Sweltering in the Desert

A week of night flying: Phoenix to Fort Worth, then return to Phoenix via El Paso. Too hot to take pictures. sorry

Along the Swamp Rabbit Trail

I took a VERY HOT walk today (100 degrees) along the trail. Took a smoothie and 30 minutes of a/c to cool down again. Can't wait to get home to New Mexico tomorrow!

Planes, Vans and Automobiles

Hotel van at 9:30 pm to the ramp

Our ride to Indy awaits

View from the cockpit in Indy at midnight. This bus takes us to security screening outbound 

Bus to the hotel in Indy for a short nap around midnight

Hotel bus again for return to Indy ramp after nap 3:30 am

Crew bus from security screening to flight ops

Crew bus from flight ops out to the airplane after brief

Our ride back to Greenville

I decided to record a night's journey for this particular trip. Missing is a picture of the final limo ride from the ramp in Greenville back to the hotel at about 6:00 this morning, b/c I was too tired to remember. All told, six vehicles, two hotel rooms and two airplanes, every night this week. Of course, the waiting is the hardest part, and that happens at midnight or so, outside of security screening in Indy trying to get to the hotel for the precious hubturn nap. Wears me out just thinking about it.

Housekeeping

One of the activities you might not associate with a professional pilot. We all have to iron our uniforms every day. Think about that; hundreds of guys ironing their stuff in hotel rooms. Kinda flies in the face of the macho image we try to cultivate.

Gullywasher in Greenville

3 hours until showtime and the weather ain't lookin' too good. Gonna be a long night...

Nice Scenery in Greenville

Falls Creek park and the start of the Swamp Rabbit trail in Greenville. The bottom picture is a street concert starting up on Thursday nights near the hotel. After training last week, I had a quickie to Miami and back to Memphis, then caught a US Air flight to Charlotte and on to Greenville, where I rented a car to go see my folks near Asheville for the weekend. Back in Greenville now for the week.

Okay for another year

Well folks, I survived my first annual checkride as a Captain, due in no small part to the excellence of my First Officer. This year's scenario was interesting and very short, which is how we like 'em. Off to Miami tomorrow, and then a weekend in North Carolina with my parents. One more week flying Greenville-Indy, then finally home after three weeks. Man is is hot in the south this summer!

Post Fourth Letdown

Another of my "Soutnern" vices (besides Krispy Kreme): Marble Slab!!

Grandkids on the Cubres-Toltec train

After a great Fourth of July weekend with family and friends at the cabin, I'm back at work. This month's line includes two weeks of Greenville, SC to Indy, one short trip with a Miami to Atlanta live leg, and the dreaded annual sim training (more on that later). I will be away from home for three weeks straight as it doesn't make much sense to zip home and back for just a day between these events. I also plan to visit my parents in North Carolina during one of the weekends, since they live not too far from Greenville. One of the difficult parts of being away on this job is leaving your spouse at home alone. This time was particularly hard not only b/c I'll be gone so long, but b/c our house was broken into while we were at the cabin enjoying ourselves. We have a security system in the house that we never activated when we moved in b/c it had so many false alarms and we never felt threatened, but Michelle wants it now. So, another complication for our lives thanks to the despicable actions of others.

Nice to know I'm wanted

Lead story in USA Today: Demand for Airline Pilots Set to Soar. Better start getting those flight hours, kids! Here's the link:  http://usat.ly/l5eJ5e , which includes a video.

ps: "Psycho-motor skills" no, really?!?

It was a dark and stormy night...

After a great week at our cabin in northern New Mexico, I'm back at work. Last night's flight from Minneapolis to Fort Worth was stormy and we went pretty far east to get around the really bad stuff. After a short nap, I woke up to blue lights flashing on the ramp (meaning lightning was close) and heavy storms. After a delay of an hour and a half, there was a break in the weather and we scurried out the the jet. My First Officer had just enough time to do the walk around when the blue lights came back on and another onslaught of weather occurred. The video is of hail hitting the airplane as we waited for loading to commence. Finally got to bed about 10:00 this morning back in Minneapolis. Living the dream!

Back in the Grind

Well, even though I have a great job, it was tough to come back. We bought a log cabin in Northern New Mexico near our favorite camping town of Chama last week. Getting a mortgage has always been stressful, but let me tell you, it's alot tougher than it was just a few years ago. Out of my three weeks off, we only got to spend one week there, but it was marvelous! We also had a nice trip to Napa and Granite Bay. This week it's back at work flying between Minneapolis and Ft Worth. My FO and I had hoped to catch the aurora borealis early this morning, since there was an extremely strong solar flare 2 days ago. No such luck as the sun was already rising when we got far enough north this morning. Two days ago, the (new record) high tempo was 104, today it's 60 and very pleasant. I walked around Nicolette Mall after seeing the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and took some pictures. Different city in the spring!

Vacation!!!

So I jumpseated to Memphis last night instead of this morning in order to save the Golf from the imminent flooding. I arrived around midnight and found the parking lot high and dry. So, I missed out on a night in my own bed and had to spring for a hotel room in Memphis. Better safe than sorry I guess. On the way in to fly to Minneapolis, I was rear-ended in an ironic way...this time the perp was in the nice Cadillac whacking my beater car. No damage was done so I told him not to worry about it. I'll be offline for awhile, enjoying some vacation time with Michelle and family. Talk at ya later.

