GJT, ELP, PHX, ABQ, LGB, TUS, LAS, SBA, and OAK!

El paso!

Saturday started off with another ready reserve shift at the airport scheduled from noon to midnight. At about 4:00pm, I got a call saying I was assigned to an El Paso turn that left at 4:24pm! Ok, 24 minutes to get to the gate and get ready to go (normally we try to board 30 minutes prior to departure, but with no crew there they couldn’t even start that). On top of that, they had to call a Captain in from his house on regular reserve, so he wasn’t going to be there for a while either. I got to the gate as soon as I could and got as many things accomplished as I could without the Captain. Once he got there, we boarded and pushed back about an hour late.

One of our hydraulic systems was a bit low on quantity, but still within limits, so we decided to monitor it throughout the flight. Unfortunately, it continued to drop in quantity as the flight went on, and we decided it would be best to have it serviced in El Paso. Since El Paso isn’t one of our normal maintenance bases, a mechanic had to be called in from home. He serviced the system, but that set another string of events into motion. In order to service the system, we had to shut down the APU (Aux. Power Unit in the tail of the plane), and transfer the plane's electrics to a GPU (Ground Power Unit). When we started the APU back up and transferred the electrics back, we got a system fault that pertained to our flaps. The CRJ-200 has had a history of flap problems, and this required the mechanic to call our maintenance station in Phoenix and run through a series of steps to reset the system. Then there’s a ton of paperwork that has to be completed before we can legally leave, even though the problem is fixed and the plane is ready to go. Unfortunately, we already had boarded by this time, and not knowing how long it was going to take we had to deplane all of the passengers. Well, we were already an hour late arriving, and this ordeal added another hour and a half. Thirteen people missed their connections in Phoenix, and didn’t board the plane for the second time around. Problem fixed, paperwork complete, passengers onboard, and we were off to Phoenix.

Sunday started similar to Saturday; ready reserve scheduled from noon to midnight. However, this time I was called at 12:20, notifying me that I had been assigned to a 2 day trip that left at 1:07. We left Phoenix on time with a full load (86) enroute to Albuquerque, followed by a return trip to Phoenix. We were scheduled to leave Phoenix for Long Beach, but once again the gremlins in the plane started acting up. We pushed on time, but after starting the engines and taxing out of the ramp area we were greeted with a caution message indicating that one of our spoiler systems had a fault. The message went away, came back, and then went away again, but we’re required to diagnose each fault, even if it has gone away. Back to the gate we went, and the mechanics started their work. Once again, the problem was cleared quickly, and we were left waiting for the paperwork. An hour later we were pushing again, for a late departure to Long Beach.

We made up some time enroute, and did a quick turn in Long Beach (about 20 minutes from blocking in at the gate till we pushed again for Phoenix). On time arrival in Phoenix, loaded up another plane full of people and departed to Tucson. The Phoenix to Tucson flight is one of the busiest, being only 21 minutes enroute. The pilot not flying is kept pretty busy making calls to ATC, operations at both airports, picking up weather in Tucson, and setting the airplane up for the approach. We landed at about 11:30pm, put the airplane to sleep and off to the hotel we went.

Today we had a show time of 9:10am for a flight from Tucson to Las Vegas. Departed 5 minutes early for the hour and some change flight to Vegas. I had the smoothest touchdown yet (especially after the Captain planted it on the ground in Tucson!). And while standing at the door as people got off the plane, I received several comments on how smooth the landing was, one passenger even saying it was the best landing he’s ever had! It was pretty good.. haha

Board ‘em up, and off to Oakland we went. Arrived early and grabbed some dinner before we were pushing back as the sun set enroute to Phoenix. Blocked in at 9:40pm... almost 13 hours after the day began in Tucson, just 100 miles away.

Some pics from the trip:

Some of our Dash-8's sitting in Grand Junction (GJT). They were used in the Northeast for some Delta flying out of JFK, but have since been replaced with 50 and 76 seat jets.

FL300 (30,000') over the McDowell mountains northeast of Scottsdale. The loop 101 and part of the runway at Scottsdale Airport are visible.

FL300 view of Sedona, and the peaks in Flag enroute to Vegas from Tucson.

Number three for departure off runway 19L in Vegas.

Another view of Southwest holding short of 19L.

Our turn! View of the strip holding short of 19L.

Viva la Mexico!

After arriving in Phoenix from Oklahoma City, I had a 3 hour sit before doing a Cabo turn. I was the pilot not flying on the leg down there, and had the pleasure of doing all the communication with the Mexican ATC. The echo in their heavily accented voices made me think they were sitting in a very small room somewhere, speaking into a soup can connected to an antenna via a piece of string- but I'm sure that's not the case! I hope...

Luckily I had years of experience listening to foreign teachers in college (ha, those were the best classes), and things went fairly smooth with only one or two "Huh? What did he say?" moments between the Captain and I.

