Positive Rate.....

Not Again!

2011-05-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, May 22nd, I departed Hong Kong for a relatively straight forward flight to Tokyo Narita Airport(RJAA). We departed around 0200 Local Time after a slight technical delay and were scheduled to arrive in Tokyo around 0715.

The entire descent and arrival went ahead just as planned. Landings that morning in Narita were to the Southeast on Runways 16R and 16L. We opted for 16R as we were rather heavy and Runway 16L is quite short at roughly 8200 feet long.

As we were given our very last radar heading to join the localizer about 15nm out, we were immediately given a hard right turn back around to LAKES intersection for a hold due to.....an EARTHQUAKE!

Ok, no time to really assess the situation. First thing, we entered the Hold into the FMS and executed. Now it is contingency time. How much fuel did we have to hold? How long did Narita anticipate being closed? Would this be like the catastrophe a few months back involving hundreds of diversions all across Japan? What is our alternate airport? All these and many more questions flew through my mind.

We had about 45 minutes of Hold fuel, plus enough to divert to Nagoya about one hour away and still have standard reserve fuel. That was good because it gave us time in the holding pattern to develop a plan. At that point Haneda was still open so we decided if push came to shove, we would probably go there.

Thankfully, it was a relatively minor earthquake of only 4.0 on the Richter Scale. After an inspection of the runway, we were cleared out of the hold and on the ground within 30 minutes of the initial holding clearance.

As many of you know I wrote a recap of a similar even for NYCAviation.com(http://nycaviation.com/2011/03/the-clock-is-ticking-inside-the-cockpit-of-a-japan-bound-airliner-during-the-quake) a few months back and I'm glad I had because when this event occurred to us, we had a very good idea on what to expect if things really went south.

Thankfully, things were cleared up relatively quickly and we were back on our way soon thereafter!

View from the Top

2011-04-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Position: Approx 100 miles Southeast of Fairbanks, AK

Just about two and a half hours into our 14 hour journey and this is the view.

"You know boss, if we can get direct to Nome, we'll pass right over," I say.

Sounds good, is the reply. I give a quick call to Anchorage Center and before you know it, I'm bringing Nome to the top of page one of the FMC and executing. The airplane starts a shallow left hand turn to the left and puts us right on course to pass just alongside the highest point on the North American continent, Mt. McKinley, also known as Denali in these parts of the world.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves as words cannot really do it justice. The pictures don't either but it's the best I can do.

Here we are approaching the summit with a beautiful sunset leading the way.

The second peak to the right of the center post is the summit.

Here it comes.

There it goes.

Incredible.

It took about five minutes to fly from the beginning of what I would consider to be the beginning of the Denali's ascent to the back of it, giving the mountain a footprint of approximately 40 miles. It is massive. Not only is the size intimidating, but you can really see the effects of the wind over the peak. What a test for mountain climbers. You couldn't pay me to give that a shot!

Like I said, words and pictures don't really do it justice. Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in the world from base to summit rising almost 18,000 feet from the ground. We soared just abeam the summit and it was spectacular. There aren't many things these days that I will remember for a lifetime but this is definitely one of them.

A First

2011-03-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier in March, I have joined teams with NYCAviation.com to be a regular contributor to their site. Head over there now to see my first column, an introspective look at what it must have been like up front during a stressful diversion for a recent Delta Airlines B767 crew.

http://nycaviation.com/2011/03/the-clock-is-ticking-inside-the-cockpit-of-a-japan-bound-airliner-during-the-quake/

I hope you enjoy it, and keep on the lookout for more.

Thanks to the guys at NYCAviation for including me in their excellent site.

Loading up the Relief Guy

2011-03-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Position: Spot R7
Airport: PANC
Destination: VHHH

My job: Relief Guy

To be a bit more technical, on today's flight I am the "relief qualified" First Officer, meaning that when the Captain takes a snooze, I'm in charge! What this also means is that on today's flight I won't be sitting in the front seat for takeoff or landing. I'll be in the jumpseat until we get into the air. Then the three of us will cycle between flying the airplane and taking a rest.

Being the relief guy doesn't always mean you are in the jumpseat, but for our flight today, I happen to be the most current, so the other FO is getting the leg to Hong Kong. Normally, the jobs tasked to the relief guy on the ground are pretty easy. I'll do the walkaround inspection, do the safety check for the upper deck, check that the dangerous goods on the main deck are loaded and secured correctly, and then help out with other minor tasks that the other guys need.

Sometimes we will fill out the fuel order slip but other than that, the most important task for the relief guy is to make sure the catering is correct and to get the coffee brewing! Beware the wrath of the Captain when the catering is wrong!

Our flight today has a few "obstacles" along our typical route. There are a few volcanoes blowing their tops on the Kamchatsky peninsula in Russia as well as the very publicized radiation threat in Japan. Both of these items lie directly on our normal route of flight. So, before I have a chance to take my uniform jacket off, I am tasked with verifying that our route is acceptable for today's flight and that it will keep us out of the "zone of maximum ash and radioactive threats"!

Normally this is an easy task since I know our route so well. However, because of the threats we have a "flex" route. Essentially, this is a nonstandard routing that will keep us out of harms way. I take the flight plan and sit down on the observer jumpseat behind the Captain and start plotting our course on the charts. The only problem is, the new route just hugs the edge of the chart, so it becomes a bit difficult to follow along. I end up having to use literally five different enroute charts to verify the entire route because of the twists and turns. Our normal route uses two charts. My workspace is a mess of flight plans, weather charts, enroute charts, NOTAM's, and even a radiation chart! It takes a few minutes of time to finally verify that yes, we will be upwind of the volcanic ash, as well as upwind of the radiation no-fly zone on the eastern coast of Japan.

So after taking care of that I can finally relax and let the other guys start setting up the cockpit. Just as I sit back, I realize I still have to do all the stuff I'm normally tasked with! Back to work, and most importantly, making sure the catering is correct!!

Japan

2011-03-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been an unbelievable horror for the people of Japan that have been affected by the huge earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated the Eastern Coast of Japan. The resulting problems at a nuclear power plant are bringing talk of a modern day "Chernobyl". From what I have read on the matter, this is hopefully not on the same scale as that catastrophe but the reactions of the general public are not surprising. There are calls for many governments worldwide for their citizens to leave Japan but the problem is that many airlines have reduced or even outright cut service to Tokyo and other cities that have been affected by the earthquake. To make matters worse, the threat of airborne radiation is causing a lot of alarm.

My airline happened to be one of the last to announce service cuts. For a few days we watched Lufthansa, Swiss, KLM, United, Delta, and even Air China announce that not only is service to Tokyo cut, but that no crewmembers would be overnighting there. It was not until yesterday that my airline stopped crewmember overnights and that was due primarily to the concern our employees were raising. In addition, one of the most significant items brought to light was the result of a conversation of our Manager of Line Ops and Boeing. In the simplest terms, we asked Boeing how to effectively 'clean' an aircraft that has been exposed to airborne radiation. We were told that it means the end of the aircraft. The aircraft would have to be retired from service.

I'm sure that our planners are quite busy debating what to do after having learned that tidbit of knowledge.

