IOE Part 3

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!