scheduling to fill up the rest of my month with reserve time. until then, i sit...and wait in dallas until i am beckoned to chicago.
on my observation flight, i had some opportunities to snap a few pictures, although not great. i am posting these. my wife also snapped a few pictures of me on my first day that i am posting here.
First day picture and sitting in the jumpseat during my observation flights.
Observation flight cruising at flight level 370
the view of lexington from my hotel room on my first overnight. it was pretty cold and still had some snow on the groud from a recent arctic blast.
this was my "international" flight to chihuahua, chihuahua mexico
during ioe the past week i had two classmates conduct their mandatory observation flights as i was conducting first officer duties for revenue flights. when one of the guys showed up to observe a sequnce of flights, i was happy to have him on board and hopefully learn from some of my successes and mistakes. within the first turn he was making observations of mistakes i was making and readily pointing them out to myself and the check airmen. at one point, i turned to him and said that i was glad we had him on the flight, because we would surely be in trouble without him. he apologized because he didn't "want to sound like a teacher or anything." to add insult to injury the guy proceeded to continue. the only experience he had prior to this ride-along was the standard sim training that everyone gets before starting ioe. i did complete the flight sequence with him as cordially as i possibly could, but i had to bite my tongue.
i also had the opportunity to have an faa representative come observe one of my turns from dfw to baton rouge. i felt like it was yet another checkride. on our debrief he didn't have much to say, but he did point out one "gotcha." overall, considering it was only my third or fourth time as the pilot flying the erj, i felt pretty good about my performance.
so now, i am waiting for crew scheduling to fill up the rest of my month with reserve time. until then, i sit...and wait in dallas until i am beckoned to chicago.
on my observation flight, i had some opportunities to snap a few pictures, although not great. i am posting these. my wife also snapped a few pictures of me on my first day that i am posting here.
First day picture and sitting in the jumpseat during my observation flights.Observation flight cruising at flight level 370
the view of lexington from my hotel room on my first overnight. it was pretty cold and still had some snow on the groud from a recent arctic blast.
this was my "international" flight to chihuahua, chihuahua mexicoFriday, February 09, 2007
>initial operating experience
for the past three days i have been immersed in the day-to-day operations of flying the line in the Embraer 145. to say that i stay busy would be an understatement. out of the 12 flights i flew, only 1 was on time. on the first flight i felt like i was still sitting on the gate when we were at 20,000 feet. my ioe captain had to make my callouts for me as i was mesmerized at the speed in which things were moving. by the second and third flights i was able to catch up to the plane.
on the second flight of the sequence, the return trip from baton rouge to dfw, it was my leg to fly and of course, that meant landing, also.
"learning to land the plane will come with time" i had been told on more than one occasion while in the sim. in the sim, i was instructed to get the plane down within the first 3,000 feet of the runway, whether it was a hard landing or not. getting the plane down within the first 3,000 feet of the runway on the checkride was critical to not failing the checkride.
so, needless to say my first real landing in the jet, with a full load of passengers and cargo, was a little rough. my ioe captain joked that i didn't land the plane, that the plane landed me. well, i got no complaints from the passengers, but the flight attendant did mention jokingly that her back was a little sore after the landing. my second landing into dfw was a little better. by the third landing into lexington, kentucky, that "time" had come. i was finally beginning to feel the airplane and finally made a decent landing to my relief and the flight attendant's.
day 2 of ioe took us from lexington to dfw; dfw to jackson, ms; back to dfw; dfw to chihuahua (cuu), mexico. (by the way, chihuahua dogs are actually from china, not chihuahua, mexico, according to our hotel shuttle driver).
by day 3 i was already exhausted from the previous days' training. we went from cuu to dfw; dfw to jackson; jackson to dfw; dfw to baton rouge; baton rouge back to dfw. on day 3 i also flew my first 2 instrument approaches into dfw with low ceilings and visibility. that seemed to be the only thing about the training that was familiar to me from the sim. every thing else about my ioe experience seemed like a different world to me.
when i got home from the airport, i put nacho libre into the dvd player, and was out within the first five minutes. today, i spent the day finishing nacho libre and catching up on some sleep.
all in all my ioe experience has been everything i thought it would be--a lot of fun. i finish my last few hours of ioe in chicago on sunday, and after that, i get the pleasure of being at the company's beck-and-call on reserve in chicago.
on the second flight of the sequence, the return trip from baton rouge to dfw, it was my leg to fly and of course, that meant landing, also.
"learning to land the plane will come with time" i had been told on more than one occasion while in the sim. in the sim, i was instructed to get the plane down within the first 3,000 feet of the runway, whether it was a hard landing or not. getting the plane down within the first 3,000 feet of the runway on the checkride was critical to not failing the checkride.
so, needless to say my first real landing in the jet, with a full load of passengers and cargo, was a little rough. my ioe captain joked that i didn't land the plane, that the plane landed me. well, i got no complaints from the passengers, but the flight attendant did mention jokingly that her back was a little sore after the landing. my second landing into dfw was a little better. by the third landing into lexington, kentucky, that "time" had come. i was finally beginning to feel the airplane and finally made a decent landing to my relief and the flight attendant's.
day 2 of ioe took us from lexington to dfw; dfw to jackson, ms; back to dfw; dfw to chihuahua (cuu), mexico. (by the way, chihuahua dogs are actually from china, not chihuahua, mexico, according to our hotel shuttle driver).
by day 3 i was already exhausted from the previous days' training. we went from cuu to dfw; dfw to jackson; jackson to dfw; dfw to baton rouge; baton rouge back to dfw. on day 3 i also flew my first 2 instrument approaches into dfw with low ceilings and visibility. that seemed to be the only thing about the training that was familiar to me from the sim. every thing else about my ioe experience seemed like a different world to me.
when i got home from the airport, i put nacho libre into the dvd player, and was out within the first five minutes. today, i spent the day finishing nacho libre and catching up on some sleep.
all in all my ioe experience has been everything i thought it would be--a lot of fun. i finish my last few hours of ioe in chicago on sunday, and after that, i get the pleasure of being at the company's beck-and-call on reserve in chicago.
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