Time Is A Precious Commodity

Being a reserve pilot gives me new respect for time. There just isn't much of it.

December was an incredibly busy month with over 95 hours flown. The best news came on the last Friday of the year. When checking out, I found that the transfer to Cincinnati happened a month earlier than expected.

How can anyone be excited about Cincinnati? After a month of riding a bus 50+ minutes each way, plus rain, sleet & snow along the addition 1/2 mile walk to the crashpad in Jamaica, Queens, it is welcome news. Cincinnati isn't a bad place and is certainly a much easier and more affordable place to be based.

The downside is longer reserve and more ready reserve schedules. I'm sitting ready reserve right now. The upside of being a prisoner for 6 hours is allowing time to blog.

This post was interrupted by a call to scheduling for fly an out and back from CVG to DFW due to a maintenance problem with a CRJ-700. The phone call came with FOUR minutes to go on my ready reserve schedule. At least the trip was good for 4.5 block hours.

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I'm up to almost 150 hours in the jet now and things are becoming much easier. Techniques are developing, muscle memory is burning in and, most importantly, I'm beginning to feel more relaxed.

Approaches down to minimums, gusty crosswinds, 250 knots to the final approach fix, fog, ice and snow are now just everyday occurrences. Life on the line is starting to settle in.

Time away from home is the biggest challenge. I am really missing being home with my wife and kids.

Not much else to post about right now. Too many thoughts, too little time.