My fate has a date

The furlough notices have been released and it is official, I, along with 67 other pilots, will be on the streets as on November 1. There are 10 somewhat luckier pilots that will continue flying until December 1, which I suppose makes it bit of a Christmas Layaway Plan.


Even though each of us on the furlough lists has known this was coming, seeing my name of that list in black and white creates a lump in my throat. I have been employed either full or part time since I was 15 years old, and this is the first time I've been laid off, but then again, this is the first time I've worked in a union environment where work ethic, technical skill and knowledge, customer service skills, and ability to get the job done take a back seat to seniority number. Welcome to the world of airline flying.

So, the game is afoot. Cathy and I will do some praying and soul searching and try to figure out what is next for us. Stay in Chicago? Move somewhere else? Sell the condo in Michigan or perhaps rent it out? Head back to Canada? Try to find something (anything) in aviation, or go back to the power industry?

Between now and November 1, I hope to do as much flying as possible, but this month does not look good. I was assigned "P3" reserve this month, which means that I'm on reserve from 7:00 PM until midnight. This is a great reserve period for someone who does not want to do anything, since there is very little chance you'll be called out. For me unfortunately it means sitting around the condo and praying I get a call. So far this month nada. I suppose that this does get me time to start preparing for the furlough. Most of my training documents and manuals are back in Chicago and I'll have to turn those in, along with my company and DTW badges, and according to the contract, even my pilots wings. It sort of conjures up this image of having to walk a gauntlet of fellow pilots on my final day while they strip the books out of my hands and rip the wings off my uniform! Interestingly enough the contract states that only pilots with less than a year (read that as probationary pilots) must turn in their wings. But for one additional month I'd be able to keep mine.

So, I will continue this blog down to the last day to keep my followers posted on the furlough process. I've been told that you are not a "real" airline pilot until you've been furloughed at least once. I guess that on November first, I'll finally be able to say I'm a real, unemployed, airline pilot!

Take care everyone!

Just another day...

As I was coming to the end of a 5-day reserve period without any calls, I was thinking that IF I did get a flight assignment, I would use that flight as a basis for my next blog post. What ever happens, good or bad, short flight or long, that would be my next topic. So it was that on Tuesday, day 4 of my 5-day, Crew Scheduling called and informed me that on Wednesday I would fly two turns, one to Philadelphia and one to Manchester New Hampshire. At the end of the day, once off duty, I would then non-rev back to Chicago to spend a few days with Cathy. This then is that story, the story of yesterday.

My alarm wakes me up at 0430, just a little early because I want to get to the Crew Room early to review procedures into and out of Philly, as this will be my first flight there. Shower, shave, dress, and pack my suitcase. Because this is my last scheduled day and I’m only scheduled to fly “day trips” today, you would not think that I would need to pack for an overnight trip. However, seasoned aircrews have learned that weather, maintenance problems, and a sundry of other issues can conspire to turn day trips into overnighters. Always pack.

The flight schedule has me reporting at 0600, wheels up to Philly at 0700, returning to DTW after a 44 minute turn time. One and a half hours on the ground at DTW which gives me time for lunch, so two sandwiches and a diet Mountain Dew go into my lunch bag. Wheels up for Manchester at 1340, a 43-minute turn time and then return to DTW at 1813. I will be officially off duty at 1843, leaving me plenty of time to head over to A Terminal to catch the 1915 flight to Chicago. Seven hours of flying followed by a short hop home; Cathy and I could be having dinner and a beer by eight O’clock in the evening Chicago time…all in all a pretty good day. That was the plan anyway.

I’m out the door of the condo at 0510 and arrive at the DTW employee parking lot at 0528, thirty two minutes before my official report time. I find a place to park, and start heading to the bus stop, only to see my bus pulling away with me less than 50 feet away. The buses run on 15 minute schedules (supposedly), and the next bus arrives 0548, dropping me off at the B Terminal at 0558. So much for being early. A quick check of my in box shows that I have one bulletin to add to my Airport Directory. I also note a new bulletin is posted that must be entered into my Flight Operations Manual (runway construction at MSP), and no new CRJ-900 bulletins are posted. I duck into the Crew Room, drop my lunch into the fridge, grab my flight bag from the storage room, and enter my new bulletins. I remove the Philly terminal procedure charts from my chart binder and place them into my “day book”, a book I prepare before each flight that has all of the procedures needed to that flight. This helps keep me organized and means unless we divert, I will only need to pull one book from my flight case once in the aircraft. I spend about 5 minutes reviewing the arrival, departure and ground procedures for Philly and note nothing really out of the ordinary, except a note that some aircraft have reported false TCAS (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System) alerts caused by Naval ships in the nearby shipyard.

I am supposed to arrive at the gate at 0630, but because this will be aircraft 904’s first flight of the day I want to get there a few minutes early to perform the security inspection. I head upstairs to gate B11 where the gate agent tells me that our aircraft is coming from the maintenance hanger and has not arrived yet, although our flight paperwork has, so instead of inspecting the airplane I review the paperwork. The flight plan route is as expected, there is no alternate airport required, we will be given 9600 pounds of fuel, and the minimum fuel for takeoff will be 8300 pounds. Also of significance is that according to the paperwork, nothing is broken or deferred on the airplane, always a welcome note.

Captain M arrives at about 0635, and I introduce myself since we’ve never flow together before. Still no airplane. At 0645 the gate agent makes an announcement that the flight will be delayed until at least 0715, but I know that it will be much later since we’d be lucky to get out at 0715 even if we had the airplane at the gate. At 0710, the gate agent announces that there is a gate change and we’re taking another aircraft parked at gate B15, so down we head, tossing the flight paperwork in the trash since the gate agent tells us that we’re taking a different airplane, which will require a whole new dispatch release and flight plan.

Imagine my surprise to see aircraft 904 sitting at gate B15, where it likely has been sitting all along. Already 30 minutes behind schedule, we ask the gate agent to print out our paperwork again and we head down the jetway to get the airplane ready to load passengers. Hold it, not so fast! The ground crew has not completed their daily security checks, so we are not allowed on the plane. Normal procedure would be to board the plane, stow my overnight bag, then power up the plane and perform the cockpit initialization checks before heading to the ramp to perform the preflight and security inspections. However, instead of wasting time waiting on Bubba to finish his cabin inspection and allow us to board, I tell Captain M that I’m heading down to the ramp to perform the preflight checks.

Within one minute, I spot a problem. The windshield wipers are supposed to be parked straight up, resting on the windshield center post. Ship 904 has both windshield wipers parked several inches from center, resting fully on the windshield. If not properly parked, the aircraft is limited to 250 knots so that the slipstream does not rip a wiper off and send it through an engine (bad Ju Ju). I holler up to the Captain and tell him the news, but he can’t radio the news to maintenance since we can’t get on the plane still, so he calls dispatch on his cell phone and asks them to get maintenance rolling our way. I finish the inspections and note nothing else out of order and head back to the jetway, to wait some more for Bubba to finish, which he finally does, and we all climb aboard, power up the plane, and start making preps to get ready to load passengers.

Although we want to cycle the wipers to see if they will park correctly, we can’t run them on a dry windshield since that causes scratches. Maintenance arrives, wets the windshield, and cycles the wipers which correctly park, so they grab our MM1 log to make their entry. I call DTW Clearance Delivery, get our clearance and enter it into the FMS. The lead flight attendant tells us that the aft lavatory needs service and that we don’t have any ice on board, so service calls are made. Passengers start boarding. We note that although there are no deferrals listed on the newly printed dispatch release, there is a deferral sticker still on the flaps/slats control switch, and a review of the MM1 log shows that Maintenance signed off a “Slats Halfspeed” deferral the previous night, but apparently forgot to remove the sticker. Another call to Maintenance to get them back out to review the log and remove the sticker. Bags are loaded and the bag count sheet is handed to me for entry into ACARS. The passenger load count is likewise passed up and entered, and final fuel and weight data is then transmitted out via ACARS, and a return message is received with our takeoff safety speeds, weight and balance, and the flex takeoff thrust settings. The passenger door is closed and the parking brake is released at 0751, and the crew is finally on the pay clock, 51 minutes behind schedule. Our flight gets underway without ice and with only one lav since our service request was never filled.

Captain M flies faster than profile to Philly to make up some time, and we block in at 0922 having made up 10 minutes, which is good, but not good enough for those with missed connections. We are scheduled to have 44 minutes total from block in to block out, but since we’re running late we do everything we can to shorten that time. I’d really like to leave the cockpit and head to the usable washroom, but things are happening fast and we’re already loading passengers. We drop the brake at 0951, an impressive 29 minutes from our arrival time, but still 26 minutes behind schedule. Oh, and we still only have one usable washroom, but at least the Philly crew loaded us with ice. That’s only batting 500, but it is better service than we got back in DTW.

