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.