Windshear

A Challenging night last night. One of our three IRUs (Inertial Reference Unit) was bad, so we were restricted from CAT 3 approaches, which are the most demanding of the navigation system. That was not a huge deal since the visibility was good going in to Ontario. The other failure this produces, if it's the left IRU (it was) is that the windshear warning system does not work. We were therefore restricted from going into areas of actual or forecast windshear. Now LLWS (Low Level Windshear) warnings are produced all the time, especially near mountainous areas. Usually they're just that: a warning to be vigilant, but we were legally prohibited from landing anywhere with windshear warnings. Ontario showed a forecast with windshear after we got airborne from Fort Worth. Fortunately we were late enough that the forecast expired and we landed as scheduled. Otherwise, we would have had a dicey little divert to LAX or Vegas with very little fuel to play with since no alternate was planned for in our release. Ho ho ho.

Cross-Country

I made a few errors on today's flight across the country (Ontario to Indianapolis), but my trusy seeing-eye FO pointed them out to me before I did anything really stupid. After more than 4 weeks off, it was actually remarkable I didn't forget more. Took a couple of pictures flying over Taos: how nice to be aloft during daylight hours! Lots of snow and more on the way.

Sick in Quarters

Last week, I got a nasty headcold from Michelle starting Saturday night. When I woke up Sunday morning, I knew there was no way I should go to work later that evening. The problem with a head cold is that you might not be able to clear your ears with altitude changes, and this can lead to an ear or sinus block. I had an ear block back in primary flight training in the T-28. We were doing an IFR penetration from 20,000' coming down in a hurry and my ears couldn't keep up with the pressure changes. I was down for about a month and I'm lucky it didn't rupture my eardrum. So, Sunday I called in sick. The problem is that this was to be my first trip after 3 weeks of vacation, and it looks really bad when you do that. I called my assistant chief pilot and spoke to his admin coordinator. She's a real joy to work with and although she could have required a doctor's excuse, she said not to worry about it. I guess I'm not on the bad boy list as a repeat offender. Anyway, I'm on my way to Ontario to see if I can remember how to fly this week.

767 Rumor just gained traction

It looks like our 757's may have big brothers on the property soon, and brand new ones at that! It will be interesting to see how they outfit the cockpit and if the company will take advantage of the common 757/767 type rating that all we 757 pilots have. Will we be dual-qualified? It would be a first at Fedex and I doubt it. Here's the article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-07/fedex-said-to-plan-purchase-of-30-boeing-freighters.html

11-11-11

I gave up part of my hubturn nap last night to have a snack with long-time friend from the Navy George. He's been at Fedex for 5 or 6 years, and has been very junior the whole time since we basically stopped hiring when the mandatory retirement age changed from 60 to 65. George and I went through AVROC training together and he ended up flying helicopters while I was in the E-2. We were both on the same cruise on the Kitty Hawk in '83, and I actually got about 30 minutes of stick time in George's H-3 orbiting in starboard delta over the ship one time. George stayed in the Navy and retired, moving to Norfolk with his wife. His experience at Fedex is much different than mine due to the 10 years between our hire dates. Luck and timing have alot to do with this industry. Anyway, it was good to catch up with an old friend and reminisce a little. I hope we'll begin hiring again in earnest so that George can gain some seniority.

Cool tree along the Swamp Rabbit Trail today

I'm looking forward to my wife joining me in Greenville tomorrow for the weekend layover. We will rent a car and visit my folks in Black Mountain. Then, after I get home Tuesday morning, it's vacation time!
PS Happy Veteran's Day

My Kingdom for a Bed

The first two mornings of this week, we were at least an hour late getting in to Greenville. Finally last night, we were basically on time, so I was looking forward to getting into bed before the evil sunlight touched me and destroyed my melatonin. But noooo. When I went to the assigned room, this is what I saw--->