Philly is departing runway 27L and it looks like there’s quite a backup of departing traffic, but the tower is doing a great job of cranking them out. Within 10 minutes of leaving he gate the Captain turns over the controls to me and I takeoff, again pushing the profile to make up some additional time, but this time with a 67 knot headwind instead of the nice tailwind we enjoyed on the way down. Center and DTW approach controllers don’t spread any aloha and are not able to provide any shortcuts and in fact, start slowing us down very early for arrival spacing. We touch down on runway 21L at 1130, but by the time we taxi to gate B12 (4 minutes) and then wait for a ground handling crew to show up and marshal us in, we block in at 1142, which is 23 minutes behind schedule, so I was only able to make up three minutes on an hour and fifty one minute leg. We get an A for effort, but a D minus on results and only results count in this business.

We have an elderly passenger who needs a wheelchair to get up the jetway, and although we called ahead to make sure one was standing by, another passenger decided to accept a free ride to baggage claim and took it. This happens more frequently than you would believe, and it really ticks me off. If you really need a wheelchair, tell the flight attendant and we’ll be sure to have one for you. If you don’t ask for one, don’t just claim it like a taxicab, since there will not be one available for the person who asked for it and likely needs it more than you do. Anyway, since the flight attendants can’t leave the aircraft until all passengers are off, I go to try to find a wheelchair and attendant to help our last passenger off, which takes much too long. Our last passenger is finally wheeled away from the airplane and taken to her connection flight to Lexington and we start making preparations to clean up, shutdown and secure the airplane. Captain M finishes his post-flight walk around inspection and noting nothing out of the ordinary, he bids us goodbye and heads to his connection flight, his work done for the day.

Likewise, I bid adieu to our flight attendants who are also now off the clock (like the pilots, they were off the pay clock 30 minutes from the time the door was opened upon our arrival, even though we were all still on board and cleaning the aircraft then). I check with the gate agent and find out that I’ll be taking 904 to Manchester which is OK with me, especially if we get the lav serviced. By the time I make a quick call to Cathy and check the time, I see that I have to be back on board in 15 minutes, not enough time to head to the Crew Room and grab my lunch, but plenty of time to finally get to the washroom. So, at 1305 I head back down the jetway and power ship 904 back up.

The new flight attendants and Captain D arrive and once again we all introduce ourselves and get busy. Hold the phone, we have an EICAS message that we’re not supposed to; “Slats Halfspeed”. I explain the history of this to Captain D who calls Maintenance to come check it out. Maintenance arrives and tries to work their magic but once again there is no aloha and the EICAS message remains, so they defer the maintenance. A pretty yellow sticker, just like the one that mistakenly got left in place early this morning, gets placed next to the slats/flaps control. The Captain makes a call to Dispatch since we will need a new dispatch release showing this new deferral while I pull the MEL book and review the operational considerations of operating with slats at half speed. While this is going on our passengers and bags are loaded, Maintenance completes their MM1 entry and leaves, and we close the door at exactly 1340, right on time. The Captain makes his welcome aboard PA and tells everyone that we will be delayed pushing back until we finish with some paperwork. Although the Captain can make pen and ink changes to the dispatch release, it is an MEL requirement that our takeoff and landing data take into consideration the deferred slat speed, and although I’ve tried resending the ACARS data several times it is returned with “NONE” under remarks, meaning that there are no deferrals. Because we are delayed, our ground crew leaves us to go push the aircraft next door while Captain D calls Dispatch and tells them to get the deferral into system. Finally after about 15 minutes we get good data and our ground crew has returned, so we push back from the gate and head toward runway 22L, set up for me to fly the outbound leg.

Once again faster than profile to try to make up the time we lost on the ground, I dodge a single thunderstorm cell over Pennsylvania and fly an uneventful leg to Manchester, landing on runway 35 and getting to the gate at 1536, nine minutes behind schedule. Once again the passengers are all off, we clean and straighten the cabin, and the DTW-bound passengers start loading. Although we’re ready to close the door, the ground crew is still loading bags and are late to pass up the bag load sheet. Once that’s done we close the door 2 minutes behind schedule, push back and head once again for runway 35. With no other traffic at Manchester we’re soon airborne, again pushing the profile to make up time and to beat the 70 knot headwind. On the decent ATC finally spreads some Aloha our way and asks us to keep out speed at 300 knots or better in the decent which we gladly do. Two shortcuts come out way and even the winds cooperate allowing us a near straight in approach to runway 21L. The stars all stay aligned and when we arrive at gate B6, the ground crew is already there. Now THIS is how it is supposed to work, and we block in at 1801, twelve minutes ahead of schedule. An A for effort and results, finally! Passengers are all off loaded, systems are shutdown, the cabin is cleaned and straightened, and at 1850 I say goodbye and head over to Terminal A to grab my flight home.

I’m relieved to see the plane at the gate A53, but the gate agent tells me that the plane is overbooked and I’ll have to ask the Captain for the cockpit jumpseat, which is fine with me. At this point I’ll ride in the baggage compartment! At 1900 the gate agent announces that the flight will be delayed until 1945 due to weather in Chicago. The aircrew arrives at 1910 and I introduce myself to Captain R who signs my jumpseat authorization and makes me feel very welcome. I head down the jetway with the crew, store my bags, and then wait at the jetway door as all of the passengers are loaded. The First Officer returns from his walk around and tells me there is a hydraulic leak. About 10 minutes later Maintenance shows up and after about 15 minutes of discussion decides that they can’t repair the leak. Another 5 minutes pass and the gate agent comes down the jetway and tells the Captain that we’ll be taking another plane parked at A45. Just as with my first flight some 13 hours earlier, we move all of the passengers down to a new gate and the crew heads down to get the aircraft ready for the flight. Also just like 13 hours earlier, the flight crew note two problems with this new bird; first the interior temperature is 90 degrees and secondly, there is a broken safety bar on the Captain’s-side circuit breaker panel. The Captain is rightfully livid and explains to me that he refuses to load passengers until the cabin is below 80 degrees. This airplane has been sitting at the gate for 3 hours, without the APU running or external cooling air attached and is completely heat soaked. Unlike the CRJ-900 that I fly, he explains that if he loaded passengers and tried to cool the cabin with only the onboard APU, the temperature would actually go up to about 100 degrees until they got airborne. Considerate to his passengers comfort and safety although knowing that we’re already well behind schedule, he takes no shortcuts and demands that the ground crews get external air connected and the cabin cooled.

Without any additional details, I’ll tell you that the cabin was cooled, the circuit breaker bar repaired, passengers were loaded, and we were wheels up at exactly 2200, two hours and 45 minutes behind schedule. I found it striking that my day ended just like it started, and even though it was a different airline flying different equipment, they were faced with exactly the same challenges. Whether it is fighting to get ice on board, a lavatory serviced, windshield wipers fixed, a hydraulic leak repaired, or an excessively hot cabin cooled, the crew is fighting to correct issues that they had no hand in making. With a little more concern or pro-active inspections, others could have found these issues and had a remedy started long before passengers were delayed. Striking to me is that the crews fight these battles while under the stress of staying on schedule and while not on the pay clock. I am personally disappointed that out of four legs I was only able to get passengers to their destination on time once, but try as I might there is very little that can be done to overcome the delays once the die is cast. At least I am proud to be working among professionals that continue to try to do what they can for our passengers, even when it seems we are fighting a losing battle. My company has an impressive on-time record and days like today are rare (at least for this airline), but they do happen.

Such was my day yesterday, another day of reserve flying, another day closer to furlough. A new airport experienced, new friends made, new challenges overcome, and seven more hours of irreplaceable flying experience and can’t be gained in any other way. Low pay, hectic schedule, pending furlough and all, I love this job and will miss it.

Here’s hoping you find as much enjoyment overcoming your daily challenges!

Goodbye Sixteen Charlie

Well, the day finally came when I had to watch Friedel take to the sky with 3316C, now officially his and Peggy's aircraft, as he headed east for the trip to Germany. Cathy feels somewhat differently, but for for me there is great sadness in knowing that I will never fly 16C again, and that Cathy and I will never add to our wonderful memories of the adventures we shared on our Bonanza trips together. 16 Charlie was a part of our lives for many years, and together we shared a lot of joy, and a little angst, while we owned her. If ever there has been proof of the "men are from Mars and women are from Venus" theory, men's attachment to inanimate objects such as 16C is it. Cathy sees the financial upside of selling the plane (which, in light of my minuscule paycheck, not to mention pending furlough, I must appreciate too). I however, constantly think back to all of the good times shared and until this very day, always looked forward to the next flying adventure. For now, I will simply have to be satisfied with the memories.

