Owner: Views From The Left Seat URL:http://viewsfromtheleftseat.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:45:20 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Learn about the airline life as viewed from a commercial airline pilot...Good reading and good photos! Site statistics:Click here
Road Trip: Part 2 2008-03-07 07:42:51 Now for part 2 of the road trip. When planning this trip, BD came across an unusual motel she found listed online. It was called the WigWam and it was located in Holbrook, Arizona. Each room was an individual teepee. It sounded interesting so she reserved it and tried to convince me to look forward to it. (I was a little doubtful)We pulled in to Holbrook right about sunset. The WigWam was located right on historic Rte 66. It looked just as advertised online.Among it's unique points is the fact that there are several old cars parked all over the parking lot and in front of the teepees. They belonged to the original owner. He placed them all over the property. His daughter now runs the motel....she checked us in.It was truly a motel and not a hotel or inn by any means. It was built i Read more:Road Trip
Road Trip: Part 1 2008-03-05 12:51:39 As I mentioned in my last post, I would probably soon be posting something completely un-aviation related. And this is it.But the photos are pretty good and most readers can relate to a road trip. So thanks for reading.My knee surgery last month was the result of a fall down some wet boarding stairs as I was helping an elderly lady off a flight in Mexico. We had parked on the ramp and no jetbridge was available so a set of portable boarding stairs was being used. It had just rained and they were wet... .I slipped and ended up at the base of the stairs with a damaged knee. She didn't fall...just me.Because it was a work related injury, I was forced to jump through several hoops to get permission to non-rev on my airline while I'm on sick status. It was a hassle getting the associated docto Read more:Road Trip
Where's My Suitcase? 2008-02-15 19:04:25 For those of you who have been on a cruise, you know that the night before disembarkation you have to put your checked luggage outside your cabin door and it is hauled off only to appear again at customs the next morning. The bags are marked by colored tags according to your disembarkation group. Sounds easy enough. I put both our well marked and tagged suitcases outside our door and I even saw them being hauled off almost immediately. I was expecting no problems.So we awoke back in San Juan to some scattered showers but a nice looking sunrise. We made one last trip to the buffet for a final shipboard breakfast. I hope I don't see another buffet for a long time! I may have possibly gained some weight on this cruise....or else my shirts have shrunk a little.Then it was time to disemba
St Thomas.....It's Almost Over 2008-02-13 08:32:07 The last port of call on this cruise was to be St Thomas
in the US Virgin Islands.After the bad experience with the Princess organized excursion on Tortola we canceled our preplanned excursion for St Thomas and chose to do our own thing.We docked near the town of Charlotte Amalie. It was a short taxi ride from the dock to town. We passed a small seaplane terminal and got to see a Twin Otter launching for one of the nearby islands.More fun flying I'm sure!We spent a couple of hours in the town generally doing the things that tourists do. Sightseeing, shopping, eating, etc.We then hopped on a small bus that was headed for a sightseeing tour of the island. First stop was a nice overlook atop the island. From there we had a great view of Meghan's Bay and beyond.Looking the other directio Read more:Almost
Tortola....Strike Two For Princess 2008-02-11 16:30:01 A new day...A new port. Today we awoke in Road Town on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.We walked in to the small town after breakfast for a little shopping and sightseeing. The first thing we noticed was that there were chickens running loose all over the place! Everywhere you looked, you saw chickens. No stray dogs or cats...just chickens!Another thing we noticed were the taxis. They were large American built Chevys and Fords that had been modified to carry lots of passengers. They were also painted in a variety of lively colors.We had to be back at the ship soon for an excursion so we made the short walk back to the dock.Our excursion today was to be a Princess
organized tour out to The Baths on Virgin Gorda. It is a volcanic rock formation with exotic pools and
