Christmas from Afar

Like so many others in the Airline Industry, (and military for that matter) I spent Christmas 2008 separated from the ones I love. No pity party here, just the reality of my new chosen career, with little chance of being at home during holidays. As it turns out, others in my family circle had a subdued Christmas too.

As mentioned in last week's post, Cathy and Nikki were able to get away and head up to Alberta to spend Christmas with her Brother Randy, his wife Rose, and their children Justin, Michael, Cassandra, and Jacqueline (oh, and Emmie...Nikki HAS to have a playmate). They had a traditional Newfoundland-style Christmas, with presents, "Jig's Dinner", and simply enjoying being together. If you have never had the pleasure of a Jig's Dinner, imagine a traditional turkey dinner with all of the trimmings, then add some salt beef (complete misnomer...it should be salt fat), figgy duff, and peas pudding, and you've got a Jig's Dinner. By the way, here's a quick lesson for you Yanks out there...Newfoundland is pronounced "NEWfoundland", accent on the first syllable. Most Americans incorrectly pronounce it newFOUNDland. In any case, it is a beautiful place with wonderful warm people, but questionable food. They do have some damn good fish and chips though, even if they do put stuffing and gravy on them!

I was able to speak with both Jamie and Brandon today on the phone. They are with their Mother in Florida, and enjoyed a day at Universal Studios and saw the Blue Man Group. By all accounts they had a fun day. Brandon has decided to attend UCF Engineering when he is released from the Army this Spring, and Cathy and I are excited for him to start down this new path. Jamie is concerned because she works for her fiance's family flooring business, and with the economy the way it is, business is down. Like many others in America, all who work with her are concerned about their jobs and their future.

My Mom and Dennis in Lacey Washington had a non-Traditional Christmas, in that my Sister Lisa and her husband Scott were not able to come up. Normally Mom is praying for a white Christmas, and this year she got her wish, so much so that her and Dennis were pretty much snowed in. They tried to get out of the house for a drive, but almost got stuck. Thankfully neighbors helped get them back in the driveway. Lisa and Scott live in Oregon, and they were thinking of driving down to spend the day with Scott's family. Unfortunately, more snow and ice put the kibosh on that idea, and because Scott's son Sean is spending Christmas with his Mom in California, Lisa and Scott spent a quiet Christmas at home, watching movies and enjoying each other's company, and likely worrying way too much about things they can't control, like the economy, and bad weather that keeps them from family, friends and work.

As for the Fledgling Flyer, I spent the day recovering from the effects of eating a Christmas Eve Chinese dinner. There were about a dozen of my fellow class mates who were spending Christmas here in the hotel, and I thought it would be a good idea to get together with some friends and go out and eat a nice dinner somewhere last night. Unfortunately, I found that almost every restaurant closed around 4:00, so we ended up in the only place open, a Mom and Pop Chinese place. Unfortunately, within an hour of eating I ended up with the "green apple quick steps", or more correctly, the "hot and sour soup quick steps". Melly Cleesmas!

So, today I emptied the stocking Cathy sent me, tearfully read her Christmas card, studied flight controls, hydraulics, navigation, and FMS, talked on the phone with loved ones and friends (thanks for calling Gord, it was GREAT to hear from you!), and swore off Chinese food. I also reflected a lot, and decided that even though we say that Christmas is about being with family, it is not. Christmas is about Christ, and his birth, and all of the things that Christianity is. Yes, Christianity is usually thought of as a family affair, but being a good person can be a solo affair too. Not being with Cathy, my children, or the others in my life that I love does not in any way diminish the importance of the day; yes we can be sad for being apart, but Christmas is still Christmas, and even though apart, we each had a day that was in our own way blessed. Hopefully you did too.

Merry Christmas, God Bless, and remember the ones less fortunate than we!

