Position: Hugging the Alaskan coastline, feet wet...
Groundspeed: 571 mph (497 knots)
Altitude: 37,000 feet
Pax on board: 122 + 2 hitchhiking freighter pilots
It is over an hour into the new year and I am in the cold black. The outside air temperature is minus 64 C. Fi-Fi's beautiful nose is beginning to get cold soaked, hence our feet are uncomfortably cool. The wife of my youth packed some heavy woolen socks for this scenario, but they are deep inside my overnight bag plus I would have to remove my shoes to wear them. That goes against my grain, i.e., the captain should always keep his/her shoes on, no matter what. Those shoes should be shined, pants and shirt pressed, hair cut high and tight, and lid (hat), when appropriate, on square.
I need some aviator's oxygen... And some double bagged coffee.
It is over an hour into the new year and I am in the cold black. The outside air temperature is minus 64 C. Fi-Fi's beautiful nose is beginning to get cold soaked, hence our feet are uncomfortably cool. The wife of my youth packed some heavy woolen socks for this scenario, but they are deep inside my overnight bag plus I would have to remove my shoes to wear them. That goes against my grain, i.e., the captain should always keep his/her shoes on, no matter what. Those shoes should be shined, pants and shirt pressed, hair cut high and tight, and lid (hat), when appropriate, on square.
Yeah, I know, I am a dinosaur... Sort of like the old RMI (radio magnetic indicator) steam gauge on Fi-Fi's instrument panel next to the whiz-bang nav display. Why bother with such old technology? Is it analogous to the Old Year that is receding behind our tail at nine miles per minute, soon to be out of sight? Sort of an out with the old, in with the new scenario... Maybe?
I need some aviator's oxygen... And some double bagged coffee.
And so it goes crossing the black void in this first hour of the New Year.
Saturn is about 60 degrees above the horizon.
Saturn is about 60 degrees above the horizon.
Life on the Line continues...
P.S.- Standby for Part 2 of Ice World
30 comments:
Isn't there a foot-heater gadget on the flight deck for each pilot? I'm sure I read about it somewhere.
Hi Captain Dave:
Happy New Year, Devil Dog. My son is currently an active-duty Marine, aviation ordinance in an FA-18 squadron stationed in Japan. I thought that you might be a former military pilot, what did you fly? Keep the greasy side down.
Semper Fi, Paul
Happy 2009 Dave. May 2009 bring you, your loved ones, and all FL390 readers loads of cash, lots of love, and tons of health.
I hope FiFi is not affected by the EASA and FAA emergency airworthiness directives on the CFM56-5B engines.
Warm thoughts go up to you from CYCD as you pass overhead in the darkness. Fly Safe! Have a great year. Thanks for the great posts from on high.
Happy New Year Dave (and to the wife of your youth) Some of us are firmly rooted in the past and the decorum it brings to life. Stay warm, and put the wool socks on BEFORE you leave ;-)
Aaron
Happy new year, Cap'n! Love your blog. And I like that you're 'old-fashioned'.
I always enjoy your New Year posts, Dave. I guess a flight to Anchorage helps compensate for missing New Year's Eve parties.
Happy New Year to you, and thanks for another year of great posts.
Dave, you rock!!
Keep safe. Greetings from AMS
Love the shoe bit in combination with the photographs. It's certainly okay to be a little traditional.
Happy 09, keep flyin high 39000 ft
It's funny to think that while we are with our friends or on the couch or whatever, that Dave's feet are cold (for me) over probably 2000 miles away. Everyone is doing something somewhere.
Keep up the posts!
Why shouldn't there be some philosophers up there, just happening to be pilots?
We're like minded, Grayson, when you reflect on 'everyone is doing something somewhere'.
The more we travel and can now enjoy almost instant communication through email exchanges with one another around the World, the more aware we are of one another's day-to-day joys and challenges.
Now 'xcuse me a sec; I can hear a big jet overhead, climbing after take-off, and about to cross the coast for overseas destinations. I am wondering...after several hours over the dark Indian Ocean...if the pilots might be suffering cold feet...
I love Dave's writing of such things that I'd otherwise never even imagine.
Now if I could triangulate 113 degrees @ 626 nm to SEA, with 084 deg @ 69 nm to ANN (Annette Island?), with Saturn at 60 degrees above the horizon I guess I could get a really accurate fix on your position.
And assuming that 12:20 is the zulu ETA at SEA, then you really must be in need of some aviator's oxygen and coffee - that's a red-eye special for sure, putting you into Seatac at about 4:30 am? ... or am I misinterpreting something..
Anyway - all to say that compared to the old needles, there certainly is a ton of information in that newer display, isn't there.
Stay warm and safe.
Happy New Year from down under!
Your image of a captain? Spot on, in fact all pilots should be like that particularly in front of customers, they don't know how to judge a good and safe flyer by what they feel in the back (and let's face it, even as a pilot it's hard), so they judge on the next best thing, the professionalism of the uniform!
Love the blogs, keep them up!
don't you have heaters installed?
Sorry to hear you're getting "cold feet".
Ha.
That goes against my grain, i.e., the captain should always keep his/her shoes on, no matter what. Those shoes should be shined, pants and shirt pressed, hair cut high and tight, and lid (hat), when appropriate, on square.
I have to go along with you there. There is a bit of the military/professional crispness that projects an image. The slouching crew with the cap on their rollerbag always bother me a little. If you're going to wear the uniform, do it right. I guess socks & sandals would be right out.
One last image I have ( not recently seen ) is the pilot's picket line at the airport. They're invariably holding their sign with two hands, top-right/top-left in a perfect holding pattern. :)
Captain, first happy New Year!
Second, as you know, the reason for the "old" RMI is that the "new" ND can and does go wrong. The "Old" is just as important as the "New".
Whatever the case, may it all be "good".
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWE652/history/20090101/0920Z/PANC/KPHX
you? :)
What a relaxing reading!
Your blog is fantastic!
Happy new year, from the other side of the world ;)
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWE140
Hmmmm, seems to me that Capt. Dave is flying tonight.
Happy New Year Boss!
@Roberto! Seems he is facing some headwinds in the middle of the journey.
Would Capt. Dave really like the idea of being tracked like that? :)
Hmmmm, I wonder if Roberto is the First Officer?
Great stuff but you know that of course. Be sure & wave as you pass over SEA next time. Might be lucky enough to ride with you some day.
Take care & keep on blogin...
Happy new year from Montana. We finally got a warm day (I can actually drive now, the ice melted). Too bad its suppose to snow tomorrow and make a nice new layer.
Happy New Year Captain.
I was just wondering if there is any particular reason why the 2 instruments seem to disagree by about 10 degrees?
Both headings show about 117 degrees under the lubber lines... ??
They don't disagree at all. Two assumptions are made: 1, the steam gauge RMI is tuned to 117.1 as well, and 2, the pictures were taken at the same time.
Clicking along at several hundred knots and the station only 60-odd miles away means they will move.
Assuming everything else being equal- which pic was taken first? ;)
Happy New Year, Cap'n.
JACE
This could start an entirely new kind of blog game. A pilot posts photos of various clues and asks the readers to solve "Where Am I?" ... Actually Aviatrix may have done similar quizzes already ... like "how fast am I going...?"
Heck, yes!
Using my #2 pencil and a trig table from the internet,
I'm showing about 5.7 miles and roughly 41 seconds between the two pictures.
Every picture I have of the MFD took at least two takes to get it right, so I'm guessing my guess as a guest is rough. At best.
And the steam guage was taken first, roughly 68 miles from the station... if everything else is equal.
Again, these are rough #s, probably wrong, but fun to try.
JACE
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