You want me to do what?!

First off, sorry about the quality of the pictures. I didn't bring my camera, as I didn't think I would leave Charlotte, or touch a plane for that matter. So I took these with my phone...


I arrived at the airport at 5:00am for a 'ready reserve' shift, thinking I would be on my way home at 11:00am to spend the day by the pool. I was wrong. My phone rings at 5:10am, it's crew tracking.

"Cameron? Looks like we've got a couple of fun days for you today and tomorrow."

"Oh, great."

"Looks like we have you deadheading to Little Rock, AR at 9:40am. Then you will catch some sort of ground transportation which we are setting up, to take you to Hot Springs, AR. There you will test flight a CRJ-200, then repo it to Roswell, NM so it can get painted. Then we have some more ground transportation to take you to Albuqurque, NM where you will spend the night. Then tomorrow you will deadhead from ABQ to Phoenix, then to Charlotte. Questions?"

Thinking to myself: Why me?! What did I do to deserve 6 hours of 'ground transportation', a 16-hour duty day and a test flight, in an airplane I haven't flown in over a year?!?

"Nope."

The Captain and I arrived in Little Rock, and I called a number that crew tracking provided for a charter/limo service. Minutes later, we were loading our bags into a black Chrysler 300. Not too shabby. An hour later, we arrived in Hot Springs, and after wandering around for a bit, we finally managed to find the hangar where the maintenance guys were that had finished our airplane's maintenance check. After discussing what needed to be done, we went out to check out the airplane and do a quick test flight.

Turns out, it was one of the CRJ-200's that were sent to China for a brief operation, that ultimately failed.




That's the only propeller on the airplane. It's called an ADG, or Air Driven Generator. I guess it's not a propeller, as it doesn't propel the aircraft! It's purpose is to pop out of the side of the aircraft if/when there is a COMPLETE electrical failure from the jet engine driven generators, AND the APU's generator. It provides electrical power for certain 'necessary' systems and screens in the flight deck. It also powers some hydraulics, again, for 'necessary' systems.

Our test flight was to deploy and check the operation of the ADG. So we took off from the non-towered, quiet little airport and the Captain flew a pattern around the airport while I followed a checklist and deployed the ADG, checking all of the indications and systems to insure that it was indeed working as it should. Ops checked good, we continued around and landed so the maintenance guys could put the noisy little prop back in it's home.



After a few calls to dispatch to get some paperwork and charts for our flight to Roswell, NM, we were ready to go and the mechanics were almost done with their work on the plane. There were a number of old turboprops, and even a few regional jets sitting around Hot Springs, clearly retired and most likely not to be flown again.



More of the same when we arrived in Roswell. No sightings of UFO's, thankfully, and a pretty uneventful flight. The afternoon heat caused for a bumpy descent and landing in Roswell (which the Captain did well, also not having touched a -200 in many months).


The dry desert climate is ideal for storage of aircraft, which may or may not fly again. Hundreds of jets from American, UPS, United, US Airways, Southwest, etc. are parked in rows, ranging in size from regional jets and turboprops to 747-400's. It's a rather sad sight to see.






The company never really arranged any ground transportation to ABQ (no surprise there), and we had already been on duty for over 12 hours... so they got us a room in Roswell for the night. The plan was to be driven to either ABQ or El Paso the next morning, and then deadhead to Phoenix, and ultimately back to Charlotte. Fortunately, there is one carrier left providing service to Roswell, so the Captain and I jumped on the first American Eagle flight to Dallas/Fort Worth in the morning. There we got a deadhead to Charlotte, which wrapped up the day for me.



It was an interesting little trip to say the least, and fortunately we didn't have any alien encounters in Roswell...

Couple of pictures...

A C-5 Galaxy clearing the runway in Charleston, SC. Big plane. Kinda funny looking too.



As we wait in line in Atlanta, a Northwest 747 sporting the new Delta colors begins its takeoff roll.


And here we sit, in line, in Atlanta. It's summer time again, which means thunderstorms. Weather has already rolled through the ATL area, skewing the flight schedules, and making us number 25 in line for our runway of departure, even though we left the gate on time. A US Airways Airbus A320 waits ahead of us, bound for Phoenix.


Look similar to the last picture?? Moments before the wind picked up and the rain began blowing sideways, the sky was getting darker as a large cell approached the airfield from the west.



"Ladies and Gentlemen, from the flight deck: good news and bad news. Good news is, we are currently number four for departure. The bad news? Those of you on the right side of the aircraft have a pretty good view of a thunderstorm that has moved onto the airport. All departures have been stopped until the storm passes. The storm appears to be moving quickly, and as soon as it passes we will have you on your way to Charlotte as quickly and safely as possible. Appreciate your patience. Thanks."


The APU comes up, and the engines spool down to conserve fuel. We sit in line, who knows how many are behind us now, waiting for the storm to roll through. Twenty minutes later, the cell has moved to the northeast, and the departure corridors are clear. Approach control needs just a minute to clear all of the arriving aircraft from their holding patterns before they can accept departures, but it shouldn't be long now...

Deja vu...

Look familiar? A 'heavy' wingletted 757 follows us to runway 18L. Almost the same shot as the sunset picture I posted in a previous entry.


