It has been an interesting couple of months. After transferring to DFW on August 31 things have been moving pretty quick. I spent September and October on Reserve. The Month of November I was awarded a Comp Line. A composite line is basically a mix of a hard line and reserve. A hard line is on that the entire month of flying is scheduled. A comp line you could have a whole month scheduled, or it could be be 3 sequences scheduled and the rest being reserve. This is what my month looked like. The other thing about a comp line is that you send an email and give a "wish list" of what you would like. I requested thanksgiving off, and the weekend of the 18th. I figured that wasn't much to ask for. I did get the weekend of the 18th off, but I was scheduled to work a 4 day trip that would have had me sitting in Montgomery Alabama for 30 hours. I have yet to overnight there, but it's my understanding that there is a waffle house (which i hate) a subway, and a gas station that sells fried chicken. This is NOT how I wanted to spend my thanksgiving! I learned real quick a wonderful benefit when you are a line holder. You can "trip trade" for any open trip. Of the three trips I was assigned, I only flew one, the other two I traded out of. I had a total of 4 trades. The first I traded because it had 3 Mexico trips, with two Mexico overnights. I try my best to avoid these. Obviously the next was the Montgomery on Tday. I ended up trading 3 times before settling on one that had an overnight in Houston. My daughter lives there, so I was excited that I would be able to have thanksgiving with her. After my experience with a comp line in November, I decided to go back to a reserve line for December. I figured it would be my best bet for getting Christmas off. The way they seem to assign flying if I was a comp for Dec. I would end up in Fargo on Christmas. As far as reserve lines go, It's not bad. Thursday, Friday , and Saturday off most of the month. Except the weekend end of Christmas then it will be Sat, Sun, Mon off.
Things are also coming along on the airplane. I'm at 250 hours on it now. I'm finally starting to feel pretty comfortable with it. We have been getting several ifr days lately as well, so it's good to get some ILS practice.
One morning they were calling for fog, and very low ceilings. It was a short flight back from Houston, so I kept the speed up trying to beat the fog. I ended up seeing a very cool image as we flew the downwind at dfw. Have you figured it out? That is downtown Dallas, the skyscrapers sticking up out of the clouds/fog. Now here is were it get even cooler. The city split the fog as it moved in from the southwest. I have never seen anything quite like that. And yes we made it in before the fog, it started rolling across the north side of the field as we were pulling into the terminal. I have learned there is one major side affect to being an airline pilot. You easily get sick. I got a cold my first trip off IOE, and now I'm home with a pretty good flu or something. I do attribute it to the profession, because I have not had a serious flu/illness in probably 10-12 years. So that being said, It's time to finish this post, and go sit back down for a bit. More to come soon.
The Life of a reserve pilot. Being on Reserve simply means you have no set schedule. You do not know where you are going far in advance. What you do know is your basic schedule for the next month, about two weeks before the month stars. When I say basic schedule I mean, what days you are required to be available and what days you have off. Whether you will work or not on your scheduled reserve day is an unknown, at least until that day arrives.
There are a couple types of reserve schedules. One is called a RAP. Reserve availability period. The RAP has a 120 min call out period. Once the phone rings you have 15 minutes to respond, and then 2 hours (from the initial phone call) to sign in at the airport. We have a RAP 1 and a RAP 2. Rap 1 begins at 0400-1900 and RAP 2 is 1000-0100. You can be called at any time during that period. If you live in base, this may not be so bad. If your senior on the reserve list, it's entirely possible you may not work at all if you don't want to.
The next type of reserve is Ready Reserve. If you have ready reserve you are required to be at the airport ready to go immediately. The ready reserve is a much smaller time period. 8 hours of duty.
As I said before we have little control over our schedule while on reserve, and it's not real easy to plan ahead for an actual flying schedule. We do have one option available to us. It's called proffering. It's actually a really great system, when it works. The day before your scheduled reserve day you log onto the company system to see what flight sequences (if any) are available. If there are some available, between 11am and 3 pm you can "proffer" for the open trip. After 3 pm crew scheduling awards the open trip based on seniority. Let's say you are awarded a 4 day sequence. Once you have verified you have received your assignment, it's as if you are no longer a reserve pilot. at least for the next 4 days. Once you sign in for the trip you no longer have to contact crew scheduling, at least until the trip is over, or they reassign you. It really is nice when this happens. However as I said before, when it works! I have already noticed many problems with the system. Once the proffer window opens 11-3pm they are NOT supposed to remove any open trips, but they do. When they assign open trips, they are supposed to award them in most senior order. There has been at least one occasion I did not get a trip I proffered for and a JR. reserve pilot got it.
So what is life like for a reserve pilot. Lets look at tomorrow. I'm on a rap 2. They can call me starting at 10am. The earliest I have to arrive at the airport will be noon. Since I commute to DFW from SAT I will take a morning flight Dallas. Once I arrive I'll check my messages to see if they have called. If Not...I'll find a comfy chair somewhere and sit down, and wait. Last week I had a day where I arrived in DFW about 1130am. I sat all day, and around 1900 i was headed to D terminal to catch a ride back to SAT. Right at 1900 I got a call, They had an overnight in Jackson Mississippi. The next day we got up and returned to DFW. It was supposed to be a return and there was no additional flying. Once we got back to DFW we found out they added additional flying. A Laredo TX turn, and Cincinnati Oh. overnight. The fun part, you just NEVER know what expect next. Sometimes you might keep a crew for 4 days, other times you might go through 3 Captains and Flight Attendants a day.