Cool Systems and Alphabet Soup

This week was all about EICAS, Bitch'en Bob, and all the things Bob will talk to us about. Things like APU's, ECU's, SOV's, TRU's, CSD's, IDG's, FIDEEX, LCV's SOV's (please don't confuse with PRSOV's) and AILC, which is pretty smart, making it a Smart AILC (sorry, couldn't resist).

Did I mention coffee? We learned a lot about that too. Here's what a typical day was this past week:
0500-0530 Get up, shower, start studying lessons for that day.
0630 Hotel breakfast is served. Start coffee infusion.
0710 Go scrape snow off of the truck. Warm hands with coffee.
0725 Leave for training center. Dark and snowy outside.
0800-1700 Training. All day. No early days off, since the FAA would disapprove.
1710 Leave for hotel. Dark outside...did the sun ever come up?
1710-1740 Fight snow and traffic back to hotel.
1741-2100 Scratch head, mumble to myself, cuss, dig through five different books, and complete homework assignments. Occasional augment with group study where more experienced and younger classmates do their best not to laugh at my lack of experience with "advanced aircraft".
2200-2230 Sleep. Reset and start over.

Speaking of advanced aircraft, there is not one student in class that is not completely blown away by the CRJ-900, even those with prior experience with the CRJ-200. With each system we are introduced to we gain a deeper understanding of the entire aircraft, and exactly how advanced and well thought out it really is. Interestingly enough the nature of the airplane has led to me having some difficulty, not in understanding the material, but accepting from the instructors the often-spoken "you don't need or want to understand that". It is a function of having an engineering and electrical/electronic background, but I really DO want to know more, and I have to constantly push the mental "let go" button and prod my mind to quit trying to figure out some engineering aspect of the system and keep up with the instructor. I find that this occupies some of my evenings during homework, when I can use the internet to find out things that the instructors don't know or won't share. Example:
Instructor - "Proximity Sensing Electronic Units (PSEU's) are used to sense door position."
Me - "How do they work?"
Instructor - "You don't want or need to know that. Probably magnetic"
Me- "I can't imagine them being magnetic, since aircraft manufacturers typically avoid putting magnetic material in aircraft".
Instructor - "Push your Let Go button Gary. Next topic...."

In case you were wondering, PSEU's used in the CRJ are all metal sealed units that measure a change in inductive reactance when brought in proximity to a metal target. As suspected, they are completely non-magnetic, and therefore meet the FAA's HIRF (High Intensity Radiated Field) rejection requirements. They are built by Crane Aerospace and Technology. So, although I am happy that I've learned this nugget of information, I will never use the knowledge, nor be asked about it on my oral or written exam. Pure and simple, this is one of my character flaws that Cathy knows well!

Let's talk about EICAS and Bitch'en Bob. EICAS is the Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System, which is basically some serious computing and monitoring systems that display on two CRT screens on the instrument panel between the two pilots. EICAS tells you darn near everything you could possibly want to know about what's happening behind the scenes and more. EICAS is also smart enough to know when you don't want to see certain things (EICAS does not use a lot of space showing Aux Power Unit RPM/EGT when the APU is not running). So, unlike the Falcon 10 that uses up a lot of instrument panel real estate displaying LRT's (Little Round Things, or "steam gages"), the CRJ can display a LOT of information in a very little space by determining when the pilot might want to see some particular data based on flight conditions. EICAS also uses colors to help you digest the information; Warning information is bad, and is displayed in red, and the message is announced via a triple chime sound. Caution information could be serious, so it is displayed in yellow and sounds a single chime. Advisory messages tell you about aircraft systems configurations and test and are displayed in green. Finally, there's status messages which are low-priority failures or loss of automatic operation of a system. Status messages are in white. Just in case the bright red warning message in front of you does not grab your attention, there's Bitch'en Bob. Bob is a synthetic voice that announces the presence of a warning EICAS message. Say for instance a smoke detector senses smoke in the aft cargo bay. In addition to the red "SMOKE AFT CARGO" EICAS message, the pilots hear "ding-ding-ding", SMOKE! SMOKE! SMOKE!......." until they push the red flashing warning push button to tell Bob to hush. Pretty straight forward, but considering that EICAS has a library of 36 warning, 207 caution, 31 advisory, and 149 status messages, all of which we need to understand, there's a lot to digest. In addition to finally completing General Subjects on Tuesday, we have covered the following systems: Aircraft General, Doors, EICAS, FMS intro, APU, Electrical, Powerplant, Fuel, Fire and Overheat, Pneumatics, and Environmental Control Systems.