Antigua & St Johns 2008-02-09 09:11:38 Thanks to everyone for continuing to endure my vacation stories. I'm trying to keep them short and full of photos.Another overnight sail and we would awaken in the town of St Johns
, the capital city of Antigua. The Queen Mary was nowhere to be seen today but these guys were now next to us at the dock. The "Norwegian Gem". That's quite a paint job!St Johns was more like the cruise ship port you would expect in the Caribbean. It was loaded with many colorful shops, plenty of bars and restaurants, and lots of locals trying to get your attention and sell you their stuff whether it be handmade crafts, t-shirts, jewelry, home remedies etc, you name it.Another excursion was on our afternoon schedule this day. It was a pirate cruise on the Black Swan pirate ship. In this case "pirate cruise"
St Lucia & The Pitons 2008-02-07 10:09:31 Todays cruise port would be the city of Castries on the island of St Lucia
.It was another beautiful day in the islands as I went out on deck first thing in the morning. Our ship was the only one in town, or so I thought until I looked out to sea and there was the Queen Mary 2 again. They must be stalking us! They were anchored just outside of the port. Maybe they were too big to dock in the port.The days excursion was to be a catamaran trip out to the Pitons. The Pitons are twin volcanic peaks that were formed millions of years ago and rise to over 2000 ft. Once on board the catamaran we staked out a nice spot for our towels and enjoyed the smooth seas and the nice scenery. Rum punch was included in the price of admission but the beer was extra!Once there we stopped for a Kodak momen
Malibu Beach in Barbados?? 2008-02-05 11:02:24 After an entire day at sea after leaving San Juan late at night we awoke in Bridgetown, Barbados.That's the neat thing about cruising.....you normally sail at night and wake up in a new port every day.I got up early and went on deck to look around and could see that we were docked next to a Club Med ship. I could also see another cruise ship arriving in port. It looked to be a big one so out came the camera.A small crowd had gathered with me and I soon figured out why. We were watching the Queen Mary 2 arrive. I think it's supposed to be one of the grandest ships in the world. Sure looked nice to me! Our crews used to layover on the original Queen Mary in Long Beach
, Ca. I have stayed there several times and I was truly impressed with the ship. I'm sure the new one is even nicer.Our day Read more:Malibu
, Malibu Beach
Headed Out To Sea 2008-02-03 15:02:46 It's funny how sometimes non aviation folks can interpret things completely different than they were originally intended.For instance, my last post was titled "Down For Repairs". I was just trying to make a play on words that I am personally off of flying status temporarily while I go on vacation and then have some knee surgery. It never even occurred to me that someone could think that my blog site was down for repairs! But I received several e-mails from people thinking that my site was being repaired and when could I expect to have it up and running again. I'm sure that the aviation related folks that read my stuff knew what I meant but for the regular type readers I can now understand how it might have been a little confusing. (No harm done in this case but it goes to show how a litt
Down For Repairs 2008-01-23 15:37:08 Just a short post today.No work trips for me this week. It's been nice having all these days off.The time for vacation has finally arrived! Next week I expect to be on a cruise ship in the Southern Caribbean enjoying the sunny skies from sea level.Maybe I'll have some vacation stories to blog about.After that I'll be down for some much needed knee surgery in early February. I hope to be airborne again in a couple of months.Stay tuned and thanks for reading.For a look at some more of my photos, please aviate over to Plane & Simple
Read more:Repairs
The Water Emergency 2008-01-18 08:01:08 Today I had the rare long layover. I typically try to get short layovers and spend as little time in hotels as possible. It gets old in a hurry.But today our pickup time wasn't until 4:30 PM so I had some goofing off time. I spent that time with a short walk over to a nice shopping center in Palm Beach and grabbed a sandwich at a deli.Then back to the hotel for a few hours of pool time before pick-up.This was to be an easy day...only one leg home to DFW.We boarded an almost full plane and headed out to runway 9L behind an AirTran Boeing 737. Inbound traffic was fairly heavy so we had to wait about ten minutes for our turn to launch.Takeoff was to the east out over the coast. The sun was just setting as we made a wide left turn back towards the west and started the climb up to 34,000 ft.The Read more:Emergency