One of the other major items involving this tragedy and the airline world is the Dash-8 arm of ANA(All Nippon Airways). It is an operation based in Sendai that is a mixture of Japanese pilots and a significant number of expatriate pilots as well. There are many crewmembers who have not been in contact with anyone, as well as crewmembers away on overnights that have not been able to contact any family members that had been at home in Sendai. I can't imagine how horrible this situation has been on these people as well as everyone in Japan. I'm not an overly religious guy but I will hope and pray for all the people affected by this tragedy.

New Partnership and a Visit to SXM

2011-03-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

I just got back from St. Maarten after spending a week with my family down there. Be on the lookout for an article regarding the visit on www.nycaviation.com in the next few weeks as I am in the process of working on a partnership with them to write a regular column/blogumn/article, or whatever you would like to call it, on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to being a part of the nycaviation.com team! That's all for now!

Things I Like

2011-03-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

I stumbled on a thread on a message board earlier that simply asked the question, "what do you like about flying?" or some variation of that. It got me thinking and I figured I would do the same here but narrow it more towards what I like about being an airline pilot. Here it goes:

1.)I am doing what I always wanted to do.

I never wanted to just be a pilot. I wanted to be an airline pilot. To throw on the uni, go to the airport, and launch off in an ocean-liner of the sky is very satisfying to me. It doesn't get old.

2.)I love running into my friends on every corner of the earth.

I guess at any job it would happen, but with this profession you may go a few years not seeing someone and then, all of a sudden you're walking through the terminal in ATL and an old college buddy is yelling your name.

3.) I'm amazed that these things get off the ground and that I make it happen.

No need for explanation.

4.) The job is always a challenge and always changing.

Even flying the same, or similar routes, every single day and every single flight presents its own challenges to deal with. Every Day. Every Flight. Different.

5.)Knowing that I am following an unbelievable lineage of professional airmen that have graced the sky before me.

I look up to the Gann's, Buck's, Drury's, and now in today's world, the Captain Dave's and Flying with Rand's, etc. etc. but as well the hundreds of thousands that have come along before. It gives me a reason to make sure you don't learn my name for a bad reason.

6.)Hand flying a 300T B747-400 to a landing so smooth that you don't even know you are down.

Self Explanatory.

7.)See above. Now add doing that into JFK, the airport I grew up next to. Followed by the taxi in, where I observe in amazement all of the different liveries launching out for the rest of the world.

8.) All the crews.

Airline people are an amazing bunch, and for the most part are all amazing to work with.

9.) Standing next to a PW4062 and having trouble comprehending I control 62,000lbs of thrust with my index finger. Multiply times four.

The engineers are the real masters of aviation.

10.)Going to the bunk on a trans-pac.

Dozing for Dollars.

11.)People DO actually respect the position.

Despite the state of the industry, I haven't met too many people that don't have nice things to say, or a million questions about this and that. This is good because it inflates my massive ego(sarcasm alert). In all seriousness, most people(at least where I live) are not pilots and I think that adds to some of that positive correlation. I'm not sure how pilots would be viewed though, in say, Peachtree City where every other person works for DAL but in my view, people still look highly of the profession.

12.)Satisfaction of achieving a life goal.

I truly understand how rare it is to be blessed with the ability to do what you love and make it your profession. As I have gotten older and farther removed from college, I meet more and more people that had dreams they wanted only to have real life get in the way. I am so lucky to have made it here before that happened to me.

13.)Using the profession as motivation to be a great parent.

I couldn't have done this without them and I use the attainment of this profession as motivation to do the same if not more for my daughter.

That is all I've got for now. This list is not exhaustive and I'll do more of these in the future. I just felt like jotting down some of the positives. Every job and profession has it pluses and minuses. If you never stop to smell the roses you'll never last.

The Perfect Storm

2011-02-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

I just listened to a story on NPR that touched on the low number of student pilot starts in 2010:

You can listen here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127303818

This got me thinking about the current and future state of pilot hiring for the US Airlines. I happen to believe that in the next 5-20 years we are going to see unprecedented numbers of pilots being hired. This is going to put a strain on our system. I'll give some background on my point of view.

In early 2010, as a result of the unfortunate Colgan accident, the FAA put out an NPRM in regards to pilot hiring requirements at Part 121 airlines. Essentially, new hires will be made to have at least ATP minimum qualifications which include at least 1500 total flight hours. As late as 2007 regional airlines were hiring pilots with as little 250 hours but in most cases between 500-700. This was way below past hiring practices where pilots typically had 1000-1500 total hours to start.

This new rule is part one of the massive strain our industry is about to feel.

The next part is the huge number of retirements at the legacy airline level. I've mentioned this in the past, but major airline pilot hiring is the sole driver of pilot hiring and flight time requirements for lower tier airlines. The legacy carriers, especially the likes of USAirways and Delta are looking at enormous retirements peaking in the 2020-2024 time frame. Delta has a period of four years where they lose over 800 pilots a year. That is one quarter of the entire current list in a four year period!

USAirways and Delta are not alone with this massive retirement bubble on the horizon. United, American, UPS, Fedex, and others are all confronted with this issue. Southwest and Continental happen to be the most properly staffed over the next 20-25 years because they don't have a massive bubble of retirements, but rather a smooth flow of retirements that is between 200-300 per year, indefinitely. When you combine Continental with United though, you get a similar pattern.

So how does this relate to the perfect storm? Well the US Major airlines are obviously going to need to hire. Barring a huge socio-economic catastrophe(a-la 9/11), or a further increase in retirement age from age 65, we will see significant hiring in the major ranks even with zero growth. This will in turn start the cycle of pilots leaving the regionals and the subsequent hiring of new hires at that level. The regional airlines will hire the highest time pilots for as long as possible but it will be exhausted fast which will lead us back to the dearth of qualified pilots that we saw in the 2007-2008 period. However, this time around they won't be able to hire the really low time pilots. So what are they to do? They will have to increase benefits you would think, but I am not so sure.

The final piece of the puzzle is that according to the NPR article from the beginning, student pilot starts are at the lowest level in over a decade. Are you really surprised? I am not. First off the career of an airline pilot is nowhere near as lucrative or as good as it used to be(that doesn't make it bad, just nowhere near as good). In addition, the costs associated with learning how to fly have more than doubled since 1996. Back then I rented a Piper Warrior for $86/hr including a CFI. Today that same Piper Warrior rents for $205/hr with instructor. However, since 1996 starting pay at the regional airlines has not budged. Are you surprised there are less people learning to fly? Finally, the road on the career to a major airline is rife with pitfalls and potholes that only the strongest willed will be able to overcome. Not everyone will sit out a furlough and come back. Not every student wants to, quite frankly, put up with all the BS. There are enough articles and news exposes about low pay, high fatigue, and lack of job protection in this industry that even outsiders seem to know it is not a great place. Only the super diehards and those completely addicted to aviation are going to be willing to stick it out.

The sheer number of retirements at the legacies will spurn lots or regional hiring to a point. Once they have exhausted the supply of 1500 hour pilots willing to work for the low pay, they are going to run into problems because by then the number of pilots who will have moved beyond student pilot ranks will obviously be fewer.