Many readers of this blog have enjoyed flights in 16 Charlie, and I thank each of you for sharing the fun. The original trip to Montana to pick her up with Gord, flying down in his wonderful 1950 B model Bonanza, then flying back to Calgary in formation. Trips to my sister's wedding in Oregon, my mother's home in Washington, camping trips to Montana, trips to North Carolina for Mike and Rhonda's yearly "pig pick'en", trips down the Chicago waterline with my friend Jeff and my friend Rick, lunch trips with Jamie and Brandon. Flying with Cathy to Montreal for her US immigration; countless trips from Calgary up to Cooking Lake Alberta to visit Cathy's Brother Randy and his family. Trips out to Ontario to visit our friends Shelley and Phil. Flying 16 Charlie from Washington state across the United States to Illinois; all of these adventures are forever etched in my mind, and more importantly, recorded in my log book for the future years when the mind tends to let the memories fade (who am I kidding about "future years", and where the hell DID I put my car keys...?).

My sadness of selling 16 Charlie is tempered by knowing that Friedel and Peggy will be FANTASTIC owners. Friedel said it best when he told me just as it was my dream to fly for the airlines, his dream has been to own an early Bonanza. When he came to the US back in May to look at several Bonanza's and pick one out, just like me, he fell in love with 16 Charlie at first sight. Peggy and Friedel are true aviators and own a 1942 Stearman in an airshow act that travels throughout Europe. Please have a look at their great web site here:
http://www.wing-walkers.de/web/eng/team.php

Lastly, for those who have never owned an airplane, please understand that it is the relationships with others that is enhanced by airplane ownership that makes that ownership so special, and I should acknowledge some of those people. My mentor Gene kept 16 Charley safely tucked away in the hanger up in Waukegan, even after I no longer worked for him. Anson, Gene's mechanic, who kept an eye on her when my schedule kept me from doing so, and on occasion helped de-bug a problem or two. Speaking of mechanics, for the past three and a half years 16 Charlie has been maintained by a man that I feel is not only one of the best Bonanza mechanics in the country, but probably one of the nicest gentleman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Jim Finefield and his son Paul, along with all of the other fantastic employees at Finefield Aviation at 3CK have not only the knack, but the true passion of keeping antique aircraft flying. And finally, a special thanks to Cathy, who opened her mind, her heart, and not insignificantly, our bank account, to ensure that our years with 16 Charlie were both happy and safe. For someone as fiscally conservative as Cathy airplane ownership was difficult, but not once did she ever balk at a single dollar being spent to maintain 16 Charlie safely. I was blessed to have found such a wonderful and beautiful old airplane, and such a wonderful and beautiful, not-so-old wife with which to share the fun times.

Friedel, God speed and tailwinds on your journey across the ocean to Germany. If owning 16 Charlie brings you and Peggy even half of the happiness it brought Cathy and I, your Euros were well spent. I sure hope to be able to come see 16 Charlie in her new home sometime soon.

You want me where, by when!?

It is not often that I post more than once per week, but after the circle-jerk that I experienced tonight, I needed to take a few minutes to catch my breath and unwind, so I thought I might share with you my adventures with Crew Scheduling. For those followers who do have no experience with airline flying, Crew Scheduling are the folks who sit in a cube city office somewhere and plug flight crews into airplanes so that flights can leave the gate on time, all the while avoiding exceeding FAA crew rest requirements, juggling training and vacation schedules, and seemingly recently, dealing with a rash of pilots calling in sick. It may only be a rumor, but I heard that since the furlough announcement many pilots are using up sick days as a protest. I can't say if that's true or not, but if it is it is a shame. Come on guys, is calling in sick at the last minute really going to either avoid furloughs, or get back at anyone? Is Crew Scheduling responsible for furloughs?

For the most part, I have had a good relationship with Crew Scheduling. They have called me for some short fused needs and I have responded faster than the 1.5 hours that the contract requires. On the other hand, I have on occasion requested to drop a reserve day to get an extra day off and they have approved (although not always). I have great empathy for the job that these people do and I know that it is not easy, but tonight I think someone dropped the ball big time.

Let me set the stage:

When I left Detroit four days ago, I left with the following schedule:
July 27 - DTW-AUS
July 28 - AUS-SLC, and SLC-AUS
July 29 - AUS-SLC, and SLC-AUS
July 30 - AUS-MSP, followed by a deadhead flight back to DTW
Aug 1-2, reserve days in back in DTW

So, when I left Detroit on Monday, I packed and prepared for a 4-day trip, but with two extra days of reserve at the end of the schedule, I knew it was likely that I'd see a schedule change.

This morning in Austin TX, I received a call from Crew Scheduling telling me that they needed me to stay in Minneapolis tonight to stand "out of base reserve" tomorrow, and that the needed me to fly a MSP-DSM flight tomorrow evening. No big deal, since they put me up in the Hyatt Place for the night and through the day on Friday. Heck, I'd rather sit out of base reserve and draw Per Diem than sit reserve in Detroit.

Our AUS-MSP flight is uneventful and we never even had to deviate a single time for weather. Upon landing at MSP I say good bye to my fellow crew members who are heading back to DTW, and call for the hotel shuttle to pick me up. Once at the hotel, I find that there is no reservation for me. THAT should have been my first warning. I call Crew Scheduling and ask them to fax over a copy of the room request so that I can get checked in, and they promise to send it over immediately. For the record, this was at 9:15 PM. The good folks at the Hyatt go ahead and let me check in while they wait for the paperwork.

At 9:40 PM I jump in the hotel van for a ride over to Ruby Tuesdays to grab some dinner. As we pull into the restaurant parking lot at 9:45, I receive a call from Crew Scheduling that when something like this:

ME "Hi, this is Gary"
CS "Gary, this is Tom with Crew Scheduling. Did anyone tell you that you have a Fargo flight tonight?"
ME "Tonight, you mean tomorrow night"
CS "No, tonight"
ME "What time tonight?"
CS "10:20"
ME "Tom, I'm sitting in a van in civilian clothes a mile from the hotel and your telling me I have a flight in 35 minutes?"
CS "You mean you are a mile from the airport?"
ME "NO TOM, A MILE FROM THE HOTEL THAT I CHECKED INTO THIRTY MINUTES AGO!"
CS "Oh, well, get there when you can. Oh, and you have a Boise overnight tomorrow too"
Click.....

For the record, Flight 3587 departed at 10:30 PM, only 10 minutes behind schedule. This was thanks to John the Hyatt van driver who waited on me while I changed back into uniform and then drove the van like I've not seen since my days in Chinea Korea getting to the airport. It is also thanks to Captain Randy who had everything all set up in the airplane when I arrived so all I needed to do was a pre-flight inspection, strap in, confirm his programming, run the checklists, crank the engines and go. We even made the time up and had our passengers at the gate at Fargo 5 minutes early.

So, other than to vent a little, why am I writing this? Perhaps to let you know some of the fun that goes on behind the scenes that you may never know about. Our passengers last night had no way of knowing why I ran aboard the aircraft minutes prior to pushback, and some likely were upset about pushing 10 minutes late. Why it happened, I really don't know. Someone calls in sick at the last minute, or, perhaps Crew Scheduling just dropped the ball and did not inform me of a change they made earlier in the day. All I know is that a LOT of people, not just me, jumped through hoops to keep this one short flight as close to schedule as possible. THAT is what will make this airline more profitable, hopefully one day opening up more flying and more jobs. Calling in sick will NOT.

Vent over...now breathe...."serenity now, serenity now".

Avoiding Bad Ju-Ju, under the ice or over the storm

In the past two weeks I have been assigned a lot of flights between Austin Texas and Salt Lake City Utah, meaning that I'm spending a lot of time in thunderstorm territory. Naturally aircraft need to avoid thunderstorms because of the destructive hail and violent wind shears, but you may be surprised to learn that "avoiding thunderstorms" is not as easy as you may believe. Yes, all modern airline aircraft are equipped with weather radar and use it as the primary avoidance tool, but interpreting the real story behind the radar picture is not as easy as watching TV. In fact, it very much reminds me of my submarine days when we used sonar to navigate through ice ridges when transiting through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean. I thought you might be interested in a comparison of the two.

First of all, both radar and sonar work in the same general way; a beam of energy is transmitted (through air for radar and through water for sonar) and is bounced back or returned for processing and display. The strength of the return is proportional to the size or density of the mass reflecting the return, and the time it takes to bounce back is proportional to the distance to the target. Simple enough. Imagine that I have placed you in the middle of a dark, open room of unknown size. I then hand you a bucket of tennis balls and tell you to start tossing them at your surroundings. As you tossed tennis balls and listened to where they hit the wall and how long it took you would eventually get some idea of the size and shape of the room you were in. Now, let's make it a little easier and give you a flashlight. Same dark room, but this time I hand you a flashlight and tell you to walk around and find the dimensions of the room, but don't bump into anything while moving around. Should be easy, right? What if I only allowed you to hold the flashlight straight out and did not allow you to point it at the floor or at the ceiling? Think you could avoid tripping on a few objects laying about, or perhaps a fixture hanging from the ceiling? What if I placed some objects painted flat black in the room? Even with the flashlight you might not see them well enough to avoid hitting them. Now you understand some of the limitations of both radar and sonar.

