Captains: Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde

"Number one rule is make sure you are having fun."

"This is my switch. Stay on your side."

"What are you doing?"

"I better take this leg, also. The winds are kind of strong in Chicago."

"Don't hesitate to challenge me on anything. I make mistakes too."

(ha ha ha) "Great landing. I don't think they felt that one in the back."

These are all things I have heard from the various Captains I fly with. As one can imagine, their personalities are as different as some of the trips themselves. From flight to flight I never really know what kind of Captain I am going to fly with.

My first Captain I flew with on the line for IOE was what we like to call a Screamin' Eagle. On the ground he was great-very personable, relaxed, liked to joke around. When we got into the air, he was completely different, especially as were approaching the airport. He made an already stressful situation into an extremely stressful situation by raising his voice. Looking back on those first few flights, the added stress wasn't a bad thing- if I could handle him yelling on approach, then I could pretty much handle anything else in the airplane.

Since then, I have seen a variety of personalities that either cause me to love the job I have, or make my time in the cockpit excruciatingly long. Captains have their quirks about how they want things to get done. The sooner I can figure out their modus operandi, the better off I will be. As long as it's not illegal or unsafe, I have had to learn to adapt to the different styles of how things get done.

The sequence in the way things get done always remain the same:
Origination Checklist
Before Start Checklist
Engine Start Checklist
After Start Checklist
Taxi Checklist
Before Takeoff Checklist
Climb Checklist
Cruise Checklist
Descent Checklist
Approach Checklist
Before Landing Checklist
After Landing Checklist
Parking Checklist

There is a checklist for every single phase of flight. Running through checklists ensure that the flight is conducted safely and that the flight crew is on the same sheet of music. Paperwork, aircraft logs, even printouts from the ACARS always go in the exact same place each time. This ensures that flight crews can operate the aircraft and conduct the flight the exact same way that they have done with previous flight crews.

On the extreme other end of the spectrum, I recently flew with an ex- Air Force pilot who was so laid back that as long as there was no emergency, he turned everything into a joke. He was safe and is an outstanding pilot, but he was definitely a cowboy.

The best captains are the guys that make you feel at ease in the very beginning. Nothing does that more than a big smile and a firm handshake. I can confidently say that Captains who can put First Officers at ease from the very beginning will get much more out of them when they need it. Captains who like to run things through intimidation and making the FO feel like a worthless crew member because "he just doesn't have the experience" that the Captain does are not going to get a lot from their FOs. Does this put the safety of the flight in jeopardy? Not at all. It just discourages a learning environment for the First Officer and hence becoming a better pilot for the airline.

My second IOE Captain actually laughed at the worst landing I had made to that point (and I have not made one that bad since). Full airplane, among the passengers were other deadheading crewmwmbers. To top it off, a fellow classmate was jumpseating in the cockpit for his required observation flight. The approach into Chicago was fine. However, I was so intent on getting the plane down because Land and Hold Short Operations were in effect, that I unintentionally kept the thrust in and had a descent rate to the pavement that caused the aircraft to bounce off the runway, actually get airborne until I finally pulled the thrust to idle and let it gently touchdown for the second time. The Captain just laughed and although he could have sent me back for more training, he knew the embarassment of the situation was enough for me to analyze what I had done wrong and ensure it never happened again. Now every time I see him in Chicago he jokes around about that landing...I must have made quite an impression!! Too bad I wasn't able to log two landings.

I am able to talk about it, because no matter how great a pilot one perceives themself to be, they will always have one or two landings (or more) in their lifetime that they wish they could do all over. If one doesn't learn from those experiences, then they will have a short career. My point is this: the Captain handled the situation well by putting me at ease and when a mistake was made he didn't hammer me into the ground like others might have. In return, I gained more respect for him and I learned a few great lessons.

So what makes a great Captain to fly with? There simply is no formula. Each Captain brings his own personality, experience, background and knowledge. Generally, the Captains that are personable, don't like to rush, decisive, don't take themselves too seriously, patient, love to teach and love flying more than life itself...those are the guys I could fly with every day and usually make the best Captains.

