Welcome to Yemen

The first thing I thought of when we landed in Sana'a was John Candy saying to me (as in Planes, Trains & Automobiles "Welcome to Wichita!") "Welcome to Yemen!"

Getting the aircraft to Yemen was quite an ordeal due to several factors. In the end, we only had one captain to fly the entire trip. Our ever evolving route took us from Goderich, ON to Halifax, NS where we picked up a life raft. From there, we went to Keflavik, Iceland where we spent the first night. Due to a late afternoon departure from Goderich and Keflavik being GMT, we didn't arrive at our hotel until 5:30 in the morning. We departed about 2 p.m. for our next stop, Vienna, Austria. It was my leg and it took 4.5 hours to get there. By the time we arrived, the sun had already gone down. I was really disappointed by not getting to see the approach in to Vienna. Oh well, another time. We refueled, picked up a trip kit and headed to our next overnight, Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at 2 a.m. local and headed to the hotel. We we booked at the Fairmont and it is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at. We met up downstairs the next morning, where we found the CEO waiting for us. He joined us on the final leg from Cairo to Sana'a.

Our arrival in Sana'a was very exciting. There were hundreds of people there to greet the aircraft. After about a thousand handshakes, we obtained our visas and headed to our accommodations. We were all extremely tired and needed rest.

The next day, a driver picked us up and took us to company headquarters. They are located in a very modern 10 story glass building. We were personally introduced to the entire management and office staff and given a tour of the entire operation.

There is a lot more and I will post again soon. Here are some photos to accompany the story.

The snowplow/dumptruck is towing the broken fuel truck (on ice) to the aircraft to refuel. Only a photo will do here.

This is the Fairmont Hotel in Cairo

Part of the welcoming party upon arrival in Sana'a.

The view East from my flat. Even though the elevation here is 7.200 feet, the terrain and vegetation looks a lot like Phoenix and the Sonoran Desert.

View from my room. This is a garden with a lot of different vegetables sprouting.

This is the company's very well equipped training center. Computer based training, cockpit mock-ups and whiteboard. Very nice.

This is a group of Yemeni First Officers that took the US pilots out for dinner the day after we arrived. From left: Ibrahim, Basam, Ahmed, Waleed and Mubarez. They are all really outstanding guys and I like them all very much.

Week One - New Job

The first week of "New Job" has wrapped up - and - I'm still in North America. Yes, another delay has ensued.

The call came Tuesday morning. I was to head to Toronto Tuesday night instead of Wednesday because of flight scheduling. That gave me only Tuesday to get packed, tie up loose ends and have a really good lunch with my good friend, and former co-worker, Dan. We met him in Lawrenceburg, IN - a nice little town on the Kentucky-Ohio-Indiana border. Lawrenceburg's biggest claim to fame used to be a huge Seagram's factory. Now it is Argosy Casino. Anyway, we met at a great restaurant called Whisky's. It's in a building that has been around since the mid 19th century and has a great menu. Recommended. Dan is about the join the US Army and go to helicopter flight school. So Tuesday was the last chance for us to get together for at least the next year. Good luck Dan and thanks.

The rest of the day was spent getting packed and spending as much time with mykids as possible. We treated them to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings on the way to the airport.

I was the first of the group to arrive late Tuesday night. A few other guys came in Wednesday morning. The remainder of the crew was to come in Thursday morning when we would all head to Goderich, ON to pick up the newly painted and appointed aircraft from the paint shop. Five guys, with 2 months worth of bags, plus a driver. Sounds like a job for a 12-15 passenger van, right? How about a Chevy Uplander. There was no way that everyone, even with just a carry-on would fit. Luckily, two of the guys inbound flights were delayed and the van made a second trip to pick them up.

Have I mentioned that I don't care for Canadian weather? Yeah...no. I completely understand why the US is full of Canadian geese. I don't blame them. On top of bitter, below zero cold, the trip to Goderich was complimented with sudden intermittent snow squalls, lake effect snow, icy roads and sudden onsets of zero visibility. It took us all afternoon to get there. I do have to say that, even covered with snow, Canada is truly a beautiful country. Every small town we passed through was clean and charming.

When we arrived in Goderich, we went straight to the airport. The aircraft was out on the ramp and it looks great. They did an excellent job. This paint might actually avoid stripping and peeling for the first month, unlike the lower than lowest bidder shop contracted to paint the Comair fleet.