Florida Shuttle 2008-01-16 08:05:31 It was the morning after the Dallas Cowboys loss to the New York Giants in the NFL playoffs. Our baggage handlers can at times be a little harsh with their notes and comments that they leave on the baggage carts. Today was no exception as you can see from their work on a couple of different carts. Keep in mind that these carts are at DFW....home of the Cowboys.Todays flying would be concentrated between Texas and Florida
. DFW to Orlando, back to DFW and then West Palm Beach. Orlando is the home of Disney World and we always carry a bunch of families with excited kids in tow. The ground handlers probably see more strollers than any other station in the system.The FAA names all the airways, arrivals, departures, intersections, and everything else related to the airway system in this coun Read more:Shuttle
"Do you guys know what you're doing?" 2008-01-13 09:02:11 Just a turnaround today. DFW to Boston and back. 8 hours worth.When we sign in for a trip, the two pilots respective flying time on the MD-80 is displayed on the computer screen. It gives us an idea of what kind of experience we have in the cockpit for that given trip. Today the FO was very senior. So when I signed in, his hours showed up as 11,600. That means he has 11,600 hours in the right seat of the MD-80. I'm pretty close at just under 11,000 hours in the left seat. I also have about 3500 in the right seat as well. So it goes without saying that todays crew was highly experienced. But most of our crews these days are well experienced since we haven't hired any new pilots in years and there hasn't been much movement in the seniority list.Having said all that, while we were b Read more:doing
Where's The Donald? 2008-01-09 18:56:02 It was a beautiful January morning in New York City today. The contrails were already in view just after sunrise. Apparently someone was already airborne before us!It was unusually warm so I volunteered to do the preflight walk-around duties on our plane today. I mentioned the LGA control tower in an earlier post....I've always thought it was an eye catching design. They light it up with bright white lights at night and for St Patrick's day they use green lights.One of our gate agents was telling me the supposed history of the tower. She said that it was built to look like a champagne glass and that the windows were made to look like the bubbles. Now I don't know if that's a true story or not but it sure sounded credible.Check out the old photo with the AA 727 AstroJets and the Dougl Read more:Donald
The Big Apple 2008-01-08 19:13:38 Just a two day trip today but day one was a long one. 5 legs. We rarely have to fly this many legs in one day but this trip was all that I could fit into my schedule for this week. The trip sequence was to be from DFW to Houston, back to DFW, then to Oklahoma City, back to DFW, and then to New York. Almost 8 hours of flying.The first turn down to Houston (IAH) went just fine. But no trip to Houston Intercontinental is complete without having to wait in line for takeoff behind a bunch of Continental Airlines flights. Houston is their home base just like DFW is home to American Airlines.The turn up to OKC also went well. These short legs of under 45 minutes flying time are very busy in the cockpit. By the time we've leveled off at cruising altitude, it's time to start downhill again. Read more:Apple
The Pressure Is On 2008-01-05 08:05:15 Three legs today....Ft Lauderdale to DFW, up to Kansas City, and then back to DFW. Hopefully, we'd be done by 1 PM.The 6 AM takeoff meant having to get up at 4:15 east coast time. Our cabin crew was based in Miami and was originating at FLL this morning so it would be just the two of us leaving from the hotel.The plane was full including all the jump-seats. The cockpit jump-seat on the MD-80 is pretty uncomfortable for anything longer than about five minutes. Our jump-seater today was an American Eagle pilot going to work at DFW. The FO flew the first leg. It was still dark as we rolled on runway 27R. Liftoff came at 150 knots, 320 knots in the climb above 10,000 and then level at 34,000 in about 15 minutes. Again today we were equipped with an over-water plane so we could take the s Read more:Pressure