In my day, submarines used the AN/BQS-14 sonar for ice detection and avoidance. Originally developed to detect underwater mines, this sonar underwent many upgrades and eventually became known as PFLU (pronounced Pee-Flu) or Pulsed Forward Looking Upgrade. This sonar sent a narrow beam of energy straight forward from the sail of the sub and the returned data was displayed on a screen in the control room. But wait...why do you even need sonar to avoid overhead ice? Why don't you just submerge the submarine to a safe depth and sail along safely below the ice? Believe it or not, the bottom of the Arctic ice pack is NOT flat, not even close. The Arctic is a very dynamic environment, and the ice pack is not one solid sheet of ice. Hundreds and thousands of ice islands are floating along slowly with the current, and like tectonic plates of the earth, when they collide they are forced together with tons of pressure which forces the ice both up on the surface, and down into the ocean. With a few exceptions the bottom of the Arctic ice pack looks like the upper surface of a cave, with thousands of staligtights hanging down. Naturally if the water was deep enough you would simply pass under these ice "keels", but unfortunately, the Bering Strait is very shallow and the winter ice keels can actually reach all the way to the bottom. Bad Ju-Ju to hit those. Take a look at this photo of our actual PFLU display during the Bering transient:

In this example, the submarine is operating submerged in 157 feet of water (!), and is currently only 26 feet from the bottom (!!!). The sonar is showing us a significant ice keel target ahead at 600 yards, but we need to know if that keel reaches down to our depth or if we will pass safely below it. We will know we are in trouble if the return is still present when we get within 300 yards of it, which is the magenta line you see on the PFLU display. This is because just like aircraft radar, the PFLU beams out its energy in a cone shape, narrow at the transmitter and gradually widening out with distance. Almost any ice keel will be detected at distance because the beam is very wide, but as you approach these shallow keels they will eventually pass out of the beam and their return will fade from the screen. If however you are still seeing a return at 300 yards, it is a sure bet that this ice keel is at a dangerous depth and you must turn to avoid it. Also note on the PFLU display the submarine's speed of 5 knots. Imagine being in a 5000 ton nuclear submarine, 26 feet from the bottom of the ocean, watching as you move closer to an ice keel, hoping and praying that the return will soon fade, only to realize that you are now 300 yards from it and you must now take evasive action within the next minute or you will hit it. Now THAT'S exciting! Through hours and hours of experience we became pretty efficient at interpreting the display, understanding the limitations imposed by its fixed beam, and avoiding the ice.

Yesterday Captain Tim and I were returning to Austin from Salt Lake City, and as expected there were a lot of thunderstorms brewing up between us and a cold beer on the ground. Assuming that you can see these monsters they can be easy enough to avoid, but while flying at 35,000 feet (FL350), we were in a solid blanket of cloud and were just as blind as a submerged submarine. Our first defence is to try to stay visual, so we climb to FL370 which works for while, but eventually the clouds rise and envelope us again, leaving us with our WXR-840 weather radar as our primary defence tool. Although there are some similarities, there are significant differences between this radar and the BQS-14 sonar on the submarine, not to mention the operational differences between an aircraft and a submarine. Let's discuss the equipment differences.

WXR-840 weather radar uses a flat plate "dish" in the aircraft nose that sweeps to the left and right of the aircraft's flight path. Unlike the sonar however, the 840 can be tilted up and down. Using this tilt control is absolutely critical to safely avoiding killer thunderstorms. Here's why. Without getting into too much detail, a mature thunderstorm is a highly complex system, and has several well-defined zones or areas within its boundaries. Below the clouds it typically the rain curtain and its associated wind, lightning and thunder. That's what we all experienced on the ground countless times, and depending on the storm's strength they can be scary. What's really scary is the middle section of the vertical storm, which contains up and down drafts of fantastic strength, wind shears that can instantly cause structural damage to aircraft, and most often heavy quantities of rain and wet hail. It is this middle section that reflects radar energy so well and shows up vividly on our radar display. The upper section of a storm, and remember that these devils can reach altitudes much higher that the 41,000 our CRJ can climb to, contains very little moisture. However, they still contain the wind shear, violent up and down drafts, and often dry hail, and unfortunately none of these will reflect radar energy. It is not unheard of to have pilots flying aircraft with working weather radar fly into the dangerous upper areas of a storm because they had their radar set to sweep only the upper altitudes where they are flying, not realizing that unless they tilted their radar so that it could look down into the reflective zones of the storm there stood no chance of seeing anything. These encounters rarely end well for either crew or passengers.

Take a look at the photos below taken on our flight yesterday (click on the photos to enlarge them).

In the photo on the left, we are flying at FL360 heading toward Junction City and are "painting" a moderate return about 20 degrees left of course at about 70 miles. In the upper right corner of the display you will see "T+1.0" which is our current tilt setting, which is ahead and slightly up. In the second photo taken only a minute later, you can note two things...the tilt setting has been lowered to -0.5, and that same storm suddenly looks a lot meaner. This is what it looked like from the cockpit window:



I had it easy on my leg since I was above the cloud deck and could visually avoid the storms. On Tim's return leg we were "in the goo" for almost the entire trip, leaving us to navigate around the bad Ju-Ju using the WXR-840 display, and more importantly, our experience in reading those returns. With a few zigs and a few zags we were able to get our 73 passengers safely to Austin on time without them even knowing anything about the tactical decisions being made each minute of that flight.

Once back at the hotel, Tom and I were discussing the physical and mental toll that a six hour return flight can place on a flight crew, and we both realized that from the minute the first checklist starts on the ground until we complete the final checklist at the destination, flying in this summer thunderstorm environment forces the crew to make literally hundreds of thousands of decisions, one on top of another, non-stop. There is no room for error, for just like in a submarine operating 26 feet from the ocean bottom with ice passing feet above you, navigating through thunderstorms is unforgiving, and a single mistake can prove fatal. Unlike submarines however, airline crews do this every hour of everyday, all around the world.

Here's hoping you can avoid all of the bad Ju-Ju in your life!

And the GOOD news is.....

Those readers with some airline background will not be surprised to learn that there have been some changes in the Delta world since my last post. A week ago I was pretty certain that I'd be out the door on August 4, but now it looks like I may remain firmly planted into the CRJ right-hand seat until this fall, possibly November. Although I'm still on the furlough list, I'm ecstatic that I get to stay on a few extra months. So, instead of concentrating on the bad news, I want to focus this blog on the good news, not just in my life, but in those around me.

Cathy and I are healthy and happy, and have just spent the past three months working side by side with our condo renovations. Yes Cathy is out of work, and yes my paychecks have not been as miniscule since my early Navy days, but we're getting by and in fact we are having a blast this summer. Times are tough, but we've never been happier together. Cathy is soon heading to Newfoundland to attend an aunt's wedding and visit family, so she's very excited about that. Oh, I guess I should also mention that we FINALLY managed to catch that damn grand daddy carp that's been hanging around the boat!















As I mentioned in the last posting, Jamie and Brandon are also healthy and are meeting the challenges that mid-20's adults can expect, in some cases more than their fair share. Jamie continues to try to balance her personal life, work, and school and is doing an amazing job on maintaining her focus and priorities. Jamie works for a small family-run flooring business, and as you can imagine times are tough for the business and its employees. As she prepares to start school, like most Americans these days she is having to plan every penny she spends. Brandon is preparing to start the fall semester at Purdue University, and having just left the Army after 5 years, does not yet have employment lined up. Brandon is facing a very challenging course load, financial strain, and uncertainy of the future, but is focused and positive. Cathy and I are immensely proud to see that both Jamie and Brandon are taking positive steps to enrich their lives, even in these tough times. Many adults could learn a lot from their attitudes and persistence.

Speaking of attitudes and persistence, my friend Rick continues to not only survive with pancreatic cancer, but remain positive and energetic. When diagnosed with cancer over two years ago, many did not expect Rick to survive to see Christmas. Well, Rick continues to beat the odds and is enjoying his summer driving his beautiful Corvette around Illinois. There have been many soldiers labeled "hero" because they faced an overwhelming enemy with resolve and remained cool under fire. Rick may have never served in armed services, but he is no less a hero in the way he stands up to his enemy. I pray for the day that we can wipe cancer off the face of the earth.

Another good friend and follower of this blog Jeff has just recently passed the written exam for Senior Reactor Operator. Jeff and I served in the Navy together on the USS Casimir Pulaski (SSBN 633 Blue) and instead of ricocheting all around North America from one out-of-the-ordinary job to another like me, Jeff settled into a position in a nuclear power plant in South Carolina. Although he still faces simulator evaluations and another VERY subjective work evaluation before being licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Jeff's months and months of "academic hell" are soon to be over. If you pilots out there think a PC or RGS is tough, it does not even scratch the surface of an NRC license exam. Then again, the smoking hole we make when we screw up is nowhere as big as the smoking hole Jeff would make if he screwed up. Congratulations Jeff!

