4 Airplanes 2 Days 1 Leg flown

I was supposed to have a two day trip to finish my IOE. I flew into DFW Sunday Morning early to update my jepps. I can say I already hate seeing those yellow envelopes waiting in the crew room. I finally meet my Second IOE captain. He was a really good guy. We talked, took care of business and finally took a walk to our airplane.
On the way down the ramp I met the FO coming off the plane, he told me there was a MX issue and that MX was on their way to the plane. They finally got there , signed off the work don and left. Great, now maybe we can go. Not quite. We get a message that we have been switched out of planes to the plane next gate over. and of course I was almost completely ready to go. Now we have pack up and move. The next plane is being brought in from the MX hanger. Which means it's been parked outside in the South Texas sun completely closed up. The gate did not have ground power available so we had to run the apu for power, and for AC since the air pumped in from the ground was just not enough to cool the airplane down. Then the ahrs would not align, this was due to the plane being repositioned with the avionics off. Basically the plane was lost and could not find its self. Now we are AGAIN waiting for MX to show up. Finally they do, problem fixed before start and engine start checklist complete, and we get a warning. Alarm and red lights flashing are not good! We have a bleed on leak. The only problem with with this is the bleed one is closed, because the #1 engine which supplies the #1 bleed is not even running. Now we are waiting on MX to show up yet again! This time we're told the flight is canceled, we're so late now it just doesn't matter no more. Our next leg would be DFW-CVG 3 hours from now. I'm learning real quick that there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" time in the airlines.
While I'm waiting I find a new app for the iphone that lets me sorta blog from the phone. I say sorta because you can only take a picture, add a caption (not many words) and post it. I was looking for an app that would let me use blogspot. I cannot believe Blogspot does not have a mobile option, that is just crazy.
You will notice below a couple post made with this new app. it was just a test, and only a test of the mobile blog system. I really don't like it.

Finally it's time to go fly. I got to the gate find out this plane as well has an issue. We will be speed limited to 250kts. This is going to be a long flight.

Now after three airplanes we are on out way to Cincinnati. After takeoff climbing through about 27,000' the Captain says hey look at that fire. It was one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen, and it was huge! I was just about to say something when all of a sudden the fire turns into a half circle. It was the moon, apparently it was behind a low cloud. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! I wish i had a nice quality camera so I could have taken a picture.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We made it to CVG, found our hotel and went to bed. The next day rolls around and I'm excited to get this trip going. I was going to fly two legs. CVG-DFW and HOU-DFW and that would have finished off my IOE training.

However...I go outside to do the preflight inspection and I find this on the #2 Engine.

Then I see this


and this...

and this...

I go back into the plane tell the Captain I need him to inspect the #2 and of course he sees the same thing. You guessed it, ANOTHER call to MX. The gate agent was kind enough to bring a luggage conveyor belt up to the engine so we could get a close up look. Come to find out there was a total of 14 damaged blades. Flight Canceled.

Now we wait to see if we can get a flight back to DFW. I'm supposed to be going home. Of course there is only one more DFW flight ours was sold out, and the next one was already pretty full as well. this does not look good!
The captain managed to get the jumpseat, Myself and the flight Attendant go back to the hotel! Oh yeah, another fun filled night in Cincinnati.

The next morning I catch a 6am flight to DFW and then a 755 flight DFW-SAT. and now I sit and wait for yet another IOE trip, since this last one did nothing to help me get closer to a line qualified sign off.

Yeah, this airline thing is going to be interesting...Oh by the way I guess maybe I should mention that this morning I found out our Parent company decided to spin us off, or sell us. There might be a slightly bright side to this. In the agreement to spin us off, American also said that all current Eagle pilot would have a job at American, when an opening becomes available. No Interview, no medical. When your number comes up you go to AA class.
Hmmm, just wonder If Ill ever see it!

airline life

is it ground hog day? yes yet another mx issue and we may be delayed again

airline life

three mx write-ups and two planes later I'm still stuck in dfw. was due to depart at 325pm

Now I'm going to back up a little. Immediately after my LOFT (line oriented flight training) Sim session I managed to get a two week gap between LOFT and my first IOE trip. My wife who had already planned to go to Oahu to visit her sister was already at the airport heading to Dallas, on her way to HNL. I had to go to the training center to get my new certificate signed (which now says EMB 145 on it). I was done by 7am and heading to DFW myself via the shuttle. Once at DFW I had a bit of a wait so I went over to the gate where my wife was due to arrive. It's Funny to meet your spouse in passing at an airport away from home. After a short visit we talked about me going out as well. So off to SAT I go. She managed to get on the flight to HNL. So now I'm at home taking care of things I needed to be done before I leave.