Nice (meeting) room, but no bed! The phone was ringing, so I picked it up. Mike at the front desk said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you that there is no room for you yet, so we put you in this room to have a place to wait..." Uh huh. And wait I did; for an hour. See, I'm obviously not SUPPOSED to get to bed before dawn this week.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I jumpseated in to Memphis last night, leaving home after dark for the drive to the ABQ ramp with snow coming down in the mountains. When we arrived in Memphis, it was 70 degrees!  My first mission in MEM was to attach the new registration sticker to my domicile car out in the employee parking lot. It has been quite a while since I left it there, so I had no idea where it was. I spent about 15 minutes crisscrossing the rows of derelict cars and finally found the trusty VW, attaching the sticker to the tag (only 4 months late), thus ensuring it won't be towed away by an overzealous Fedex security Nazi. Mission accomplished, it's back to the library in AOC to wait for the appointed hour (3 am) to arrive. Finally met with tonight's FO and determined the sort was a little late, so we chatted awhile before going out to the airplane. When we arrived at the gate at about 3:10, this (the picture above) is what greeted us. See anything wrong? How would you suggest we get into the airplane? We waited on the crew bus for 30 minutes with repeated calls for help. Finally, the bus driver said she simply had to go b/c she had been at work for 14 hours and could no longer stay awake. We got out so she could leave and waited another 20 minutes before the load crew finally brought the crew stairs so they could start the onload. The freight is all that matters...two guys trying to accomplish their preflight duties do not. Of course, once we finally got aboard, now it was rush rush rush. I made the usual first night errors due to lack of sleep compounded by getting stale while waiting, but it was nice weather and we made it to Greenville with the sunrise without embarrassing ourselves too deeply.

NOAA P-3 and other strange things

Strange navigational anomaly with our jet this morning. The FMS (flight management system) would not give us ETAs or predicted fuel, even though it was getting time and fuel inputs it needed. Had to actually keep a paper fuel log! Everything else was functioning well, but it niggles when you can't figure out why...

There was a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) P-3 parked near our ramp this morning fairly bristling with various exotic sensors for weather research. I took a quick shot with my phone camera. It reminded me of my Customs days flying P-3's. We once hosted a NOAA bird on our ramp at NAS Corpus Christi after it had the crap kicked out of it flying into a hurricane in the gulf. The guys that fly those missions are a little whacko if you ask me! See http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/aircraft_lockheed.htm for more info.

Crosswind Landing

This morning, the Santa Ana winds were predicted to be gusting to 60 kts out of the north in Ontario. When we arrived, the surface winds were only about 5 kts, but the ride at altitude had been very rough all the way from Texas. Descending through 600' AGL (above ground level), the winds were still 45 kts out of the north, and we were landing west (out of limits for touchdown, if it had continued to the deck). This required about a 30 degree right crab to keep the airplane on the extended centerline of the runway. Imagine driving your car and having to look out the extreme left side of the windshield to keep the car centered in your lane. Between 600' and touchdown on runway 26 left, the wind died down to the 5 kts reported, so the heading had to be continuously "clocked" toward runway heading of 256 degrees magnetic, in order to touchdown with the longitudinal axis of the airplane in alignment with the runway centerline. If the airplane touches down in a crab, the stress on the upwind mainmount can be enormous, so I try to avoid that when possible. An interesting problem at 4:30 in the morning when you've been up all night. It worked out ok, but the FO and I agreed we had never seen a sheer that pronounced and that smooth so close to the ground.

Oh No, I Forgot...

Back in Ontario after a great week off. I forgot to pack my laptop's power supply for the first time in 20+ years , and cannot survive without it, so the morning was spent finding a replacement. Radio Shack was just the ticket, but I think the AC adapter cost more than my 2 year old HP laptop is worth! This made me think about all the work-related stuff I need a computer for. Weather, looking at and signing the flight plan (both at the end of the layover each evening and during the hubturn),checking on the maintenance history of the airplane I'll be flying, bidding for vacation, bidding for seat changes, bidding for my monthly line, bidding for training dates, checking on the results of all these bids, getting my paycheck amount, reading safety reports and information files before each flight, reading company email, checking in for a trip when I arrive after a deadhead, entering expense reports, checking open time for trip trades, dropping trips, picking up trips, adjusting monthly lines for vacation or training, calling in sick, calling in well, scheduling jumpseats, reserving deadheads, receiving crew notifications of changes to my schedule, getting hotel and limo info, getting trip info (who I'm flying with, showtimes, etc), performing online annual training, and the list goes on and on. Can't survive without it!