Day one, of a 5 day is coming to an end. It's still only 6pm, something could come up, but it's unlikely. I took a walk around to get some exercise. Snapped a couple pictures. not a very exciting day.
The new title Picture is another of my terrible iphone pictures. It is my friend mark in the right seat getting ready for a corpus christi texas turn. Mark was in my new hire class, and roommate for the first couple weeks.
The first month of being dfw based has come to and end. It's October, where has time gone. I was surprised to find that DFW flying was slow for the month of November. I'm currently at about 150 hours in the Embrear. Things are beginning to come together for me. I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm I'm supposed to be doing. I have made two Trips into Mexico now, does that make me an International Airline pilot?
The first was an overnight to Leon Mexico. Located in the State of Guanajuato. It was late when we got in, but I woke up early and went outside to enjoy some very cool morning temperatures. It was a beautiful morning. I noticed something on the tallest peak, to the left in the picture. We didn't have enough time to go there, but i knew it was a structure of some type. Since I didn't have time to visit it, I looked it up. Turns out it's called Cristo Rey, or Christ the King. It stands 20 meters tall, its a bronze statue of Jesus Christ set atop the summit of the mountain Cerro de Cubilete. It is located in the geographic center of Mexico. For the Christ followers in Mexico, that is significant as it shows That Christ is in the Heart of their Country. This monument was built in 1950, just after a smaller version was destroyed at the end of the Mexican revolution.
Just this week, I picked up a Vercruz Mexico trip. I was not to excited about, as Veracruz was just in the news when 35 headless bodies were found in the city apparently on a major road or highway in the center of the city.
On the way down as we began our descent through 18,000 we were handed off to VER approach. Which did not have radar. To top that off the last weather we had indicated low visibility, and 1200' clouds. I did not like that, since there was only VOR approaches available, and their minimums were 1200'. The Atis was inop so we did not have the most current wx. Luckily it was uneventful. we broke out of the last layers around 6000' and the rest was all visual. It was interesting to have to make position reports to approach control. Finally. we are on short final things are looking good, we're visual, everything is OK...maybe. I was looking down at the approach chart when out of the corner of my eye I see something go past the windshield. I looked and before I could say anything the captain jumped and said wow. what the? About then another went by, and another. At 140kts I couldn't make it out, other then just a bunch of large birds! We are do to take the same plane back to DFW in the morning, I do not want to ingest a bird right now! Finally, on the ground, it doesn't appear we had any bird strikes, and its off to bed, for a very short overnight. The next morning came way to early. It's very difficult to just walk into a hotel and go to sleep. It takes time to relax and get ready for bed. next thing you know it's midnight and you have to wake up at 5am. 5 hours of sleep is just not enough. That is one reason the faa is trying to update rest rules for pilots. I would say most of the time it's not an issue, but all it takes is one tired pilot, and mistakes can be made.
It's my turn to fly. After some computer issues we're finally ready to go. Mexican airports are unusual. Unlike US airports many of them do not have taxiways, which means you must "back taxi" or taxi down the runway you plan on departing from and do a U turn at the end and then take off. While we were boarding and being delayed due to computer issues I was watching outside. I could see weather building of the coast. I was hoping it wasn't to bad. Finally we get our close-out. It's time to go. The weather wasn't bad, we flew through some heavy rain for a bit, but then broke out on top and seen this just off our left side
The Pico de Orizaba. The highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises 5,636 meters (18,491 ft). The volcano is currently dormant but not extinct with the last eruption taking place during the 19th century. Its the second tallest volcano peak in the world, second to Kilimanjaro in Africa. it was an amazing sight to see. Just after we broke out on top, to see this towering mountain all covered in snow, still well above us.
For the most part this new adventure has been exciting. I like most aspects of it. The one thing that has turned out to be not so nice, is how trips are assigned when your on reserve. I'll talk more about reserve later.
It's sometimes still very surreal to me. Especially when I jump out after we land and do my post flight inspection. Standing in front of the plane and looking back at this 100' long jet and thinking...I just landed this! Yeah, I still have those moments!
It's a new month. I'm finally DFW based. I'm so happy to be here. I really enjoyed Chicago, but the stress of having so few choices to get to work and back and the longer flight just did not out weigh the choice of having 15 flights a day, and only 45 minutes away. Unfortunately there does not seem to be as much flying. If you sat reserve in base I guess it wouldn't be bad. Get paid to sit at home. I would rather be flying, after all that is why i applied to work here.
My first trip out of DFW was so easy, it was not even like work. I had a 1550 flight to CVG, and then to bed on day one. The next day was CVG to DFW and a JAN turn. Then a flight back to CVG for another over night. The next morning we had an early flight back to dfw. It was a beautiful morning. cool temps, clear sky's. We took off, I hand flew up to about fl180 and kicked the auto pilot on. About the time we hit cruise, our flight attendant called and asked if we wanted dome of the famous Cincinnati coffee. The Embrear cannot brew it's own coffee, We have it brought on board prior to the flight. Of course we both took a cup. Not much had been said prior to that. The Captain seemed content with keeping his hot-mic off. I'm not really like that, I tend to be a talker. If I typed as much as I talked I would have endless new post here. Anyway, after a cup of coffee I felt refreshed, and ready to go. I started some conversation with the captain and I apparently hit his hot button. we talked non stop all the way back. Which was a good thing, because the air was smooth, the radios were quite, and I would;d have been sleepy in the early morning light. I'm finally starting to get comfortable with the airplane. My landings and approaches are getting better. I'm really looking forward to getting into the airline life. There seems to so much movement finally, after several years of furloughs and a stagnant aviation industry. After a very nice early morning flight even after I pulled the power back and cruised slower then planned we still got into DFW early. I was off the plane by 0730 and on my way to C terminal where an AA flight was about to depart at 0750. A quick call to crew Scheduling and I was released and on my way home. I was in San Antonio before 9am. After a nice weekend at home I was off for another 3 day. This one was not as smooth, but still not bad. Had an overnight in Alexandria LA, and a Baton Rogue turn. Heading east bound we soon saw what we thought was a cloud layer in front of us. Closer inspection revealed it was actually wild fires. One very large one and several small ones. Some day I will carry a nice camera, the picture above I was trying to get a shot of the smoke after we passed it. Later, on return from BTR we passed over Alexandria Which we will be back to in just a little while for an overnight. I enjoy the night flying. Smooth air, less radio chatter. It's a nice alternative to the fast paced daytime.
