Position: Over Lansing, MI
Mach Number: Point Seven Niner
Fuel Flow: 6,800 lbs/p/hr
Altitude: 32,000 feet
Equipment: A321
Pax-on-Board: 183
Airborne...
An aroma of mystery meat is wafting through the flight deck... Breakfast, prepared by the lowest bidder and just delivered by the lead flight attendant, is on the floor behind my seat. It has been the same two meals for almost a year. A few hundred miles is required to work up the nerve to peel the foil back, or maybe not... I have emergency rations, packed by the wife-of-my-youth, in my overnight bag.
Anyway, the smell has made my stomach queasy... Save it for later.
Eighty minutes earlier...
I count five vertical stabs ahead in the darkness. I ask the co-pilot, "Whadda you think?"
He says, "Yeah, we probably oughtta."
"OK, throw a match in number two."
An Instructor Pilot would hit the cockpit ceiling listening to this discourse. I could argue the point that exact verbiage for engine start is not in the Pilot Manual, but I would probably lose.
The engines are too far back to hear the start sequence, but we see the digital report from the engine management computers. Sixty seconds and number two is stable and warming at idle thrust. After start checklist, please.
One hour until sunrise and not a hint of twilight yet. What is circadian body time? Must be about 0245 hrs. This morning's weather is good VFR conditions and light surface winds. We are next...
JFK tower clears us for take-off, last checklist is complete, flight attendants warned and all outside aircraft lights ON. Just to be sure I am not suffering from brain lock, I ask the co-pilot, "We are cleared for take-off, correct?" There are 183 souls behind me... Cannot be too careful at 0245 body time.
The A321 is long enough that you have to over steer a bit to line up with the runway centerline. The clock is running as I advance the thrust levers... Eyes on the digital engine instruments tell us the two V2500 engines are coming out of idle... Soon, the invisible hand of thrust is pressing our backs.
Did I give my Starbucks Bold one last push to seat it in the cup holder? I hope so, because it is a huge mess when it falls in my flight-bag during take-off. Oh well, too late now...
The runway lights are falling away as Fi-Fi's gorgeous legs unlock and pull up into her belly, followed by landing gear doors click-clacking shut. At 1,000 feet above the ground, thrust levers back to climb power and watch the fuel flows roll back out of five digits, barely, into the upper four digit range. The 321 settles into a slow climb as it accelerates... JFK departure clears us to turn toward the west. Before we bank left, I glance at the eastern horizon. Ah, a little sliver of twilight...
PPOS (present position)...
I pass my crew meal to the kid in the right seat with, "Here, I can't eat this... It's all yours." After a few very minor protests, he takes it. He is an eating machine. Speaking of the co-pilot... I knew his Dad back in the day, before this kid was a glint in his eye.
And now, there he sits in the pale orange light, a chip off the old block. He looks exactly like his Dad at the same age. Yikes! Don't think about it! No need to worry about how old I am for five hundred miles.
Shake it off, captain... How is that cup of Starbucks doing? Not too bad, actually. It is flight deck temperature now, but still tasty at 32,000 feet. Even cool, it is much better than Fi-Fi coffee.
The sun is rising over my left shoulder, spilling bright orange light across my side of the flight deck. KMKE (Milwaukee) is the next step-climb point to 34,000 feet. Our day is off to a good start.
Life on the Line continues...
21 comments:
Captain Dave, I love your blog and I love aviation. At the same time, I am one of those Americans very concerned about global warming... I don't know about you, but I've heard that transportation accounts for a substantial fraction of greenhouse gas emissions. And from what I've read of your blog, those jets burn fossil fuels at a prodigious rate. Are there any efforts to develop, say, biofuel for airplanes that would be carbon neutral? How far in the future are more environmentally friendly airplanes?
Great post Captain Dave.
I can empathise with your lack of enthusiasm for crew meals. As a flight attendant I became quite good at making fresh tomato omelletes in the fan ovens in the galley. I even made them for Captains who asked nicely!
@Brad - While I'm not Capt Dave, I figured I'd give you a bit of info. Both of the large manufacturers have been testing biofuels in their aircraft, but the burn rates are not encouraging right now. Additionally, most biofuel right now is coming from crops, which competes with our food. Boeing and Continental did test an algae based biofuel, but mass production for jet aircraft is a ways away.
