Clear, Blue & A Million

Today was one of those perfect flying days, which are few and far between this time of year in the Northeast.

We started off at CVG. It was below freezing and we did have to de-ice, but there was no queue and it took just a few minutes. It was my leg to Raleigh-Durham, NC and the flight was beautiful. I like flying over the Ohio River Valley this time of year. When it's calm and cold, the warmth of the river draws a gray line of fog along as it meanders along its circuitous journey. Even with the delay from deicing, we made it to RDU on time and loaded up for the next leg to Boston.

Our route to Boston took us directly over New York City and I was able to shoot a few photos as we flew over Manhattan. I also took a few photos of the approach in to BOS. Boston was absolutely beautiful.
This photo was taken from 31,000 feet over New York City, so the quality isn't great.

This photo is of the base leg for runway 27 in to Boston. At the left is the airport and the entrance to Boston Harbor. Downtown is just out of view to the left. What a gorgeous day in Boston.

We had a full load from Boston to Baltimore, with most of the passengers headed for this Saturday's Army-Navy game. As we flew over the Hudson River, we made sure to point out West Point for the Army fans.

After we landed in Baltimore, we ended up on the same shuttle as several of our passengers from the BOS-BWI flight. They complimented me on a nice flight and the especially smooth landing. I can't really brag. The winds were pretty light and 30+ mile visibility made the visual approach to 31L pretty easy.

The flight attendant really wants to go to G&M Restaurant for crab cakes. Apparently, this is the place for Maryland crab cakes. We're all headed there tonight for an early seafood dinner. It doesn't take much to convince me to have seafood.

Other than a 150 knot headwind between BOS and BWI, it was a perfect day for flying.

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There are three more days left on this trip which I expect to be the final for IOE. Tomorrow we fly back to Boston, then JFK before heading to Toronto for our overnight. Sunday we'll be doing much of the same, but overnighting in Halifax. I've never been to Halifax and am looking forward to it. Hopefully by Monday I'll be released from IOE and ready to start life on the line.

IOE Update Three

With Thanksgiving out of the way, there's finally a little time to catch up. Due to illness from the line check airman that was supposed to fly with me on trip number two, it was canceled. That gave me a nice five day block at home. We're starting to develop a routine for the days that I'm at home and it's amazing how much you can pack in to a short amount of time.

Trip number two was a 2 day that began on the 21st in CVG with only one leg to Detroit (DTW). Other than a late departure due to the aircraft arriving late, it was a quick, smooth trip. In DTW, we were assigned 8 hours, 3 minutes rest which was already 57 minutes short of minimum rest. Under certain circumstances, minimum rest can be reduced to 8 hours but nothing less. That meant our report time and departure would be delayed the next morning from DTW.

The weather for the 22nd was looking pretty shaky. Two systems were supposed to collide and it wasn't looking good for the next day. Our schedule was DTW-JFK-ORD-CVG and we expected to be delayed the entire day.

Much to our surprise, the weather held off until the Chicago-Cincinnati leg and we were never more than 10 minutes behind the entire day.

The last leg from ORD-CVG made up for the easy day. We traveled through some pretty severe weather from Indianapolis to Cincinnati. We re-routed North to avoid a pretty strong line of thunderstorms just prior to the approach in to CVG. On the approach, there was some fairly strong wind shear along with pretty heavy rain. On short final, the wind shear changed to a gusty crosswind. The landing was ok, not great. It was difficult to land on centerline with the gusts and I ended up about 15-20 feet right of center. Oh well, it was safe and the captain didn't feel compelled to shadow the controls. The weather was pretty intense and I have to admit that it was a little intimidating.

Weather notwithstanding, it was a good, yet short trip. Unfortunately, getting home wasn't in the cards and I had to spend the night in Cincinnati. There was a flight on Thanksgiving morning that had plenty of open seats and would get me home by 11:30 a.m. For the first time in 17 years of marriage, we were hosting both sides of the family.

I was lucky enough to get a first class seat, the flight was on time and the Thanksgiving celebration was a huge success. Everyone ate well, had a great time and left happy. I added a few pounds to my chiseled physique too.