Chicago ohare waking up, with a b747 departing to Asia. They have a long ride ahead.
Day 5. It's been a long 5 days. The schedule has not really worked as smoothly as previous trips. Nothing has seemed to work as smoothly. Had a day we were supposed to fly syr ORD ind JFK cvg. While enroute to ind we received notice the JFK had been canceled. Now we are scheduled to ferry and empty plane to cvg and overnight there. That's a loss of 4.5 hours of flying. I can say this, empty, the emj145 can climb. You have to be very careful, you can blow right through an altitude assignment in a blink of an eye.
One day Chicago departure held us at 5000 until we got out over the lake. It was an awesome view. If you look south of downtown, there is a patch of grass that looks like a Island. That was Meigs field. Now, its a patch of grass. Don't even want to get started on that one.
This was out plane on the ORD-IND trip. We gave her to another crew who took her back to ORD. Our plane came in a short time later and we ferried it to Cincinnati.
The only good thing about that was getting some Famous Dave's BBQ. Its pretty good.
This was my view from the back of the plane on our return trip to ORD from Nashville. Yes, Sitting in back. But the stroy really starts at 4am. I get a call from crew scheduling. They have an assignment. I am to Deadhead to Nashville, and pick up an empty plane and ferry it to Chicago. The trip down was ok. I met the Captain I was to fly with on the ferry flight and had some small talk. He was a newly upgraded Captain. Seemed like a really nice guy. I was looking forward to that flight. I had just spent two days with a guy who was not as pleasant. When we got on the ground at BNA The crew who flew us told us they received word that our ferry flight was canceled. Now we are to return to Chicago, again in the back. Deadheading. If your not familiar with that. Deadheading is when the company flys you in the cabin as a passenger, but you are being paid to fly. You are on duty. So they basically paid us to fly as passengers to Nashville and back.
The only problem now is that this is my last day. I want to go home. and Chicago is about to get pounded with Tstorms. This could back things up for days. Not want I want to hear. The view above was on approach in the clouds, and rain and lightning. I do not like looking out the window and seeing lightning. Thankfully it was fairly smooth and the wx we were in was not to bad. We got on the ground and deplaned. Once Inside I called crew scheduling again and they released me. This means I am done and can go home...really? You couldn't release me in BNA where I was already half way home. I could grabbed a flight to DFW and a connection to SAT.
Long story short I made it home, even with the delays and cancellations. Now it's time for a little rest. ONE more day In ORD...Just ONE more, and then I will be DFW based!!! Woohoo. I'm excited 15 flights a day and only a 45 min ride. Compared to 3 flight a day and 2hr and 45 min ride. this is going to make life so much easier!!!
So maybe I don't get to go to exciting places like the international 747 pilots go, but that's ok. I grew up in Missouri, in a small town south of St Louis called Festus. Yes, I'm sure you have heard of it. Haha. I have not gone Many places. I could probably count the states I visited before this on both hands. I have been to Honduras, and that's it for foreign countries. So this opportunity to travel is exciting to me. I have already seen things I have never seen before, and probably would have never seen. This trip is not to exciting. I overnight tonight in champaign IL. Not to far from where I grew up. Tomorrow I overnight in syracuse NY. I have never been there, so I hope to find something to see. I got another first class seat to ORD this morning, Now that I have had a nice breakfast, it's time for a little shut eye for the last hour and half.
It's nice to have an uneventful flight. No wx or mc delays. I got to Chicago on time and early enough to update my jepp charts.
Jeppessen charts are basically maps. They tell is whereto fly, and sometimes how high or low to fly. They update on a regular basis so we always have the most accurate enroute and airport information. Everyone hates jepp updates, and today's was a large update. Technically we do them on our own time. It's actually really amazing how little of our time spent away from home is paid. A 4 day trip away from home pays us on average 14-19 hours. For being gone for four days. A lot of the work we do is off the clock. Later in your career it equals out in regards to pay. However as a new guy, I could probably make more working full time at mcdonalds. Today we do a Harrisburg PA turn and we overnight in champaign IL. I did not have a camera ready, but Harrisburg is right next to three mile island. It was a nice view on final. It's funny how overnights are judged by the breakfast. If there is a good "free" breakfast everyone wants to go there. Well apparently cmi has a good one.
So tomorrow will be an even shorter day. Return to ORD and then go to syr for another overnight.
This photo was inspired by a comic strip given to me by a friend. When he gave it to my wife at church I was actually already gone on my first trip as a "line qualified" pilot. Little did he how how appropriate it was.