In the meantime airframe and engine manufacturers have been working to squeeze every ounce of savings from their designs. The new Geared Turbofan that GE is designing seems to offer high single digits percent fuel savings. The addition of winglets (sharklets for Airbus) also reduces fuel consumption by up to 6% (at least on early B737 tests). The increased use of carbon fiber to decrease weight and the presence of electronic controls instead of hydraulic controls also reduces weight, and reduced weight means fuel savings.
Finally procedure changes save a large amount of fuel. Capt Dave's waiting to put a match in #2 until they were only 5 planes back saved fuel over idling both engines for the entire taxi.
In short, the industry is working toward solutions, but they are long term solutions. Consider the fuel savings we have already realized by flying A321s instead of B707s!
Brad- You ask if there are efforts to make a carbon neutral aircraft... Probably not a serious effort, but I can tell you that airliners are much cleaner than when I was a young co-pilot. Engines are much more powerful and burn less fuel per pound of thrust. The tech is available now to make a carbon neutral engine, but no one could afford to fly on it except the very wealthy.
Andrew- OK, I'm asking nicely... Please!
Jason H- hmmm, sounds like you might work in the business... Anyway, you are correct.
@Brad, CO emissions from airplanes are about 2% of total emissions. From shipping, 5%.
Another great post Captain!
Even the ordinary is extraordinary in this blog. Very happy to have discovered it!
Hey Captain Dave !
I have to admit it....you had me there !
Good on you !
Thanks for another superb blog !
I don't even like to *think* of Life without you up there surfing the Line.
@Stephen, you're a richer human being for having discovered (C)aptain Dave's blog...
I should know !
When are you going to come and fetch all your followers Capt Dave and take 'em to Arizona for a BBQ ?
I'll make a deal with you....
You come fetch us....and even *I* will hop on and fly back with you....as long as it's YOU who returns me !!!
I can't vouch to behave as would be becoming for the average airline Traveller tho.... Speaking of which, a friend of mine posted me a link on a traveller whom he claimed was "performing" whilst flying.
He said to me: HOW CAN ANYONE BEHAVE LIKE THAT ?
To which I replied: You/don't/begin/to/understand/Rui.....but come fly with me....
Have you seen this link (C)aptain Dave?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxtyisoNBaI
This chap had me chortling....but my *amusement* comes from a place of sheer hysteria and too strong an insight into what he is going through....
Poor chap !
People just don't UNDERSTAND !!
Beautiful pics and I love that you let us in on what you're reading currently....
Thank you.
Bev
Cape Town
Stephen Mitchell- well, thanks for the compliment. In my view, air commerce is still extraordinary. As FL390 reader Buach said, "Fast moving kinetic mass with souls onboard."
Bev- thanks for pumping me up! Actually, I have a large back yard and a heavy duty BBQ grill, so I could handle that part of your request; it is the jet fuel part that would be a problem, I think...
Alex- thank you...
I also agree: fuel-burn per aircraft during 707 times was that much higher, but would presume there were less aircraft then than in our times of low fare.
What about any future fuel-burn and emission-numbers? When each country world-wide one fine and prosperous day shall have its own low-cost airline?
Riding in the back, we had a hour-before-dawn takeoff into a low, dense overcast from Turin Italy. Thirty seconds into the flight we burst out of the thick layer and, out my window, the snow covered alps were lit in blue and silver by the full moon with a crystal clarity.
The engines came way back and the plane leveled out skimming just above the now silvery cloud layer.
It was stunning.
A male voice on the intercom spoke softly, "Bella."
We hung there for a few dozen seconds before the engines spun back up and we resumed climbing, the moment at an end.
Ah. Finally you're asked to address Global Warming. Oops, that is Climate Change. Dang. I mean Climate Disruption.
The skills that make you a highly efficient pilot and an admirably engaging writer also enabled you to gracefully side-step the embedded assumption.
So, tell you what. 'Throw a match in it' and - to borrow that great Alan Shepard line - 'let's light this candle!'
It's abundant cheap energy that has made modern life, including the miracle of flight, available to mankind in ways our forbears could never have dreamed.