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My next trip starts today (Monday), but I had to leave Phoenix and Saturday in order to get a seat. Many thanks to the Delta crew for inviting me to ride in their 737 jump seat. Without them, I would have been stuck in Phoenix. Jump seating is one of the privileges we, as commuters, enjoy.

Things are about to get busy. Today's trip is three legs. CVG-Rochester (ROC), ROC-CVG and CVG-Minneapolis (MSP). An 18 hour layover in MSP should give me enough time to check out the Mall of America, which is adjacent to the airport in Bloomington.

Tomorrow is just one leg from MSP-CVG. Then I have to deadhead to JFK for some class I know nothing about. After the class, it's another deadhead back to CVG for a 4 day trip that begins on Friday. The first day Raleigh-Durham (RDU), BOS and an overnight in Baltimore (BWI). Day two is BWI-BOS-and overnight in Toronto (YYZ). Day three is YYZ-JFK-BOS and overnight in Halifax, N.S. (YHZ). Day four is YHZ-BOS-Nashville (BNA)-CVG. I suspect that the last leg will be a line check to release me from IOE.

Well that's all for now. Due to the JFK class in the middle of two trips, this is an unusually long trip away from home. Being away from my wife and kids for so long after the lengthy training is hard.

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The weather in Cincinnati sucks today. It's 45 degrees and raining. Here's a few photos taken from my hotel room looking north towards the Ohio river and downtown Cincinnati. Dreary.

From this photo, you can just barely see the outline of Downtown Cincinnati, about 1/2 mile away. Just behind the bridge on the right is Paul Brown stadium where the Bengals play.
This is North and West. That is I-71/75 and the hills of Covington, KY which run along the south bank of the Ohio river.

Trip One, Over

Warning: This post is kind of long-winded.

The first trip is finally complete. In the course of 4 days and 3 nights, I was able to experience more than could have ever been expected. As a bonus, a good friend came all the way to Boston for a brief visit.

Saturday has already been summed up, so let's begin on Sunday. Knowing better than to count on a hotel to properly program a wake-up call, my cell phone woke me up on time. Good thing, the wake up call that had been requested never came. Other than that, the Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria was pretty nice.

After convincing the van driver that we did indeed need to go to DCA, not Dulles (IAD), we made our way through security and out to the plane. The weather was great; above freezing, clear, blue and a million. We decided that I would fly this leg. We took departed from runway 01 and made the early turn to avoid area P-56, the prohibited area to end all prohibited areas. When departing visually, the procedure calls for a left turn "as soon as practicable" to avoid P-56. This means starting the turn about 50 feet AGL. Normally, most turns are not initiated until at least 400 feet AGL. After the turn, maintain a ground track directly above the Potomac River. This puts the Pentagon on your left and P-56 on your right. Good times.
It was severe clear all the way to Boston. Our route took us directly over Baltimore (BWI), Atlantic City, Manhattan, Bridgeport, CT and Providence, RI before landing in Boston. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover before heading for Louisville, KY (SDF) so I took advantage of the time and enjoyed a nice lunch at Legal's Test Kitchen. Yum. Weather en-route wasn't too good and the radar kept us clear of a pretty sizable line of thunderstorms. Once on the ground, the weather delayed our departure and we arrived in Boston later than scheduled. After checking in to the very nice Hilton Boston Logan, it was time for room service and bed.

Monday morning, I was the first to arrive at the aircraft. I went ahead and did the security check, cockpit safety check and started the APU to get power to the aircraft and warm it up for everyone. The captain and flight attendant arrived soon after and before we knew it, 50 passengers we aboard and ready to go to Philadelphia (PHL). The performance data and weight & balance had been calculated and we were just about to call for push when there was a loud knock on the flight deck door. The flight attendant's inter-phone was inop. The captain called maintenance and was just finishing up the paperwork so we could depart when...another maintenance issue came up. This one was a no-go.