We are presented with the perfect storm of pilot hiring/strain on the pilot training pipeline we have seen in a long, long time. It is a catch-22 all the way. We need pilots at majors so they raid the regionals. The regionals raid the flight schools but very quickly run out. Their are not enough student pilots who will have filled the gap.

So what can happen to prevent this? Market forces would say that pay would HAVE to go up at the regional level, however I do not think this will be entirely possible. The margins these carriers operate on are razor thin and in many cases the airlines themselves are not in good shape financially to begin with. I think we will see a large number of lower tier regional airlines go out of business before they drastically improve the pay for new pilots. That is my opinion. In addition, until the end of the rainbow begins to shine brightly again(ie. major airline pay/benefits rising substantially again) we will see a struggle to get new student pilots to want to become airline pilots. I believe that prospective pilots today are faced with a situation of the reward not necessarily being worth the risk.

Finally, I want to make one more note. I read recently that one of the reasons that countries in the Middle East such as Egypt and Libya have had uprisings has been due to the freedom of information that has slowly been allowed to creep into their lives found from satellite television and the internet. The spread of information is so easily passed along these days, that it doesn't take long for people to know they are getting a sour deal.

The same holds true for the airline industry in regards to pilot hiring, training, and recruitment. You don't just fly for a regional for two years and head off to a major. There are way more bumpy roads out there and this level of information is clearly there for prospective pilots plastered all over TV and the internet. Are we seeing a student pilot revolution? I don't know about that but although their will never be a shortage of pilots, their definitely is going to be a shortage of qualified pilots coming sooner than you think. It is time for the industry to wake up and smell the roses and see what is coming. I just hope the market can support what I believe are necessary improvements for airline pilots that are sustainable for the long term, as well as enough to entice new pilots to learn to fly for a living.

Check this post in 15 years and we'll see how my predictions go! I do happen to believe that for the 16 and 17 year olds that are in training now at aviation universities, the time has never been better to learn to fly! By the time they are in their mid twenties, the major airlines will be just starting an unprecedented hiring wave. What is strange though is that I remember being 18 and hearing the same thing when I was in college in 1999. If not for age 65 and 9/11 they would have been absolutely correct.

Taking a Ride on the "Triplah"

2011-02-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

Usually, a call to go to work two days early is not what puts me in a good mood but the other evening I had a rare opportunity to make the most of it. Having originally been scheduled to fly to Anchorage, I was now going to Vancouver on a company B777-300ER and then the next day I was to operate the 13 and half hour non stop flight to Hong Kong. This presented a rare opportunity to fly in a four man crew which I rarely get to do, as well as fly as a passenger on a brand new B777.

On arrival at JFK, I was informed that the flight was completely full and was asked if I would mind deadheading in the crew rest area. At first I wasn't sure if I was allowed to(being that I'm rated on a B747-400) but on further consultation with the crew we determined that as long as I rode in the cockpit for takeoff and landing it would be no problem. In fact, I was looking forward to checking out the Triple's rest area.

On the 777, the rest area is aft of the cockpit but just ahead of the first class section and is actually located in the ceiling! You enter through a door in the main cabin that opens to a very steep, twisting staircase that leads you up into a very cool little area. On entering you immediately see two seats with full recline capability as well as two side by side bunks separated by a bulkhead just behind. Each seat is equipped with a PTV so that on your rest break, you have access to the same inflight entertainment systems as all of the passengers. A very nice touch! I won't dwell on the rest area but I will say that it was comfortable for the four hours I spent up there watching a movie and taking a nap.

More intriguing to me however was the opportunity to sit up front and see how the boys on the “Triplah”(company slang alert) do things. A few things immediately stood out that I liked better than the -400. The first was how wide and spacious the cockpit was. The -400 has a surprisingly tight space to work in and although the cockpit on the -400 goes back much farther, when in the seat on the 777 it was obvious there was much more room. The next thing that caught my eye was the massive size of the windscreens. They were huge (again compared to the -400).

The Captain and FO were both Vancouver based and were very happy to answer all of my questions regarding the operation(at least when they weren’t busy and we had some dead time). Before pushback I noticed that they use the ACARS system through the lower EICAS screen as opposed to the -400 where we use a third FMC on the center pedestal. Both pilots remarked how they like the -400’s setup better as it allows a third crewmember to pull-up weather info or coordinate with dispatch in the even of a diversion, etc. On the 777 they do not have this ability. Also displayed on the lower EICAS was the Electronic Checklist(ECL). I was interested in seeing this in use as our B747-8F’s that are coming in a few months will have this as well. Overall it seemed fairly simple to use and is something that I am sure I’ll get used to very quickly.

The engines were started after pushback fairly easily by the autostart system and the taxi out resulted in a few things catching my eye. As it was the FO’s leg, as per company SOP, he was to taxi us to Runway 31R. The first thing that caught my eye was the use of video cameras on the exterior of the aircraft positioned behind the landing gear that assist in taxiing that aircraft. The image is displayed on the flying pilots MFD and is incredibly helpful on JFK’s narrow taxiways. In addition the B777-300ER is a very long airplane that does not have main bogey steering. This leads me to the next thing I noticed which was the massive amount of oversteering required to make turns. The cockpit literally was over the grass on a few tight turns because of how far aft the main gear sit.

As we taxied out, I remarked at how similar our SOP’s are on the B747-400 as compared to the B777. It seems our company has done an excellent job of keeping the operation as similar as possible between different fleets. As the B777 is very similar to the -400 I felt as though I had an excellent grasp of all of the procedures that were being used in spite of being in a different cockpit.

Takeoff was exciting as the 115,000lbs of thrust from each GE engine gives the B777 excellent acceleration. Coupled with being lower to the ground in the cockpit as well as sitting above open nose gear doors(you hear the sounds of the nose gear on the pavement and the rushing of the air which you do not hear any of on the -400), it all added up to an exhilarating acceleration through V1 and onwards as we reached VR. The airplane had nice performance on takeoff and handled the rough air that a New York winter’s night can throw at you.

Most noticeably though, was the unbelievable silence up on the flight deck. The B747-400 is loud to say the least. The B777 was super quiet. I remarked how quiet it was and was told that is one of the aspects the B777 drivers like the most. At that point in the flight I headed back to the crew rest area where I watched a movie, had a great business class meal and fell asleep for a few hours(we took off at midnight).

Before I knew it, the lead FA was waking me up and it was time to head back up front for landing. The boys up front looked up and alert which was good because I still had some resulting grogginess and sleep inertia I had to shake off. I took my seat and immediately noticed how clear the Northwest Pacific’s evening air was. From 100 miles out we could see Vancouver and we started down for an arrival towards runway 08R. We were hoping for a straight in to 26R but oh well, what are you going to do?

As we descended, the FO needed to use the speed brake which was applied quickly to the full up position and with hardly a rumble. This is a noticeable difference from the -400. On the -400, there is a very noticeable rumble throughout the entire airframe when the boards are out. In addition, once the speed brakes are extended to about halfway up, there is a dramatic shift in the position of the center of lift which results in a dramatic pitch down moment. This is typically counteracted with smooth application of the speed brakes but we couldn’t just bring them fully up all at once like in the 777 without the resulting pitch down.