After a long flight she calls and we confirm that I should go. So Inside of a couple hours I pack and make arrangements to go. I have never made a decision and prepared for a trip to Hawaii in a couple hours before. Usually those trips were planned 6-7 Months in advance.
Sometimes it's not easy being Spontaneous. I called UPS and asked about Jumpseating with them. Jumpseating is where a Pilot with an airline is allowed to fly on another airline if both airlines have a reciprocal agreement. My airline allows UPS pilots to fly on our airplane and vice versa. The best thing about this, it's free. The down side is that its standby, space available. If the plane is full you do not go. And now days, most airlines are trying to fly at 100% every flight.
The lady I spoke with said it was no problem for me to catch a ride with them. The trip would be SAT-SDF-HNL. There was about a 5 hour sit in Louisville, but I would still make HNL at about 10am local time.

I caught a ride to the UPS center at SAT. The people were very nice. I finally met the pilot, he checked my documents and welcomed me aboard. There was another UPS pilot jumpseating to Louisville for training. He took the time to explain their operations to me. I think this was my first ride on an airbus, an A300 to be exact. Didn't see to much, the jumpseat area was small with about 4 fold out jumpseats. Not real comfortable. I had had very little sleep in the previous 24 hours so I did my best to try to rest. Once we arrived at sdf he even took me inside showed me around and where to check in. The facility had a dark room with lazy boy chairs, another room with lazy boys but with lights on, a cafeteria, and a huge preflight room. this place was really nice!

Finally after I tried to get a little more sleep time in the dark room, I went to the briefing room to wait for the crew. Soon after an FO (first officer, or commonly referred to by many as co-pilot) walked up to me and asked if I was jumping to HNL and I said yes. He was part of the crew on my flight. A little bit later another FO showed up, he was the relief officer for the flight. When a flight is long they add a pilot to the crew so they can take breaks. Now all we need is a captain! Just before the final show time the captain walks in, reviews the paper work we all have a little small talk and then off to the airplane we go.
Back into the crew van for our ride to the airplane. Door to door service, I think I could like working for UPS. Finally we get to our plane and climb aboard. My first time, again, aboard an MD-11. I love these airplanes and always wanted to fly on one. Their jumpseats are MUCH nicer. Basically first class seat that recline with foot rest. However the captain offered to let me sit up front with them on a little fold out jumpseat...yeah I took it! I'm not going to miss this for anything.
So after a very cool takeoff roll, and climb around some thunderstorms

We finally settle in at cruise altitude. The captain then turned around and say's "their should be two meals for you in the back, we will be using the bottom bunk, so the top bunk is open. make yourself at home!" Hmm No sleep in the past 24+ hours, a 9 hour flight ahead, and there is an open bunk...Now this was an easy choice. So I changed into some shorts and a Tshirt and to sleep I went. After a few good hours of sleep I finally decide to get up a little more then an hour out. Time to get changed, freshen up and have some breakfast. Wow what more could a guy ask for...
As you can see the big island is poking up through the clouds, this means we're getting close.
They brought us in over the south west corner of the Island, over the Famous Waikiki beach and Diamond Head Crater.

You can see the ala wei canal on the north side of thr tourist district




It was an awesome finish to a great flight. ATC took us out pretty far over the Pacific before turning us back to the airport. Being 1500' above the Beautiful blue water is an amazing view.


And just like that we're on the ground. My Beautiful wife was there to pick me up and had a front row seat of the landing. The crew had me take one more van ride with them to the gate, and then I jumped out to catch my ride. The entire process with UPS was awesome! The crew was just wonderful, a great bunch of guys! Thank you y'all so much!

So now it's time to do what I came to do...See the Island, and family.




My wife with a view of Koko head Crater in the background.

My Niece at our favorite little local restaurant Keneke's in Waimanalo on the windward side.
and one of my favorite, if not my favorite places on Oahu...Sunset Beach!

What a great time, now now it's time to head back to the airport, It's time for IOE...


then the Island offers me one more beautiful view before I go,
What a way to top off a great visit.

IOE

Last I wrote I was sitting in a hotel in Chicago just outside of Ohare waiting to start my first trip. I was really anxious about it, but more in a nervious kind of way. I always thought my first time in a Jet would be exciting. Normally I am always very excited to fly a new airplane. This time though, I was letting my nerves get the best of me. IOE (Initial operating experience) is the first time you actually climb abroad the actual airplane. Up to this point it has all been in the box...or the simulator. My first trip would be ORD-TYS-ORD-RDU.

So the moment arrives and I finally meet my IOE Captain in the ORD crew room. He was a very nice guy. Very patient. Our first plane was running late, so we went outside to use another airplane to do a preflight inspection on. Finally our plane arrives so we head down to start preparing for our flight to knoxville Tenn. He took care of the walk around because he knew I would be needing the extra time to get my duties done. He took the first leg, I had to handle the radios while on the ground in ORD. I felt like a brand new student again. I think I said "what did he say" on every other call. I thought I was pretty good on the radios, ha, not as good as I thought. So we finallyu made it TYS. We once again did our preflight duties and now it's my turn. The take off was pretty smooth. I wanted to get a feel for the airplane so I hand flew it up to about 14,000 before turning on the autopilot. It's a very comfortable airplane to fly. The flight went pretty well. I was very much behind the airplane, but CA McCarthy kept up with me, and the plane. My first approach in the airplane just had to be in Ohare, no, not some smaller airport. I had to fly the 27L ils and land at one of the busiest airports in the country. Well, I made it. we got on the ground and prepared for our next leg to rdu where we would overnight.