After nearly 2 hours of chatting with maintenance and operations, we were expecting to have to ferry the aircraft to Cincinnati. It was decided that we would move the passengers to a new aircraft and still continue to PHL. We finally made PHL and turned around. On the second trip to PHL, we ran in to another maintenance issue with a funky landing light. Our day that was supposed to end at 2 p.m. didn't end until 5. So much for a nice afternoon in Boston.

My friend Teller, a fellow pilot who flies a more manly Beech 1900 for another carrier, flew down to Boston with his fiancee to have dinner with me. We had a nice visit, told a few lies and before too long, it was time for Teller & Co. to head back to Maine. Teller has an interesting blog called Journey In Flight. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend a visit.

I was pretty tired and a nice relaxing evening watching the nice flat screen TV in my room was in order. Unfortunately, the TV was out of order. My stuff was already unpacked and I was too tired to change rooms and went to bed early. That would prove to be a very good move...

Tuesday started off smooth. Almost too smooth. The aircraft was ready, en-route weather looked good and it was the last day of my first trip. Almost time to go home. The first turn to PHL was smooth. The second trip to PHL was smooth, other than a short hold. We were ahead of schedule and had a three hour layover to enjoy cheese steaks and pretzels (yeah, I'm a foodie and this occupation is really going to make me fat).

The final leg had an unusually low passenger count and everyone had checked in early. We boarded everyone early and pushed back ten minutes ahead of schedule. In my best Ron White voice, I turned to the captain and said, "It's gonna be a good day, Tater".

We were cleared to taxi to runway 27L. Just as we were crossing 27R, PHL advised us that JFK was issuing ground stops. Our EFC was in 30 minutes. Oh well, we had plenty of time. Ground came back and cleared us to proceed to 27L. Just then, the aircraft advised us of a problem with the anti-skid braking system. Not good. We lost our takeoff slot and had to taxi to a holding spot while the problem was sorted out. Minimum takeoff fuel requirements necessitated the shutdown of both engines. When we finally had the problem sorted, ATC advised us that another 45 minute ground stop was in place.

After 45 minutes, ATC cleared us to taxi again to 27L. However, it was now busy in PHL and we were 8th in line. Before we could get to the hold short line, we were given an indefinite ground stop. Ground cleared us to park at the hold short line of 27R and advised us to shut down again. They would call us when they had an EFC time. We finally were cleared after sitting on the ground for 2 1/2 hours.

I finally took off and departure put us on course to JFK for the CAMRN4 arrival. PHL to JFK is about a 25 minute flight (only 80 nautical miles) ... unless ... a hold is issued. XXXair 123, climb to one-four thousand, proceed direct CAMRN and hold as published. EFC in 45 minutes. CRAP. Now I was beginning to worry. I had a 7 p.m. flight home to catch.

What made it extra frustrating was that the weather was clear and we could see both PHL and JFK from CAMRN, which is just north of Atlantic City, NJ. We did 5 turns in the hold before being vectored in for an ILS. JFK kept us fast until the marker and then just as we were grabbing the localizer, switched us from 22L to 22R. CRJ-200's are Category D aircraft with higher approach speeds than most other transport category aircraft. There was a 777 on final ahead of us and that necessitated the side-step. Any closer and we would have been surfing its wake, which isn't a lot of fun when the aircraft is configured for landing. My last landing of the trip was on center and smooth, or maybe it was just my numb butt. 3.5 hours is a long time to be sitting in a CRJ seat.

We taxied back, deplaned the poor passengers, shut down the plane and headed back to operations. It was 6:55. The Phoenix flight was closing and the gate agent refused to allow me to board. I know there were at least 45 open seats. Nice.

Luckily, I found a Las Vegas flight that left 20 minutes later. The last flight to Phoenix left Vegas at 11:55 (12:55 Arizona time). A big "thank you" to the Mesa crew that gave me a ride home. I didn't get home until 3 a.m., but it was better to be awake for 24 hours and make it home than to spend the night at JFK.