The remainder of the descent was fairly typical with the most noticeable differences being one again the illusion of a much faster approach solely due to the open gear doors below the cockpit. The sound of 140 knots of air rushing right underneath us gave me the illusion that we were approaching much faster than in the -400 even though that is not the case. The aircraft seemed very stable of approach and I was surprised to see the FO leave the autothrust engaged throughout the touchdown. It is disengaged upon thrust reverse. A smooth touchdown that occurred a little lower than where I was used to(we sit up much higher) and we taxied in. I inquired about the autothrust and was told it is SOP to leave the autothrust in for landing and that it does an excellent job, even in the most demanding typhoon conditions our airline experiences in summertime.

Overall I was left with a very good impression of the B777-300ER. The pilots raved about it and really enjoyed operating it(I say operating as opposed to flying it because with airplane’s of this size and with the amount of automation, we don’t really ‘fly’ much as opposed to ‘operating’ them). About the biggest negative I could find was the lack of a bathroom in the flight deck like we have on the -400! Overall it was a great machine and hopefully I get the chance to fly it eventually. As for now, I’ll just have to settle for my cramped, loud seat up front on the Jumbo. Could be worse!

Burning Dino's and Makin' Noise

2010-11-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

We are six and a half hours into the flight and I am anxious to get home. Luckily we are just about there. We are on downwind for an ILS to 04R at JFK descending out of 4,000 feet and the boards are out causing a rumble in the back. We get a turn towards the west and are treated to a sky that glows in oranges and yellows from the sun that has just decided to dip below the horizon. The speedbrakes are stowed and we begin reducing to 180 knots.

We are cleared to intercept the localizer and we begin configuring. It is a beautiful evening and we'll be on the ground shortly. The gear is down and locked, the flaps are at 30 degrees, and we've been cleared to land behind a Jetblue A320 5 miles ahead.

"Whaaaah-Whaaaah-Whaaaah, Throoop-throoop-throoop" I disconnect the autopilot and authotrottles and silence them with my thumbs ASAP. They are very irritating to listen to but that is the point I guess. We are at 1,000 feet now on speed and on the LOC and Glideslope and the traffic ahead of us is just over the numbers now. Just about another minute of this and six days off await me.

"Jetblue 55, taxiway FB is closed, roll to the end," Kennedy Tower advises to the preceding aircraft. It's going to be tight now. He still has 1500 feet of runway to eat up at taxispeed and we are now through 500 feet. "Be ready for a go-around," says the captain in impeccable Queen's English. I am. I can see he won't be clear. My fingers dangle on the TO/GA switches and at 100 feet just about over the threshold, it becomes evident he isn't clear.

"Go-Around!" is the call from the Captain.
"Go-Around, Set thrust, Flaps 20," I reply as I press firmly down on the TO/GA's!

Things are busy now. Our four Rolls Royce RB-211's start ingesting copious amounts of fuel in an effort to get us away from solid ground! We can hear their struggle up on the flight deck as we climb away! My guess is the neighbors aren't too happy either.

We are told to fly the runway heading and climb and maintain 2000 feet. We get the gear up and begin to accelerate to 210 knots as we pass 1,000 feet. It is very busy on the flight deck as we clean up, speed up, and talk to ATC so as to get woven back into the thread of arrivals into JFK.

We level at 2000 feet, get vectored back onto downwind, complete the climb checklist, setup the FMC again, do an abbreviated briefing, and run a decent and landing checklist, all while talking to ATC and looking out for aircraft! Its a busy time up front! Luckily no P.A. today as our only passengers are boxes.

Finally, things settle down and as we cruise along at 2,000 feet I get a chance to look at our fuel. On approach we had about 16 tons of fuel. We are already down to 13.5 tons in about 8 minutes! We only burned that much in the last 30 minutes of flight but between the go-around thrust and flying with Flaps 5 in level flight at 2000 feet, we consume gas at an enormous rate.

We still have plenty of fuel for the next approach and could still proceed to our alternate and have plenty of reserve fuel if need be. We get turned onto base and then final and then with a hint of sarcasm we get wished "good luck this time around" by NY approach control as we get handed off to Kennedy Tower. An uneventful approach and landing are the result and finally after an additional 19 minutes our flight ends.

Phew. It's nice to be home.

Will They Follow in our Footsteps?

2010-11-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

On a recent afternoon on the far side of the world, I gathered with a few colleagues for some lunch over at Hong Kong International Airport's gleaming Terminal One. The airport in Hong Kong puts most US airport terminals to shame, although, it is only 13 years old! Over a huge plate of pasta(sorry, no local culinary delights this afternoon) and some drinks, the usual topics that aviators discuss made the rounds. There was the typical flying talk, money talk, union talk, etc. In other words, no shortage of shop talk. However, one of our discussions was not typical but stuck with me. The question came up, "would you recommend this profession to you kids?" The discussion was quite polarizing.

Now, you need to keep in mind that all three of us pilot some variation of widebody aircraft for one of the premier airlines in the world. We each occupy what I would consider to be a rather good seat in the house. However, it was very interesting to get caught up in this discussion.

One of the pilots, we will call him B777 Pilot No.1, was already prepping his son for flight school at the age of 5! He was very adamant about not holding his child back from an aviation career, however, he also made it clear that he wasn't going to force anything on him when the time comes to choose a path despite his very clear desire for his offspring to take to the skies.

The other colleague of ours, B777 Pilot No.2, was of the complete opposite mindset. Despite occupying a front seat in one of the nicest airplanes on earth, he felt that that industry has shifted enough in the wrong direction that he couldn't advise anyone to take up the profession. This gentlemen had a pretty typical career. A few years at a large US regional(albeit a few longer than originally planned) and then onto a major flying internationally. Along the way, he got caught up in a "flow through" that did not go according to plan due to some mergers and AAquisitions. He also was not offered the base of his choice upon joining our airline due to the type of equipment he was hired into. Unfortunately, our airline does not award bases and aircraft types like the US carriers do and once on a specific type(B777, B747, Airbus) it is difficult to get off of it.

Despite B777 Pilot No.2's relatively good job, he had hit some stumbling blocks along the way that were no fault of his own. He felt that aviation leaves too much in other people's hands(ie. management/terrorism/etc.) and in addition, felt that the risk outweighed the rewards. He also brought up the potential for furlough and the almost impossible task of finding a flying job that pays a similar wage to start. He was adamant. He could not recommend this occupation to anyone. There was one caveat, however. This individual does not have children of his own and that must be taken into account.

Now we were onto me. I obviously have a young little daughter. I wasn't sure how it would come out, but I take pride in my occupation, and I take pride in that she now knows what a plane is and that Daddy has something to do with them. I can't tell her one day that she cannot be a pilot. How could I? I have been blessed with good fortune and luck in this aviation game, and(fingers crossed) as long as I do my job and my company performs, she will hopefully live a nice life as a result. However, it is my duty to inform her of the pitfalls that come along with the occupation if she so inquires. I don't need to explain the benefits because you either love aviation or you don't. It does not matter if I recommend flying or not, if there is not an inherent love and passion for it, I will advise highly against it. You need to love it to be successful and if the passion isn't there, it is a waste of time and money. If the passion is there though, no one will be able to talk you out of it no matter the pitfalls and traps that may lay across the path.