Coast To Coast 2008-01-04 18:40:48 My plan of getting a good night's sleep last night was just wishful thinking.My room faced San Diego harbor and right on cue at midnight, I was awakened by a pretty impressive fireworks display out over the water. Man was it ever loud. My FO told me later that he heard it too and initially thought that we were having an earthquake since the walls were shaking.It lasted exactly seven minutes and then came all the screaming and yelling from the party-goers in the hotel. I think the entire city of San Diego was celebrating in the hall's of our hotel. For well over an hour you could hear the whooping and hollering of the celebration. It would have been nice to join in the fun but our sign in was only a few hours away. I finally fell asleep for what seemed like only ten minutes (in reality Read more:Coast
Last Trip of the Year....Finally!! 2008-01-03 07:43:15 It was the afternoon of New Years Eve so I didn't think that the traffic heading to the airport would be very heavy, but no such luck. My normal 45 minute drive time took nearly twice that long. The freeways in North Dallas were pretty jammed up for whatever reason. I had to call crew scheduling and tell them I'd be late for sign-in. They said OK and asked if I'd make it by departure time....All they really care about is if the flight leaves on time. I said that "yes, I'll make it ".Today would only be one leg. DFW to San Diego. Takeoff was right at sunset and we enjoyed clear skies and the fading sun all the way to the TX-New Mexico border. The typical route of flight to the west coast takes us over El Paso or Albuquerque. Going directly over central New Mexico is out of the question Read more:Finally
I Need a Vacation 2007-12-30 08:50:17 My alarm went off at 4 AM. For a few brief moments I had no idea where I was or what city I was in. I hate that feeling but it's pretty common among my airline pilot colleagues. It's especially bad when you have that same feeling after being awake for several hours.....I haven't quite reached that stage in my life yet!!My FO and I met up in the lobby and we loaded up with two other full crews into a crew shuttle van. As is often the case, one of the flight attendants was late for pick up. We all waited for about five minutes and just as I was about to get out of the van and go call the flight attendant's room, he showed up. He acted as if nothing was wrong and just climbed in the van and took a seat without a word. It was inconsiderate of him but surprisingly it happens with flight Read more:Vacation
Pour Me a Budweiser 2007-12-28 23:17:46 It was day two of this three day trip. I was up early and went outside to catch the "Newark Airport Hotel" shuttle. As soon as I stepped outside I could smell the familiar aroma of hops and barley coming from the Anheuser Busch brewery right across the freeway from the airport. I once flew for this company before hiring on with this airline.....they brew some very tasty beer.I can remember one time when the company was looking to purchase a new airplane....we all went to test fly it. It was a Mitsubishi Diamond Jet which later became a BeechJet. Anyhow, the sellers inadvertently catered the jet with Miller Beer. Big mistake!! They lost the sale before we even flew it. But I did enjoy the test flight....it was a nice jet.Today was only two legs. Newark to DFW and then on to Nashvil Read more:Budweiser
No Cookies Tonight 2007-12-27 18:02:08 So back to work after a short three day break. This trip was to be a relatively easy three day trip. Day one was only one leg from DFW to Newark, New Jersey.It was Christmas night so you'd think the loads would be light, but the flight was completely full. I was teamed up with one of our female type First Officers. There are well over 400 female pilots at our airline. She is married to a Southwest Airlines pilot. You might think that they'd have plenty of airline business to talk about at home but she said that they rarely discuss airline pilot stuff at home. They must get enough of that at work.I offered her the first leg and she gladly accepted. We launched right at sunset, climbed straight up to 33,000 ft, three hours in cruise passing over the cities of Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cl Read more:Cookies
, Tonight