I had one Captain treat me like I was five and proceeded to try to explain every single thing going on to the minute detail. He was so wrapped up in making himself look so knowledgeable and his explanations were unwarranted, resulting in him making a few mistakes that I caught. This was the same Captain that, instead of taking turns flying each leg, flew both legs because the "winds are kind of strong in Chicago." This is an example of a Captain not allowing the First Officer to learn through experience, and thus not allowing the FO to become a better pilot for the company.

I am continuing to watch each Captain so I can evaluate what I like and don't like, so when the day comes, however long that may be, I will be the best Captain possible.

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What does P. Diddy. Joseph Lieberman and Andre Agassi have in common? The answer may surprise you. It shocked me.

There is a website called MyHeritage.com which takes a picture which you submit and compare it to celebrities and other famous people. Naturally I was curious about who I might be mistaken for.

Yes. P. Diddy came in #1. Come on, you can't see the resemblance? People in the airport ask me all the time if I am P. Diddy.

So obviously this site doesn't do a great job of matching faces. What do you expect for a free internet site that offers you a chance to be flattered?

P. Diddy isn't a bad looking guy. I just don't really like his music. Sachin T...... (not sure who that is) came in a close second followed by Michael Vartan (the guy who played Sidney Bristow's handler in Alias). I am relieved to see that a 65+ year old guy, Joseph Lieberman, is a little lower on the list, though not much.



Off to Chicago today for five days on reserve. I have this next weekend off and will have every weekend off in April!!
I'm still on track to fly out of Dallas starting May 1!!

Are you a "Christian" or Follower of Christ?

Crew Scheduling & Reserve: The Life of a Regional Pilot

I just concluded my reserve sequence for the week.

Update: I am now starting my reserve sequence for the week.

I started this blog entry last week and got one line into it before I was able to sit down and finish it today.

Amazingly, I am no longer the bottom-feeder First Officer at the O-Hare base. There is a new class of new-hires beginning their IOE (Initial Operating Experience) this week, which means my "Ready Reserve" days will hopefully be fewer and farther between. The difference between being on reserve and ready-reserve is that reserve is on-call at home; ready-reserve is on-call at the airport. However, when I move my base to Dallas in May, I will again be at the bottom of the list and will get the opportunity to sit ready-reserve more often.

So, I decided to take it upon myself to meet and greet the folks at crew scheduling. Some prefer the term Screw Scheduling. I hadn't had any negative dealings with them up to this point, but figured they would appreciate a box of fresh, hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts as well as my happy, smiling face and charming personality. As I figured, the folks that consist of Screw Scheduling are nice, down-to-earth people. The thing that people in this industry should recognize is that, just like us, they have a job to do. The only difference is that their job is hard.

The role of crew scheduling in a nutshell is to ensure each flight has a Captain, First Officer and Flight Attendant. If a flight is missing any one of the three required crewmembers, the flight cannot and will not happen. Now, let's say, for example, there is a weather event occurring in Dallas and a flight to Nashville is planned to occur, and it's the last flight of the day for that aircraft and flight crew. There is a crew at the hotel in Nashville who is scheduled to take that particular aircraft to Cincinnati the following morning. Because of the weather in Dallas, the flight to Nashville gets canceled. Now, you have a stranded crew in Nashville and are a plane short to leave Nashville the following morning. So, what does crew scheduling do? I have NO idea. An option for them, and usually one they use, is to deadhead the crew from Nashville to wherever they were supposed to go. Now, multiply this same kind of scenario occurring 50-75 times at the same time. Again, I'm not sure how they do it, but somehow they do. This scenario was the root cause for why JetBlue was forced to shut down for a few days a month ago. Their operations were not equipped to handle a massive de-synchronization of flight crews and aircraft. Fortunately, we have good people figuring out these solutions on a daily basis…I'm just glad I don't get paid to do that.

Crew scheduling does get a bad rap from pilots and flight attendants. I've heard the analogy comparing their apparent shortsightedness to a car swerving to miss a pot-hole and driving off the side of the road off a cliff. Obviously, that's just a little dramatic. I believe they do the best with what they have, and at times there are breakdowns in the system, whether maintenance or weather-related. However, meeting them face-to-face has given me more confidence in them and how they solve issues as it relates to my individual schedule. I did let it be known that I wanted them to use me whenever they needed me. Maybe I opened myself up to abuse, but hey I would rather work too hard doing what I love, than sitting around wondering why I'm not making any money and not getting flight time (not that there's much to be made in my current position.)