One thing I also pointed out, is that I live in an area that has a severe shortage of airline pilots in the local area. I don't know of any beside myself. The vast majority of the people that I associate with all have gripes about their jobs from pay, stability, time off, etc. It's the same thing in any field. I know from personal experience that the grass isn't always greener. You need to accept the choices you make and be comfortable with them. Everything comes with sacrifice. When I was a 17 year old private pilot, I never once thought about the repurcussions of an airline career on a family. I never thought about the nights away from home, only the greaser landings and hours I was building!

I guess what I want is what any dad would want, a happy, healthy kid that has the capacity to discover what they want out of life. If that involves a career in aviation, I'll guide them along the way, passing along whatever tidbits I can offer, but I am not going to be a cheerleader one way or the other until they decide what they want to do. No matter what, she'll have my undying support all the way.

What makes me happy

2010-10-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

My daughter looking up and pointing to the sky and in the sweetest little voice, saying "plane!"

Short but sweet post today.

A Nice Surprise

2010-10-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I'm about to leave for a quick round trip to Anchorage and I receive an envelope addressed to me that was sent from Kansas City, MO. Hmmmm, what's this? Did my wife order something but use my name?

Anyway, I open it up and out flop three issues of the December 2010 issue of Airways. I think I know what this is all about, and upon closer inspection I discover that in my hands is the first ever published magazine with an article that I have written.

"Homecoming" is a narrative that I wrote about two years ago and submitted to Airways with the hope of it getting in. I hope you all get a chance to see it on the newsstand!

My thanks to DAL CA Rand Peck (http://randpeck.blogspot.com)for a lot of tips along the way to help getting published!

The New Ellis Island

2010-07-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Cramped space. No air conditioning. Shouting. Nowhere to sit. Confused, harried people rushing from left to right. Different languages piercing my ear drums in quick staccato bursts. Sweating, crying, yelling. Madness!

100 years ago, we welcomed other countries tired and huddled masses. Today those masses were contained in Gate Area D of the Central Terminal at LaGuardia Airport, or as it is also known, the American Airlines domestic concourse. I hate to single out American, but that is who I am flying with, on this hot, humid, thunderstorm building summer afternoon. Unfortunately, this image is not one that takes place only at LGA, but in every other terminal, and at every other airport in the nation.

The airline industry is maxed out. As I sit at Gate 10, waiting for my deadhead to Miami, I talk with other passengers about their frustrations and I do my best to explain to them what is happening, why it is happening, and that whoever can solve the problem can be very, very rich one day! On this particular afternoon, a band of thunderstorms stretching from Washington D.C. to Montreal is slowly moving eastward, increasing its chokehold on not only New York's airspace, but that of Philadelphia and Boston's as well. As the entire east coast is strangled, the effect is far reaching throughout the rest of the country and even the world.

"I don't get it, the weather here is fine!" a frazzled woman exclaims towards me. It reminds me of a time I landed in Boston in 300 foot overcast ceilings and 1/2 mile visibilty only to have an irate passenger scold me for their tardiness and that 'the weather isn't even that bad'! All I can do is apologize and say that I appreciate their business.

What I begin to explain to this poor lady, and the group of about five other passengers who have joined our conversation is that the weather doesn't have to be bad where we are, or where we are going. Unfortunately, if it is bad almost anywhere it will affect you. In today's case, there is a line of thunderstorms about 50 miles west of NYC that is moving in our direction. I explain that as pilots, we don't fly through thunderstorms.

"I don't get it, there is so much air out there. There has to be space to go around!" she exclaims. Unfortunately, there is not. I begin to explain that the airspace above the Washington-New York-Boston megalopolis is a massive system of veins and arteries that weave in and out and up and down, similar to those massive complexes of highways and freeways that merge all together. The United States Airspace is pressed to the max on the most benign of days. All you need is a little bit of weather, or a mechanical issue, or a runway closure to begin the onslaught of delays and the subsequent passenger frustration.

Just like on a highway, if a car breaks down and blocks a lane, the implications(traffic) are far reaching. Cars slow, traffic builds, and in some severe cases, it causes backups on other highways. The same thing happens in the air.

"Here is what is going on right now," I begin to explain to my group of eager listeners. "The airplane that is coming in to LaGuardia may need to go off course to traverse the weather. The air traffic controllers will give an aircraft priority when it needs to deviate for weather in most situations. But now, that aircraft may infringe on the area that is supposed to be for Newark or JFK departures and arrivals. So now, where do those aircraft go? And don't forget, all the while other aircraft are coming into the airspace at a fast, constant flow. As the traffic builds, the controllers get over tasked. They begin assigning holds to inbound aircraft, and they stop departures on outbound aircraft. That is why sometimes you taxi out, and then the Captain shuts the engines down and you sit there."

The students listen on intently and I explain that it is not just an "American Airlines" problem, but an air travel problem. I explain that there probably is no relief for these delays anytime soon, at least not until there are way less airplanes, and an entirely new way to manage airflow in and out of these airports. We need mathematicians and engineers to come up with new airspace models but even then, how do you implement their designs? I try to explain that running an airline is like playing the largest most complex game of chess and a Rubik's cube together at the same time, times a million!

Since 1978, the skies in the United States have been a free for all. Deregulation of the airline industry from an economic standpoint, has been a rousing success. It costs more to take a private car service to go from Midtown Manhattan to JFK airport than it does to fly one way from JFK to Ft. Lauderdale! Airline ticket prices are the same price today as they were in the 1970's. I'm not saying they are 'cheap' because they are not. But they are cheaper in real dollars than they were. The effect is the exponential increase in travelers from lets say the 1960's to today. In 1960, there were 31 Billion passenger miles flown by US Carriers. In 2008, that number was 583 Billion passenger miles flown!

So yes, deregulation has been a success if we see what has happened to ticket prices in the wake of increased competition. But has it really succeeded? More people fly than ever, but they are so disenfranchised by it. When I talk with people about the airlines, I never hear positive stories. I only hear tales of poor service, delays, cancellations, and rude customer service agents who in the airline's draconian cut backs, have to deal with way more passengers with way less help. I'd probably be rude too, if I had to deal with the problems the customer service agents do! They are severely overworked and they are tremendously short staffed. It is not uncommon to see three agents checking in over 200 passengers!

So while tickets are cheap(comparitively), we are left with in industry that every single day operates at its maximum capacity, tiptoeing the line of sanity. Has deregulation been a success? I'm not so sure from an efficiency standpoint. It has helped create lower prices, which have increased demand and enabled more job growth. However, the resulting competition has also caused over 100 airlines to fold over the last 32 years. What is the opportunity cost of such instablity and inefficiency? What are the cumulative costs economically and socially of the delays, not just to the airline, but to the thousands of travelers that are affected? Meetings cancelled, weddings missed, and in the case of this poor lady I've been talking to, an emergency room that will not be staffed by an attending physician the next morning! People may die because of the cancellations this afternoon! I know it sounds extreme, but this is the truth.