The plan was to do some take offs and landings for the guys that needed currency and then leave Friday morning. Well, like before, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. The weather was intermittent squalls, gusts to 39 knots and 500 foot ceilings. Not the kind of weather for pattern work at a non-towered airport with no navaids, not to mention a lack of proper deicing equipment. There would be no flying.

The FMS needed to be updated. The update was in hand, but the data-uplink computer was supposed to be coming in on another CRJ coming to the paint shop. There was no way it would get there either. There would be no departure for Friday.

One issue created another and now the new departure date is Tuesday, with pattern work to be done on Monday. The good news is that at least I'm being paid. The bad news is this town is so small that, due to a hockey tournament (go figure), there are not enough rooms for us this weekend and we have to go to another town 15 kilometers aways. It's not that big of a deal. It's just inconvenient.

I have to take a minute to talk about the little motel we've been staying at, The Maple Leaf. It's not a fancy Marriot or Hilton, but it has something they'll never have: Jeanette and her staff. What The Maple Leaf lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in personal, caring service. Jeanette went out of her way to make sure that every unique need we had was taken care of. I wish we could have stayed.

The new place is in Bayfield, ON. This place is too weird to describe. The closest description I can give is The Overlook Hotel (Come and play with us, Danny...REDRUM) and a Lawrence Welk Show rerun. There's no phone in the room and the Electrolux COLOR TV has KNOBS! The place is too weird for words. I really expect to see Danny riding his Big Wheel through the hall when I open the door or this...

When I go outside with all of the snow that has fallen, I expect to see Scatman Caruthers* in the Snow Cat coming our way.

There are worse things in life than being paid to do nothing although it would have been nice to have extra time at home with my family, who I already miss so much.

Hopefully, we'll be on our way Tuesday morning. Here is the planned route from Goderich: Gander, NF; Keflavik, Iceland; Shannon, Ireland; Marseille, France; Istanbul, Turkey; Cairo, Egypt and then our final destination.

*Thanks John...late night. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Finally

Well...five months after interviewing, three and a half months after being furloughed and sixty days of delays...I'm finally going back to work! I might even be leaving tonight. Yikes. (sorry K)

All I can say right now is how fortunate and grateful I feel to have a job.

More soon.

Heartbreaking

Continental Flight 3407, a Q400 operated by Colgan Air went down on approach to Buffalo taking the lives 45 passengers, 4 crew members and one on the ground.

God rest their souls and be with the families of their loved ones.

Nothing else matters.

A Rare Flying Opportunity

Over the course of the past three months, I've had plenty of spare time. Of course, without income, spare time doesn't yield too many flying opportunities. As of February 5th, it had been 90 days since being at the controls of an aircraft. 90 days is kind of a milestone. It meant I was no longer current. In order to be current again, I would need 3 take offs and landings and figured the next chance to get current would be at the new job.

Now, back a few weeks. My father has had a rough ordeal involving his eyesight over the past several years. It all came to a conclusion a few weeks ago with some pretty major surgery. I decided to go and visit my parents for a few days before heading overseas for an extended period of time.

While deciding the best date to go, my friend and former co-worker Mark invited me to go flying with him when I came out to Arizona. He needed someone to fly to California with him in his personal V-tail Bonanza. So on top of a nice visit with my parents there would be an opportunity to get back in an airplane.

I headed over to Phoenix for a jam packed trip full of family, friends, flying, Mexican food and In 'N Out Burgers. The first night, I enjoyed dinner with one of my oldest friends. Day two, I spent enjoying the company of my parents and seeing Slumdog Millionaire (highly recommended) with my mother.

On day three, I headed over to Deer Valley airport where the 1967 V35 Bonanza is stored. It was time to go flying with a CFI and get signed off in the Bonanza. There was a special flying event for physically challenged children going on, which was great. But between that and flight school traffic, it took almost 2 hours on the Hobbs to complete the checkout. By the final landing the weather had deteriorated and the winds were kicking, but all I could think about was how much fun it was to be back in a light aircraft.

I have to say, I love this plane. Even though the all of 42 years old, it flies nice and tight, like it was built yesterday. The Continental IO-520 engine started without the slightest protest and its full complement of IFR avionics work flawlessly. The interior is gorgeous and the leather still smells new. It's obvious how well Mark maintains his Bonanza.

The previous owner was a character named Tex Earnhardt, Arizona car dealer with the slogan "NO BULL". With more money than taste, the man puts his giant bull horn logo on everything and this poor Bonanza was no exception.