We are being trained using a computer-based system which is really great. During the lessons, the instructors use an interactive presentation that is displayed in front of the class and on two computer screens on your desk. Every afternoon we have "CSI" which is cockpit systems integration, which is class where we use our interactive computers at our desk to try to put together what we learned in that day's lessons. Learn APU in the morning, learn how to start and monitor the AUP from the cockpit in the afternoon. Great stuff. As of the end of the day Friday, we all know how to enter a cold dark cockpit, do power initialization checks, start the APU and power up the airplane, initialize and program the Flight Management System, and God forbid...start the engines! God forbid because engine starting is something that us lowly First Officers are now allowed to do. However, we did get to go to the airport fire station this week and learn how to put out fires, just in case the Captain's engine starting leads to disaster!

The highlight of my week came after school yesterday, when I opened a Care Package Cathy sent me. Beef jerky, candy, pistachios, LOTS of goodies. Also included were my darts, so I went out with some friends last night to see if I can still remember how to toss a dart. I do, but Justin and Rich held their own for a couple of rookies. Cathy also sent me a Christmas stocking, and a card, neither of which I have opened. Cathy is going to Alberta to be with her brother Randy and his family for Christmas, and I'll be here in Minnie. I'll open my card and unload the stocking on Thursday, and will share my goodies with my fellow classmates that are not going to be with their families either. Like with the military, being separated from loved ones is a part of the price of admission to the airline pilot club. We, fellow pilots, are quick to accept that price, because co-shared hardships like working on Christmas and being separated from loved ones actually bonds us closer together in professional fellowship. However, the ones we leave behind don't experience our absence the same way, instead enduring the separation and hardship because they know that we are doing what we love. They are in fact agreeing to "share" us with another lover, our chosen career. Cathy does not like being separated nor missing holidays together, but she not only accepts it, she goes the extra mile to do extra things for me like sending me a special package. One of my fellow classmates received a "Dear John" letter this week, his relationship falling victim to his love of aviation and the separation it entails. I am so fortunate to have Cathy in my life, who not only loves me, but is willing to share me with Mesaba, Bitch'en Bob and the CRJ. In this season of miracles, she is my Christmas Star. I love you Babe.

To all, Merry Christmas, God Bless, and safe flying.

Week Two - The Fun Meter is Pegged!

Week #2 of ground school is now behind me, and I'm having the pleasure of writing this post from home. Not hotel room home, but REAL home, home with Cathy, Nikki, a real kitchen, and real toilet paper instead of 100 grit sandpaper on a roll. There's no place like home! Going home is not recommended during ground school (for risk of not returning on time and being washed out of class), but since very few of us will be able to be home for Christmas, many of us are taking advantage of our "non-rev" flying privileges and are going home this weekend. Daredevils all.

Speaking of flying privileges, I had my first experience with non-reving on this trip, and I have to admit that I felt like an impostor. I've seen it a thousand times...a flight crew member flashes a badge instead of a boarding pass to get through security, then up to the gate podium to kindly ask if there is a seat available. That was me yesterday, and I was nervous for being afraid of violating some protocol that I was not aware of. I asked my classmates a thousand questions beforehand, and the system worked just as advertised. I was even offered a First Class upgrade by the lead flight attendant once aboard, which I declined. I was safely sitting in a free seat, heading home to see Cathy, and I was afraid that should I get up to head up to First Class, the magic would evaporate and I would wake up from the dream. Best to stay put and enjoy the ride from seat 7D.