These are just a few examples of good news in my life and there are many more. Surrounded with so many good news stories, there is simply no way I can start a pity party about me being furloughed in November, especially when I think that a year ago, I never really expected to be hired by an airline to start with! So, for the next few months I’ll continue to fly every opportunity and will share my adventures. I recently had my first experience with St Elmo’s fire, and with flying from DCA airport, both of which I will share in future posts.

Stay positive and enjoy life!

The Great Silence

I can't believe that it has been three months since I've posted anything! I apologize for the silence and will only offer as an excuse the fact that Cathy and I have been as busy in the past few months as either of us has been in our lives. I won't post all of the details, but here's the Reader's Digest Condensed version of the past two months.


We purchased a condo in Ypsilanti MI
We gutted the condo and started renovations. This single item has consumed a HUGE amount of our time, energy, and money.
We sold the Bonanza. 3316C is headed to a new home in Germany soon.
We bought a boat since out condo is on Ford Lake.
We have rediscovered fishing.
Most notably, and sadly, I received heads up that furlough is coming soon. Since the Delta purchase of Northwest, things have been changing, and the possibilities of furlough have been in the air. Looks like it may happen next month.

As for other happenings, my daughter Jamie was one of 12 students accepted into a very challenging sonography course in Orlando, and Brandon has been accepted into undergraduate studies at Purdue. Cathy and I are immensely proud of both of them. Great job Jamie and Brandon!

Since this is likely to be my last month of "living the dream", I will do my utmost to publish often and share the adventures. Although I am very sad to have to step down, my heart goes out to my fellow furloughees that are completely saddled with thousands of dollars in student loans and debt. My dream may be short lived and I may on unemployment soon, but unlike many of my fellow pilots, Cathy and I will be OK, thanks to Cathy's persistance in saving for the proverbial rainy day.

Safe travels everyone.

Fun With Numbers

Today I flew a "turn" to Ft. Myers Florida. Turn is short for turn around, where you fly from one point to another, and immediately return to the originating station. Since the Captain was flying the return leg, I had some time on my hands and considered crunching some numbers.

Here are some quick basics of our return flight. We had a full boat, 76 passengers and four crew. Our Zero Fuel Weight, which is the weight of the aircraft, passengers, crew and baggage was 64,700 pounds, and we were fueled with 15,400 pounds of liquid noise, giving us a ramp weight of 80,100 which is well below our maximum of 84,000 pounds. We expected to burn 300 pounds of fuel for taxi out which gave us a takeoff weight of 79,800. However, based on the current temperature (29C/84F), and the length of the available runway (12,000 feet), our maximum takeoff weight was 80,000 pounds. Not a lot of extra room.

We are scheduled to leave the gate at 1620 and actually pushed at 1612. Why stick around when we are already full, and knowing that we've got headwinds on the way home? Our wheels-up time is 1621 and our routing takes us over Orlando, Jacksonville, Spartanburg SC, Henderson WV, Pleasant Valley OH, over the western edge of Lake Erie straight to Detroit. Approximate air distance 1000 miles. Once airborne we climb to our cruise altitude of 35,000 where the flight progresses in smooth air, although we are bucking a stiff headwind.

As we proceed north, our flight computer shows the winds to be from 307 degrees at 122 knots. That equates to a headwind component of 81 knots. What this really means is that although our True Airspeed at FL350 is 469 knots, we are only moving over the ground at about 405 knots, much slower than we would like. Accordingly, the Captain pushes the profile a little, flying at an indicated airspeed of Mach 0.80 instead of the more efficient Mach 0.77 the profile calls for. At this combination of speed and altitude, each of the GE engines are burning 1830 pounds of fuel per hour.

We leave the strong headwind on the decent and touch down on runway 3R at DTW at 1852. After the long taxi via W, J, J-10, Q-1, Q to gate B3 we open the door and stop the pay clock at 1858, nineteen minutes early, thanks to leaving 8 minutes early and the Captain's extra speed. The box shows we have 5,700 pounds of fuel left, meaning we burned 9700 pounds, or roughly 1450 gallons of fuel to cover the 1000 air miles we flew. How efficient is that?

Google Maps puts the road distance between Ft Myers and Detroit airports at 1288 miles. Let's assume that instead of loading into a CRJ-900, all 80 of us loaded into 20 efficient 4-passenger cars that achieved a combined mileage of 25 MPG. These 20 cars would burn 1030 gallons of gas for this trip, or 420 gallons less than the RJ. The road trip would also take almost 20 hours instead of our 2 hour 46 minute block to block time. So it would appear that the real efficiency is that the extra 420 gallons of fuel went into saving about 1360 person-hours of time. Seems like a good trade to me.

Some other fun facts: this leg put me over 100 hours in the RJ, so I'm no longer a high-minimums FO, now being just a regular FO, still new, but not green. Total block time for today's trip was about 5 hours, or about $120 in pay, not including per-diem, which will add another $9.80 for the day. It might not seem like much, but I reflected on some things on this flight, like the fact that tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and once again Cathy and I are separated. Easter is about resurrection and new life, and I reflect on how lucky I am to have been given this opportunity. As I fly over Jamie and Brandon in Orlando, Submarine Base Kings Bay GA, my friends Jeff and Amy in SC, I am reminded about my past, different careers, different countries and cities, different challenges, but always the same love of flying. In my new life as an airline pilot, I have learned to cherish each minute I spend with Cathy, because they are few right now. I have learned to save each dollar, because they too are few. I have learned to absorb and capture each and every minute of every flight, because with the talk of potential furloughs in the air, this could be a fleeting dream that I want to remember well. And most of all, I have learned how blessed I can be in this life. Oh, and I guess I learned how loud hitting a goose can be too!

Happy Easter everyone. Go chase dreams.

Sully Only Hit Two!

Now that I’m on reserve, I was looking forward to a quiet month and the occasional flight to continue building experience. After major electrical failures on my first flight and loss of steering on one of my last flights, I was hoping for some routine uneventful trips. Thanks to a small gaggle of Canada geese, that was not to be. Call me “Black Cloud”, but my streak of excitement continues.

Crew Scheduling called yesterday informing me that I had been assigned a last-minute overnight trip to St Louis. That’s exactly the type of trip I hope for; simple, one leg trips, out, overnight, back in. That’s much better than sitting around hoping for flight time. I grab a quick one hour nap, shower, change into uniform and head to the airport early since I know that I have several publication changes I need to install into my manuals. While in the crew room, I meet my Captain for the flight who seems to be sharp and easy going. I head down to gate B15 early since our aircraft is there, review the maintenance log, bring power onto the aircraft, and then head out to the ramp to perform the pre-flight inspection. All is in order and the flight to STL proceeds out early with the Captain driving. All in all it was a textbook relaxing flight, and we arrived about 20 minutes early.

This morning started at 0445 with an AOV (asses on van) time of 0600. We arrive at the airport and quickly pass though security arriving at our gate exactly on time at 0615 for our 0645 push. Because this is the first flight of the day for the aircraft, I take extra time during the pre-flight inspection to open all access panels and perform the required security checks. Noting nothing amiss I return to the flight deck to set up the FMS and instrumentation for the flight back to Detroit, which will be my leg. Copy ATIS weather, call for our ATC clearance, close the passenger door 3 minutes early, call for push, and we’re on our way.

After engine start Captain Sean calls for the after start checklist, and then the before takeoff checklist as we taxi toward runway 12R. It is 4 degrees outside with light rain, so the takeoff will be conducted using both wing and engine cowl anti-ice, and full power will be used instead of the normal “flex thrust”, a procedure we typically employ which allows us to use less than full power on takeoff to minimize stress on the engines. We weigh 76,500 pounds this morning, well below the maximum takeoff weight of 84,500. Our ACARS runway data tells us to set the flaps to 20 degrees, full thrust (due to anti-ice being on), and also tells us that if we lose an engine on takeoff we should continue climbing straight out on a heading of 121 degrees, the runway heading. As we slowly taxi onto the runway, the Captain calls for the runway items checklist, the last series of checks before we transfer control and I start the takeoff roll.

Before continuing, let me describe a normal takeoff sequence, or what SHOULD have happened this morning. The final item on the runway items check is a confirmation that the compass reads the expected heading for the runway. This is a final verification that we are in fact taxiing into position for the correct runway, a check that everyone does following the fatal crash of a CRJ a while back that attempted to take off from the wrong runway at Lexington KY. Once the First Officer announces “runway items complete”, the Captain either starts the takeoff roll if it is his leg to fly, or turns control of the throttles over to the FO, announcing “your aircraft” if it is the FO’s leg. The FO then advances the throttles up to around 75% power, checks engine instruments to ensure both engines look good, and then advances the throttles to the “TAKEOFF” detent, announcing “Set Thrust”, and then takes his hands off of the throttles, placing both hands on the control column. Although the FO is performing the takeoff, the Captain still maintains control of the throttles and has the obvious authority to abort the takeoff. When the FO calls “set thrust”, the PNF (Pilot Not Flying, or in this case, the Captain) confirms that both engines are developing the appropriate power, and if so he calls “Thrust Set”, again keeping his hands on the throttles. As the PF concentrates on tracking the centerline of the runway, the PNF calls out “80 knots”, and the PF quickly checks his airspeed indicator to ensure that he sees about 80 knots and calls "checks". The PF then again shifts concentration down the runway, and the PNF calls first “V-1”, and then “Rotate”, where the PF then pulls back on the control column and lifts the aircraft from the runway. Again, this is what happens on 99.9% of takeoffs, but today Captain Sean and I joined the 0.1% Club, thanks to a gaggle of suicidal, dumb-ass geese.

