Pizza brings a Blizzard

The view out the cockpit window

Pizza Night!

Simple pleasures on the (literal) Deadhead

It was pizza night in Indy...that evening steeped in tradition where the Captain buys his crew a pizza (paid for on Wednesday night) which is waiting for them during the hub turn. Tom and I ate our slices at midnight and celebrated the fact that we only had one more leg to fly this week before going off for a nap until 3:30 am. Little did we know what misery would greet us on the outbound. The sort was actually on time and the fueler showed up in a fairly timely manner. The weather, however, was atrocious, and by the time we finally took off, we were almost 3 hours late. I only had an hour in the hotel before I had to catch the shuttle back to the airport to get on the Eagle RJ and begin the commute home. As I write this, I'm sitting at gate C2 in DFW, waiting to get on the jet for ABQ. What an ugly morning it was. Just think, I get to do it all over again Sunday!
I remembered to bring a sachet of Ahmad's Number 1 English Tea and was able to talk the American flight attendant out of some hot water. At least I had afternoon tea.

One of those mornings

That's my 757 to the right (just parked). Look at the parade of snow removal equipment on the horizon.

This morning was one of those mornings...We got into Indy late b/c we had to deice in Milwaukee last night and they closed the runway for 20 minutes to plow it just as we were ready to depart, but were still able to grab a short hubturn nap. Things were looking ok for the outbound from Indy at 4:00 this morning and we actually got our fuel before scheduled push time. The paperwork all arrived and the snow had left us alone so we would not need to deice. We pushed about 10 minutes late and my first officer made some comment to the effect of "this ain't so bad," to which I replied "DON'T SAY THAT!" Sure enough, as we tried to start the left engine, the pushback crew started yelling over the headset to cut the air (the starter uses bleed air from the APU to turn the engine). We did so and they pulled us back into our gate. About 5 maintenance guys came running up, and they reported that we had just put on a Fourth of July fireworks show with sparks flying out of the engine cowling. I gave my FO a venomous look...this was all his fault! So, these guys replaced the starter in about 25 minutes, which is a world record, especially in the snow that had begun falling. All the maintenance paperwork got filled out, we closed up and tried it again. No problem this time, but now we had to deice. We were late enough that we got our choice of the nearest runway and proceeded on our way to Milwaukee. As we neared MKE, my FO said we still weren't that late. Grrr, when will he ever learn? As we began our initial descent, approach informed us that it was time to plow the runway again, so it would be closed for 20 minutes. Thankfully, we had plenty of fuel, but listened to a US Air flight that was only just going to able to wait around b/c they did not have sufficient reserves. Misery is having almost enough gas! Finally we landed in a blowing snowstorm, couldn't see to taxi, eventually found the gate and shutdown. Phew, get me to the hotel. But noooo, the van was not there. Over the course of the next hour we called three times, each time assured it would arrive in the next ten minutes. The hell of it was that we had to wait in the hangar, standing on a very cold concrete floor that caused my feet to go numb as it was the only place where we could keep and eye on the parking lot through the window w/o actually being out in the blowing snow. I finally got into bed at 8:00 this morning. And, oh yeah, I almost forgot, when I got to my room, it was dirty (bed unmade, not serviced, etc). As the title of the blog says, "livin' the dream."

Goodbye Borders

I stayed in the habitrails today; the interconnected covered walkway system that connects many of the downtown buildings. The weather was just too miserable to venture outside. Visited the local Borders book store which is unfortunately on the nationwide list of stores that will be closing due to bankruptcy. The discounts drew a surprising number of shoppers, all of us happy to dance on the corpse of yet another cherished institution that may soon disappear: the bookstore. If we had all been a little more supportive in the past, maybe these people would not now be losing their jobs. Of course, I'm as guilty as any of them, and certainly Michelle uses Amazon to excess for her research needs (having just finished our taxes I can speak with authority about how much she spends on books each year). I was impressed with the general cheerfulness of the staff given the trying circumstances. I'm not sure I could have been so professional as I watched my job dwindle away. I saw the same thing happen in Mississippi last summer as the local video store went under, but the employees there did not handle it so well...