Urinalysis

8th floor "Skygarden" at the hotel during a break in the weather

Rainy when we got back to Minneapolis this morning. Good day for sleeping. My lucky number randomly came up last night at Alliance, so I got to pee in a bottle. It was quite professionally done, but it's always strange watching your urine being lovingly poured out of the cup into two separate bottles, sealed, labeled and sent off to two different labs for independent verification of results. I was tested for THC, COC, PCP, OPI and AMP. The worst part was, it took 30 minutes off of my hub turn nap. It reminded me of my Navy days, when I was the "Piss Control Officer," and got to collect similar samples when we were at sea.

Flooding in Memphis

A nice week of Minneapolis to Alliance flying. It's still pretty chilly. We actually had snow Sunday and Monday in the Sandias! The big event this week was, of course, the killing of Bin Laden. Something that had to be done, I guess, but it was disturbing to me to see the outright celebration of people in front of the White House. That's something I would expect to see a bunch of Muslims doing after the death of an American. Kinda makes me wonder if we're all that different.
Anyway, the big news in Memphis is that the flood waters are coming. The Mighty Mississippi is expected to crest 45' high on the 11th. We have been warned by the company that our cars parked in the Democrat long term lot are subject to being washed away! Now, this lot is right across the street from the airport (just north of Democrat Road), but slightly lower in elevation. I'm concerned about the Golf that is my Memphis car, but will not be able to get to it this week. Keep your fingers crossed.
Map of north end of KMEM, Democrat lot upper center

Astro Jet

Cool retro American "Astrojet" I saw in DFW on the way home.

Milwaukee Riverwalk

The weather finally allowed me to do the modest riverwalk today. Along the way I encountered the "Bronze Fonz," a resolute mother mallard and about a dozen Irish Pubs. The little one in the picture may not be long for the program though, and it looks like the crane will attempt to hoist it to another location ;-o Heading home tomorrow for a week off, then back to Minneapolis.

A Day for Daly's

Finally, a break in the weather in Brewtown!

Last night was an ugly one. It sleeted all day in Milwaukee and a very nasty front moved through Indy just as we took off. We actually had to deice in Indy on the outbound this morning. Finally, the clouds have parted right before sunset, and I briefly saw the sun for the first time this week!

Because the weather has been so miserable, I've been confined to the habitrails during the layovers. I first noticed a little shop along the walk back in January, but never thought to go in. It's called Daly's Pen Shop and deals exclusively in--you guessed it--pens! Today I finally went in out of curiosity, and met the proprietor Judy. Daly's is, in fact, America's oldest pen shop, started in 1924! The original store was one floor down from the current location. Judy began working there over 30 years ago as a "favor" to her aunt, and is now the boss. We had a delightful conversation, and I chose a LAMY pen to use when signing all the paperwork in the cockpit. The visit was well timed b/c my cheapo plastic pen leaked all over my hand last night (fortunately not on my white shirt). Anyway, here's the website:  http://dalyspenshop.com/home/

The official Capt Kells pen...LAMY dialog 1

Back in Milwaukee again

This month's odd week of flying is Milwaukee to Indy. After less than two days at home, Michelle drove me to the airport for my deadhead up north. I was thinking things were looking up b/c American took the RJ off of the DFW-MKE trip and replaced it with an MD-80. And, I finally reached Gold elite level, so I was getting upgraded to first class. However, the 300 lb guy found me even in first class! You would think I would still have room for my elbows, but this guy needed a seatbelt extension, and I think they upgraded him b/c he wouldn't have fit in a normal coach seat. On top of that, he was obnoxious, so much so that the one flight attendant he had been picking on while on the ground told him to "give a hard time" to the first class flight attendant, just to get away from him...and this guy took it seriously! He was merciless. I tried to discourage him from interacting with me, but he was too big to get his tray table down, so he used mine! It was over 2 hours of hell. And then, when we got to Milwaukee, it snowed! In mid April! I'm earning my vacation next month.

I Won at Bidding!

I got my first choice for the May bid month. It will enable me to protect the carryover week from April (ie: not lose money), work a very short second week, and have the rest of the month off. I was able to slide the remaining days into June, so I should get at least the first week of June off as well. To celebrate, I explored the habitrails here in downtown Minneapolis. It's one of the best connected systems of pedestrian walkways I've seen anywhere. Nice today, since the weather is turning cold. All of the red lines in the map above are elevated walkways connecting various buildings. Bad weather looms over the nation's midsection tonight and it looks like we'll have to pick our way around it to get to Ft Worth and back.

Bid time

So far it's been a pretty easy week flying between Minneapolis and Alliance Field (Fort Worth). I haven't been back to Alliance in many years, but it's always a pleasure. In the 90's, Fedex put in a major automated sort facility there, and the thought was that it would become like Indy, a major hub...maybe even a pilot domicile. Since we were living in Texas at the time, a pilot base at AFW would have been a great thing. Unfortunately, the idea fizzled as the business model changed. We now only have 15 flights a night turn through there, so it's very under-utilized, but always a pleasure compared to the hustle and bustle of Memphis or Indy. The flight time is a little longer than I've been accustomed to lately at about 2 hours. We were the first (and only) 757 in there on Monday night, but I believe the 757 is taking over the Ontario (California) to Alliance run next month from the 727.

I worked on my monthly bid for May during the layover. The picture is BID-X, the software created by one of our pilots that many of us use to accomplish this monthly task. I've got to balance several factors next month including a long carryover week of flying from April and vacation in May. It's always a challenge, but especially so when you start throwing in extracurricular activities. Wish me luck! Additionally, our first seat movement bid for this year just closed. It's a big one with lots of training coming. I'm staying where I am, and getting a little more senior as more guys are bidding in behind me than in front. When it all shakes out, I'll be bidding at about 23% for my seat. Not bad. Seniority, of course, is everything: it determines your place in the pecking order for monthly bidding, vacation bidding, and seat movement.