Category Archives: flying

What is old is new again

flying, jogging

The trees were wiped clean by Hurricane Andrew ’92 but the nature trail / sea wall loops that I explored just the same, were lush with sea grasses, palmettos, shrubs and native plant restoration. My jog route was landmarked by the Cape Florida Light house on bottom and No Name Harbour at the top boundary. Lots of warm sun. I had the idea to contact the realtor to find us a winter home 😉 but BOURGIRL sez, “it’s kinda high rent” here. Aw shucks.

Flew Normals 1 in the Airbus Sim today which included a raw data, hand flown approach to Washington Baltimore Intl. While this stage involves deep concentration, this is because we are still absorbed in understanding what does what when why and how. The mechanics of the beast will become instinctive after a period of time as we progress. We will get into additional routines and abnormals, that will make these early lesson plans look like piece o’ cake.

AB narrow body 1

flying

Today started with a stress test, a 2 1/2 hour written exam, and several in our group had tummies doing flip flops. But, after we got rolling it was a routine validation of what we know that we already knew. We’d been studying the pure magic of system logic (a.k.a PFM) for most of December. Passing this milestone we were rewarded with the “dollar ride”, a 60 minute hop in the simulator. 30 minutes stick time, each. An intro flight that wet appetites and demonstrated the advanced protections that make our new bird the safest yet. The automation — impressive. WOW!

benchmark record

flying

Punch out at 1845. Hustle from Terminal A to the Main Terminal and out through baggage claim. Jump on an employee bus for the ride to the North Lot. Sprint to my airport car, jump in and drive the 10 minute journey back to the crashpad. 1905, stuff my rollerboard collect my gear and race it out to the car reverse course. Wait for bus and climb in at 1922. Cruise through security at 1930 and ride the tram back to my departure gate by 1935 just in time to board the 2000 flight home. Whew!

sometime i crack myself up

flying

Worn out cogs and rollers or a SNAFU with the paper tray, my briefing packet held a blank page sandwiched in amongst the other sheets with the data. I rifle through them as I advise my crew of the pertinent particulars until I reach the blank. With a perplexed look, I slide it out and wonder out loud if there was supposed to be something important printed there. Their minds race for few seconds but get traction when they figure out that I’m just messin’.

war story

flying

She apologized profusely, profoundly embarrassed. Stale pot of coffee in one hand, with the intention of disposing down the lav, the FA swung the door wide to expose one of our pax relieving himself. I told her such an event has happened at least once to nearly (all newbies) everyone. She won’t visit the “aft cabin” now without an instant replay in her head, I’ll bet.

lost in translation

flying

I’ve cracked the books to learn the following new values:
167,329
166,447
137,787
128,969
Rote memorization. These mangled numbers are max weights for zero fuel, landing, takeoff and, ramp. Too bad we are not on the same page as the Europeans. These weights were nice (easy) round numbers at the Hamburg DaimlerChrysler Aerospace plant with Airbus using kilograms. Onward and upward: max certificated cruising altitude – 39,100 feet – wingspan 111 feet 10 inches…

having a special day

flying

We launched our pax OT for ATL. Hovering near by – menacing TS Jeanne. Enroute the Wx deteriorated with winds setting up for an 80 degree crosswind the strength of which exceeded aircraft design certification limitations. Electing not to put man and machine in harms way we diverted to Knoxville TN to wait it out. Given the difficult circumstances of the extended ordeal and even after a false re-start and return to the gate, everyone remained patient. Seven hours delayed we arrived in ATL. Same day service.