As mentioned in last week's post, this week our class was combined with some seasoned Captains who are all Saab 340 Captains, now upgrading to the CRJ-900. Their presence has added some new dynamics to the class, some good and some not so good. Don't get me wrong, all of us Newbies are glad to have them, but we can tell that a few of the Captains are not taking the material as seriously as we are, and tend to be somewhat disruptive in class. I guess it is natural for us to feel more pressure in class and want to absorb every morsel of information presented, since we are literally at the bottom of the airline pilot food chain. Most of the Captains don't seem to feel this pressure, and seem to be more interested in having some fun in class and afterwards. Fun has not been on menu for me and my fellow Fledgling Fliers, hence the fun meter. Having the "fun meter pegged" is a phrase that goes way back to my Navy days; when you are not having much fun, we sarcastically say the fun meter is pegged, though not necessarily pegged on the fun side!

This week we covered some material that we were first introduced to last week, but now in more detail. We also saw a lot of new material such as security, transportation of dangerous goods, and Cat 2 approaches. For those of you not familiar with the magic lingo of airline approaches, normal Category 1 or Cat 1 approaches allow an aircraft to fly toward a runway for landing, completely in the clouds/fog, down to an altitude of 200 feet above the ground. At 200 feet of altitude the pilot must decide whether or not he or she sees the runway environment which allows them to continue the approach and land. If they can't clearly see the runway environment they must execute the go-around, which means that they abort the landing attempt and either try again or more likely, divert to someplace where they are more likely to make a successful approach. Well, since Cat 1 approaches are for mere mortal pilots, and we are destined to be super duper airline pilots, we must be trained to fly Cat 2 approaches, meaning that we get ease our aircraft down to 100 feet before making that go/no-go decision. As you can probably imagine, it requires a lot of coordination and precision from the flight crew, and has very little margin for error. I'm looking forward to honing my skills to this level.

We were also introduced to pre-departure paper work. You've seen it before...the flight crew all arrives at the gate, and the gate agent hands the pilot or first officer this long roll of paper, which they then commence to tearing into individual sheets on the edge of the counter. Interesting analogy that pre-departure paperwork and toilet paper both come in a roll. Seriously, we can build CRJ aircraft that are marvels of technology, but the paperwork that the flight crew relies on comes off a dot-matrix printer out of the 70's. Oh well. In any case, this paperwork includes weather, aircraft information, departure and destination information, etc., but as with most everything else in the airline pilot's world, the information is presented in a not so easy to understand code. "43" Means "143" (drop the 1), "73,74" means "73,740" (drop the last zero), and "84,400" meaning "84,400" (don't drop anything, since being consistent would make ground school must less interesting!).

We also spent all day Friday discussing Crew Resource Management, or CRM. Most folks laugh when I try to explain that CRM involves concepts like the First Officer taking control of the aircraft should the Captain become incapacitated in some manner, or worse, willfully decide to do something unsafe. That concept sounds so unbelievably common sense that it is hard to understand why you would have to train on it. Well, we train on it because it was not too long ago that the airlines were full of mostly ex-military pilots who believed that they did not need, nor did they want, any help from any other crew members of the aircraft. These "gear up, flaps up, shut up" Captains established such a frightful, hostile working environment that many First and Second Officers, along with the unsuspecting passengers and Flight Attendants strapped in behind them, died in horrible crashes because no one was willing to speak up and tell the Captain that he was doing something wrong, or that the airplane was about to run out of fuel. Airline crews today are trained and retrained on the necessity of working together as a team, being alert to subtle signs that another crew member may have some issue that makes them less than effective, and on safe decision making. Although I enjoyed the training, I was given vibes from my more experiences classmates that there are still plenty of Captains out there who have zero respect for First Officers. Call me naive, but I'm from the old school where I believe that only a small portion of respect is given due to positional authority, and that the majority of respect must be earned through your actions. I don't expect any Captain to instantly respect me simply because I am a First Officer, but if they think they're going to fly into some cumulo-granite or through a thunderstorm without me stepping in, they are wrong.