Commuting

Back in Milwaukee, after recovering from my headcold (and Michelle's, which she brought back from Texas as usual). One of the things that causes stress for the commuter, and especially the commuting Fedex pilot, is deadheading to start a week of flying. Fedex allows you to go on a commercial carrier from home instead of from your domicile (Memphis, in my case). They will pay up to what it would cost for the same ticket from Memphis. Pilots, being the cheap people we are, usually manage to save the company money by scraping around for cheaper fares, and this is why the company allows us to "deviate" and commute from home instead of having to go to our domicile to start every trip. The caveat is that once you deviate, it's all on you to get to where you gotta be. Doesn't matter what the weather is, if there's an earthquake, tornado, whatever. I missed a trip for the one and only time back when Bailey was born b/c I couldn't get out of Albuquerque...I mean they shut down the airport for a record snow. The trip I was trying to get to Memphis for never even operated, but it still counted as a missed trip for me. If you're not in position by 9 hours prior to showtime for the live leg, you will have to go tap dance in front of the long table. So, in a situation like last night with weather moving into Milwaukee, there is alot of stress of wondering if you'll make it. I did make it, but not without being punished as usual. I'm really coming to dislike RJs. When I got to the gate last night at DFW, they were asking for 5 volunteers to get off the jet b/c weather issues in Milwaukee were forcing the flight to carry more gas (less payload...passengers...available). We loaded and sat at the gate for 30 minutes before they finally closed the door. I ended up next to half of a mother/daughter pair who were separated by several rows. The two seats in front of me were vacant, so I moved up to allow them to sit together. At the last minute, the airline recomputed and decided they could squeeze two more pax on, so I got displaced from the seat I had moved to. I told the daughter I would just take her seat, so I went back to find...my usual 300 pounder already occupying his seat and half of mine. Remember the scoliosis poster? No good deed goes unpunished.

Under the Weather

The result of this week's flying: I came home with a cold. The picture over a coffee shop at the Milwaukee airport is quite apropos, I think. I'm the guy on the left, but with less hair.

Flight Simulator

Here's a youtube video for all you flight simulator pilots (actually pretty realistic):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SheDMhi0seY

Waiting Game

This week has been a test of patience in the normally-efficiently run Indianapolis Fedex operation. After grabbing a quick hubturn nap, I hurry out to the crew room to get on a computer and look at our flight plan and the weather. After signing the release, certifying compliance with all sorts of FAA rules, we hurry out to wait in the sub-artic cold for a crew bus. We get off the bus at our airplane and hurry through the preflight (in the First Officer's case, he hurries to get inside the relatively warm airplane after his walkaround). Then we wait for all the myriad of things that must occur before we can finally get airborne and free of all the paperwork! This list includes (but is not limited to):
-Latest weather, updated hourly at 54 minutes past
-Pre Departure Clearance arrives from ATC no sooner than 30 minutes before scheduled push
-Dangerous Goods paperwork arrives (supposedly) at least 10 minutes before push
-Fuel Service Form arrives after taking on fuel
-Preliminary and then Final Weight and Balance form after fuel upload and when calc is complete
-Completion of all required cockpit checklists
Then we take all this stuff and try to make sense of it at 4:00 in the morning, combining it into an overall picture of our flight's readiness to go to our destination. The fueling process, normally complete before we even get to the airplane, has been the big problem this week, often more than 45 minutes late. Nothing tires you out quicker than sitting in the cockpit cocked and ready to go, but having to wait for the next piece of paper to arrive. When it does arrive, you launch into a flurry of activity, and then wait for the next thing. Hurry up and wait. Then, the blessed moment arrives when it's just the pilots in the cockpit, the doors are closed the stairs are pulled away, and you ask the ramp tower for permission to turn on your beacon, which signals a pushback crew to hookup their tug to your airplane. But nooooo, you have to wait for that as well, b/c the ramp has to sequence airplanes out of its choke points. You finally get a beacon, wait for a tug to arrive, then you ask for pushback clearance...another wait b/c another airplane is blocking your push. You eventually push and get the engines started, then wait in line for de-ice. Then wait at the ramp throat for taxi clearance, and then you're informed that you get to bypass the runway that's right there and taxi across the airport to the other runway instead. At last, the tower clears you for takeoff...ahh, all is right with the world. Oh, wait, you land and taxi in to your destination, do all the postflight stuff, walk through the icy ramp through the hangar to your van waiting to take you to the hotel as the sun comes up...but THE VAN'S NOT HERE MAN!!!! And, when you finally get to your hotel room, THE KEY DOESN'T WORK!!! Now, try to sleep and get up and do it again tomorrow night.