First trip: 12 legs total. I flew 9 out of 12. Nine takeoffs and landings. 4 ILS approaches, 5 visual approaches, 2 holds, thunderstorms, ice, rain, fog and some healthy crosswinds, clearance amendments and many crossing/speed restrictions. I think a lot was accomplished. The check airman said that I did a great job and he never felt that he needed to shadow the flight controls. He said his best advice would be to slow down a bit. Speed comes with proficiency. I can definitely see that.

The next trip starts in two days, then I have the entire Thanksgiving weekend off! That's one advantage of IOE. All of the check airmen are senior and get the holidays off. After Thanksgiving, I have two more four day trips with a JFK class in between. By then, IOE should be over and it will be prime time.

Baptism by Fire, Complete

Well today was the day I had waited thirty years for. It was also 1 year, 7 months and 10 days from the day I started training. Today I flew the CRJ from JFK in New York to DCA in Washington D.C.

We pushed back from the gate 15 minutes late (no, it wasn't my fault). That put us 10 slots behind where we should have been. Luckily, it was Saturday afternoon and traffic wasn't too bad. When we finally taxied to our position in line, we were 17th for takeoff. We shut down an engine to conserve fuel and about 20 minutes later, it was finally out turn for takeoff.

We took off on runway 31L and were assigned the Kennedy One Departure, Canarsie Climb. The Canarsie Climb is somewhat of a legend and is responsible for more than a few airspace violations. Between Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark; New York airspace is very tight. Basically, when departing runway 31L on the Kennedy One departure, Canarsie Climb, many things must be accomplished in a relatively short period of time to avoid busting La Guardia's airspace. After takeoff, turn at 400 feet direct Canarsie (CRI) VOR. Make sure to complete the turn before crossing the CRI 039 radial. At about 1.5 DME from CRI, start a left turn to intercept the CRI 176 radio outbound. Cross CRI 2.0 DME at 2,500 feet or above.

I managed to fly the procedure without incident. Thank goodness for small miracles. Here is a sample of the NACO procedure charts for the Kennedy One departure in case anyone wanted to know more about it. ***Disclaimer*** Charts change frequently. The ones below are an example only and are not intended for navigational use.




One hour later, we were descending in to the terminal area for DCA. Potomac approach gave us vectors for the ILS runway 01. It was a beautiful night. We broke through the cloud layer at 5,000 feet and had a beautiful view coming in. I let the autopilot take us down to 1,000 feet and then clicked it off and hand flew the final segment of the approach. I actually greased my first CRJ landing and it felt damn good, too. At 70 knots, I transferred the controls back to the captain and he taxied to the gate as I did shut down the number 1 engine, started the APU and ran the after landing checklist.

We ran in to another crew from our airline waiting for the shuttle to the Crowne Plaza. When it arrived, the driver kept trying to take us to the Holiday Inn. It took 2 phone calls and some flared tempers to convince him that we were indeed assigned to the Crowne Plaza. Duh.

The captain, flight attendant and I decided to walk a few blocks to Old Alexandria for dinner. We ended up at Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria. It was ok. None of us had pizza, which was probably the first mistake.

My first day in the real world and my poor wife is at home with the stomach flu. I really wish I could be there right now to take care of her. I know she's miserable :(

Day one was good. Everyone at JFK was friendly and outgoing, the flight went well and I never felt like the plane was ahead of me. Tomorrow is a meat and potatoes day. Washington DC to Boston, Boston to Louisville then from Louisville back to Boston for an overnight. Time for bed, the anxiety and stress of today really wore me out.

Today was the first day in the aircraft. I sat in the cockpit jump seat and observed four legs. Cincinnati-Chicago-Cincinnati & Cincinnati-Milwaukee-Cincinnati.

This was the approach in to 25L at Milwaukee. There was quite a bit of turbulence during the approach, so the video is a little shaky.

Tomorrow morning, it's time to deadhead to JFK for my first flight as a First Officer. JFK-DCA. The weather looks like it will be pretty good in the afternoon. I hope to get the River Visual approach in to Reagan National. That would be a memorable ending to my first leg, huh?

As much fun as all of this is, I really miss my family.