Even though the logo has been removed, years of oxidation left a giant "Tex" stain on the side that won't rub out. Only new paint will erase it. "And that ain't NO BULL!"

We put the plane back in the hangar with plans to take it to Yucca Valley, California the next day...if the weather was going to cooperate.

On the way back, my phone rang and it was a friend who will be working with me at the new job in the Middle East. Travis happens to live in Phoenix. Once he found out that we were planning on a trip to California in the Bonanza the next day, he told me that the V-tail Bonanza is his favorite aircraft. One call and he was invited to join us the next day...if the weather...

Sunday rolled around and the weather looked dismal. A check of the weather said our best chance was to depart Deer Valley around 2 p.m. Ceilings were about 5,000 broken. So our plan was to fly VFR at 4,500 feet...not the most efficient altitude but for three guys itching to go flying it was perfect.

We had a pretty strong tailwind, so the trip took a little over 2 hours. On the plus side, flying low provided for some pretty spectacular views. It was really neat to see things like the huge CAP pumping stations built in to the side of the San Jacinto mountains. It was also cool to see Joshua Tree National Park from the air. Joshua Trees are pretty amazing things.

The ceiling came down as we turned north towards Yucca Valley and we got some close up views of the surrounding foothills. The airport has a single runway 4300x60' runway with no taxiway. The surface is pretty deteriorated. We entered on the upwind and came in on 24. The winds were pretty gusty, but Mark's landing was picture perfect.

We taxied over to parking and met up with an interesting guy named Glen Porter. Glen is a retired Marine with a background in airport management. With more degrees than you can shake a stick at, this guys is full of knowledge. His latest venture is working with metal. He customer manufactures weather vanes to match just about any aircraft you can imagine. Mark had ordered one a few months ago and this trip was to pick up the finished product in person.

Here's a photo. It doesn't justify the craftsmanship. For example, the prop and spinner is custom made, precision balanced and has commercial grade bearings to keep it spinning flawlessly for years. It really is a beautiful piece of work.


The lighting doesn't do the copper finish justice. The welds are nearly invisible, the copper finish is gorgeous and the price was very reasonable. Here's a link to his site.

The brief intermission in the weather that allowed us to slip over there was coming to an end rather quickly, so we jumped in the plane and headed back to Deer Valley. We had a nice tailwind on the way back, giving us about a 200 knot ground speed. We got back to Deer Valley just before sunset and had a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill.

One of the things I've enjoyed most about getting in to aviation is the friends I have made along the way. Some through training, some through work and many right through this blog. It's experiences like these that make flying so enjoyable.

Here are a few more photos from this trip:

Ain't she pretty? (the plane)

Downwind for Yucca Valley Runway 24

This picture doesn't do justice for how beautiful the moon looked.

The Moon Valley area of Phoenix as we returned to to Deer Valley.

Many thanks to Mark for providing such a great aircraft for us to fly and to Travis for providing the photos. I can't wait to do it again some time soon.

Long Awaited Good News

Things are finally coming around for the new job. The original start date was in December. The next one was January. Well it looks like mid-February, but things are becoming much more firm.
The aircraft flew to Canada to get a brand new paint job last week. CRJ's usually take 10-15 working days to paint, so I would imagine February 15th at the absolute latest.

My first flight for the new job will be a ferry from Canada to the Middle East with the other Captains and First Officers. A ten thousand mile flight in a CRJ should be pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to it. What a way to start, right?

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I can't stress enough how grateful I feel to have this opportunity with such dismal economic conditions world wide. The news today alone highlighted over 62,000 layoffs from major employers nationwide. Caterpillar, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Google, Citi, Wyeth (due to Pfizer acquisition), Halliburton, Schlumberger, Home Depot, Sprint/Nextel, United Airlines and Clear Channel (Cheap Channel) Communications are just a tip of the iceberg.

There's a double edged sword to being a furloughed pilot in a down economy: currency and qualification. To remain qualified in an aircraft that a pilot is type rated in, he/she must have recurrent ground and simulator training along with a check ride every 12 months. Most contract jobs require pilots to be current and qualified in type to be eligible for employment. Many of my coworkers will lose currency next month and qualification by summer.

For many furloughed pilots, right to recall is at least a light at the end of a long tunnel. In the case of ever shrinking Comair, with 300 on the street currently and rumors of another displacement/furlough next month, our group has been told not to expect a call back. For guys that have less than 2,500 flight hours, this could potentially spell the end of their flying careers. When hiring does resume in the US, many who had to sit on the sidelines for 1-3 years will not have the hours necessary to qualify for a premium job. And a large number of them will not be able to afford going to another regional airline for first year pay, which is just awful.