A lot of times we have to wait for the rampers/marshallers to 'guide' us into the parking spot, but that certainly wasn't the case in Cabo. The rampers were waiting, and after all of the passengers had gotten off, the plane was literally swarmed by cleaning personnel. My Captain jokingly said, "This is where we bring our planes to get them cleaned". Makes me wonder if she was actually joking or not!

And one more surprise for the trip: We had the pleasure of having our CEO and another member of the board of directors on our flight back to Phoenix. My leg, my landing- but everything went well. Oh, except for the guy in the back that got sick and threw up all over himself! Shouldn't drink the water in Mexico, I suppose!

4000 pph

Left Memphis this morning enroute to Phoenix, 3:25 flight with a 90 knot wind on our nose, and 84 people in the back. Our fuel flow was roughly 1950 lbs per hour, for each engine. That's about 11 gallons per minute (a gallon of Jet A weighs about 6 lbs). With the headwind, we were doing about 400 knots across the ground... that's about 1.65 gallons per nautical mile! We had a total burn of over 10,000 lbs of gas, and you wonder why fuel is one of the highest costs for an airline!

One of our flight attendants was the funniest, more outgoing guys I've ever met. He had a whole skit that he did for the passengers to make the flight less boring- with different voices, songs, trivia and so on. It was also his last trip, as he's got a gig as the voice of a squirrel in an animated movie coming out in the near future. He was truly hilarious, the Captain and I were listening to his briefing to the passengers as we taxied out, and we couldn't stop laughing.

Thought I was going to go back to my hotel in Phoenix and sit reserve for the rest of the night, but I had a voicemail and my phone was ringing as I was finishing the post-flight walkaround. Crew tracking: 'You've got a dead head leaving for Oklahoma City right now; they're waiting for you. You'll fly back to Phoenix in the morning, do a Cabo (as in Mexico!) turn, and finish in Phoenix at 6:16pm' Too bad I've only got :50 minutes in Cabo!

So I'm in Oklahoma City now, y'all, and planning on catching the red-eye back to Charlotte after my flights tomorrow... then two days off! Maybe I can finally finish unpacking my stuff when I'm home... but probably not! Not looking forward to the 6 days of reserve after that, but hopefully I'll get assigned some cool trips. More to come then!

Sin City

I was scheduled to sit normal reserve from noon to midnight yesterday, and walked down the street to the grocery store in the morning to pick up some food for the time I'll be in Phoenix. Well, I got a call around 11:00am, saying that I had been reassigned to sit 'ready reserve' in the airport from 12:00pm-10:00pm. So I packed all my stuff up in case I would be assigned a 3 or 4 day trip.

So I sat in the crew room, watching tv and surfing the net on my laptop until I got a call from crew tracking notifying me of a trip that I had been assigned. Phoenix-Austin-Las Vegas and a deadhead back to Phoenix. Supposed to leave Phoenix at 4:24pm, and get back to Phoenix at 2:15am! And I had been at the airport since 12:00pm! Well, after arriving at the gate for departure, we were delayed, switched planes, switched gates 3 times, and finally left Phoenix at 5:45pm.

Had an awesome lightning show as there were thunderstorms around Austin, but luckily they weren't too close and just provided some rain and gusty winds. Arrived late in Austin, and rushed to do a quick turn to make up time. Ended up leaving Austin 15 minutes late, and getting into Las Vegas a few minutes late as well. Tried to catch some sleep on the short deadhead back to Phoenix, and ended up getting back to my room at 3:00am.

Now I'm sitting ready reserve again (since noon), and have a Phoenix-Memphis turn with a layover there tonight, leaving at around 8:00pm. Three hours there, and three and a half back tomorrow, arriving around 5:00pm, and then sitting reserve until midnight! One thing I've learned: Sitting reserve sucks! Oh well, happy to be flying...

New blog!

Well, I thought that I would make a blog so that you guys (family, friends, etc.) could keep track of me while I zig-zag across the country. There have been a couple times when I've gotten to the hotel for the night and have wanted to write about my flights, and now I've got somewhere to put it!

Of course all of the legs during the last two trips all blend together now, but I'll post some of the pictures that I took during them. Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Me, looking something like an airline pilot


With the jacket...


What I stare at all day. The PFD (Primary Flight Display) on the right, showing aircraft attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, and heading. On the left is the MFD (Multi Function Display), showing the route of flight, navaids, time and distance to certain fixes along the route and the destination. We can also bring up radar, terrain mapping, and traffic avoidance on the MFD.

Holding behind a 777 for takeoff in Washington Dulles, enroute to La Guardia in New York. A United 737 starting its takeoff roll before the 777.

Another view from the office. Descending into San Antonio from Denver with a full load of passengers.

Sunrise over the Carolinas. Enroute from Columbia, SC to Chicago O'hare.

Had the Captain take this one for me- sunset somewhere in the midwest, enroute from San Antonio to Chicago, O'hare.

Taxiing by the heavies at the international terminal in Chicago.

And, an example of where I'll be spending much of my life...

More to come later!