Well, I'd better wrap this up and get ready for my return flight to MSP. I enjoyed my very short visit with Cathy, and we both enjoyed attending two Christmas parties last evening with some friends (thanks Tom/Sue and Jill/Mark), and it was really nice to see our neighbors again, even if it was for a very short time. I would like to stay a little longer today, but the weather back in Minnie is going to turn crappy later this afternoon, making it harder to get in. Current weather back in Minneapolis is 08011KT 1 1/2 SM -RA BR OVC005 03/01, which means that the winds are from the east, visibility is a mile and a half, there is light rain and mist at the airport, the clouds are at 500 feet (Cat 1 approaches!), and that it is cold. It looks must more impressive written in code on a long sheet of toilet paper!

Until next time, safe flying and God Speed. Do something nice for a stranger today.

Ground School...The First Week

Well, me and my fellow classmates are finished with the first week of ground school. Thank God! Don't get me wrong; it was an enjoyable week, and I'm still extremely excited and proud to be here, but I'm just glad to have this first week behind me. We were told day one that we would be provided information in fire-hose fashion, and they were not kidding!



Day one set the standard, and made a favorable impression on each of us. As you would expect from any company's indoctrination, there were the typical introductions, administration paperwork, review of training syllabus, etc. However, each and every instructor, member of management, and anyone else who spoke with us stressed several important facts:
1. That our new company had never had a fatal accident. Not just no fatal crashes, but no fatal ramp or maintenance accidents. That is very impressive, especially knowing that Mesaba was founded in 1944. We were expected to continue that record.
2. That each of us had already "made the grade", and they the company's expectation was that each of us would survive training. In other words, there was no planned or expected attrition here.
3. As of 0700 that morning, each of us were Mesaba pilots. Not after ground school, not after Operational Experience, but that very day. Although we would be afforded all of the recognition and benefits of being a Mesaba pilot, we would also be held to the professional standards of a Mesaba pilot. By lunch on Monday, each of us were wearing a Mesaba pilot ID badge, which was very impressive.

My class is pretty diverse. In addition to 20 fellow CRJ trainees, we had the 4 Saab pilots with us for this first week of indoctrination. Of the 20 total in the class, we have 21 male, three female. The youngest in the class is 20, and you-know-who is the oldest. Interestingly, one half of the class is the same age or younger than my son Brandon. Also of note is that with the exception of about five of us, everyone else has previous part 121 (airline) flying experience. This meant that me and my fellow 121 Fledglings had to spend a lot of extra time studying topics such as Exemption 3585 (don't ask!).

Another thing I'd like to say is that our class has quickly solidified. Every night during the week you would find study groups in the hotel common area, pool room, and almost anywhere else. These groups were not cliques, and anyone could and did drift from group to group. Everyone has been accepted as an equal, and we are each committed to ensuring that we all make it through training. I am proud to be part of such a group, and I must give credit to not only each of my fellow class mates, but also to Mesaba who helped establish that culture on the first day.

So, with the first week and first test behind me, I'm planning on spending the weekend getting familiar with my pilot union contract, Pilot Operating Manual, and CRJ Systems Manual. On Monday we start General Subjects, which is a continuation of some of the Indoc subjects, but this time more specific to our aircraft. This means that we have said good-bye to our Saab friends, and will instead be joined in class on Monday by Saab Captains who are now upgrading to the CRJ. I for one am looking forward to meeting them and hearing about their experiences with the company. It should add some great dynamics to the classroom.