The Captain calls “runway items” was we taxi onto runway 12R. I shut off the automatic fuel cross flow, ensure the transponder is on, check and clear the EICAS display, and call out the indicated runway heading and compare to the expected runway heading. The Captain says “your aircraft” and I bring the throttles up, looking down the runway, seeing nothing but open pavement. I find out later that the geese landed on the right edge of the runway as we were turning onto the runway, but I did not see them as I was running the runway items checks. The Captain did not say anything because they were clear of the runway when they landed, and were moving further away. Anyway, thrust is set and we quickly accelerate down the runway. At 80 knots I don’t hear the Captain’s call, so I look over at him and note that he’s looking down the runway with a concerned look, and he states “I hope they move”. I look and see the geese have decided to take flight, and unfortunately have decided to fly right in front of us. At this point, there is nothing you can do but maintain control of the aircraft and pray that you don’t hit any. Unfortunately we did…five in fact, with one striking the radar dome directly under our feet which made an extremely loud bang. The Captain immediately pulls the throttles back to idle and calls the abort and I immediately inform the tower that we are aborting due to multiple bird strikes, and that they should inspect the runway for bird and/or airplane parts before allowing another aircraft to takeoff or land. As soon as we taxi clear of the runway the Captain makes a PA announcement telling the passengers what has happened, both of us knowing that a high-speed abort like this is very scary to the cabin crew and passengers who have no idea what’s happening. Later we learn that no one in the cabin actually heard the strikes, and until we made the announcement and the passengers looked out their windows at the goo on the wings, they had no idea that something had happened.

Rejected takeoff checklist complete. After landing checklist complete. Operations clears gate A3 for us and we taxi in, allowing the passengers to disembark and hopefully catch another flight to Detroit. The STL contract maintenance guy (that’s right…only one person on duty today) performs a complete rejected takeoff and birdstrike inspection. The crew spends the next 5 hours at the airport, answering questions and performing post-inspection engine checks. We find out from Maintenance and from STL Airport Operations that a total of five dead geese were recovered from the runway, which checks with the visible tally; one on the radar dome, one on the nose gear, one on the right wing, and two on the left wing. We’re finally cleared to return the aircraft to Detroit, where my phone rings and Crew Scheduling tells me that they have another “quick” overnight trip to Buffalo NY for me in a couple of hours. Not even off of the airplane yet, I assist the Captain in terminating the aircraft, pack up my bags, and head to Gate B15 for my Buffalo flight. Gate B15, where the adventure started less than 24 hours ago as I headed off to STL. Again I think of my reasoning in deciding to become an airline pilot, which is to gain experience. God only knows how much more experience I can take!

Fly safe and watch those damn geese!

Back in the Saddle

First of all, I apologize for the long hiatus, but until I had something to write about I figured that silence was golden. In any case, I'm back, and have a few things I can share with you, namely that the incident review is complete and I'm back on flying status.


As mentioned in the last post, I was a crew member on an aircraft that was involved in an "incident". An incident differs from an accident in that an accident is fully defined by the Federal Aviation Administration and requires specific reporting. An incident is simply something out of the ordinary. Basically, if something happens that damages the aircraft of property, or someone is injured or dies, that's an accident. Anything from a blown tire to turning the wrong way could be an incident.

When an incident occurs, as long as no Federal Aviation Regulations were violated, the depth of the investigation is up to the company. Naturally any good company would want to thoroughly investigate any incident for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to obtain an understanding of what went wrong so that repeat occurrences can be avoided. Having now been through such a review, I can tell you first-hand that my company investigates incidents VERY thoroughly.

The first step for a crew involved in an incident involves submitting an ASAP, or Aviation Safety Action Partnership, report. This, along with a NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System report does two things: the report gives the company a starting report for the incident review, and it provides some protection against fines and license revocations from the FAA, UNLESS the violation was willful. For example, let's say an aircraft was given a specific taxi instruction to turn left at an intersection, and then aircraft turned right instead. That potentially is a violation of an ATC instruction, so an incident has occurred, and the aircrew will file the ASAP and NASA ASRS reports. During the incident review let's say that the cockpit voice recorder shows that the aircrew heard the instruction to turn left, but said "screw that, let's turn right because this is a shorter route". That is obviously a willful violation and regardless of the filed reports, no protection against fines or license revocation is provided. However, if the cockpit voice recorder proves that the aircrew simply misunderstood the instruction and did not willfully turn the wrong way, than the aircrew can rest assured that their license (and careers) are not in jeopardy, so they are more likely to completely cooperate with the investigation. The ASAP and NASA ASRS programs have really done a lot to help improve aviation safety over the years.

In my case, the incident involved the loss of of nosewheel steering system at a critical phase of flight, landing. Once the aircraft touches down while rolling faster than about 80 knots, the rudder is effective and even if the nosewheel steering does not work, you can still maintain directional control to keep the aircraft heading straight down the runway. Once the aircraft slows below 80 knots, the Captain must take control of steering using the tiller control on his side of the cockpit. If nosewheel steering is not available then the aircraft is not going to track straight and will be influenced by wind direction and speed, runway conditions, differences in braking pressure, differential thrust from the engines, etc. Once you get stopped, you are also not going anywhere since you can't control steering, and will likely have to be towed unless you can get the steering system to reset.

As I mentioned, the company investigated this incident very thoroughly, taking about three weeks. During this time the flight data recorder was analyzed to determine if we flew the aircraft properly within limits and according to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The cockpit voice recorder was analyzed to see if we were making calls and coordinating flight deck actions as required by SOP. Again, had the CVR indicated we had said something like "gee, let's disable the steering and see how the landing goes", I'd likely be starting a new blog titled "Fledgling Ditch Digging". In this instance the investigation showed that we were operating the aircraft according to SOP and within limits, so the real issue was why did the steering fail. Unfortunately the jury is still out on that one.

Once the investigation is complete you are not simply sent back to work with the wave of a magic wand. Number one you have been sitting at home next to the phone for three weeks biting your finger nails and number two, you were involved in an incident which involved some abnormal occurrence that could potentially happen again in the future. Both of these dictate that some time in the simulator would be prudent. When you only have 70 hours in this aircraft as I do, three weeks sitting idle leads to a lot of rust, so the simulator training was very welcome. Additionally, loss of nosewheel steering on landing is not something that the training department normally trains crews for, so the training session gives the training folks the opportunity to recreate the exact wind and runway conditions and simulate this incident, not only with the crew involved in the incident, but in future sessions with other crews. I can tell you after having experienced this failure in real life and many times in the simulator that you have only a very few seconds to react. Depending on the wind and runway conditions, even if the crew takes the proper actions immediately there is simply no guarantee that you are going to get the aircraft stopped near the centerline of the runway. That being said I know of one aircrew that is now VERY prepared should this occur again!

So, having been through this event I now have a greater respect for the incident review process and the depth in which each incident is reviewed. I also have a very great appreciation for how well the company understands the emotions involved when a crew experiences something like this, and how they take care to ensure that you are fully prepared prior to returning you to flying status. Once the investigation was complete I thought I was completely ready to kick the tires, light the fires, jump back in the right seat and "get her done", but the company was smart enough to know that I would very likely still be a little shaken on my first few flights, so they paired me with a very experienced, calm and understanding line check airman. Sure enough, I was more nervous than I would have thought, and initially found myself second guessing myself a lot and simply not flying as well as I should. After eight legs in two days of flying, that's behind me now and I feel ready to get back to learning, put the incident behind me while chalking up what I've learned from having been through the experience. Experience is why I wanted to join this profession, but not all experiences are good. As my mentor Gene once told me, I will gain more experience and see more sky in a few months with an airline than many pilots will experience in a lifetime. That truth of that prediction has become abundantly clear in the two months of my airline flying career, making me wonder what the next year or two will bring. Strap in, stay tuned, and come along with me as I find out.

Travel safe.

Why The Silence!?

I know that many of the followers of the Fledgling Flier have been wondering why the silence, so although I can't post a lot of details, I can at least tell you why things have been so quiet for a while.




About a week and a half ago I was a crew member on a flight that experienced an incident. Note that I said incident and not accident. There was no damage to property or to the aircraft, and there were no passenger or crew injuries. However, as with any accident or incident, this instance is being fully investigated and reviewed, and during this time I am not free to disclose any details of the incident. Also during this time the flight crew has been removed from flying duties, so for the time being, no flying for me.