It all started out OK. I took an early flight to Chicago.I got a first class seat which was nice because I also got breakfast. After that I settled in and tried to take a little nap. It was going to be a long day. It was an uneventful flight, and just about the time we were to start our descent into Chicago the captain comes on to tell us we are going into a hold.
And as you can see we had to hold for a while. Long enough that we had to divert. That last little hook to the left was our descent into Peoria Ill.
Now I'm thinking great, I'm gonna be late on my first day! The turn in Peoria was great. The folks on the ground had us fueled and ready to go in 30 minutes! Before you know it we we're #1 for takeoff. Then we get the message. No realease into ORD. We're not going anywhere. We spent the next hour and half sitting on the taxiway engines off. Finally we get the go ahead. The Captain very quickly brought the old MD80 back to life and we were off. It was so fast I could almost hear him thinking lets get in the air before they change their mind!
I make it it ORD with a little time to spare. I finally meet up with my first Captain. Real nice guy! We head to our plane, and find out it's a no go due to mx. The flight gets canceled. now I'm wondering what crew scheduling is going to do. I'm hoping they will not call and just let me wait for my next scheduled flight. No luck! Within 15 minutes they call and tell me I'm reassigned to do a Indy turn. The only problem here is when we get back I will only have 15 minutes to get to my Chattanooga flight. I really do not want to lose this sequence, I'm really looking forward to it. It takes me through Dallas with a couple good overnites!
We get to Indy to find a plane sitting on the ramp waiting for the gate we are due to arrive in. They had been waiting over two hours for it! This does not look good. Short of the story, we get back to ORD late. My CHA flight has been canceled. Now I sit in Chicago and have to get a hotel, on my own dime.
The good news is that they are going to deadhead me aboard an American flight to Dallas to pick up my sequence. 24 hours later after the storms that caused all the problems I'm waiting to board my deadhead flight and I hear there are 110 people waiting standby. That's nearly an entire plane load of people.
The rest of the trip went well as far as keeping on schedule goes. But, thats where it stops! My performance was awful. It seems like everything just went to pot. My communications, my landings. It was so frustrating! It wasnt to the very last trun, on my last day. I met up with Anthony. My Captain for the last flight to Dayton and back. This guy was relaxed and laid back. Had such a good personality. He just set a good tone for the flight. It really allowed me to relax and recover from my bad performance prior. What a way to end the trip.
It's funny how just someones personality can set a tone for the whole day.
I've mentioned Rand Peck before. He writes a blog, Rand Peck a life aloft. It's linked to the right -->
To me he seems like one of those Captain that are just a pleasure to fly with. If you have not read his blog, read it! It's awesome! I look at these Captains who have a positive outlook on life, and thats what encourages, and inspires me.
Thankfully I got a ride home the same day. I had to sit on the jumpseat from ORD to DFW to SAT, but I got home. Both of those crews were great people too!
After a couple day off, I had to head back for my next sequence. It's was only a three day. It changed up on me as well. I was due to overnight in Memphis. I was hoping to go visit mud island and get some Memphis BBQ. But I end up going to Baltimore instead.
Once in Baltimore I took the light rail downtown and walked around a bit. One of the things I seen was this.
The USS Constellation is a Beautiful ship, with an interesting history! USS Constellation There is a video and some history on her on this site.
The next day was a Jacksonville FL overnight, and then another trip Home for three days off.
This second trip was much better then the first. Thankfully I felt much more relaxed and comfortable with the airplane
So far I have had a good time seeing new things. even ORD is interesting. You see so many different people from ALL over the world. Or the views I get like seeing the smokey mountains in the morning light while doing my walk around the view out front beginning our descent into Chicago h the view of downtown Chicago the historic Camden Station, with the Baltimore Orioles Camden Yard behinds it It has been very interesting so far. I feel very fortunate to be here. I'm really looking forward to what is in store for me.
I've already experienced some of the best airline life has to offer. Flight delays, mx delays, scheduling issues, trying to get rides home, and the list goes on. Well, this flight was no different. The schedulers in the training department have this awesome ability to call and assign a trip at the worst time, this after you sat at home for two plus weeks waiting and wondering. This past Thursday I finally get the call. The message said, you are to deadhead out on Monday and your trip starts on Tuesday and you will overnight in dsm. It was to be a two day trip and then I would deadhead home on Thursday. This sounded to good to be true! Actually get to spend the weekend at home and take off Monday morning. The message went on to say that this sequence would be in the computer system within a half hour. Great! Well, half hour, an hour 12 hours later it's still not there. Finally around noon Friday it showed up...sorta. The system now shows me leaving on Sunday finishing on Tuesday. Yeah a phone call or at least putting the schedule in on Thursday would have been nice. I decide to call and find out why the change. No answer, voice mail. Seriously what good is voice mail if you NEVER return the call! Saturday comes, no reply. I intentionally waited for Saturday because usually Saturday there is a guy who work who does answer the phone and actually gets things done! Unfortunately he did not answer, but another lady who rarely gets anything done, and true to form she didn't! It ended up being Sunday before things got somewhat fixed, but I'm still stuck with leaving on Sunday, rather then Monday. I was hoping to be home on Sunday so I could celebrate my wife's birthday. Change plans, call family, now celebrating on Saturday. One bright note, her birthday is actually on Tuesday, and my flight ends early enough I should be able to catch a ride home after my last leg. Sunday rolls around. I pack and head to the airport. I'm scheduled to fly sat-ord aboard an AA md-80. I check in and I'm pleased to see I got an upgrade to first class. I much prefer sitting first! Go figure right. Just about the time the captain says we are over the Mississippi river just north of St. Louis we begin our decent. Just a few moments later I look out and see what I believe is Springfield I'll. I cannot help but think back to my ppl training. I grew up in the St Louis area, and got my ppl while still living there. The reason Springfield Ill. Is so significant is that I flew to that airport on my long solo X-C. I went from k02 (perryville mo. the airport where I finished up my ppl) to Jefferson city mo to Springfield Ill. back to k02. 