Alfred Kahn, honestly, has this been a success? I'm not saying that deregulation can be blamed for bad weather. Of course not, but the over saturation, reduced staff, masses of people mad and upset, cutthroat airline competition, and hot terminals can be!

So after sitting at the airport for five hours I finally arrive in Miami, at 9:00P.M., eight and a half hours after starting my day. All I can think to myself is that at least I didn't have to pay for my ticket! Thousands of others were not so fortunate, and that is if they even made it to their destinations at all. I hope that lady did.

Follow your dream?

2010-05-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

As a kid growing up near a major international airport, there was nothing I wanted more than to one day fly in and out sitting in the cockpit of one of the world's major airlines. When you are young, all you think about is flying. I remember wanting to fly for United Airlines as a teenager for the sole reason that they flew B747's and I wanted to fly them(box ticked)!

As time goes on in the journey of an aspiring airmen, the thoughts of flight evolve into more than a love affair with the sky, but a realistic view that this is a career. Compensation, medical benefits, retirement, and the like become the prime consideration. The flying aspect, although always the main reason for pursuing this path, becomes secondary. At the end of the day, flying for an airline is a career and is what puts food on the table and clothes on our children.

In college, my friends and I always talked flying and airlines. Where did we want to end up? New York based flying to Europe? Atlanta based flying to South America? Those pilots were the luckiest people in the world! We looked up to professional aviators the way others look up to professional athletes. We knew we'd make it one day but it was way off in the distance. We had good careers ahead of us and we knew it.

Fast forward to May, 2010. I'm talking to one of my best friends from college on the phone. He flies corporate airplanes for a living and has a great job. However, he is one of the guys that from day one in college wanted nothing more than to be an airline pilot for a major airline. It turns out that in the past few days, a Georgia based major airline has announced that their hiring window is now open and they anticipate needing to hire pilots starting in late summer. For the first time, my friend has the required flight time to be a competitive candidate when a major airline has started to hire. The days we talked about as college freshman has arrived.

"So, did you see? The Big D opened their window! You got your stuff in?" I exclaim! For my friend, Delta is the hometown team, so of course he's going to apply!

"Won't go near it."

The words stun me.

"Won't go near it."

"Really?" I ask.

As he enlightens me on his reasoning it makes complete sense. When we were in college, besides the allure of being airline pilots, the job was the best in the business. Best pay, time off, pensions, etc. But now, that is not the case. He tells me, he can't afford the pay cut. It would take years to regain what he makes now, and then some more to make up for what he would be giving up. To him, the risk is not worth it. The US airline industry is so rife with instability, he is not willing to put himself at the bottom of a 12,000+ pilot seniority list with the hope that he does not lose his job as well.

In our past lives, we both flew at the same regional airline, one that was affiliated with USAirways. We both flew with pilots that had come to our airline through a 'Jets for Jobs(J4J)' program. Essentially, as USAirways shrank, we grew. The agreement we had allowed furloughed pilots to fly at our airline as Captains in exchange for the growth. We both flew with pilots that had been at USAirways for over 15 years that had lost their jobs!

My friend specifically said that the experiences he had flying with the J4J guys, has affected him so greatly, that he has no interest in working for a legacy carrier because, it doesn't matter how long you work there, you just never know what tomorrow holds. American, United, USAirways, and others have at one point or another in the last decade had pilots that had been there as long as ten years, out of work. It used to be worth the risk, financially speaking, but today it just is not the case. Although risk is inherent in anything, for a profession that was so great, to have fallen off its mantle so precipitously is unfortunate and sad.

So just like that, the chance at a dream that was talked about so many times, has arrived and it doesn't even matter. What is more unfortunate, is that now when the industry needs to recruit its future professional airmen, the airmen want no part of its future.

*On a side note, this is not to say that any major airline will have a lack of qualified, competant applicants. Quite the contrary. It's just that given the paradigm shift the profession and industry have gone through in the past decade, there will just be less of them. One thing is for sure though, for those going for it, they had better bring their armor because it may be a treacherous ride.

Where do we go from here?

2010-05-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

The past year and half have seen some rather unfortunate events in aviation. We have seen a few incidents at the regional level that have brought airline pilot experience levels, compensation, and lifestyle into the limelight with lots of opinions to go around. Congressional hearings have dominated the headlines with testimony from airline executives, pilots, safety managers, and trade group personnel. What is the end result and where does the industry go from here?

Regional airlines have always compensated poorly due to the razor thin margins that they operate on, but also because they historically had been able to take advantage of the fact that most pilots were only going to remain for a few years until they moved onto the major airlines' seniority lists. In the same way that Triple-A baseball clubs pay their players peanuts knowing that the chance to move up to 'the show' is there, regional airlines took advantage of their neophyte pilots in the same fashion.

Regional airlines have always hired for the most part, the most inexperienced pilots relative to the rest of the industry. I use the term 'relative' because dependent on the job market, those pilots may have anywhere from 250 flight hours to over 3000. The pilot hiring market for the United States is driven primarily, by the fortunes of the US Major Airlines. When the Majors are doing well, they hire. They hire captains from regional airlines. The regional airlines upgrade co-pilots to captain creating a void in the right seat. The regional airlines then hire flight instructors and late night cargo pilots for those positions, and well, you get the point. When the major airlines are hiring like crazy like they were in the 2006-2007 period, you end up with a massive churning of pilots throughout the industry. During that time, the regional airlines needed so many pilots to make up for the losses to the major carriers, that instead of raising the levels of compensation to retain their employees, they LOWERED their standards! Many airlines that had previously required 1500 hours or more, slowly over the course of this period lowered their experience levels required for positions as pilots to as little as 250 hours.

So now what? Hearings were held and now running through Congress is potential legislation that would mandate ATP's for all new hire pilots. Of course, this is not surprising given that congress as usual is operating in knee-jerk reaction due to the unfortunate accidents of the past few years.

So will this really work? I'm not so sure. The incidents that have occurred in the past few years all involved pilots that had been flying for some time. They all had adequate flight time. In my mind if you want to have more experienced pilots in the cockpit, then you need to compensate appropriately. I don't believe that the government should intervene with setting up price floors for pilots but something needs to be done. Congress and the flying public want the most experienced pilots flying them around, but the airlines don't compensate accordingly. It is very rare to see experienced pilots leave their current employer for another because compensation is so poor in the beginning. If I were to be furloughed, I would not get a job at a regional airline because it is such poor compensation. I've been there, done that. I have a family and there are other opportunities out there.

To be clear, I have nothing against inexperienced pilots getting jobs at regionals because simply, I was one of them. But at the same time, I was learning on the job. I had never flown a turbine powered aircraft before I was in the right seat of a regional jet. It is a definate Catch-22.

I believe that it is time for something similar to the Screen Actors Guild for pilots. SAG sets minimum rates, per diems, and benefits for all actors dependant on the job they are doing. How is it that actors can get this yet, airline pilots have not? Time will tell.

OK, enough for now, I'm heading out to Anchorage tonight on an all-nighter from Toronto.