We can handle an uptick in temps. What we can't easily manage is a strangle hold on the energy required to keep us productive, prosperous and free.
(OK. I got a little hot. If you assess this as inappropriate to the tone of your blog - no offense taken. I'll be good next time ;0)
BTW: I love your love affair with the sun. And the way you can transition from the sound of gear doors clacking to a tender observation of the kid in the right seat.
All the right stuff.
I'm laughing here. "Throw a match in number two." Love it. I always marvel at what a joy it must be to fly FiFi. Engines so far back you cant hear them, another experience I have never had an how I would have loved to. I do have some experience with flying and eating. Navy Chow halls were not noted for providing gourmet meals either...Keep 'em coming Capt. Dave
"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."
~Thoreau (who seems to live on)
There's no telling how cool "being" old may really be! Maybe Thoreau is on to something with this enthusiasm thing.
I enjoyed the post and beautiful picture as always ~ thank you! ~D
DeAnn- awesome comment! I read Thoreau on a regular basis...
L. Jones- thanks... I'll keep 'em coming!
Cathy- awesome comment! Thank you!
Ed Skinner- beautiful! I do stuff like that on occasion... One of my favorites is the KSFO tour when the weather is good VFR; of course, the Grand Canyon and such... The crew must be very careful, though, because there are pax that will send letters to the FAA complaining about low altitude flights over the Golden Gate Bridge, etc.
Of course I *knew* the jet fuel would be problematic....which is why I suggested it. Heh-heh....
Few quite so clever as when it comes to the pressures of Phobia !
Ditto on your comment re Thoreau !
@Ed Skinner
Really enjoyed your description there Ed.
Happy flying (C)aptain...
Bev
C.T.
"...Did I give my Starbucks Bold one last push to seat it in the cup holder? I hope so, because it is a huge mess when it falls in my flight-bag during take-off. Oh well, too late now..."
I'm a Boeing guy myself, but I've sat on enough Airbus jumpseats to know that the biggest problem facing aviation today is.....
**drumroll, please**
A decent cupholder.
I wish I could count the number of coffee-stained Jeppeson pages I've changed out of my pubs over the years.
I'm a fan of McDonald's Large Iced Coffees (which I call my "Quart O'Coffee") and when I can get it, Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffees. Those cups simply don't fit in those inadequate cupholders that the 70's engineers put on airplanes. (Starbucks was just a local coffee shop back then, and not a national icon, kids.)
On my last all-night rocket to the East Coast, there was nowhere to put my MickyD's Iced Coffee but on the floor (767). I thought I'd sufficiently supported it with my computer backpack from it's inevitable slide on the takeoff roll, but just as the nose came off the ground, the backpack slid too, and my coffee tipped and spilled. When we got airborne and cleaned up (read: "the flaps were up") and on autopilot, I got up to clean up the mess but found that about half the coffee's volume had spilled and disappeared somewhere behind and below me (I think it went into the floor below the lav right behind the cockpit), and my floor was completely dry.
I wish I could say that there would never be another spilled liquid, but that would be a lie.
(C)aptain Dave, you should try Starbucks Via. That way, when you don't have time to get fresh brewed, all you need from Fi-Fi is hot water, and you can make your own Starbucks right there on the flight deck. I'm a picky coffee drinker & love the stuff, even though I fly a desk...
I know it's only science but my subconcious still thinks an airliner taking off is really some sort of magic. An awful lot of the really important things I've done in my life required the use of an airplane and a crew of magicians to make them happen.
Hello Captain, please, you must transpose these wonderful stories for a book...a buyer from Europe has already guaranteed.
Joaquim Coelho
Lisbon / Portugal
Joaquim- thanks... Maybe a book later when I am put out to pasture.
glenn- that is kind of how I see it, too. One of my biggest fears is an engine failure at gross weight on a hot day out of Denver. A crew of "magicians" would be required at that moment... Fortunately, for the flying public, most of us know a lot of magic tricks.
Ron- I have thought about that a time or two, but if you got caught heating water... Yikes!
azlibertarian- you've been there, I can tell... A 16 oz cup of Joe in the Jepp bag... What a mess!
Bev- roger that...
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