4 hours of flight. So here I am 11 years later flying over the place where it all started to go finish my 121 training. But this is just the beginning of the story. More to come! I make it to Chicago, check into my hotel. Relax a little, update my jepp's. And then head out for a small dinner. The next morning I arrive to ord early. I want to make sure I'm ready! This should be my last IOE flight. The captain finally shows up, but he actually arrived from an overnight. We did our intro and I notice he sits down an ioe form. He just finished up with another new fo. I look at the name and wow, it's a friend of mine from class. I can't believe it. Then out of the blue the captain says I'm going to call and extend you another day. I'm thinking great the only thing good about this trip is that I will be home on my wife's birthday. Now I won't make it! I bump into Derek on the way to the airplane. He tells me he is now signed off, and line qualified. Good for him. I knew he would well! I'm trying to do my preflight preparations in walk the captain and says "I called and you are staying with me until Wednesday. Oh joy. Well let's just make the beat of it. We start off with a Rochester mn turn. Head back to ord and now we are off to Memphis. Here's where my little story about my past gets good! Captain says here's the Mississippi river. I look out and also see a large airport. Thinking we were much further south I'm trying to figure it out. So I pull up the info on the fms and it's Scott AFB. That means were almost over St Louis. Ok admittedly I have not looked at a Chart so I was not real sure our exact location. So I point out a couple facts to him as I spot things in St Louis like the location of a us navy ship which is sunk in the Mississippi river! Yes there is one! Ok, I still cannot make a link with blogger so google USS Inaugural and read about this ship there. I then realize we're circle west before turning south towards Memphis. Then I realize we will fly between FES and K02. The two airports I took lessons for my ppl. I couldn't make out the runway in Festus Mo. (my home town) but I could see the city. I'm flying directly over all the places I flew as a student and ppl pilot. By the way I received my ppl on February 29, 2000. I had no intentions at that time to pursue commercial flying. This was such an amazing experience for me. I literary flew almost directly over my mom and dads house. They now live in Saint Genevieve. Unfortunately my time to reminisce was short lived because atc began our descent into Memphis. The approach into mem was pretty normal at first. Then we turn toward a small cell we see on our radar. It was small but this cell had a magenta center to it. This is not good! Magenta means bad wx. So a couple quick questions to atc and they turn us inside this cell for a tight base turn. We're still aiming toward some pretty serious looking clouds so we are expecting to get our butts kicked. However surprisingly it wasn't too bad.
Once on the ground The discussion turns towards food! Your in Memphis, so of course its BBQ. The Captain and the Flight Attendant decide to go to neelys BBQ. The same on of the food network fame cooking with the neelys. I decide to go along. I was looking forward to some really good Memphis BBQ. I hate to say it, it just wasn't that good! The next thing that pops to mind is Mud Island. This is where the B-17 Memphis belle was parked. I have always wanted to see this plane. Years ago a read a book written the the pilot of that airplane. "the man who flew the Memphis belle" Col. Robert Morgan. It was a great book! Unfortunately, after a quick search of the Memphis Belle I find out they moved it off mud island and to the air force in Ohio. Oh well, another day. I decided to head to mud island anyway. I hear its still a very nice park. After a short walk I make it to the entrance to the sky walk, and wouldn't you know it. It's closed! That figures. Well, I will have more time to visit Memphis I'm sure. I did decide to hop a ride on the street cars. Some of these trolleys are as old as 1927. The I rode was old, not sure it's exact age, but you could tell by the woodwork alone it was old. After a nice walk around Downtown Memphis I figure it's time to head back to the room and get ready for my 4am wake-up time. Tomorrow will be Mem back to ORD, and then a Jacksonville Florida turn. I like the longer flights. Gives you time to relax, and get prepared for the approach. This IOE Captain was very different then the other two. He never just sat quietly. He was always asking me questions, or trying to teach me something new. I'm just trying to keep up still. all the questions where keeping me very busy. About half way back I sent an estimated on time report. In the reply we received it said there would be a crew change. I was being taken off, and another FO would continue to DSM and overnight. Hmm what are they doing now? The CA sends an ACARS (a way to communicate with OPS via satalite) asking why I was being taken off and that he had already requested I stay with him through the next day. With nothing resolved in the air, we finally make it to ORD with an interesting approach. The controller flew us through the localizer and kept us at 190 knots until the outermarker. This really makes things happen quick and makes it hard(for a newbie)to make a stabilized approach. Once on the ground and at our gate we postflight very quickly and make a dash to the computer. The captain has to not only figured out whats going on with me, but he has to change airplanes (from gate H3 to G20) find his new FO and preflight all in 30 min. I betting that next flight did not leave on time.
Once we made it to the computer, and during this He was on the phone trying to straiten this all out. We finally decided I'm done nothing more to do. So, he pulls out my paperwork and signs me off. I'm now a Line Qualified Airline Pilot! What a trip!
In case you don't know fl330 or "Flight level 330 is simply a way to say 33,000 feet. In the ATC world anything over 18,000 feet is in the Flight levels.
