Three Alarm Wake-up

Position: New York City

I 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.

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...

The Un-Civil War continues...

As the price of Jet-A continues to climb, the airline Chiefs are left with little recourse but to start chopping jobs and thus attempt to shrink to profitability.

Large pilot groups from three major carriers are circumventing their elected union officers and making back room deals with management in the face of looming furloughs. These are truly historic times in the airline industry. Never has the axiom of united we stand, divided we fall been more appropriate than now.

Another sign of the times is the use of outside legal firms by an individual pilot or a small group of like minded pilots against the company, union, or other pilots. This practice is spreading like a prairie fire in a strong wind. It is almost as common as a cell phone stuck in someone's ear. In fact, at least once a week one of my fellow pilots will hand me a business card from some three name legal firm and say something like, "This is who I'm with. You should consider these guys. They're good." Just when I think I've seen it all....

In Ecclesiastes 1: 9, it says (paraphrasing) There is nothing new under the sun.

Does that mean Caesar's chariot drivers sued each other when the price of horse feed went through the roof?

Life on the Line continues...

Winglets

Position: Over KMCI (Kansas City)
Altitude: 39,000 feet
Groundspeed: 632 mph (550 kts)
Destination: CYYZ (Toronto)

One of my favorite quips: We are smokin' baby... One hundred knots of high altitude wind on the tail. Major cool stuff! We started our day in Canada (CYEG-Edmonton) and we are going to end our day in Canada... As one of my favorite bloggers (Anne) occasionally says, " How cool is that?"

Two of my flight attendants bid Canada exclusively because they believe Canadians are a friendly bunch and have manners. There may be something to that....

ATC has been routing traffic thru a hole over Kansas City. We are one of those flights. The storms are huge, some punching through the tropopause. A few minutes ago I told the flight attendants to batten the hatches for turbulence ahead. Before we crossed the line, I called the lead FA and asked her if everyone was strapped in tight and carts stowed. The gap is 50 miles across and should be nothing worse than light bumps.

As we cross the convective line, the sun is setting in our six o'clock. The monoliths are casting shadows that extend eastward into eternity. What a sight! Quick, grab the flight bag camera... Point and shoot before it is gone and hope it turns out. That is how it goes with 99% of my in-flight photos. My little Nikon Coolpix 8700 rarely fails to deliver. It has withstood the rigors of the Line for six years.

Fi-Fi is shaking in light turbulence as we fly downwind of the storms. I can see the left winglet wiggling in the bumps. Smooth air should greet us in another 100 miles.

Number one is burning a lot more fuel than number two and is 50 degrees hotter. It is tired and will be re-engined soon. Where has it been and what has it seen? I would like to know. When the fuel tank imbalance reaches 1,000 lbs., either the co-pilot or myself will open the crossfeed valve, switch appropriate fuel pumps OFF and feed the engines from one wing tank only.

This is day three of a four day... The Toronto hotel is a Hilton. They have the best beds in the system. Eight hundred miles before we sleep....

Life on the Line continues....