Comair's only hope, which really isn't hope at all, in the near future is the court case between Mesa Air Group's Freedom Airlines and Delta Connection. Delta canceled Freedom's contract for 50 seat lift using Embraer 145 aircraft in March 2008. Mesa filed a lawsuit against Delta and a temporary injunction was granted. Freedom began flying Delta routes again late last summer. The day in court is supposedly sometime around the 30th of January.

First of all, it's hard to call another airline's loss "hope" for your airline. Nobody wants to take someone's job. Second, my guess (that and four quarters will get you $1.00) is that Mesa/Freedom and Delta reach a financial settlement and Delta will simply not re-assign the flying. Freedom pilots will lose and other DCI carriers, Comair included, will not receive anything. What is my reasoning? Mesa Air Group is in a bit of cash trouble due to a settled lawsuit with Hawaiian Airlines, major losses at Go! (Mesa's Hawaiian subsidiary), a share price below 20 cents, major upcoming debt payments and the looming threat of losing Delta lift.

I don't want to see any more pilots, no matter where they are employed, lose their job.

A Little Cryptic

Finally. A day with some good news! The image below will explain a lot to a few and very little to most. Does that make any sense?
More soon...

How Lough Will They Go?

Last Monday, Comair furloughed another 92 of my brothers. That makes the grand total, as of this very moment, 298 pilots furloughed - roughly 21 percent of the pilot group. There are rumors of more displacements/furloughs in the months ahead. This greatly decreases the odds of receiving a recall notice in 2009-2010.

The latest displacement, puts the most junior Captain as a November, 2000 hire. Wow. 8 years to hold a junior reserve captain seat, at JFK no less. I don't know the exact date, but I'm guessing to be a line holding CRJ-200 captain at Comair, he/she would have been hired some time in 1996-97. 12 years to be a line holder at a regional airline?

The question is: If I were to get a recall notice, would it be wise to accept? As the company drastically continues to shrink, I would think the answer is clear.

Comair has a great group of people, from the pilot group to ramp agents to overworked back office support staff. None of them deserve what has been wrought and what may be still be looming.

More Shell Game Fallout & A White Elephant Is Born

Yesterday, 80 more pilots took a solid kick in the tenders. Most likely due to their net loss of 10 aircraft in the Great CRJ-900 Switcheroo of 2008-9, ASA will be furloughing for the first time in it's proud history.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, being "awarded" 10 CRJ-900's wasn't exactly great news for ASA. Delta is doing everything it can to get out of the 50 seat regional jet market and we should expect more reductions to come in 2009.

I'm truly sorry to see more pilots hitting the street. When recalls actually start happening industry wide, I wonder how many will actually accept?

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CVG: White Elephant?

As of January 1st, Delta closed terminal 3's Concourse C and moved all regional flights to Concourses A & B. Opened in 1993, the groundbreaking Concourse C has 48 gates and was the largest terminal ever constructed specifically for regional aircraft. The initial reasoning was to streamline the product and allow the utilization of jet bridges for more passengers. A large number of flights from both A & B will require passengers to ingress/egress via ramps to/from terminal level, in addition to RJ stairs versus convenient ground level Concourse C. Also, at times they will still be using a wing of Concourse C for boarding, requiring buses. However, no services (including restrooms) will be avaiable. Does that sound like seamless product?

With the increased passenger traffic in A&B from the loss of C, Cincinnati-Northen Kentucky airport will appear to be busy. In addition, the previous two evening pushes/banks have been combined in to one, to complement Cincinnati and Detroit's traffic patterns. Looks can be deceiving. With Comair alone having lost over 20% it's flying from CVG, passenger traffic at CVG has been drastically decreased and will probably see even fewer flights over the course of 2009-10.

The systematic dismantling of Delta's CVG hub has begun. Like St. Louis and Pittsburgh, CVG has reached "white elephant" status.

Has anyone seen the Travelocity commercial where the couple are just checking in and every time the husband tries to speak, a jackhammer interrupts him? I think the commercial sums up my feelings about the US airline business, at least until the economy turns around. Every time I think I've figured something out, the jackhammer of change interrupts and things change. I love the part at the end where he says in the perfect sarcastic tone, "It's gonna be great...it's gonna be a big week."



Well, it's gonna be great...it's gonna be a big year.