So here I am at FL 330 directly over DFW writing a blog post. Im on my way to Chicago. After another two week "vacation" the training center finally called and scheduled me for another IOE trip. This should be my last one. Then again, it has been nearly a month since I have last flown, I hope Im not to terribly rusty. It seems like we might have some bumpy weather ahead. Clouds above and climbing up to our altitude. Once cumulus clouds reach this altitude you know there is some pretty good instability in the atmosphere which for the people in the back means...bumps ahead. ; I only have a two day trip ahead. Day one included a Minnesota (said in my head in my best minnesotan accent, ok don't get mad at me for saying that, all all make fun of us texans too!). After the mn. Turn we head Memphis. We'll overnight in Memphis. Day two includes a return to ORD and then a Jacksonville Florida turn, then I hope to home in time for my wife's birthday! The one thing Im finding out real quick, is that airline life has no concern whatsoever for your personal life!
Well it looks like our very experienced AA crew got us through the clouds without any turbulence. Good job guys!
Im not sure if Ive touched on or not but it was recently announced that AMR (our parent company) will divest or spin-off eagle. That actually disappoints me a little. I was actually quite proud to be a part of AMR. Im sure I will have a lot more to say about this in the future. One slightly positive thing came out of this. AA did agree to a flow agreement with Eagle. Basically every single pilot at AE right now has a Job at AA when the time comes that your seniority allows. I'm not real sure of the will do me much good. The idea of moving up to a 737 or some version of airbus does intrigue me. >> >> We'll I better get back to reviewing my aircraft manual. I need to re-learn things I have forgotten sitting at home.
Flight Level 370. You don't really think about it, UNTIL you're there. I guess my thoughts have been all over the board lately. Being at home, and the stress of training is finely starting to subside so I guess now my mind is starting digest what all has taken place.
My mother brought my baby book to me a few years ago. I was really amazed by one of the earliest things she had written. When I was a toddler, if I was outside and an airplane would fly over I would stop, look, and once spotted I would point at the airplane. I guess my whole life Ive had this infatuation with airplanes.
Later as a small boy I remember my dad telling me about these jet's that would takeoff from the McDonnell Douglas which was located at Lambert Field, St Louis International. (You always knew you were in St Louis, especially at night when you would land and see this big red sign!) He talked about how there were fighter jet's that would come roaring down the runway, and pull straight up. Or how there was an endless stream of airplanes coming and going. Each one had these super bright lights, and you would see these lights long before you could see the actual airplane. As a kid I would sit and try imagine what it was like. Finally my dad said he was going to take us to the city, and we would go to see these airplanes. I was so excited. It was a day I still remember very well. Actually it was probably the day the airline bug bit me. I was just amazed at the activity. All these huge airplanes coming and going. Just like my father had told me, you would see these lights, and that's it. You wouldn't see the airplane for a long time. Back then Lambert field had an observation area. A parking lot just off the end of 12R and 12L. I would end spending a lot of time in that parking lot, Later once I could drive. I don't recall my Dad ever taking me there again. It's funny, I was taken in by these magnificent machines, yet I had never been on an airplane, neither had my parents. We didn't know anyone who flew them, I had no connection to aviation. I really think that's why I never really dreamed I could be a pilot, or never pursued it as a kid. No One told me I could! I didn't think just a "regular" person could become an airline pilot. I was 18 before I got on an airliner, a TWA 727. It was a flight to San Antonio Texas, on my way to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base.
Later on as I mentioned I would continue to go to KSTL and watch planes. Eventually I even got to take my girls and introduce them to it. One of my favorite memories is buying some Churches fried chicken, and mashed potatoes and going to the airport to eat dinner and watch airplanes. Only problem, we didn't get spoons, and the restaurant was 15-20 minutes away. What do you do? Well, you take the biscuit box, which is thick paper. tear it into strips, and use paper to eat your potatoes. Silly stuff i guess, but great memories non the less.
(Did you see the "pride of TWA" behind the L1011 taking off? St Louis was such a busy place. Hard to believe things have changed so much)
Watching all of those TWA airplanes also stirred up within me this admiration for the company. TWA had this special feeling to it. Even as a passenger, it wasn't like any other airline I have ever flown on. I don't even know how to describe it, it was like they were a living legend. To this day I still love and miss seeing those red and white planes. I had started a collection of twa pictures years ago. I have original photographs of A Ford Tri-Motor, dc2, dc3, Boeing 307, The Connie, the Martin 404, 707, dc-9 L1011, and 747. I'm still missing an Original MD80, 727 757, and 767. One other item, I have stored away for now is this poster. It's in perfect condition. I will have it framed someday. Unfortunately its not standard size, so it will have to be professional framed. Which is expensive. But I want it done right! Because neither of those items depicted in this poster will ever live again, except in our memories. So It has to be done right. Twa always did such a cool job with their travel posters.
Growing up in the midwest (just south of St Louis) It was amazing to see all the contrails that would crisscross the sky. I would always see these trails and wonder where they were going, and where they had been. One night I was sitting out side on a beautiful summer evening with a big full moon and this airliner passes over head, right across the moon leaving a contrail. It was probably one of the coolest things I had ever seen. So now, all these year later I get the opportunity to fly for an airline. Its finally my tum to fly. My first flight is from Knoxville Tenn to Chicago Ohare. I was surprised really at how natural you feel, even transitioning to a Jet. It's still just flying an Airplane. Then all of a sudden you see this.
