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