Here we sit in Louisville, KY, home of one of the UPS hubs. The alarm went off at 5:00am, just enough time to get ready, grab a quick breakfast downstairs, and then hop in the van at 5:45am for a 6:00am show-time. As I get ready, the anchor on the weather channel talks of severe weather in the midwest, with thunderstorms moving through the Louisville area. Oh, the thunder, that's what originally woke me up at 4:15am... Should be interesting getting out of here, but the storms are moving quickly, so maybe we can launch and then skirt around them to Charlotte.



Good plan, but unfortunately that's not what Charlotte's weather had planned for us (but, but.. the weather channel didn't say anything about thunderstorms in Charlotte!). Air traffic control asks me if we're CAT III capable when I call to get a clearance for our flight plan to Charlotte(Category I, II, and III are based upon the aircraft equipment and determine what visibility and ceiling requirements must be met to land during low visibility). Uh oh. No, I say we're only CAT I capable (the least capable, with CAT III being the most...). "Roger, Charlotte is under a groundstop due to fog, only CAT III aircraft are cleared to go. Update in one hour."


Okie doke... looks like we got up early for nothing! Hold off on boarding, as no one wants to be trapped on an RJ for any longer than they have to be. An hour goes by, ATC tells us the groundstop is still in effect, expect another update in another hour. Almost time for another update when ATC calls to tell us that the fog is lifting, and the groundstop has been canceled. Board the passengers and let's go!


Twenty minutes later, the passengers are all on board, most have already missed their original connections in CLT, but still have hope as most other flights will likely be delayed. All of the bags have been loaded, and the jetway pulled from the plane. I'm just finishing up the weight and balance when ATC calls us back: "There's another groundstop for Charlotte, expect an update in 45 minutes." Great. Well the weather has improved, so this must just be due to heavy volume due to everyone trying to get into CLT at the same time. Ops in Louisville needs their gate for another flight, so we decide to push off an wait it out elsewhere, hoping it will be short lived...


We taxi to a spot where we are out of the way, and wait... and wait... and wait. The update comes, but it's not good news. Another 45 minutes before the next update. ATC calls us at the next update time, this time with better news! We're released with a wheels up time in 30 minutes. 4 hours and 1 minute after we were supposed to depart, our wheels leave the ground enroute to CLT...


Another heavy UPS plane lands while we wait out the groundstop. 4 hours late to Charlotte, we have a Charleston, SC turn to do, then head up to Newark. Weather is good in Charleston, and we successfully cut our delay down to 3 hours by the time we return to Charlotte. Newark is always delayed if there's any sort of weather up there... we're worried about another groundstop. When I call ATC for our flight plan clearance I ask if there are any delays heading up. The answer is good! No delays for Newark.


30 minutes after we pulled into the gate, we're being pushed back again with another plane full of people, this time heading to Newark. A short taxi later, and I call ground control for clearance to taxi to the runway.


ATC: "Uhh, there's a groundstop for Newark, didn't they tell you?"


Us: "No, they told us there weren't any delays when we called 20 minutes ago!"


ATC: "Well, a groundstop is in effect for Newark, expect an update in 58 minutes."





Here we sit, in the 'north hardstand' (an area of the ramp where we can park and wait out delays), next to an Airways 737 also waiting out a delay for somewhere... I wonder where.


Ramp control: "Cactus xxxx (US Airways call sign), dispatch just called us and said you have a mainteance item limiting you to day-time only, is that correct?"


Airways flt: "Affirmative."


Ramp control: "Roger, they want you to return to the gate."


Airways flt: "Uhhh, ok. Let us start them up and talk to dispatch. We'll call you when we're ready to move."



Ouch! Maybe they're having a worse day than we are... We sit for the hour, and ATC thankfully has good news. The groundstop is expired, and we've got a wheels up time in 10 minutes. Start 'em up. 12 hours and 30 minutes after we got to the airport in Louisville, we're waiting for the van in Newark. 4 hours after our scheduled arrival time. I guess it could have been worse!

Before and After

This past weekend was the Masters golf championship in Augusta, GA.. if you didn't already know that. Due to the event, US Airways schedules our planes on the route, for increased capacity. It's the only weekend during the year that we fly to AGS. I had never been there before, and was excited to see a new place... and see how things ran during the golf championship.

Took one flight down on Saturday, and while we didn't have that many passengers, the airport was still quite busy. Here's a view out the front:

Don't think you'd normally see a 737 in Augusta, or the 50+ corporate jets parked on a taxiway...

Fast forward to Monday, the day after the championship ended...

Looks a little different, eh?




On Sunday we spotted this Gulfstream in Savannah, GA.. enroute to Augusta. Cool paint job. Any guesses on who owns it? Check out the registration on the engine: N1KE


A strong line of storms moved across the country, arriving in Charlotte on Friday evening. There were plenty of diversions, late flights, canceled flights, you name it... but we were pretty lucky and ran on time. We took off out of Charlotte heading to Memphis, with the bulk of the storm system still to the west, moving in on CLT. It was pitch black as we picked our way through the storms, with only frequent flashes of lightning and our strobe lights reflecting off of the clouds that surrounded us. Moderate precipitation and turbulence and we worked to get over the thunderstorms and break out on the other side. We finally broke out of the system, to be greeted by a beautiful glimpse of the horizon with the last rays of light still visible as we chased the sun westward.