The day before I was to come up to Chicago for my sequence last Friday, my lovely, sweet, beautiful wife had the misfortune of spilling coffee all over my laptop. So, after powering it up and…nothing…she agreed that it was time for a new laptop. We found a great deal on a HP Pavilion dv2014us which we bought that same day. It's small, lightweight and a perfect travel companion, besides of course, my wife. It came with a built-in webcam and the new Microsoft products are awesome!! The biggest improvement in Outlook is the ability to download all the RSS feeds that I subscribe to. This means that any update to someone's blog in our Aviation Blogoshpere, it is directly sent to my email inbox. The second most significant improvement, in my humble opinion, is the ability to write my blog in Word and then directly upload it to Blogger. This is a great advance. When I am not connected and I have my laptop, I can work on my next blog entry. With the webcam I can take pics like the one I just took on my Non-Rev flight to Little Rock on the CRJ.

Well, off to Chicago for my week of flying (i.e. sitting) reserve.

President Bush Impersonation - 2006 White House Corresponden

Whether you like him or not, one has to admire the quality of our President who can laugh at himself in front of his peers, his cabinet and staff and millions of people around the world on C-Span. This was a great concept and executed well by both the President and impersonator, Steve Bridges.

Three days off for me in Dallas and then back to Chicago!!

I've also added some more sites to our Flying Blogosphere.

Blogosphere Updates

The little world that GC on RantAir coined "Aviation Blogosphere" has some recent updates that I would like to highlight. The blogosphere aviation community is a tight-knit group which allows us to share and post our experiences as both private and professional aviators. It is a great community of aviators to be a part of!!

JClark on his site A Pilot's Journey details his journey from when he started his instrument flight training in January of 2007. In many ways, his experience reminds me so much of mine as I tried balancing my family, full-time career and flying. It was tough at times, but at the end it was so worth it. Keep working and don't give up on your dream. We will journey with you as you pursue a career in aviation!!

Windsor on Freight Dawginit is a freight dawg flying a Falcon 20 and Lear 25 all over the US and Mexico. He has some great pictures and stories from the time he started working as a freight dawg in May 2006.

Meanwhile, Sam on Blogging at FL250 is continuing his "Landing the Job: Part IV" series which contains some extremely insightful advice, not just for someone who is looking for a job in aviation, but for anyone looking for a job. It is a nicely done series-very detailed and organized.

Greybeard, an air ambulance helicopter pilot, over at Pitchpull relates the importance of being prepared as a pilot in all phases flight, including post-crash survival skills. Greybeard draws on years of experience as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and as an air ambulance driver. If there is ever anything you want to know about helicopters, Greybeard's the man!!

CPT Dave at FL390 was up for a blogging award for his site. He continues to write his experiences as a Captain for a major US airline carrier. He has some of the best pictures from the cockpit out there. Keep up the excellent work, CPT Dave!!

As for me, I am on a 2-day pause from my reserve schedule. I will be catching a flight up to Chicago this evening and hopefully fly reserve for one day and get three days off. During my days off I plan to begin my next project at home of building a wooden fence around my backyard.

Closet Christian

You, my reader, know many details of my life if you have read my blog. However, there is one thing that you do not know about me; partly because I have no desire to turn my blog into a site for debate on religion or faith; and, partly because there is a stigma associated with my faith in today's society.

So today I take the step to reveal to you, my reader, that I am a born-again Christian. I am sure some of you are thinking, "Uugghhh the last thing this world needs is another judgmental, intolerant, hypocritical (is that a word?), boring, Christian." Hopefully those who know me would never associate those things with me.

Sadly, there are many who know me who would never be able to tell, unless I bluntly told them, like I'm telling you. I am human and not close to being perfect, and just like everyone else I struggle with finding my value through things in this world. I am great at screwing up and destroying the credibility of my faith for those around me.