Cathy's birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday!), and this was the first time we've been apart on her birthday since we've been together. Our neighbors Jim and Heather invited Cathy over for dinner the night before, which was so typical of their generosity. With Jim and Heather on one side of us and Guy and Connie on the other, we are blessed. Cathy and I already miss each other a great deal, but having the ability to video chat using Skype has been great. If you've never used it, I highly recommend looking into it. You can't beat the price (free!), and other than an occasional slow hotel web connection, the quality is really great.

Well, that's it from snowy cold Minneapolis. Keep chasing your own dreams!

Sea Story #1...Submarines verses Airplanes

I can hear the responses now..."wait a second, this is supposed to be a blog about becoming a regional airline pilot...what does that have to do with sea stories?" Well, anyone who knows me (especially Cathy!) knows that after 20 years of nuclear submarine operations, I LOVE to tell sea stories. Then again, after almost 30 years of flying, I LOVE to tell flying stories too, but because flying stories are so common as compared to submarine stories, well, you get the idea. Besides, flying stories are too easy to validate...I can tell almost anyone pretty much anything about a submarine and they won't have any idea if I'm telling the truth or not! That is the beauty of a true Navy sea story. Ask any Sailor and they will tell you that the difference between a "true" sea story and a lie is that a sea story starts with "seriously, this is no s$#t!"

I have often said that there are a lot of similarities between "driving" a submarine and flying an airplane. An airplane flies because of lift created when airflow moves faster over the top of a wing than across the bottom (Bernoulli's principle). That lift is what allows us to defy gravity and leave the surly bonds of earth, but it is the dynamic force of the air stream on the control surfaces that allow the pilot to turn, climb and descend the airplane. A submarine does not create lift in the same way that an airplane does, at least to the same extent. A submarine first of all must be very close to being neutrally buoyant. In other words, assume a fully submerged boat displaces 5000 tons of water; if the boat weighed exactly 5000 tons it would be neutrally buoyant. If it weighed more than 5000 pounds, it would tend to sink, if less than 5000 pounds, it would tend to rise to the surface. If a submerged submarine is neutrally buoyant and is brought to a complete stop (as preparing to surface through the ice in the Arctic), it would hold a constant depth and would not end to rise or sink. Yes, airplane pilots too must consider the weight of their aircraft and how changes in weight such as fuel burn affect performance. However, in a submarine there are a lot of other issues at play. Take for instance water temperature. Colder water provides more buoyancy than warmer water, enough so that even a one degree change in water temperature can make the submarine very heavy or light. So, if you were to get a perfect ballast on the boat and then two minutes later you moved into warmer water, guess what? You're sinking. Also, salinity has a huge effect, and although most people never consider it, the salinity of the world's oceans changes dramatically. Unlike an airplane, the submarine's fuel burn does not affect weight. The nuclear reactor is converting Uranium fuel to energy, and because of Mr. Eienstein's equation of E=M(C squared), a very little bit of Uranium goes a long way. Also unlike an airplane that flies for anywhere between 30 minutes and 15 hours, a nuclear submarine may be out for a cruise for months, with the crew consuming tons of food, and discharging the inevitable waste overboard. So, in summary, airplanes and submarines both are controlled by dynamic forces moving over control surfaces, but the changing weight of a submarine is much more critical that the changing weight of an airplane.

Crew coordination and teamwork are critical on both an airliner and a submarine. However, on an airliner in an emergency, the captain or first officer either one are perfectly capable of performing all of the functions necessary to fly the aircraft from either seat by themselves, with the exception of steering the aircraft on the ground. This is because turbine aircraft are steered on the ground using a "tiller", which is small wheel typically mounted near the captain's left hand, which the first officer could not reach from the right hand seat. On a submarine, is it simply impossible for one person to control the entire boat. Not including supervisors, it takes two Sailors to steer and control depth (what we call diving and driving), one to control buoyancy, three guys in a room over 100 feet away control the main propeller shaft speed, the reactor, and the electrical generation equipment, a minimum of two guys in Sonar making sure we don't go bump into anyone, and at least one guy plotting our position all of the time. Unlike airplanes, a submarine can't get a good GPS fix when submerged, so we're using inertial navigation and/or dead reckoning, much like airplanes. Keep in mind that this crew count does not include all of the other folks on board monitoring weapons and equipment, cooking meals, etc. Crew resource management is critical for both submarines and airplanes, but I believe that anyone who has served on any ship at sea, especially a nuclear submarine, is much better prepared to accept that CRM is a way of life. Unlike an airplane, no matter how macho or good you are, you simply can't operate a submarine by yourself.

