8 days

Well, I finished flying out of Phoenix, and will be finishing my first 4-day back on the east coast. How different it is! I got spoiled with the good weather, nicer -900's, and relatively easy flying. Now I'm learning the -200 all over again, and dealing with the older planes that have quirks, issues, and maintenance items. Nothing that is unsafe, but certainly things that make your life easier when they're working properly. Tomorrow will be my 8th straight day at work, but I'll be heading home when I get finished around 4!

Anyhow, some pics from the trips:

At the gate in LAX.. thought the structure looked cool with the scaffolding on it.

One of our -900's lifting off from 25R in Phoenix as we waited to cross the runway and taxi to the gate. The new control tower in the background.

An Airbus A310 landing in Tucson. Looks like some left over de-ice fluid on the fuselage - giving it an orange color.

Sunrise over... somewhere! Enroute from Saginaw, MI to Chicago, just east of Lake Michigan.

Sitting in the 'Penalty Box' in Chicago, watching the sun rise and the clock tick. Basically, Operations assigns us a gate when we call them and tell them we're in range (about 20 min out). When we get on the ground we have to double check with Ops to make sure it hasn't changed, then confirm with them and Ramp control that the gate is open. When it's not, you have to tell ground control that you need to hold for your gate, and you get to do that in the 'penalty box'. Unfortunately, this morning we were already an hour late arriving in Chicago, and had to sit in the box for about 40 minutes for our gate to open. We kept bugging Ops, and had our gate switched 3 times before we got one that was actually open. It's funny listening to the pilots when they inform ground control that they need to hold in the box; most have a sound of defeat in their voice.


The 'penalty box' on the taxi diagram for O'Hare.