Go Time - Big Time

Well here I sit at Sky Harbor waiting for my a flight. Wednesday will be a day to regroup with some friends in Cincinnati. Thursday is Initial Operating Experience (IOE) class. It is conducted at my airline's flight ops and lasts just one day. I'm sure it will be a refresher on how to read schedules, how to check in, a little flight and duty and whatever else is necessary for the newbie first officer.

Friday is my first day on the line. Nope, I won't be flying. We are all assigned one day of observation flights. I will be sitting in the comfy CRJ jump seat for four legs. Cincinnati (CVG) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and back, then CVG to Milwaukee (MKE) and back. The purpose of the observation legs are to become familiarized with the real world vs. the simulated world. CVG-ORD should be a pretty good start. Some guys are doing Appleton, WI and Des Moines, IA. I am thankful to be heading to O'Hare for my very first flight in the cockpit.

I'll spend one last night in Cincinnati on Friday before heading to JFK on Saturday for my FIRST ACTUAL LEG! Just like my observation flight to O'Hare, my first actual flight as a First Officer will be baptism by fire. My first leg is JFK to Washington, D.C. Reagan National (DCA). That's a pretty tall order for my first leg and I am 100% ready for it. Again, some of my other classmates first legs are to Birmingham, Lexington and Grand Rapids. I'm sure those will be exciting too, but JFK-DCA is just over the top exciting. WOW. Flying from one of the most notoriously busy airports to one of the most restricted in the world should really keep me on my toes.

I feel kind of like someone that decided to take up jogging by running the Boston Marathon. Speaking of Boston, after an overnight in D.C., I'll be spending two nights in Boston. My mouth is already watering for some crab cakes and clam chowder. Yum. The remainder of the flying on my first trip will have me on several out and backs from Boston with one trip to Louisville, KY (SDF) and many to Philadelphia, PA (PHL) before the last leg to JFK on Tuesday. Hopefully, I'll get in early enough to make it home Tuesday night.

This has been a long time coming and the excitement is really starting to build. I'll try and post some photos on the next post.

The Lowdown

First of all, thank you to everyone for the positive comments and emails. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! It made a difference.

Wow! 19 months, 2 days from the first day of flight school to an airline check ride. It feels very surreal. It's had to believe that 2 years ago I was just beginning the quest to become an airline pilot and would have never expected for it to happen so soon.

Well I'm back in Arizona enjoying my family. The kids are sick, but it's nice to be home. It feels good knowing I don't have to leave until Wednesday afternoon. Ahhhh.

So...about the check ride. I guess it's about time to talk about it.

In summary, it was AWFUL. Yes I passed, but the one word that truly describes the experience is AWFUL.

The examiner was fair and that's all that should have been expected. However, he has a military background which seemed to play the lead role during the oral and check ride.

I arrived at the training center twenty minutes early to relax, collect my thoughts and prepare. We ran into each other in the men's room, exchanges pleasantries and I headed to the break room to relax. He came in right behind me and said, "Ok, let's get this party started." Crap. I wasn't ready, but felt like I had no choice.

Every previous check ride has begun with a little ice breaker. Hi. How are you? Where are you from? What is your background? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Here's what to expect from this event. Well...zip...zero...zilch. He asked for my license, medical, FCC and paperwork. I said, "Well I'm excited about being here today. It's been a long journey to finally get to this moment. I've been looking forward to it." With an absolute straight face, zero sarcasm intended, he said, "Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere with me." Umm...ok. My statement wasn't intended to flatter him, but whatever. That was the tone for the oral.

The oral started with a performance problem. He wrote down some weather data and then told me he wanted the performance for a specific airport and runway. He said he'd be back in five minutes and left. When he came back, we went over the data and he started quizzing me on all aspects of performance. We then went in to the systems of the aircraft including flight controls, engines, APU, fuel system, electrical system and environmental control system. While discussing each one, he would ask for emergency memory items for certain events, specific limitations and procedures.

In past experiences, if I didn't understand the question or the concept from the examiner, he/she would redirect to find out if I needed to look at it a different way or just didn't understand. Not this time. He would just ask the question over and over until I figured out what he wanted to hear. There was little room for error.