I've had many pilots who know of my submarine background tell me that because submarines operate very slow (according to the CNO's web site, I'm safe to tell you that subs can go "in excess of 25 knots", and dive deeper than 800 feet), that decision-making is much more critical in an airplane moving a 0.8 mach than a submarine moving at 3-25 knots. Here comes my sea story.

This is no s%#t!...(had to get that in right from the start). Once upon a time, way back when, as a county we used to openly acknowledge that there were bad guys in the world who would like nothing else than to kill a lot of Americans with big bombs. Wait, I know what you are thinking. Yes, that's true today too, but these days too many Americans feel uncomfortable accepting that fact. I digress. In any case, these bad guys liked to have nuclear missile submarines operate near our shorelines so that if push came to shove and the s%#t really hit the fan, they would be close enough to launch their nuclear tipped missiles at us. Shocking I know. We on the other hand liked to have out fast attack submarines placed in position so that if the bad guys ever made such a move, we'd fire a torpedo at them before they fired their missiles. Sort of like whack a mole with torpedoes and nuclear missiles. In any case, one fateful day we picked up the scent of a bad guy's nuclear missile submarine, not near enough our coast to launch, and not even moving toward our coast. In fact, he was doing a elongated race track pattern like he was trying to make up his mind where to go (for you pilots out there, think holding pattern). Well Hell! If he's going to bore slow holes in the ocean, we're going to stick near by and follow him! Should he decide to head toward the good ole US of A, we’d be there just in case the mole needs whacking. Well, after almost a full day of holding (try THAT in a regional jet!), we're still sitting nearby, Mr. Bad Guy has not given us any indication to make us believe he knows we are there, and just like that, things get REAL exciting.

A special tone sounds when the Sonar Supervisor keys the "Torpedo Alarm" mic and makes the following announcement in a very high-pitched voice "Conn, Sonar, torpedo in the water bearing 035 degrees!" Let me paint a picture for you. Think of the letter "V". We're at the bottom of the V, bored out of our wits. The bad guy is at the upper left (bearing roughly 340 if you will), and out of the blue, a torpedo is suddenly fired from somewhere off to the right. Keep in mind that this is NOT during an active war. Also keep in mind that you have no idea who fired the torpedo, but its pretty safe to say that it does not have "made in the USA" painted on it. You have exactly 3 seconds to make a decision on what to do. By the way, if ever fired upon it is always a good idea to fire a return torpedo back at the person shooting at you, which tends to break his concentration. However, if this is a mistake and the Bad Guy is not really shooting at you, and you shoot a torpedo at him and blow him up, well, let's just say that you just killed a lot of innocent people and created one hell of an international incident!

In this scenario, our mystery submarine was simply a target submarine who was sent out to run circles in a particular area, waiting for another submarine to try to find him and then shoot an exercise (non-explosive) torpedo at him. Because the Skipper took a couple of seconds to realize that the torpedo was not heading our way, they never knew we were there, and we quietly slipped away to go change our underwear.

So, airplanes and submarines do have one thing important in common. Good crews are trained to work together, and when something out of the ordinary happens, your first immediate action should be to wind your watch. Take a second to think about what’s happening, absorb the situation, analyze possible actions and outcomes, and then make the decision to act. Taking actions quickly without fully understanding what is really happening is almost always a very bad idea.

Safe skies and seas.