Back to Business

2010-05-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

The goal at the beginning of this blog was to write on a frequent basis about most things aviation, but not exclusively. That started out well but it has been a long time since a post. The birth of my daughter has occupied all of my time and thought so until recently, I did not even think about writing. Well now that she's a little bigger and a bit more on 'cruise control', my goal is to get back to the business of keeping up with this blog.

Fasten your Seatbelts

2009-03-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

BING!

A chime takes us away from our conversation at 35,000 feet. We have just received a message via CPDLC, or pilot/controller 'text messaging' regarding a SIGMET for an area of Severe Turbulence in the vicinity of our planned route of flight.

Severe Turbulence.....doesn't sound very pleasant. The definition includes the phrase, "the aircraft may be completely out of control." Hopefully, the report is wrong and hopefully the area that is forecast to be bad is far enough away from our route where it does not get too rough.

I pick up our map of our route of flight that came with our flight packet for today's flight from Hong Kong to Anchorage. After I plot the boundaries of the SIGMET, it becomes evident that not only are we going to be near the turbulence, but our Airway goes right through the center of the area. It is such a large area as well that it is not operationally feasible to really deviate from course. In addition, over the North Pacific it can be a bit challenging to coordinate a massive re-route. We are just going to have to plow through. So, seatbelts and shoulder harnesses fastened and we reduce speed to Mach .82, our ideal turbulence penetration speed for our weight and altitude. Images of Tom Hanks in "Castaway" are not very easy to push out of mind when you are riding the fury of Mother Nature over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but there is a job to do, and I have full everlasting faith in the engineers at Boeing. That provides some comfort.

The area of turbulence stretches for about 100 miles right in the vicinity of Shemya Island, one of the few enroute alternate airports along this route. You would need to be in a severe emergency situation to actually warrant landing there. We are buckled in tight but it seems as if we have lucked out. Nothing more than occasional moderate turbulance and thats it. The Captain and I figure that the forecast was wrong, despite the fact our tailwand increased by 60 knots in just about 20 miles. It seems as luck would have it, that we have avoided the madness.

Just then the Captain remarks, "there is the severe turbulence out the window". What? I glance out and can't believe what I see:

I've never seen anything like this. I don't know what type of clouds these would be considered but I can tell you that they would be ROUGH. Actually, VIOLENT would be more appropriate. It looks like the type of waves that surfers love. Luckily, we can visually see these clouds about 30 miles south of our airway and it appears we will have missed out on the Severe Turbulence.

We are both pretty glad we didn't run into that this afternoon. If there had not been some evidence of the turbulence and no heads up from the SIGMET, an unsuspecting airliner could have encountered that type of ride that causes injuries. Luckily for us, not today.

Only two and half more hours to go.....

Three Turning, One Burning

2009-03-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

It had all the makings of a typical flight. A nice day time hop from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok International Airport to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. The captain and I had been busy with our preflight preparations and setup and we were just about underway. As we taxied out, we rebriefed our departure procedures for this afternoons flight. In a few minutes we would be departing runway 07R on the Ocean 2A departure out towards the South China Sea and towards Taipei.

As we taxied into position, I placed my hands on the yoke and as we lined up on the centerline, called, "Set Thrust". With a tap of the TO/GA buttons, the Captain unleashed over 200,000 lbs. of thrust rearward as we began our takeoff roll. As the B747-400 accelerated, I could feel all of the runways imperfections reverberating up through my seat, 35 feet above the runway.

"V1"

We were now committed. No matter what we were going flying at this point.

"Rotate!"

I pulled back on the yoke and as we rotated up towards 12.5 degrees of pitch I felt and heard the loudest explosion I had ever heard coming from one the rear of the aircraft!

BANG!! POP! POP! POP!

The airplane yawed to the left and instinctively, I applied right rudder to help counteract the yaw. After a moment of disbelief, it was straight into our ingrained emergency procedures. I couldn't believe we had suffered what appeared to be a compressor stall. The engine had not flamed out, but was still producing very irregular thrust with multiple surges. The EGT had been exceeded by a large amount and most likely there was damage to the engine. At 400 feet, with my hands still guiding the ship, the Captain went through the memory items for the compressor stall.

With the thrust on that engine reduced, we continued our climbout accelerating to 250 knots while cleaning up the airplane. We then went through the necessary checklists to ensure we had complied with all of the necessary steps to secure the engine. As luck would have it, on today's flight we had departed below our maximum landing weight, so we would not have to dump any fuel. After a quick consultation with the company, it was easily decided that a return to Hong Kong was going to be the next course of action. A quick request to ATC for the return, and we were quickly on downwind for an ILS to Runway 07L. Runway 07R was unavailable, because they were now checking the end of that runway for FOD that may have been left behind by our surging engine.

As we descended towards SOKOE intersection, we began reducing airspeed and mentally preparing for the one engine inoperative approach. The approach itself isn't all the much different then an approach with all the engines operating. The main differences in the -400 are to take out rudder trim by 500 feet and to ensure we use symmetrical reverse thrust upon touchdown.

With the landing gear down, and the flaps at 30 degrees, we completed the landing checklist and began reducing to final approach speed. As we crossed the threshold, I smoothly brought the thrust levers to idle and pitched up a touch and felt the sixteen main wheels contact the runway and spin up to 147 knots.

"Inboards only!" was the call out by the Captain, verifying that I only go to max reverse thrust on the inboard engines to ensure symmetrical reverse thrust due to the shutdown of the Number 1 or the outermost engine on the left wing.

As we slowed through 70 knots, the engines were brought out of reverse and we continued slowing to taxi speed as we made a right turn to clear the runway.

What a relief to be out of that mess and back on the ground. As they say, "Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground"! The only unfortunate part of this set of circumstances was that we had to do it all over again!

"Well flown 'gents. Now we'll reverse the scenario and you'll handle from the left seat," the sim instructor said to the Captain next to me.

Both the Captain and myself had not flown in the airplane for quite sometime and we were now going through a sim session to regain our landing currency and to ensure we remembered our emergency procedures and flight procedures. Thousands of pilots all over the world go through this type of training once or twice a year depending on the airline. Sometimes more if the cicumstances dictate. In my case, I had been out of the cockpit for close to two months for personal reasons and the company figured, smartly, that some practice to knock off the cobwebs was in order. Luckily this was not a 'jeopardy' event, meaning it was truly just a training and not a 'checking' event, but nonetheless, I always prepare as if it is. I feel I owe it to myself and the profession to ensure I'm always up to speed on my job no matter the circumstance.

Four hours, many engine failures, and one windshear escape manuever later, we called it a night and I stepped back out of the sim ready to resume life on the line. Off to Anchorage tonight......its good to be back.

Off to Distant Lands.....

2009-01-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

I am going to normally be writing about things that happen on the line, but since I am off for about a month(the reason I have time to start this blog) I am going to have to improvise with other interesting fodder. It seems that there are a lot of people reading from all over the world which is pretty impressive. Also, if you are interested in knowing when I update, please leave your email in the comments section.

