Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sun Dog
Position: 70 miles southeast of PANC (aviation shorthand for Anchorage; P= Pacific)
Altitude: 25,000 feet and climbing at 2,000 feet per minute
Groundspeed: 506 mph (440 knots)
Destination: Lost Wages, and then on to LAX for the overnight
The sun is hanging low in the southern sky as we blast out of Anchorage for the lower 48. (Earlier, at noon, I was walking around town and noticed very long shadows; it is that time of year up here.) The co-pilot spotted a sun dog, so I gave him my camera for a quick photo. The result was surprisingly good. A sun dog is refracted sunlight through ice crystals aloft which creates little bright spots close to the sun's orb. Sometimes they show a bit of halo, which this one clearly does.
On the left side of the aircraft, no clouds over the land mass, but beautiful orange light on the snow. I love this job!
Two hours and 11,000 pounds of fuel later, we are under a canopy of stars. To our left, the undercast is illuminated by the lights of Seattle, a pale smudge of yellow penetrating the cloud layer. The crosswind is tremendous, as in 151 mph (132 knots) from the west. Fi-Fi's navigation computers are commanding the number one auto-pilot to fly a heading 18 degrees right of the course line to maintain the correct track across the surface. Yikes!
Imagine trying to stand in a 151 mph wind...
The sun is hanging low in the southern sky as we blast out of Anchorage for the lower 48. (Earlier, at noon, I was walking around town and noticed very long shadows; it is that time of year up here.) The co-pilot spotted a sun dog, so I gave him my camera for a quick photo. The result was surprisingly good. A sun dog is refracted sunlight through ice crystals aloft which creates little bright spots close to the sun's orb. Sometimes they show a bit of halo, which this one clearly does.
On the left side of the aircraft, no clouds over the land mass, but beautiful orange light on the snow. I love this job!
Two hours and 11,000 pounds of fuel later, we are under a canopy of stars. To our left, the undercast is illuminated by the lights of Seattle, a pale smudge of yellow penetrating the cloud layer. The crosswind is tremendous, as in 151 mph (132 knots) from the west. Fi-Fi's navigation computers are commanding the number one auto-pilot to fly a heading 18 degrees right of the course line to maintain the correct track across the surface. Yikes!
Imagine trying to stand in a 151 mph wind...
Monday, October 15, 2007
Relief
I should have built a pool years ago, but I am a line pilot for a major airline. Naturally, I am jumpy about spending money that I might need for a third (as in #3) career furlough. Even so, after finishing this major project, it is obvious that I have been wasting the intrinsic value of my beautiful Arizona home.
Arizona summers are brutal to the point of rendering outside living space unusable without a pool. You are forced to retreat deep inside the refrigerated air zones of your home until the sun sinks below the western horizon. I have used this pool for one month in the waning summer days. It has been total relief from the heat. Why did I wait so long? I guess I wanted to see how much more expensive they would become.
Now I get to practice taking care of it all winter...
Arizona summers are brutal to the point of rendering outside living space unusable without a pool. You are forced to retreat deep inside the refrigerated air zones of your home until the sun sinks below the western horizon. I have used this pool for one month in the waning summer days. It has been total relief from the heat. Why did I wait so long? I guess I wanted to see how much more expensive they would become.
Now I get to practice taking care of it all winter...
Monday, October 08, 2007
Packin' the Mail
Holy Moly! That is KSFO down there... We lifted off the runway a few minutes ago; flew a heading of 350 degrees for a couple of miles, and then banked hard left to intercept the outbound course-line paralleling the west coast southbound. We are in a fairly new A320; she has 2500 hours on her, which in air carrier terms is very young. Still a teenager, more or less. My co-pilot (not far from his teen years, either...) is the flying pilot. He has 287 mph (250 kts) selected for the speed desired in the climb. The climb rate is set for whatever she will do at 287 mph, which is north of 3000 feet per minute. Every seat is full and the cargo holds are heavy with bags, freight and mail. Each wing is carrying five tons of kerosene. We are a long way from max gross weight, but still a heavy load. Unreal!
In my far away youth, a fast horse with a good cowboy riding low and fast across the prairies was "Packin' the Mail." I am sure it was a hold over expression from the Pony Express days. We have more mail in our cargo holds than the Pony Express could carry in months and will deliver it in a matter of hours.
Well, San Francisco is receding in our six. I had been looking forward to that overnight for a month. Funny how all really sweet things come and go so fast. A few thousand miles ahead, the second overnight of the trip... Cleveland. There is a cold front over Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa. It could be an interesting afternoon.
As we passed through 10,000 feet (the top of the 250 kt speed limit airspace), the co-pilot let her run. The airspeed indicator rolls up while the wind noise steadily increases, finally covering all other external noise.
Packin' the mail works for me...
Monday, October 01, 2007
Heading 090 degrees
Position: 50 north of Littlerock... Eastbound
Altitude: 39000 feet
Groundspeed: 540 kts (621 mph)
Destination: Mylanta (KATL)
The sun is behind our tail sitting on the western horizon. Our A320 is awash in orange light. I can see the leading edge of the night sky rolling over the eastern horizon, just below the moon and behind the storm. We will penetrate the night's veil in 100 miles and be underneath the star dome. I love the eastbound transition from day to night because it happens very quickly.
I am in the middle of a four day trip; not sure what day it is... It does not matter, anyway. Two more days...
Fuel flow- 5200 pounds p/hr