Windy City

I finally thought to take a picture of Chicago as we flew over tonight.

Cast Away

Cast Away was on HBO today. My only comment: The management guy lives and THE PILOTS DIE!!! That's just not right.

Gimme Sun!

Photon Denial Assembly for day sleepers (prototype 2)

Photon Denial Assembly for day sleepers (prototype 1)

I just don't understand how people can do it! Live in a large city in the north in the winter. For me, it's a one-two punch: no clear view of the daytime sky, and never venturing outside. I spend my few waking hours on a daytime layover wandering around the habitrails connecting various buildings, never going out on the street if possible. It's just too cold and messy with old snow and slush. Your eyes water and your skin freezes. You would jump off a bridge to end it all, but there's ice on the river. Wait, let me shake myself awake.

Okay, I'm better now. Actually, the skies are clearing today, but it's gonna be bone chillin' cold. Last night was the first night in four weeks of flying this trip that I've actually seen Chicago when we passed overhead. We were about an hour late this morning getting out of Indy waiting on fuel. The ramp agent said there would be a second flight to cover all the Packers paraphernalia after the Superbowl win.

Android app to track sleep

Here's my sleep graph for this morning as tracked by my Android phone (based on body movement). Almost 5 hours. Yeah!

Back in Milwaukee-not so old after all??

Got in late last night after the Superbowl. Slept well and then visited the burger joint I ate at two weeks ago. My purpose was a check on my appearance. You see, last time the person who took my order gave me a senior discount without even asking. Now, I'm only 52, but I decided that I must have looked alot older after several nights of snowy hubturns. Some pilots, who are notorious cheapskates, would probably think this was okay  since it saved me 39 cents; but I was depressed. Anyway, I visited the same place today...and NO DISCOUNT! Yes!! It's amazing what little things can mean when you're away from home.

Scoliosis from RJ travel

The PAINFUL deadhead leg from DFW to MKE is unfortunately on a RJ. I joked with Michelle that they always hand-select a 300 pounder to sit next to me, taking up 1/2 of my seat as well as his. This is to ensure that my spine arrives in the shape of an S after 2.5 hours of contortions. The picture is of a poster I seem to always walk past in DFW that fills me with foreboding and dread for the coming flight leg.

Record setting storm

Today worked out well. Yesterday, I was feeling growing trepidation about the record-setting storm that the forecasters were warning about. It seemed to be boresighting Milwaukee and Indy, the two cities I was scheduled to be flying between all week. My First Officer and I met in the lobby of the Milwaukee layover hotel for the van ride to the ramp, and he mentioned how great it would be if they just sent us to Memphis. Well, that didn't happen, at least not right away. We flew to Indy, and I made it his leg b/c the weather predictions for Milwaukee early in the morning looked worse. After we finished our preflight routine, we had a few minutes in the cockpit, and he happened to check our trip pairing on his I-Phone. Scheduling had revised it to send us to Memphis after we flew back to Milwaukee in the morning! This would mean a long night, but we would be finished for the week (with pay) once we got to Memphis. Yes!! It was a long night, and I had to call the Duty Officer and volunteer to extend our duty day to FAR limits of 16 hours to make it happen, but we did it. I got on  the afternoon jumpseat home to Albuquerque and asked my buddy Bob to pick me up in his Land Rover b/c the snow at home was too much for Michelle to go out in. Normally, I have a car at the airport, but she had dropped me off this time, so I was car-less.