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Sobering Thoughts

Ex-Thomson Airways

I survived the week before Christmas. Made it through the end of the Mayan calendar, held on to my temper as we were several hours late out of Memphis every morning, skillfully flew jets in need of some TLC, and even brought the above pictured 757 into the Greenville ramp looking like it had been parted out. This was a recent aquisition that has the passenger-to-freighter mod, but was pressed into revenue service during peak before getting its shiny new paint job. The marshaller in Greenville was reluctant to guide us into our parking spot b/c he didn't believe we were in the right place!
I also had a painful realization this week: I flew with a new hire pilot who's been on the property for 3 months. It was my first newbie FO as a Captain, and I had to write a (very positive) evaluation on him (reminded me of flight instructing in the Navy...having to fill out all those grade sheets). Anyway, he is 27 years old, and the realization is that by the time he retires from Fedex, I'll probably be dead!! Ho Ho Ho. It's off to the cabin for a white Christmas (assuming I get home on American). Talk to you next year.

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

Nice painting of a 757 by a crew member



 The week before Christmas; always an interesting time at Fedex. We thought we might get away with no nasty weather this years, but a powerful gust front blew through Memphis right in the middle of the push this morning. We were a couple of hours late, which meant flying into the sun. At least it wasn't snow. Below are two pictures showing the progress on the new crew rest facility since November. Tonight is the holiday buffet. Shrimp galore!

Dude, Where's Your Gear?

A Youtube video that's going to be really unfortunate for someone's career.
http://youtu.be/KDgvWa-EbbE

Line Check and Lost Keys

I had my annual line check yesterday, just two days after returning from vacation. Fortunately, nothing unusual happened, which is, in itself, very unusual. If Murphy is ever going to enforce his law, the time will be when there is a checkride.

So, today, things are much more relaxed. During a walk on the Swamp Rabbit trail in Greenvile, I spied someone's keys laying in the grass. My first thought was to pass them by and not get involved, but then I thought about how nice it would be if someone found MY keys and made an effort to return them to me. They looked like they had been there awhile. On closer examination, I noticed a thumbdrive attached, but no other identification. I took them up to my room and plugged the thumbdrive into my laptop, and the life of the owner was presented to me. Seemed like a very nice kid in his senior year in college. I looked through some of his documents until I found a resume which included a cellphone number and was able to call him. He was very, very relieved as his whole academic life was on that thumbdrive, not to mention his car and house keys. I left them for him at the hotel's front desk. Felt good all day.

Good Deal

I decided to go home for 24 hours after Winnipeg rather than getting a hotel in Memphis, so I passed the day in a sleep-deficit fog. Had to get up very early Friday morning for the two leg jumpseat back to Memphis for my early afternoon showtime.
As the week progressed, I had been keeping an eye on the weather for Friday (yesterday) in Great Falls, Montana. There was a blizzard predicted, and it did arrive. The morning 757 couldn't get in and ended up back in Casper for the day.  An hour prior to showtime in Memphis, I noted that the aircraft they had assigned to our trip did not have a functional weather radar. When the release came out with this same tail number still assigned, I immediately called the dispatcher and asked if he really planned to send me into a snowstorm with no radar. He quickly apologized and within five minutes we had a tail swap to a  full up airplane. We headed out to do the preflight, and were just about closed up and ready to go to Wichita, and then on to Great Falls, when my cellphone rang. It was scheduling: they had decided to turn our 3 day layover into an out and back! Yipee! It would be a very long night, but we would only be in Great Falls for a couple of hours, then back to Memphis, and I would get to go home with full pay for the trip. My vacation started three days early. Talk to you in December.

Winnipeg

Finished the first of two weeks on the road with 36 hours in "Winterpeg," arriving with my first snow of the season yesterday morning. Nice steak at The Keg, and back to spend a few hours glued to the TV for election results. Strange to be out of the country on this day. I'll have a day in Memphis for laundry, and then a long weekend in Great Falls, Montana, Where they are predicting sub-zero lows and up to a foot of snow. Oh joy.

Seventeen Years

I just finished my 17th year at Fedex. Doesn't seem possible. Thanks again to my sponsor KB for talking me into making the leap all those years ago.

Anderson monument complete

They did a nice job, including plaques describing the Major's life with information about the Cold War.

Swamp Rabbit South

Grill Mark's Pimento Cheeseburger

Outside seating is open to the elements

 Lunch today was at the new burger place along main street, Grill Marks. I had a pimento cheese burger, fries and a chocolate milkshake. Then off to rent a bike. Last month, I rode the northern half of the Swamp Rabbit Trail up past Furman to its end in Traveler's Rest. This time, I went south to Lake Conelee. The lake seemed more like a swamp to me, hence the name of the trail, I guess, but the ride was great! One of the advantages to weekday layovers is fewer people out and about, and I had the trail pretty much to myslef. Beautiful day, temps around 70 degrees, and relatively low humidity, for once. As I rode past Major Anderson's F-86, I asked the construction crew if it would be ready for the rededication on Saturday. Their reply was a nervous "yes." We'll see!

Southern Swamp Rabbit

Fall color