I share my life with my wife, also a Christian, and a great group of guys who hold me to a high standard of accountability when I fail. It is great to know that no matter how badly I mess up, it's never going to alienate me from the love and grace that Christ has shown toward me. This same love, grace and forgiveness is evident through the people I share my life with, and hopefully it is evident through mine.

If there is anybody who wants to know more about the fullness of life I experience on a daily basis as a Christian, it is the easiest thing in the world to have. It just takes a decision on your part and a ridiculously minuscule amount of faith and you can fill that persistent void that not enough alcohol, drugs or sex will ever come close to filling.

On my sidebar, I have inserted a link for a Bible verse every day, hopefully to encourage the few readers who stop by my site. I have also included a daily devotional called "The Journey" which is an online devotional written by members of my church, Watermark Community Church.

I'm not really sure why I chose now to post this blog, other than the fact that Sam on his site at FL250 revealed that he and his wife are going through a tough time. I know that during my toughest times the thing that gets me through is my faith and the fact that my hope is not in this world, but it is in the life that I know I have through Him. I know it sounds trite, childish, maybe a bit naive, but it's true.

*************************************************************************** There are terms that you become intimately familiar with as a professional pilot, flying for an airline.

Reserve--Ah, yes, every new hire First Officer is familiar with this term. It is your first duty as a junior pilot for the company you work for; and, it is what it says, reserve, i.e. backup. Reserve duty requires you to be on a two hour recall in the event they need you. Your on duty, but not really...your more or less on call. You usually remain on reserve for, at a minimum six months up to a year, depending on how much hiring the airline is doing. If they are hiring a lot of First Officers after your date of hire, those new First Officers will hold the reserve lines, while you begin "holding the line" or getting the trips that you bid for. When you "hold the line" you actually know where your going ahead of time and the schedule is more predictable.

Ready Reserve--First officers become excruciatingly familiar with this. Here, you are on-call AT THE AIRPORT. You might, or might not get anything; nevertheless you are sitting, waiting, hoping for a flight to open up.

"Holding the Line"--As discussed above, holding the line is a good thing. You no longer are forced to be on reserve or ready-reserve as long because you now have a scheduled sequence of trips for the month.

Crash Pad--Every new-hire FO has one of these. It's a home away from home. For example, I am based in Chicago, but I live in Dallas. When I am sitting on reserve, I need a place to stay and a place to "come home" to. I happen to share my two bedroom, one bathroom crashpad with 11 other guys. It's not as bad as it sounds, because we are very rarely there at the same time. For about $170 per month, you to can have a crash pad two tain stops away from Chicago O'Hare.

Deadheading--You are a passenger on a revenue flight, on duty and on company business. It is a tool used by the airline to re-position a flight crew from one location to another. In this case, you have a guaranteed seat on a scheduled flight.

Flying Standby--Not a guaranteed seat and it is not on company business. I frequently fly standby from DFW to ORD to get to work and then fly standby back to DFW. I pay taxes only on these flights.

Crew Scheduling--They rule our lives. They are responsible for ensuring flight crews are where they need to be, when they need to be there. I do not envy their job. They must juggle federal aviation regulation requirements, contractual requirements, company requirements for each individual crewmwmber for each individual flight. Crew scheduling is either your best friend or your worst enemy. So far, they are appear to be most people's worst enemy. But, I'm optimistic about crew scheduling to this point: their job seems to be impossible at times.

So today I am stuck in the great city of Cincinnati. I started my ready reserve duty last night at 7:00 and immediately was called for the flight to Cincinnati and an overnight, concluded by deadheading back to my home away from home, Chicago. Due to the weather across the country yesterday, that plan changed more than once and we will now be flying out of here tonight at about 7:00.
I have a great hotel room, perched high (or higher) above the city on the 17th floor. I will have spent close to 24 hours at my hotel by the time I leave for Chicago tonight. When I get back to Chicago, I could either be used for another trip or be released where I will promptly catch the "L" back to my crashpad for the night. I think I will be able to return home (i.e. Dallas) on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Although, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I thought I would be home today, getting ready to go to the Dallas Stars game with my wife. But, this changed when crew scheduling informed me the other day that I would be on reserve through the weekend until later next week.