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.

I’m shocked. Given the pathetic state of the airline industry, where there are many unfortunates who have lost jobs or are about to be displaced, we had a visitor ask us ( humbly )about employment prospects. This was a first. I have never… It’s always the apprentice wanting to move ‘up’ to the network carrier! Never the other way around. ( save for the father type wanting a place for son or daughter to get their career start off ) I whispered to my crew that we know that our world is turned upside-down ( headstand ) when a mainline guy asks US about getting on with OUR company.

This is a link to a phunny that has been passed around the industry for some time now. But just in case you haven’t seen…

This ones a bit more sobering: Federal Flight Deck Officer program.

My co-pilot is Giovanni — from eet-ta-lee. With the gesticulation and dialect I sometimes have to glance over and make sure I’m not sitting next to Father Vesputechi. He just returned from Turin where he visited the folks. Momma works in a FIAT engine plant. Mamma would like to live in America. Giovanni is torn between old family and new American lifestyle. His American wife has been tagging along with us this weekend and last night after the passengers had been discharged we invited her to observe as we remote parked the aircraft for the night. This was Giovanni’s moment of fame and glory he proudly reached up to depress the START switch and whereas the mighty jet engines normally roar to life, ours just whirred, spewed smoke, and then konked out. So much for trying to make an impression on the lady! Giovannni looked at me imploringly as if he was not doing something right (or wrong). He figured that his distraction had caused him to ‘screw the pooch’ and that I would be blurting out a reason(his) for the failure. Luckily it had been, and we correctly deduced, one of those rare system failures. An embarrassing moment. Don’t tell Momma.

Flower Child got up at O’dark hundred to get me to the airport. Turns out that I goofed and that showtime wasn’t as early as I had thought. She could have slept in for an extra 45 and if she finds this out —- she ain’t-a-gonna-be-at-all-happy.