Usually, an oral exam has a natural flow and it is pretty easy to determine when it is coming to an end. This time, there was no segue. His final question was about fuel system shut off valves and how they can be closed. When I answered it, he simply said, "That concludes your oral. Here's your dispatch release. Look it over and I'll see you in the sim in 10 minutes."

I met the captain who was assigned to fly with me. We exchanged pleasantries and he assured me that he would do everything in his power to make the LOE go smoothly. He would take the first leg (ATL to CLT) and I would fly back.

We had one item on the Minimum Equipment List (MEL). It was a deferred right pack. A pack is an air conditioning unit. The aircraft has two packs. During single pack operations, the CRJ-200 is limited to operations below FL250. There is also a different method to transfer the 10th stage bleeds.

The flight out was uneventful. From push-back and engine start to taxi, takeoff and arrival in Charlotte, everything went smoothly. He programmed an over temp caution message for Hydraulic system 3B. We ran the QRH procedures and continued on to CLT and landed fine. He told us to take a 10 minute break and be ready with the same passenger & cargo load for the return leg. That made it easier to do the load manifest.

He didn't give me any starter malfunctions and the taxi and takeoff were without incident. The pack deferral and hydraulic caution were cleared and operation was normal. He gave us a 200 knot tailwind, which is common on check rides to save time and money. Once approaching Atlanta, he started throwing a bunch of stuff at us, including a nearly impossible crossing and speed restriction. He was intentionally throwing as much as he could at me to see if I would get flustered and do something stupid. While I did feel the pressure, it didn't affect my decision making skills. I decided to go missed and slow things down a bit. I think that's what was expected. We came around for a second ILS approach and landed without any problems. He gave me a nice crosswind and I touched down on center line.

After the flight ended we went out to the lobby where he informed me that I had passed. The check ride was worse than it sounded. To include every horrible detail would take 10 pages. Like I said, he was fair and that's all that should be expected.

He did say that he threw a bunch of stuff at me in ATL because that is what it is really like there every day. He wanted the LOE to be as real as he could make it.

I thanked him for his time and told him that I walked away having learned a few things. He sounded offended by that and replied with, "Don't ever tell an examiner that they taught you something. My job isn't to teach you anything. It's to see if you can fly worth a damn and if I feel comfortable putting you in a $25 million aircraft with passengers." I replied by thanking him again and said, "I didn't really say that YOU taught me anything. I said that I came away from this experience having learned a few things. I have always learned new things on a check ride." That doesn't mean the examiner is teaching, it just means that learning has occurred.

I have also been told by many examiners that their goal is to evaluate me successfully and teach a thing or two. Oh well, either way it doesn't matter. What matters is that I passed.

I called my instructor afterwards. He really is a good guy. He confessed that when I asked him about my examiner before the check ride, that he was afraid to tell me about him. He didn't want to make me more nervous than I normally would be (A LOT). He said that the guy is very fair, but has a bit of a reputation as a difficult examiner. He was probably right about not telling me about the examiner. I would have been a bigger wreck and probably would have busted the check ride somehow.

It's over. Almost time to start flying on the line.

Enough about me already. Blogging is fun, but kind of a self-centered past time. Once in a while, after going back to read an old post, I wonder why other people read it. I am constantly amazed by the number of visitors to this blog as well as the countries where visitors reside. Maybe one day I'll have enough time to create and post a map of visitors.

I just checked my schedule and it's there! More about that tomorrow. Time for bed.

The Results Are In

PASS

More soon. Time to relax for a few days and see my family.

10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ...

Tomorrow is the big day. My first 121 check ride. 4-6 p.m. oral, 6-10 p.m. flight.

Yes. I am nervous. Am I prepared? Everyone says yes. I feel no. That is normal, right? I will be flying with a qualified line captain, which is a definite plus.

If all goes well, it will finally be time to go home and see the family. It's been a very long time and I really miss my wife and kids. I get 5 days off before the beginning of IOE and plan on getting the most out of it.

Please pray for me, send positive vibes or whatever.

I'll try and post the results tomorrow night.