The next day was a return to ord, then an Omaha turn. Again I would fly the ORD inbound legs.
Day three and four was a repeat of the previous two except I did the outbound legs


This was my plane for the Omaha leg. it was an interesting flight. The controller actually put us in a bad spot, but we managed to get a visual on the runway just before the Capt was about to call a go around. He asked if I had a visual, and If i could get it down. I said sure. It actually ended up being a descent approach and I even got a compliment for salvaging the approach.

this was not my first flight but this shot remind of the first time time I flew to 36,000. I though cool I'm at FL360, then I thought, How am I going to get down?

I am now done with 6 days of IOE. I will probably do two more before being signed off. I'm currently at home waiting for the call. I hope I hear something soon.

Here are a couple more pics from the trip.

Sitting in OMA waiting for a ground stop to end so we can go back to ORD



You'll have to forgive the picture quality. I don't have a camera just my Iphone for now.

where has time gone?

I have to start with an apology! I had four comments waiting for moderation, and I didn't even know it. I didn't even know my settings were set to do that. One person cedarglen kindly let me know that there was someone out there who was keeping up with me. Honestly I really didn't know if anyone was following along. I'm not much of a writter, actually I'm not a writer in way at all. This little blog was just a way I have tried to record this crazy journey i'm on. So I'm sorry for not keeping up the blog, it has been a very busy three months!
I started class March 28. I was awarded ORD (chicago) and the EMB 145 on the first day. Our first week was basic indoc which was learning basic company procedures, getting company manuals, and taking care of the basics. Week two and three was computer based training, then weeks four and five was systems ground, fms lab's. After that Sim training started. All in all it wasn't to bad. It was however very stressful, tiring and challenging! The written test was simple. The oral exam was also not to difficult. The sims on the other hand really kicked my butt! they had a rash of maintenance issues on the sims. Long story short I was sent home for three weeks. As of right now I believe there are still two people from my class waiting to do their checkride. We all should have been done Jun 17th.

So after three weeks at home I was finally called back to finish up. The first night I was really rusty since i had not been in the some for so long. The next was a bit better, so the instructor signed me off for the check ride. Sunday morning, Jun 12th at 5am I began my very first part 121 checkride. By 730am I had PASSED my very first pt 121 checkride!!! Talk about a relief! the folloing thursday I did Loft (line oriented flight training), and friday morning recieved a new certifcate, which had added to it the EMB 145! woohoo. So what do I do next? friday night at 9pm I Jump on a UPS a300 out of SAT to louisville KY and from there an MD-11 to Honolulu Hawaii.

so after a short visit to Hawaii I now sit in a hotel in Chicago, waiting for my first day of IOE. Tomorrow I will strap on my first jet and takeoff to Knoxville Tenn.

All I can say is things are starting to move fast. I will do my best to come back and post more indepth information about the training and my IOE experience. I have some photo's too. Sorry this post is a bit short and jumpy, but I really just wanted to get some sort of update. Thanks to those who do follow my rants!

A new Beginning!

September 2007, it was the first post of this little blog! I started to document my new endeavor to become a commercial pilot. I had spent the previous 18 years in the transportation industry and I was ready to get out! I was fortunate to have a wonderful, supportive wife who encourage me to make the change.
Fast forward to April 2008. Finally I acquired my Commercial multi and single engine pilots certificates.

Now, three years and 6 months later, through one of the worse downturns in the aviation industry, a medical issue that could have ended my career before it even started, and numerous roadblocks and obstacles I am Happy to announce I have been offered and I have accepted the offer to become a First Officer with American Eagle Airlines!
It has been such an amazing month. I applied after I found out a friend was working there, flying the EMB 145. He offered to walk in my resume. I also met another AE Pilot who worked at the AE training department. He also volunteered to make a call on my behalf.

I fully expected this to be a 2-3 month process. 2.5 weeks after I applied I received the offer to interview.
On March 2 2011 I interviewed. 9 days later March 11, 2011 I received the call that I Had passed the Captains review board. Within four hours of that call I was scheduled for the March 28, 2011 Class.
In less then a month I will have interviewed and started class. This has happened so fast I'm not even sure If i believe it yet.

I'm not yet sure what to expect from class, except I will be very busy with a lot to learn. I hope to be able to write about my experience, but I will justhave to wait to see if I will have the time.

It's just doesn't seem possible. I excited yet someone stunned I think. It seems the training and time building and Instructing were just taking so long, I just didnt know if, or when I would make it to this level.
I think this is going to be fun, I cannot wait to get this started!

BTW, here is a picture of my friend Trevor (at least his back). He was about to "teach his lesson" when we were in school working on our CFI Certificates. Trevor is the one who walked my resume in for me.
Thank You Trevor!