I have been told to expect resultion sometime this week, so hopefully I will soon be able to fill everyone in. Until then, please stand by and stay tuned!

Blessings!

A Dose of Reality, Hold the Glamor

When I started this blog it was to help detail what my experiences were like flying as a regional airline pilot. For those who have been following for a while, you know that I've completed training, Initial Operating Experience, and am now working to obtain 100 hours of flight time in the CRJ-900, so that I will no longer be considered "green" or inexperienced. As of today I have 50 hours, and I can think of no better day than today to help me truly explain what this life is like. Today I played in the Big Show, and made a hundred bucks.


The only thing unusual about today was that the day started with Cathy by my side. Because I over-nighted at O'Hare last night Cathy and I were able to spend our Anniversary together, and although we were both under the weather, the crew van was very late getting us to the hotel, and the pizza did not arrive until 10:45, we managed to have a very nice evening together. Back to today. Up at 0630, check the weather, shower and dress and pack. Because Cathy drove to the hotel I did not take the crew bus, instead having Cathy drop me off at O'Hare at 0745. Through security and at the gate at 0800 for a 0903 departure, early because there was a maintenance request. Arriving I discover the cowling on #2 engine open, and the gate agent notifies me that Maintenance wants to perform a post-maintenance run on the engine before we can be released. I head out on the ramp to perform the first-flight-of-the-day security checks where I open every door and hatch on the aircraft to see if anyone may have put something there that goes "boom". Captain and crew arrive at about 0815, still no Maintenance folks. With less than 45 minutes before departure we ask for departure paperwork, but no one knows why it is not available, until Dispatch notifies us that until they know the maintenance job is complete they won't file our paperwork. Still no Maintenance. At 0830, Maintenance arrives and tells us that because we were late (!), they now have to go perform maintenance on a Northwest aircraft, and that we'll have to wait.

At about 0915, Maintenance shows up and tells us that they need us to start up and run #2 engine for 2 minutes, which we do without issue. They then reopen the cowl for inspection, close it back up, then inform us that it will be 15 minutes while they prepare the paperwork. I leave the flightdeck to go take another look at the aircraft and to ensure that the cowl is buttoned up, which it is. Maintenance paperwork arrives, Captain notices it is incomplete, sends it back. I'm begging for departure paperwork with which I can program the FMS system, no joy. Phone calls to Dispatch yields promises that paperwork is on the way. Departure paperwork shows up, incorrectly showing the problems that Maintenance just fixed. Phone call to Dispatch to get amendment to paperwork indicating fixes performed. Maintenance paperwork shows up corrected, amended paperwork in hand I program the FMS, now being told that all of our passengers have been re-booked and that we are going to ferry the plane sans passengers. Quickly program weight and balance, routing, run checklist, call for clearance, and close the passenger door. The time is now 1024, two and a half hours after I arrived at the airport, busting hump the entire time, and I have just now started earning pay.

Welcome to the Big Show. O'Hare ground operations and departures are not for the feint of heart; you'd better damn well know what you are doing, know to keep your eyes and ears open, and for the most part, your mouth shut. This is my departure, O'Hare-3 radar vectors to Petty, and I'm up for it. Seven minutes from engine crank to liftoff, things happen quickly and in no time a VERY light CRJ-900 jumps skyward and heads toward Detroit at 23,000 feet, limited to 25K because one of our air conditioning packs is out of service (this bird seems to be a hanger-queen). Speed 310, ATC helps with a few shortcuts, and we're at the gate in DTW at 1254 local time. Great flight, super landing, no time to bathe in the limelight of success since we only have 30 minutes before we leave again. Please note this...30 minutes from the time the door is opened, we load passengers, close the door, and we're off again as flight 3621 service to Chicago Midway. Yep, Midway, still in the Big Show. No deice this time, but we have a short hold waiting on ATC release which leaves me plenty of time to get the boxes programmed while we taxi to runway 4R. Position and hold, cleared for takeoff, and Captain Doug flies this one toward Chicago. We push the speed profile a little and make up a little more time, landing at Midway at 1332 which is less than one hour behind the scheduled arrival of 1242. Not bad considering we started the day hours behind.

Open door, start programming for flight 3518 back to Detroit, and before you know it we're out at 1358, only 25 minutes behind the original schedule. My leg to fly, push the speed profile again, another super landing (I'm starting to get the feel of the CRJ), and our passengers are stepping off the plane at 1600, only 4 minutes later that the original schedule. Since strapping into the right-hand seat this morning at O'Hare, I've not once taken my seat belt off to stand up. We started out with a complete cluster F%#k, and ended up the day getting our customers back on schedule. My reward? 3 hours, 40 minutes of total pay at $24 per hour. But wait, the fun is still afoot.

My day starts tomorrow at Montreal Canada, with a 0600 departure time, so my crew gets to "dead-head" to Montreal. This means we gather our chart and suit cases, run from DTW terminal B to terminal A gate 57 and board a Northwest Airlines flight and fly as passengers to Montreal. Good side - leave the driving to someone else. Bad side - only get $12 per hour for the 1.5 hour flight. I'd rather fly myself anyway, as would the rest of the crew. At Montreal it is off through customs, to the shuttle bus and to the Hilton. Crew muster is at 0445 tomorrow morning, so no time for dinner, just enough time to talk to Cathy and capture these thoughts. With less than 7 hours available to sleep, I'm going to wrap this up now.

Three legs today. Some unhappy late passengers, some happy on-time passengers. 3.6 hours additional flight experience. Compliments from Captain Doug on how I'm progressing, and more importantly, no significant mistakes. $106 of earned gross pay, minus taxes, FICA, uniform deduction, and President Obama's pension fund, and I'll bank enough to pay for the Internet connection at the Montreal Hilton tonight. BUT...today I got the "look". A small boy, maybe 5, holding his Mom's hand walking through the DTW terminal. As I pass I smile and nod a greeting, and watch as the little boy slows and stares. I hear his Mom say "Sean, that's a PILOT. He's going to fly an airplane like what we're flying on". I stop and talk to Sean and his Mom, discovering that they're off to Florida. Mom thanks me and says I'm made Sean's day, but little does she know that he's made mine. The "look" is damn well worth a lot more than $106, and it is what keeps some of us in the Big Show.

Thanks for the "look" kids. Safe skies.

Happy Valentine's Day and Anniversary Cathy!

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day that some people love, and others hate. The day that forces even the least romantic amongst us to buckle down and try, just for one day, to show our chosen loved ones that we really do care. Today is more than that for the Fledgling Flyer, as today is also my fifth wedding anniversary, and instead of spending the day with Cathy, I am writing this from the crew lounge at DTW, getting ready to start another three day trip, my first since being signed off as having completed Initial Operating Experience (IOE). In other words, my first flights as a true First Officer pilot, not as a trainee.

This blog is supposed to chronicle my experiences as a pilot, but today the readers will have to oblige me and read along as I chronicle the past five years with Cathy. You see, although I have had a few days off between flights, earlier in the week I was busy with Cathy over in the Detroit area trying to find a place to live, and for the past two days I’m been incredibly sick, so much so that this trip was in question. So, like so many other men (and a few women I’m sure), I find myself on Valentine’s Day, and my fifth wedding anniversary, without a card to present my Love. Naturally I could try to find something in the terminal this morning, but what better way to show my true feelings that to post them. So, here goes.

Cathy is literally everything to me. She came into my life when I was not looking, yet it was so obvious that she was the “right one” the minute I met her. Funny, bold, brash, confident, and very, very pretty. We met at a party at her brother’s house in Red Deer Alberta, and since that first meeting on April 30, 2001, we’ve never been far apart. When we met, I was working in Red Deer, and Cathy worked and lived in Moncton New Brunswick. Shortly after meeting we were both offered employment in Calgary, so we both shucked our existing lives and moved to Calgary together. That pretty much describes our lives since then; make a plan, discuss it together, and then jump in with both feet.

After we moved to Calgary together and established successful careers, I started making noise about us getting married. At first Cathy was not so sure, but eventually she wore down and agreed. We were sitting on the top of Sunshine Mountain in Banff Alberta when we made the decision to marry there in the future. Because of the logistics of getting non-skiing guest and supplies to the top of a mountain, we eventually settled for a beautiful ceremony in our living room, with my Mom, Jamie and Brandon, Cathy’s Mom, sister Bonney and brother Randy all present. It was a special day, five wonderful years ago today, and neither of us would change a thing about that day, except maybe that it would have been nice if one of the dogs had not crapped on the kitchen floor where the Reverend Chase would not have stepped in it. Oh well, memories….