Beauty of Flight

Speaks for itself:
http://www.dogwork.com/owfo8/

Fog in Ontario

When I checked the forecast for Ontario this morning in Fort Worth, the weather was predicted to be no lower than 3 miles visibility for our ETA. I noted that the temperature/dew point spread was a mere 2 degrees, and it seemed likely that the temperature would continue to drop. When these two numbers come together, fog is the result. With no wind to mitigate the situation, the final landing of this duty day would probably be challenging, in spite of the not-so-bad forecast. Enroute, as it always seems to, the visibility began to drop. By the time we were in range and ready to start down from our cruise altitude of 38,000', the touchdown zone on runway 26 left was reporting 1200 RVR, or less than 1/4 mile. We switched to a monitored approach mentality in the cockpit. This means that the First Officer is now in charge of flying the approach down to (in this case) 300' above the ground, freeing the Captain to monitor the whole situation without having to actually fly the airplane. As we came down, the lights on the ground were very visible except where the airport was supposed to be. Very dense fog covered the runway. The runway lead-in lights became visible (barely) through the fog at 500'. At 300', I announced "approaching alert height, I have the airplane" and physically displaced the FO's hand from the throttles. At 100', the runway edge lights had just begun to peek out at us. With this type of approach "Cat 3 with rollout" I do not have to see to land as long as the tower is reporting visibility of at least 600 RVR, and the airplane must autoland. There are about 100 things that have to be working perfectly for all this to come together, and we practice it quite often, but when it's for real, you tend to sit up a little straighter in your seat. This ain't a video game! In the final phase of a monitored approach, my job is to initiate a go around if anything short of perfection occurs. This close to the ground, it's better to get some altitude first and ask "what happened" later. The three autopilots did a great job and we touched down right on centerline, ending another routine night of flying the line.

Flying with a neighbor

This week I'm finally flying with someone I actually know and who also lives in the East Mountains! He just flew his last flight in the reserves before retirement next year, so congrats to Bugsy. We ended up on the same Southwest deadhead to Ontario last night, and we'll be flying from there to Fort Worth every night this week. So far, it looks like we'll actually get to keep the same airplane every night, which is nice b/c we don't have to drag our bags from plane to plane. It's the little things that make a huge difference in the middle of the night.

Down in Norfolk

Broke the airplane in Norfolk last night. We pushed back, eager to get to Indy and back on our last night (FO waiting to start 24 days of vacation, including a trip to Disneyworld from Michigan). Got the left engine started easily, but the right engine fuel valve indicated a fault and would not open to allow fuel to flow. Tried several suggestions by maintenance to no effect. Pulled back into the chocks realizing it would be a long night. Five hours later, they still couldn't get it fixed and we were finally released back to the hotel around 2 am. I changed my deadhead to Albuquerque to this morning at 6:30 and grabbed a 45 minute combat nap and shower before heading back to the airport. Now I'm drooling on myself at DFW on a FOUR HOUR layover b/c I couldn't  get on the better connection due to the Balloon Fiesta attendees grabbing almost all the available seats. Oh well, I'll still get home early afternoon instead of late at night as originally scheduled. Commuting is such fun!

Confessional

After the weekend layover in Richmond, I've been flying between Norfolk and Indy each night. Last night I made the biggest error of my Captaincy, which really wasn't a big deal, but could have been. I lined up on the wrong runway at Indy. There are two parallel and virtually identical runways there, and we were coming in from a direction that put them on the right side of the airplane. That side is very hard to see from my seat on the left side of the cockpit. Because of the city lights, the airport is hard to see, and I just locked onto the far parallel runway instead of the near one, which was not in view when I looked. The First Officer advised me of my error and I made a correction, thanking him. I was tired, but that's no excuse. You can never get complacent in an airplane or it will bite you. If there had been another airplane cleared for an approach to the far side runway, a midair could have occurred (fortunately, there was not). The thing I did right was to foster a cockpit environment all week which allowed the other pilot to speak right up when he saw my error, and me to admit when I had screwed up. That's why you have two pilots up front ladies and gentlemen; for error capture. The hardest thing after making a mistake like that is to recover your mental attitude and get back in the game. How the other person reacts plays a big role in your recovery, but the bottom line is you can't beat yourself up about it, especially in an airplane b/c you simply don't have the luxury of time. So you learn to let it go and move on. We're all human and we will all make mistakes no matter how good we are at what we do.  OK, that's enough of a confession for one day.

