Position: New York CityI set three alarms, all within three minutes of each other; sort of a concentrated wake-up effort. I am flying a red-eye flip-flop two-and-a-half day trip, i.e., fly all night, sleep a few hours, stay up all day, then try to sleep a little bit before a 0115 hrs. circadian rhythm wake-up. It is not easy, though I have done it for years and know all of the tricks. Mostly, it is a matter of wanting to do it. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I prefer flying at night for numerous reasons.
The o'dark thirty ritual of morphing into the silver haired airline captain with shined shoes and a pressed shirt takes 38 to 40 minutes. During the dark and quiet crew van ride to JFK, I am trying to remember where the Starbucks is located in our terminal and will it be open? This is vitally important!
Yes! Starbucks was ten minutes away from opening, but they let the whole crew buy coffee early. That was a life saver. I am feeling better...
The flight paperwork is waiting for me in the flight deck and the aircraft logbook has been signed by the mechanic that did the airworthiness inspection. Outside, the sun is cracking the eastern horizon.Yes! Starbucks was ten minutes away from opening, but they let the whole crew buy coffee early. That was a life saver. I am feeling better...
The gate agents loaded 121 passengers onto Fi-Fi utilizing a low drama factor. Everyone is playing nice this morning. The lead ramper threw the fuel slip into the flight deck, and then my dispatcher emailed the final weight and balance figures. We are ready... Thumbs up down on the ramp, main cabin door shut and cleared to push. Start number one, please.
We pushed seven minutes ahead of schedule. That is enough to beat the 0700 hrs. departure bank. This is too good to be true. But it is true. When we turn the corner and can see the end of the runway, we are number one for departure. Number two is warm and stable, checklists are done and we are cleared for take-off. I glance at the taxiway we were just on and count at least a dozen airliners moving toward the end of the runway. Seven minutes!
We covered 409 miles (356 nautical) in the first hour. The average headwind component has been about 70 mph. Time remaining is 3:45:00. I hate to start drinking airplane coffee, but...
Life on the Line continues...
20 comments:
Very good post, enjoyed. I have been wondering for a while now... Let me preface this question with the fact that this muse most likely wouldn't have taken place without the discovery of the energy crisis. So the question is, with the now popular practice of taxing with one or more engines off, how much time do pilots need to warm the engines in order for them to be ready for take-off?
You know, I think you have a remarkable talent for writing and as usual this was a thoroughly enjoyable post, but unless you have an incredibly powerful telephoto lens on your camera, I hope you weren't the one that took that picture! Seems a tad close to me...
Circadian rhythm.. mine's been in limbo the past week and a bit it seems. I've been sleeping about four hours a night (if I'm lucky enough to get to sleep) or not at all and sleeping during the day.
Don't know what the issue is, though I suspect it might have something to do with the potential layoff notice that might be headed down the pipe to yours truly.
Obviously, it's causing stress, as is the related job search..
What is a low drama factor?
Great Post Dave as always and nice pic, never knew the zoom was that good in a Coolpix 8700!!!!
Hey Dave,
Fantastic post again.
My total experience is limited to and hour in the A320 sim, but I can't understand why they just don't go and buy a whole heap of tugs and tow everyone to the runway.
I would imagine it would save a packet on fuel, not to mention the grey-hair factor when waiting in line for hours.
Can someone not invent a integrated tug / aircon cart?
Cheers
Lachlan.
lawrence- if the engine has been shut down for three hours in a moderate climate, it needs a 5 minute warm-up. Less than three hours requires minimum 50 degrees C. oil temperature. In very cold weather, it might require more than five minutes to get it stabilized. This is for the IAE-V2500 engine...
ramp rat- I hear you loud and clear...
anonymous 2:00- a low drama factor means that all the passengers boarded without incident, as in tempers flaring...
lachlan- believe it or not, that has been discussed in the industry but it is sort of like the wheel spin up devices to save rubber on touch down. The solution costs more than it saves. Also, the tug drivers would have to have some sort of fail safe comm device with the flight deck. Another hole in the cheese...
Dave, do you think that the current environment will eventually raise the tenure level of pilots across aircraft? In other words, will I see fewer 22 year olds in the cockpit of my next commuter flight?
Yes, another great post and insight into your working day (night!), Dave.
Ah, for that first real coffee of the day!
Re your photo, I wasn't thinking telephoto lens. Rather, I thought, "Great self-portrait!"
I'm trying to identify the logo on the Airbus fin - but perspective is very steep and foreshortened...
To save you from airline coffee, can you get yourself a thermos flask? Or even a plunge coffee pot (cafetiere) to make your own? I'm sure the crew could boil you up some water. I hate to think the only think keeping my pilot awake is the nasty liquid rubber they serve in the back half of the plane
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372008,00.html
"the above link carries the story of An Air India flight soared past its Mumbai destination on June 4 as its pilots allegedly dozed off in the cockpit, The Times of India reported Thursday 26th June 2008.
The napping pilots flew 359 miles past the airport and were still at cruising altitude when nervous air traffic controllers woke them up"....
Capt Dave - what do you have to say about this incident?
noella- greetings from the Sheraton, downtown Atlanta, after flying all night.
anonymous 520- yes, probably less youth in the future.
town mouse- Big Brother would go bananas over a thermos flask. We do sometimes carry little coffee bags that dip in hot water. Not too bad in a coffee emergency.
anonymous 601- I am suspicious of this story, but it is possible. Over the years, I have noticed a decrease in accuracy of media coverage of airline news.
I believe tugging the aircraft to the runway was considered, but I believe it was decided that it would place unacceptable loads on the nose gear.
Dave (currently at Phoenix Goodyear airport on a full-time training course. Two flights tomorrow!)
Dave, is Mother flying little tweedledees and tweedledums without new paint jobs? I saw one parked at gate 8/T1 the other day. Just an N number and no other markings. I've seen the junglejets at the gates but never an unmarked one. Saw a good looking retro FiFi too. The lunch room at T2 is a good spot to see the even # gates.
amulbunny
amulbunny- I have seen white jungle jets running around, but I am not sure about there status. I would venture management picked them up from a bankrupt carrier before they were delivered to that carrier. Only a guess, though...It is above my pay grade.
Are they white with blue tails?
YYZ Ramp Rat they were all white with N numbers. Looked like a CRJ7 but from the lunch room it's a far piece away from the gates. I've seen a few there but mainly the 757's and the 319/320s. WN basically owns that terminal and there are lots and lots of baby Boeing in and out.
AC flies into the terminal I work at and I've seen their 190's as well as their baby buses. I don't think they fly anything bigger than that to LAX.
amulbunny
Nope, nothing bigger than the JJs and Baby Buses (busi? :) )from up here (the 319s from LAX are killers to offload).
Thought the anonymous JJs might be RWs, but afaik, they've got all their spares painted up in a blue tail/white fuselage scheme.
The whole post - but most of all this sentence ... " When we turn the corner and can see the end of the runway, we are number one for departure " ... give me a nice picture and voice in my head:
- The picture shows me a nice morning flight line up.
- The voice tells me to get my ATPL done ASAP !
Are you allowed to take photo of your FMC, mass & balance, loadsheets etc and put up here ?
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