Speaking of dogs, Cathy is never far separated from our canine companion. When Cathy and I met, she owned Goldie, a Pomeranian with a bit of a “you are merely human, so bow to me” attitude. Goldie and I became friends, and we were horribly shocked when she died at a very young 7 years of age. Next came Ginger, another Pom with a bit of rough and tumble Tom Boy attitude. As if you doubted lighting could strike twice, cancer took little Ginger from us when she was only five. Today we’re blessed with Nikki, who is uniquely highbred between Goldie and Ginger. Nikki has many of the same markings and characteristics as Ginger, and in fact was born on the very day that Ginger passed. Reincarnation? Can’t say. Blessing to us? Absolutely. This entire doggy paragraph is to simply say that to know Cathy, and to love Cathy, is to accept the fact that regardless of our relationship and love, I will always be second in line for affection behind our furry daughter. Cathy’s love and empathy of animals is one of her endearing core values which will never change.

Did I mention that Cathy is everything to me? In the five years we’ve been married and eight since we’ve met, she truly has become my best friend, advisor, mentor, support, and when needed, the one who snaps me back to reality when even I dream too much (Dear, do we REALLY need a leather interior and glass instruments in a 54-year old Bonanza?). Cathy openly accepted my desire to return to the US and help with AutoMARK. She endured the hassles of becoming a US Permanent Resident, moved away from her native Canada, and followed me to a new start. What truer measure of love and devotion can there be? Again, when I decided to take a shot at becoming an airline pilot, she accepted my dream and helped get me here. When this dream is complete, and the next chapter in our lives presents itself, Cathy will be there to help plan and make it happen.

So, with all of this said, there is simply no Hallmark card I could find that will say what needs to be said. Cathy, I would not be who I am today without your love and support, so thank you. Life would not be nearly as much fun without you and Nikki to make me laugh, sometimes to the point of tears. Our relationship would not be what it is today if we did not occasionally step on one another’s toes and ruffle a few feathers, but that is what a growing relationship is all about. Thank you for all of the thing both big and small you have done for me, and for everyone else who's life you have touched.

Babe, we’ve come a long way and had a lot of fun in five years, and I can’t wait to see what the next five bring us. We are blessed with health and are wealthy in friendship, and I look forward to growing to old age with you by my side (which, the way I feel today, is not all that far off!). To all of my readers, thanks for your friendship and for your allowing me the opportunity to say “Happy Valentines Day” and “Happy Anniversary” to Cathy. My next post will discuss my line adventures, but for today, nothing is more important than publicly letting Cathy know how much I love her.

In With Both Feet

I am writing this from DTW, where I am preparing for my second "pairing" of my Initial Operating Experience. My first pairing was last week, and I think that I have just now caught back up with the world, just in time for another trip. So, before I sink deeper into my new career, I thought I should share some of the experiences of those first few days.

First of all, let me explain a pairing. I am being "paired" with a Line Check Airman Captain, and they pair us up with a cabin crew of two flight attendants, and the four of us are then assigned a 3-day or 4-day flight assignment. That's a pairing. My pairing from last week looked like this:
Jan 28 - DTW-IAH (Detroit to Houston), IAH-MSP (Houston to Minneapolis), MSP-DSM (Minneapolis to Des Moines)
Jan 29 - DSM-DTW, DTW-LAN, LAN-DTW, DTW-PWM (Portland Maine)
Jan 30 - PWM-DTW, DTW-PVD (Providence RI), PVD-DTW, DTW-ROC (Rochester NY)
Jan 31 - ROC-DTW, DTW-DFW (Dallas), DFW-DTW
As you may imagine, that's a full four day's work, and quite a load for a first timer, but it was that very first flight, NWA Flight 3578 from Detroit to Houston Texas that was most memorable. Not only because it was my first flight as a Mesaba First Officer, but because of a couple of equipment failures that made it both frustrating and yet exciting.

Because my first flight was early in the morning, I drove from Chicago over to Detroit the day before and slept in a hotel. I rose early Wednesday morning and got the the airport about 45 minutes before my required check in time, which normally is 1 hour before the flight. A few minutes beyond the agreed upon time my Captain walked up and introduced himself. Don has been with the company about 20 years and had one word of advice for me..."relax". We talked for a few minutes and then headed down to gate B-11, where our aircraft awaited us. With paperwork in hand, we walked down the jetway and for the very first time I walked aboard a CRJ-900 aircraft, the very one I was about to fly. It still seems strange. Anyway, I stow my suitcase (back in row 13, since only the Captain's suitcase goes in the front closet so as to leave enough space for our first class passengers), and head up to the flight deck. Other than the fact that it seems a little worn and somewhat dirty, the flight deck looks very familiar, identical to the simulator. Don tells me that he wants me to go ahead and get started with power initialization and FMS programming, and that he will take care of the pre-flight inspection. Normally the pre-flight is the First Officer's duty, but until he signs me off to perform it, he will take care of it. So, I set about bringing power on and performing the initialization of the FMS system. Before I can even think about it, Don is back on the Flight Deck and passengers are boarding. No time to think about anything, no time to ask too many questions, just get in, strap down, and get to work. In what seemed like a heart-beat, the door was closed and we were ready to push back from the gate. Our "out" time is based on when the brakes are released for pushback, and we release exactly on time, 0932. So far we're off to a good start.

With engines running I call Detroit Ramp Control and tell them we're ready to taxi, and we're cleared to taxi to spot 4N and call Ground Control. Its snowing like hell so at the appropriate time I tell Ground that we're ready to taxi to the deice pad, and they in turn provide us with taxi instructions to taxi to the runway 22L deice pad. As we get close to the pad, we see that there are quite a few aircraft in front of us, so the Captain gets on the PA and tells the passengers that we will be delayed. Just about then, his windshield wiper stops working, frozen right in the middle of his windshield. This would be bad in a car since eventually the snow would build up and you would not be able to see. Its even worse on the CRJ because although the windows and windshield are heated to melt the snow and prevent them from fogging, having a windshield wiper stuck in any position other than the parked position limits you to 250 knots airspeed, since going faster risks having the wiper break off and getting sucked into an engine. Bad Ju-Ju. We simply don't have enough fuel to fly to Houston at 250 knots, so we're informed by Operations that we need to taxi back to the gate and change aircraft.

Taxi back, off load passengers, perform the engine shutdown and termination checklist. Grab our chart cases and suitcases and run to the other end of Detroit's B Terminal, down the jetway and start making preparations to get going yet again. Another power initialization, pre-flight inspection, etc., load passengers, and once again head out, after waiting on catering to load the aircraft with drinks and ice. We complete deicing, taxi out to runway 22L and takeoff. Perhaps it was the mad rush to get the new aircraft ready, but the entire event is pretty much one big blur in my memory. What is not a blur is what happened about 45 minutes from Houston...that event is still quite fresh in my mind.

The AC electrical system on the CRJ-900 is very simple. Each engine has an attached generator what produces AC power and supplies an on-side AC bus. For instance, #1 (left side) engine's generator supplies #1 AC bus, and #2 (right side) engine's generator supplies power to #2 AC bus. There is another bus called the Essential Bus that supplies, yes, you guessed it, essential electrical loads. The Essential Bus is normally powered from #1 AC bus, but should a failure occur, will automatically transfer over such that it will remain powered from #2 AC bus. This ensures that the essential electrical loads are always energized. That is the design anyway.

As we were cruising at 36 thousand feet, with 67 passengers still pissed off about being over three hours late due to the great windshield wiper caper, there was an audible "pop" from the Captain's side electrical panel and a flicker of the ECIAS screens, and then multiple caution messages were announced by Bitch'en Bob. In situations like this the best course of action is to take no action at all immediately, just sit back and take note of what we see. Checking the EICAS electrical system page, it was evident that we had experienced a failure of #1 generator, and that the Essential Bus had not transferred over. In other words, we were operating with only one of three AC buses energized. About the time we started to understand what we were experiencing, the Flight Attendants rang the flight deck and notified us that the emergency lights in the passenger cabin were on, and that it was getting pretty warm back there. Both of these were understandable since we lost half the air conditioning and that the emergency lights are designed to switch on when either the AC or DC essential buses are de-energized.

I get out the Pilots Operations Manual (POM) and start running down the system failure checklists, which directs us to attempt a manual transfer of the Essential Bus, which does not work. Once we've completed the checklists, we get on the radio and inform dispatch and maintenance of our problems. Dispatch starts looking for nearby airports we can divert to, but most of them lie under a pretty thick cloud deck, which is not good since our Air Data Computer probes and windshields no longer have electrical heat and descending through clouds would ice everything up. After reviewing all options Captain Don and I decide that our safest course of action is to continue to Houston which is reporting clear skies. Maintenance and Dispatch agree and we continue on, informing the passengers that we've had an electrical issue but that we would be landing in Houston as planned. The rest of the flight was uneventful, if not a little tense, constantly wondering what had caused the failure and if we would experience yet another surprise. We did not.

More than a week has now passed since that first eventful flight. I have completed my second paring, and have now been signed off as having completed IOE. In other words, I am now officially out of training and have officially become a line pilot. I would like to share a few experiences from that second pairing, which was likely as much fun as I will have flying professionally. I'll pull the plug on this posting and hopefully get the next instalment out very soon.

Until then, stay happy, and fly safe!