Cuisine

Position: Not at home
Altitude: 28,000 feet
Groundspeed: 368 mph (320 kts)


Well, jury duty is complete and I am back in the saddle. I was able to sleep with my lovely wife ten days in a row plus I received full flight pay for doing so... Oh man, what a deal! But, that little respite is falling away rapidly. How is that possible? I was just sitting in the juror box, ten minutes ago, listening to testimony. Yet, here I am underneath the JFK arrival traffic awaiting climb clearance. Such are the things that go through my feeble brain westbound at 0430 hours.

The lead flight attendant handed us our breakfast a few minutes ago. Underneath the hot foil... Contemporary airline crew meal cuisine at its finest. OK, I realize there are starving kids in Africa, but please....

I used to co-pilot for a crew meal inspector during my 737 days. He inspected crew meals (for the pilot union) underneath a magnifying glass and made recommendations for improvements. I remember him pulling a sandwich apart and looking at the lettuce, then sniffing of the ham slices. After he poked and prodded, he would check little boxes on the appropriate form. The crew meals were much better in those days. He has been gone a long time, but there is no doubt that this example would not pass. In fact, he would probably bag it for evidence.

Last night, we were ecstatic when our groundspeed exceeding 667 mph (580 knots). I remember saying something like, "We'll pay for it tomorrow."

And so we are... 320 knots.