I was on an overnight in Hong Kong a few months back just walking through Central when I snapped a pretty neat shot of the IFC building. For those unfamiliar, the IFC building is presently the tallest building in Hong Kong and also was the scene of a great part in this past summer's movie 'The Dark Knight.' Here is the pic:

As I took the photo, I noticed in the upper left corner what appeared to be a B747 just climbing out. With another quick snap I got a better look:

Upon closer inspection, she unveiled herself as one of United Airline's flagship B747-400's off to some other corner of the globe. Fifteen hours from now she would touchdown at either LAX, SFO, or ORD. I really liked this picture as it is an actual renduring of the United Airline television commercials you see these days.

I could have swore I heard Rhapsody in Blue playing in the distance......

Sunrise Over the Pacific

2009-01-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

A few months ago........

It is early morning somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on our way to Anchorage. I'm staring at the ANA B767 that we are trailing on our journey that will end at Ted Stevens International. My window is warm from the heat being electrically supplied to it. I rest my head against it. As I sit here, I wonder to myself what is going on at home in NY right now. It is Sunday afternoon and I'm sure there is some football on or something......if I can't be home, this is the only place I'd rather be.......

Tired?

2009-01-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

There has been some recent news regarding the UN looking into Flight Time Limitations for airplane crew members. See article here...http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hspilo2312388083jan23,0,3282462.story. This is good to see, as fatigue is a very serious issue in the industry. One thing that I think will be positive in the future is that fatigue rules will be based on duty periods and not necessarily flight time.

For example, at my last airline, a regional carrier in the U.S, I could be scheduled to be on duty up to fourteen and a half hours a day. That could be extended to sixteen hours due to delays, weather, etc. I could then have as little as eight hours of 'rest' before reporting back to work. That 'rest' being from fifteen minutes after the parking brake was set at the gate the previous night to thirty minutes prior to departure the following morning. That would leave roughly six hours of sleep if the hotel van was not tardy picking you up, etc.....you get the point. Not a lot of sleep. It made no difference how many flights I flew, delays I had, or anything else.

At the carrier that I am with now has a way more convoluted system than my previous job,particularly due to the long haul environment, however, it is entirely based on duty times. In addition, for each leg per day that I fly, the amount of duty I can work is reduced by forty five minutes. So, if I am good to have a twelve our duty day and we divert, than I can actually only work for eleven hours and fifteen minutes if we are to continue to the destination. Clear as mud? These can be extended but only in certain situations.

Another thing that is nice is that at the very minimum, when I am scheduled to have rest, it can be at the very minimum, ten hours IN the hotel room.

This all sounds well and good, however on a recent trip, we left JFK at 6:00AM. We got into ORD, where we experienced extensive delays on the ground that ended up causing us to have to get more rest for the next leg to Anchorage due to the long length of that flight. So at only 1:00PM, we headed off to the hotel for our ten hours where I proceeded to get NO rest, and then report back at 11:30P.M for the seven hour flight to Alaska! This was a perfect example of the rules looking out for us, but at the same time, they ended up completely defeating there purpose.

I guess the moral of the story is, it is great that the government agencies are finally looking into this serious problem, but no matter what the result, there will always be tired pilots flying. It's the nature of this business and especially long haul.

To quote, one of my favorite movies, The Godfather, "This is the business we have chosen."

Crashpad

2009-01-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

So I was thinking about a funny story earlier today that happened earlier in my career. When I started at my first airline, I was based at LaGuardia airport. Being a brand new FO, each Captain that I flew with each had their own interesting backgrounds and stories. Some were married, some were not. Some lived in base and others commuted in from all over the country. Most of the commuters lived in crashpads with a bunch of other pilots. The typical crashpad around LGA was a crummy apartment in Jackson Heights or Astoria and they were not anything to brag about. Usually there were 5-10 people in a crashpad and if you were lucky you had your own bed. If not, you had to sleep on a dreaded 'hot bunk'.

On this afternoon, I was flying with a captain for the first time. He was relatively senior with a nice family back home out of state. He was a typical commuter. Showed up at work, spent a few nights at the pad and went back home. Our trips out of LGA were mostly out and backs, so for commuters, three to four nights in a row in the crashpad was the norm. Well as the day progressed we happened to get into a conversation about his living arraingements when in New York.

"Well the place I have is real nice you could say. For starters, the pad is in a waterfront, gated community, which as you know, in this neighborhood is a rarity. Security is never an issue. I have my own room, so it is always quiet. One of the best aspects is that I even get free transportation from the crashpad to the terminal. Its probably the best deal you can find around here. I pay $200 a month for it which is cheaper than most other crashpads around here," he elaborated.

"This sounds like a good deal. Where is it located?" I asked.

Without the slightest hesitation or sense of irony he replied, "In the employee parking lot. I live in my car."

Was I hearing things? A regional airline captain living in his CAR? What about the $200 a month he was paying?

"Thats my lease payment and I don't have any extra money for additional expenses." I couldn't decide what was more outlandish, that they guy was living in his car, or, that he couldn't afford a real crashpad! It was actually sort of sad, but he didn't mind it.

Every other bit of the description he gave was accurate. The lot was tucked into western armpit of LGA airport right on the water. It was monitored by staff 24-7 and he had his own room. The transportation to the terminal was supplied by Golden Touch's finest shuttle bus drivers.

I've heard a lot of crashpad tales over the years, but this one will stick with me forever. He's probably there right now, sound asleep.

The Sharks begin to Swim

2009-01-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

As a first entry, this isn't exactly the topic I had in mind when I wanted to start a weblog about aviation. However, I just can't get this story out of my mind. This afternoon, my local paper reported that many of the passengers of USAirways 1549(Miracle on the Hudson) have started to retain counsel in the beginning stages of filing lawsuits. Now don't get me wrong, lawsuits are as American as apple pie and baseball, but we need to ask ourselves, who is really going to be targeted here? I pray that not one mention of any single crew member is not included in any suit. Approximately 150 passengers are alive today because of the excellent job that the crew did on that cold afternoon. I don't see how anyone's conscience could let them sue a member of the crew that just saved your life.

Most likely the culprit will be 'pain and suffering' or 'lost income' or 'emotional or pyschological trauma'. I do not disagree with the incredibly traumatizing events that these people have gone through, but honestly, who is supposed to be responsible? Can USAirways be held responsible for flying through a flock of birds? I hope not or we have a huge problem. Can the Port Authority of NY/NJ be held responsible for not ensuring the airspace was clear of them? Not likely. So, who exactly is going to be the unlucky entity that ends up having to pay for this? Maybe the manufacturer of the engines will be sued for not building engines that can withstand a flock of Canadian Geese flying into them at two hundred and fifty knots!

As I recall, flying is one of the safest modes of transportation, however, when you step on an airplane you are accepting the risk that comes with it. Lawyers will say, the passengers deserve justice! I say, sometimes life happens and you never know what everyday will bring. One day you can have a job, the next day you might not. But life happens, and if you can't deal with the risk, don't get on the damn airplane.

I truly hope that the crew of this incident does not have to answer to any lawyers. I suspect they will but at the very least, they should not be named as defendant's in any suit. Hell if they are, they should sue their crew schedulers for assigning them that flight!