Late Late Late

I picked up a 2 day makeup trip with a deadhead to Indy Sunday night, one live leg to Knoxville Monday night, then deadhead home; easy trip, right? This is just to take the airplane (tail #922) to a "C" (maintenance) check. I flew this airplane most of last week, and when the mechanics on the push crew mentioned it only had one flight left before it needed to be in Knoxville, I figured there might be a trip in open time. The weather looked fine everywhere Sunday, so I took the latest flight I could get out of ABQ to spend a little more time at home. I normally give myself plenty of time for unexpected delays getting to the airport, but I did the math wrong (yes I'm getting old) and ended up leaving home much later than usual. Still, I would make it to the airport with 45 minutes to go before departure. Then I remembered the truck needed gas...oh well just have to push it, no time to stop. Coming into to town on I-40, the warning signs said the interstate was CLOSED at the second exit in the city limits. Tried to get off early to take an alternate route, but so did all the semi's. Finally broke free of the traffic and hit EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT along the surface streets to the airport. Parked in short term parking with the fuel light flashing ominously and ran with my bags to the American ticket counter. No chance to check bags: time to get out the ziplock bag for the liquids. Hurried through security and got to the gate at 15 minutes before push and was the last one on. No more overhead space: had to gate check the bag through to Indy with a hand-written claim check (sure I would never see it again). Phew! Man I hate being late. I just hope there's enough gas in the truck to get me to a gas station Tuesday morning.

Emergency, Emergency!

MD-10 and entourage of no less than seven fire trucks

757 ON THE ROLL!!!

Eventful night in Indy last night. Just as we were ready to push, and MD-10 had to come back after takeoff with indications of a possible #2 engine fire. This shut down the entire right side of the airport complex and added 30 minutes to our day. The numerous fire trucks followed the emergency airplane all the way back to our ramp...like a Christmas parade. Also, we had some nasty heavy wet snow to deal with in Milwaukee. Always on the last work day of the week. On the positive side, I did have time to snap a picture of a 757 taking off right in front of us.

Fedex 767 Cockpit

Here's the new Fedex 767 cockpit with 15" displays by Collins based on 787 technology. Awesome!

...and the latest update (July 2012), including the HUD

Boise

I deadheaded on Southwest to Boise last night. Both flights were packed, as usual. We stay at a boutique hotel in downtown Boise that is very nice. The hotel staff recommended Goldy's for breakfast today so I walked over this morning. There was a 15 minute wait, even at 10:00, so I sat in the sun and read the paper. My meal was excellent, and I felt the need to walk off some of the calories. One of the places I walked by had four street-light looking things that were motion activated percussion music players. The video is me walking by them. Sorry it's sideways...none of the video rotator programs do the audio justice! Make sure you turn up the volume.
Tonight, I fly to Casper and then Memphis, turning to Flint Michigan. WooHoo!

Adventures in Deadheading

I just completed a week of flying Milwaukee to Indy and back. No snow in Milwaukee, which was strange compared to last year this time. In early February, both airports closed and I got to go home last year. We had a few flurries, and one deicing incident in Indy this week, but nothing horrific. The deadheads were the only newsworthy story.
This trip starts with a Monday morning deadhead to Milwaukee, which I hate. I much prefer to get there Sunday night and try to get a good night's sleep before beginning a week of flying on Monday night. No such luck with this one. I got up very early at home (2:45 am) to catch the 6:00 American flight through DFW. While in the bathroom, my cellphone rang and the polite lady from American wanted to know if I'd be willing to take a later flight through Chicago instead b/c the DFW-MKE leg was oversold. Remember, I have to check in by 8 hours prior to showtime in Milwaukee (around 9:30 pm), but there's a loophole. If you're within 100 miles of the layover city, you can legally check in. The company figures you can, in the worst case, rent a car and be there by showtime if you have 8 hours and are within 100 miles. So, even though this deadhead arrived in Milwaukee later, I could actually check in sooner when we landed in Chicago, and I waited for my connection. A quick check of the weather confirmed no delays, so I took the offered first class upgrade and things went very smoothly. I still got to the airport in ABQ in time to get back on the original flight, in case some unforeseen problem arose, which meant an extra hour of drool time wasted in an airport.
Then, last night, I woke from my hub turn nap in Indy ready to fly the last live leg back to MKE to find that they had "changed gauge" on the flight (meaning our jet was too small for the amount of freight they needed to move so they stuck an Airbus on it), and we were to go to the hotel in Indy and then deadhead home from there. Flurry of activity...get new deadhead ticket, cancel new company ticket which would take me to Memphis instead of ABQ, cancel old deadhead ticket from MKE to ABQ, cancel pre-reserved shuttle from MKE hotel to passenger terminal. Wait as sec, I made that reservation for the wrong day and time anyway! It was a good thing, I guess, that things went the way they did, b/c otherwise I'd be standing there in the MKE hotel's lobby wondering where my ride to the airport was to go home. By the time my sleep-starved brain had figured it out, I might have missed my flight home!
So now I'm cooling my heels at DFW on a 3 hour layover b/c the connections were not good from Indy. Man I hate commuting!!! Boise next week.