And your mind just goes WOW. I just flew a plane up to 36,000 feet. Then You see another airliner pass below you at FL350, and he is leaving a contrail, and again your mind goes WOW, that means I'M leaving a contrail. Then you wonder how many kids are on the ground looking up at your path in amazement. Then the next thought you have after realizing your at FL360...How am I gonna get down. HaHa Flight Level 370 Is our max. I would be there on another trip heading back east bound. I think maybe It's all still a little surreal to me. I'm still new at it, not even done with training yet. I'm looking forward to this journey.
I might have yet another new toy. No it's not the new EMB-145 model that adorns my fireplace mantel it is the new mobile blogger account I set up. It seems there are a lot of bugs to work out. There are two methods. One is to simply text to the blog, another is to email to the blog. Either was it is with the iPhone. Caveat emptor to anyone who may read this. The iPhone has an autospell feature that finds some very interesting replacement words for words you're trying to type. Google "autospell fail", and you will see what I mean. Warning some of these are rated R. There are some extremely funny ones though. My goal here is to be able to make quick post on the blog so I can quickly share some of my day to day activities during this little journey.
I fully expected to keep a journal of my experience at the American Airlines training facility while I was in training. I learned very quickly that I was not as prepared as I thought I was. AE's training was pretty intense. I know I touched briefly on the time in the training center in previous post, but I wanted to expand on it a little and share some of the photos I took. It all started back in February of this year. I was invited to interview with Eagle. They sent me a packet of paper work that had to be filled out exactly they way they want it. People had, and continue to be sent home from interviews for not follow instructions. I hear a lot of people talk about how silly AE is about paperwork. I do not see it that way. As an applicant you are asking an airline to hand over to you the keys to a multi million dollar jet, and the lives of 50 people so you can hurl them around the country at 500kts and 37,000 feet above the earths surface. If you are really unable to do a little paper work, how in the world do you think you are ready to accept the responsibility of being an airline pilot?
Paperwork done, interview day is almost here. They flew me up the day before. My first time riding in First class. It was kind of ironic, we had to wait for a little 152 to get out of the way before we could take off. A 152 from the flight school I worked at. The morning has arrived. The beginning of this long journey. I make my way to AMR HQ. It seemed like a very long day. There were three parts to the interview. A technical interview to determine what you knowledge was. An HR interview where you would get questions like, why do you want to work for AE, or What is the definition of a professional pilot. Last there is a Simulator evaluation. It's pretty basic, they want to see you do some basic Instrument flying, a hold and two approaches. In reality the interview is much easier then you make it. In other words you stress level is so high, it seems like its really bad. We had an interview group 6. Of those six 4 got the offer. It was interesting how they would do it. We all would get done with the three phases at different times. Rather then come in and take a person who was finished and say congratulations come with me, they would open the door, say the persons name, and then say grab all your stuff and come with me. straight faced and serious. You though you were toast. Once the door closed, they would smile and say congratulations! Then they hand you a letter.
Once you realize your not going home "early" and you have been accepted, wow, talk about a sigh of relief. Now they start the final out processing. Take fingerprints and they begin sending faxes to previous employers. It was in this room I found out the guy who had been shuffling us around all day and never said a thing to us, was also a Captain at AE, it slipped out by accident. It was then I realized they had been really watching everything we did, all day.
Now you go home, and wait the Captains review board. The pre-offer you receive in the interview, is just that a pre-offer. It's up to the review board to offer you a spot in a class. I managed to get my phone call the same week I interviewed. Once you get that call the only thing left before they give a class date is the medical. Again They fly you to DFW and you go to AMR HQ and do a drug and hearing test.
March 28 2011. All the preliminary stuff is done. Now I'm in Dallas again. this time to begin ground school. Monday morning, Here is this group of 40 people sitting in the lobby of Flight Academy (it's actual name, but we all called it the training center). I was looking around trying to get a feel for the group. It was an interesting spread. I thought for sure I would be the "old guy" in class. I ended up being #5. Seniority is given out in class based on age. The oldest person is most senior. I thought for sure I would be able to pick any airplane and any base I wanted. I wanted DFW, and the Embrear. I got the EMB, but I did not get DFW, instead I was given ORD (Chicago). I could not believe it. Now the separate us based on aircraft. The ATR-72 group (The young ones in class) were taken to another room. They are basically a different airline. We're all called eagle, but the ATR's sre on the Executive airlines operating certificate. Week one. Indoc (indoctrination). This is were they hand out all the books we will use during training and throughout of career. We're also fitted for Uniforms, and we'll also do other specialized training. Here is the first set of books. The Red one is basically what we would call the POH for the airplane in the GA world. The gray one is aircraft systems. One of the blue ones is company procedures and regulation, and the other blue one is our Union contract. This first week we'll spend in the Blue procedures and regs book. With a test at the end of the week. They also handed out these on the first day. Honestly speaking this set of wings was an incentive for me. I have never been awarded a pair of wings, I wanted to finish that checkride (Which was still weeks away), so that I would officially have EARNED those wings. Now that housekeeping has been taken care of, its time to get down to business. I can tell you Reg's and policy is dry, Its all you can do to stay awake. Ed out instructor did a good job with injecting humor when ever possible, but it was still an absolute cure for insomnia. Week one finished pretty easy. We took a test on Friday, but unfortunately we had to stay the weekend to do a couple things Monday morning. Monday we will go home for one week. This is a new procedure for them They have you go home to do one week of Computer based training. It's not a bad program, it's just hard for a person who has never flown a jet to grab onto some of the things they talk about. A 310 does not have Pacs, or bleeds, or fadecs, fire suppressants, fms's, etc...you get the picture. The airplane is actually not to difficult to learn. It's very automated. The best way I heard it described is that it is a "mother may I" airplane. Turn the Start engine knob to start and you are basically asking the Fadec to pretty please start my engine. The thrust levers (asked me how many times I was yelled at for calling them throttles) are basically electric switches.