Richmond

Walked around the capitol complex on my weekend layover. Lots of history here.

Back to Primary

The first officer I flew with two weeks ago is big into radio controlled (RC) airplanes and talking with him rekindled my interest in this hobby. Things have come a long way since I was flying RC in college and my early years with the Navy. Back then it was all nitro-burning engines and dubious range on the analog radios. Now, over 30 years later, brushless electric motors power the panes and 2.4 gHz radios provide incredible range. I ordered a ready-to-fly (RTF) T-28 done up to look just like the Navy birds I learned to fly in primary flight training. The picture on my den wall is one that hung in the Whiting Field barber shop that Michelle made a copy of for me. It was taken in 1980, the same time I was there. So far, two flights and no crashes...

Cooling off

It's finally starting to cool off in Phoenix and Fort Worth after a long hot summer. Here's a picture of the tube (fuselage) almost loaded. The floor has rollers on it to facilitate loading. The loader broke last night in El Paso, causing a delay getting to Phoenix. One more night for this week's flying.

9/11

I'm deadheading to Phoenix tonight on Southwest. The tone is somber as everyone remembers ten years ago (can it really be that long?). I was mowing the yard in Bryan Texas when our neighbor Kay came running over to tell me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Everyone still thought it was an accident until the second tower was hit as well. Truly a horrific day seared into every one's minds, changing the nature of travel in this country. As with two World Wars and several "police actions," a little bit of our national naivete slips away, and this little piece was, I think, the romance of easily traveling by air. It's such a pain now that many of us dread what was once fun. And even though Bin Laden is now dead, things will never ever go back to the way they were. That's a shame, but pales in comparison to the lives we've lost in Iraq, but don't get me started...

Evidently, pilots ain't too bright

Thank you Boeing, that's most helpful!

This morning, pleasantly giddy with sleep-deprivation and last-night-of -the-trip anticipation, I found the label on the outside of my sliding side window particularly humorous. The thing is, this warning explicitly means that someone, sometime, somewhere tried to takeoff with the window wide open. How embarrasing that must have been! Also included is a picture of the massive American Airlines depot level heavy maintenance hangar just across the taxiway from our ramp at Fort Worth Alliance.

Hot Birthday in Ontario

Bleak, smoggy and hot in Ontario

I'm back in SoCal, having deadheaded in last night. My First Officer took the scheduled deadhead from Memphis on American, and we were supposed to be on the same flight from DFW to ONT, but I never saw him. When I arrived in ONT, there was an email from him saying his flight from Memphis to DFW was delayed, and he missed the connection in DFW, so the company had to re-write his pairing and put him up in Dallas over night. He'll arrive from there just before showtime tonight. It will be a long night for him, having to go between the DFW area and ONT three times in one duty period (the first time as a passenger).

Early B-day gift

There's a nifty little definition in our contract with the company. A "trip" has to begin and end in the pilot's domicile. My domicile is Memphis, so any time I touch that humid soil when operating a normal bidpack trip, I am, by definition, at the end of a trip. I deadheaded to Ontario, CA Sunday night to begin a week of flying between there and Fort Worth on a trip where I never actually saw Memphis. On paper, though, the deadhead on the front end originated in Memphis, and the deadhead on the back end (Saturday, in this case) would also end up in Memphis. Thanks to our ability to "deviate" we can instead ride on a deadhead from/to our actual home instead of Memphis. All was peachy this week until the Memphis-bound MD-11 broke down in Ontario. We were conscripted to fly just their "P-1" (highest priority) freight to Memphis instead of our normal Ontario to Fort Worth leg. When we arrived in Memphis this morning, we were done for the week, and since it was not our fault any of this occurred, my First Officer and I will be paid as if we had operated the entire week. Sweet deal, huh? I jumpseated home, and since we won't be going to the cabin (Michelle has to work...Summer's over) I will finally get some time to maybe, possibly work on the Stag!

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.