Enthusiasm is the best way to explain it. Since the announcement of ‘operation independence’, there is a decided shift in mood with all hands pitching in and going the extra mile to get the job done right. Today after having arrived late, due to ATC and traffic congestion, we got a 19 minute turn (a pitstop — from arrival to departure — deplaning, general servicing, re-fuel, and reboarding). At-a-way!

You can now print out your BOARDING PASS prior to leaving home base via your desktop PC. This seemed like a good way to shorten the process. In theory you can by-pass a crowded ticket counter and bee-line for the gate. Thus, the escaltor ride up to security and our departure gate was the first adventure (pitfall) of the journey. dhs was nearly to the top of this escalator, nervously (no morning coffee yet) shuffling-juggling for the TSA agent — passport ID and E-ticket when the ticket leaped from her grasp and sailed loose – barrel rolled, and despite desperate air grabs, fell to the deck and was sucked from sight. Eaten by the moving stairs. Note to self: Use heavy bond paper in the printer next time…

Standing on the tarmac, flight bags ready, I watch our new bird pull into the gate. Gleaming new paint shines in the light and I’m feeling fortunate to be flying one of the new ones. The smile fades when I realize that this is AC 861, the aircraft that had a rough beginning: T-boned by an airport BUS, it has been rescued from the brink in an heroic salvage effort. All within its young life. We will be sure not to push the performance envelope with this one. Handle gently.

Tis’ the season and I’m carrying as much fresh fruit in my overnight bag that I can. Rather than make a mess of it in the cockpit, I step off during a lull in the action and bite into a sweet one. I was enjoying a particularly juicy bite, leaning forward at the waist to avoid drippings on my shirt or shoe tops when the passengers began to file past for boarding. I finished up quickly and cut into the line. ‘Ummmm. That looked delicious!’ remarked the woman in front of me. I was pleased that she was admiring my choice of snack and began to blurt that ‘it was a nectarine and aren’t they great and…’ she nods and reaches out and flicks a dangler from my chin. Just a wee bit embarrassing. Must have been Mother Instinct made her do that.

It was an unpleasant ride during the approach phase this morning. Whoop-t-do, side to side swaying bumps and bobbles due to the unstable air and surface winds at 20 knots gusting 30 spilling over the blueridges. We turned the AC down full cold to help the peeps fight queasy tummies. Our aircraft was *new* just delivered. The 2nd revenue flight leg with yours truly at the controls and my crew and I were wishing / hoping that our shiny one (with the new-plane smell) wouldn’t be trashed by someone getting sick today. Not on my watch! Hold on people we are almost there!

The Flight Attendants are here primarily for our safety and we should all take care to be attentive to the safety briefing announcements. Some of the spiel however is inane — the fasten the seat belt demo: insert flat metal plate into the buckle to release lift up on the tab of buckle. Now FAA has included a required snippet about the cockpit door. Ladies and Gentlemen may I direct your attention to the center door in the front of the plane… It is the entrance to the flight deck and will remain secured during the flight. It is unlawful for passengers to access this compartment during the flight… Well, even if someone wanted to they might have a rough time as the new doors are Honeycomb Kevlar and Stainless. Still haven’t figured out the purpose of the brief though. Is it because the government is proud of the new barricade system and wants to take credit in the announcement? Is it to tempt / provoke some one to give it their best shot? Go ahead make my day! I dare ya! It could be that the lawyers want to be sure that it’s clear that a messing with the pilots is a no-no and if therefore anybody foolish enough can be prosecuted more easily. Do we really need to be reminded before each flight that the September 11 perpetrators used this very access method to fundamentally change our nation / world as we knew it? What could the reason be?

Witness a public divorce of by press release: …UAL on Wednesday filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Atlantic Coast from unilaterally terminating the contract… Strong arm tactics against one of its supplier contractors. What precipitated this?…ACA provided United with a notice that it believes that United is not in compliance with the terms of its United Express agreement as a result of delays in establishing rates for 2003… I think that the “notice” was likely printed on a law firm’s letter head and most probably had words like breach of contract in it! Further in the same statement: …ACA believes that United’s action was unnecessary since the Company has not sought to terminate its United Express agreement over this matter at this time…. Wow! the, at this time, is some kind of hedge! No wonder UAL had the panic attack.

I experienced the worst landing of my career on the flight home last night. No, it wasn’t one of mine, I was in 14D 🙂 Usually when the pilot plants-one-on people will snicker or the FA will make some wise crack on the PA announce on the taxi in. But this was beyond embarrassment. The fellow across the aisle gave a short shout when we hit. The aircraft’s tail skid struck the tarmack and made a most gruesome rasp. ‘nough said. Full spine compression. My neck hurt.

Lots of talk about furloughs and notices being sent. My FO is all wierded-out over it. He’s now a couple hundred numbers from the bottom. Every 20 minutes, he’s asking me “so uh — what do you thing is going to happen with the company?”. I’ve put every positive spin on it that I can think of. Poor bastard. He’s loosing sleep.

Speaking of cuts… I witnessed a rather morbid cost saving measure. I had e-mailed a request to technical pubs to send me replacement charts for the well worn ones in my manual. They arrived and I discovered them to be used! Cannibalized from some poor sod terminated or laid off you suppose? While I’m all in favor of recycling, I feel repulsed that they came from an organ donor.

My FO summed it up. The rest is small stuff. We were bemoaning our running late. — We have jobs and nobody is shooting at us.