After a week at home we head back to the training center. Week three is called the "flex week" Basically we don't have a set schedule. We can come and go as we please. I thought this was a waste. There is so much to learn, if you are going to have me sitting here, teach me something. After sitting around during flex week we will Now start two full weeks of ground/Systems. We found out real quick since they now are doing CBT's (computer based training) the ground school is considered more of a "review" and they go through it real fast, don't blink you'll miss something. During the Ground/Systems portion we also do FMS training and CSI-ops which is where you sit with an instructor in front of a "paper airplane" And practice flows and profiles. Flows are just a way for you to memorize your checklist. Checklist in the 121 world are just that checklist. Not do list. By the time the checklist come out everything should be done. We have a paper airplane at the hotel as well. MANY a hour was spent sitting at these things practicing over and over again. After 8 hours at the TC you would head back to the hotel and spend another several hours doing even more study.
now we are approaching the end of ground/systems. we get to go on a field trip We get to use the PBE (personal breathing equipment) and put out fires. We will also practice life vest and emergency exits.
The emergency training ctr at the flight academy is pretty amazing.
Now we get to put out fires.
Practice with inflating life-vest
And remove emergency exits We also get to use the "DV" window which is the emergency exit inside the cockpit. . Now that we're ready for any emergency that could hit us HA we head back to the classroom to do our written exam. I sure hope I'm ready :-) Actually It wasn't to bad. Included in the written test besides the 100 questions, you had to write from memory the 6 Emergency procedure checklist items that have to be known verbatim.
Once the written is over ground is officially over. Now we wait for the Oral Exam. Wouldn't you know it, I have mine the very next morning at 8am. No last minute study time for me. Again, I was very nervous. I did not feel like I was ready. I got there before the examiner, So I set my stuff up. I actually left the room though. We are only given 2 hours for the test and I was not about to give him 15 extra minutes! lol. I came back to the room at 8. He was there. We actually a bit of small talk and we began. It was pretty straight forward. He took my AOM 1 (the red book I said was like a POH) and just started asking me questions. We then moved up to the paper airplane for more systems questions, and then I had to do a performance problem. And just like that it was over and I passed. Since I went first day (our class had two days for orals) I had a day off before sims. It was a much needed day off. Little did I know the sims were going to kick my butt!
Day 1 in the sims.I was actually very excited. Not knowing what to expect I thought it would be pretty easy. Ha, boy I misjudged that one. I guess in reality it really wasn't to hard, but for me it was difficult. You really had to fight to keep up. there is no giving up. If you do you wont catch back up. Basically every day in the sim is night time and weather to minimums. You always have an emergency to deal with. There is never a nice sunny day where you fly from point A to B. All the flows you have practiced up until now, here is where it matters. It is amazing however just how quickly your brain will flush all that stuff away and you feel like you have no idea what your doing.
The Amazing thing is just how realistic these things are. The first time we "pushed back" from a gate, It felt just like we were pushing. You felt the bump of the tug, the bumps in the concrete. it was amazing. Of course the other problem with all this realism is that it's not. That means you brain thinks something is happening. but your body says no its not. this causes, or can cause major disorientation. For me it was during breaking! Obviously the sim cannot simulate G forces. so to simulate the force of deceleration the sim noses over. So your brain sees straight and level, but your body feels that you leaning far forward, and what left is disorientation. Which can make you sick. Thankfully I never got sick. If I was not flying, when we would brake I would just close my eyes, and everything was ok. One day the sim had a little malfunction during breaking. It nosed over so far we were handing by our seat belts. The instructor just says, ill bet this looks crazy outside". Here is a landing, keep in mind WX is always at minimums, look closely towards the end and see if you can spot the approach lights. It will be just about the time you hear minimums. Sorry the Iphone does not take very good video and its being held up to see over every ones heads.
The Simulator training was two phases. Phase 1, 2 and then check ride. Phase one is the basics. Phase two goes into single engine emergencies. V1 cuts, which is losing an engine on takeoff after v1. V1 is the speed where you are committed to fly. No aborts. Wind shear, unusual attitudes, collision avoidance, and several other fun activities. At the end of Phase two you do a phase check and then do a checkride. Well, for my class, we had several events take place that cause delays in checkrides. Unfortunately that cause delays in being reschedule for sim time. It took as long as 6 weeks (extra) for some to finish. I myself went home for 3 weeks to wait for a sim slot to finish. After my three week "vacation" I finally got the call to return to Dallas. It was my turn. Two training sessions in the sim and I was scheduled for a 6am checkride, 5 am show time. The Examiner was a nice guy. He tried to make me feel at ease, yet he didn't sugar coat things either. He told me what to expect, and what he expected. Once we climb in, we preflight and program the "aircraft". The "captain" taxis us out for takeoff. I notice the wx/Visibility dropped significantly. this my que to say hey capt. the wx has dropped, I think maybe we should get a current report. Ok, check that box. Now we're on the runway. We take off from New York La gaurdia Fly a departure. Once clear of the area, we begin with stalls. After stalls we do a Localizer approach go missed then a GPS approach. Next is an Ils, and then an ILS with one engine inoperative. Of course the engine quit on the previous takeoff! So we had to circle to land single engine. Got back on the ground did an aborted take off due to a lav/smoke warning and that was it. With that, I was now officially the proud new owner of those wings I had received on day one.