Tail Me The Answer 2007-12-24 10:47:48 Well, we didn't get to see much of Louisville. It was dark when we landed and still dark when we headed outside to catch the crew van back to the airport in the morning. Pick-up time was at 5:45 AM Eastern time....That was 4:45 for our crew that was all Dallas based and operating our bodies on Central time. I didn't get a good nights sleep either....seems that our hotel is situated right underneath final approach to one of the main runways at Louisville. All night long I could hear the UPS freighters arriving. Such is the life of an airline pilot....I would be glad when the day was over.It was still raining when we taxied out to runway 17R. Our first takeoff attempt took us about 200 ft before I aborted. One of our EPR (engine pressure ratio) gauges was acting up. It's one of the mai
A Tale Of Two Tails 2007-12-23 11:28:22 Back at it again today for another two day trip. This time I would be northbound to start off.DFW to Minneapolis, back to DFW and then on to Louisville, Kentucky for the night.Christmas is approaching quickly and the planes are all full these days. Today we had a jumpseater in the cockpit with us. He is a pilot with us but currently on military leave and was traveling with his family of four trying to reach Minot, North Dakota. They had started last night in Birmingham, Alabama and had to spend the night at DFW. They were lucky enough to get on the flight to MSP with us but their next hurdle was to try to standby on a Northwest Airlines flight over to Minot. I don't know if they made it or not. He told us that the odds of getting four seats weren't too good and that they might end up Read more:Tails
Adios Mexico 2007-12-21 16:45:38 Today would be day two of a two day trip. It's always a good thing to know that you'll end up the day at home instead of at another hotel. The hotel in Mexico
City has a rather ominous warning right outside the elevator doors. Better hope there's no earthquakes!!The smog was extra heavy in Mexico City. You could hardly see the end of the runway. There was also a distinct aroma in the air around the airport. Kind of like a backed up sewer.....Yuk. A full flight once again. We were carrying a bunch of kids today also. Must have been at least 30. Several of them poked their heads in the cockpit for a look at all the lights and stuff. Most kids enjoy coming in but occasionally a kid will get scared and run right out.Taxi out was behind a Click Airlines Fokker 100. Click is a Mexican Read more:Adios
Too Many Cats!! 2007-12-19 19:17:23 Back today for a two day trip. Day one was scheduled for three legs....DFW to El Paso, back to DFW and then once again to Mexico City.I signed in with a few minutes to spare, checked the weather, looked over the maintenance history of our plane, printed out our flight plan and then rode the DFW train over to terminal C where our plane was arriving from Denver.When I checked in with our gate agent she advised me that we would have five passengers traveling with cats in the cabin. This was going to be interesting! We generally carry larger animals such as medium to large dogs in the forward cargo compartment. It is pressurized and heated so the animals are comfortable. If the animal is small enough, it is allowed to be carried in the cabin in a pet carrier so long as it can fit under the
Road Trip: Part 3 2008-03-09 19:57:09 Our master plan was to make it home to Texas by early evening. Another 900 miles remained from Holbrook. No problem....We left the WigWam in the rear view mirror and headed east.We couldn't drive across northern Arizona and not see either the Grand Canyon or The Petrified Forest / Painted Desert. We voted on the the latter since we had both seen the Grand Canyon before. Growing up in Arizona I had been there a bunch of times and had even hiked to the bottom and camped there once in high school.The Petrified Forest is only about 20 miles east of Holbrook. At 7 AM we were the only ones there. It was nice not being stuck behind a long line of cars full of tourists.Additionally, the colors at sunrise were awesome. The southern end of the park has most of the petrified wood and the north Read more:Road Trip
Back On The Line 2008-03-20 13:16:17 It was mid January when I last set foot inside a cockpit. It's a good thing we use checklists! It's amazing how much you forget in such a short time period.I gave my first officer fair warning about my absence from work these past two months. He seemed envious that I had been off for so long. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that we went on a cruise while I was off work status! I asked him to keep an eye on me and if I goofed up anything to please speak up. Although I would expect that from anyone I fly with no matter what the situation. I always do the same for my crew mates.This would be an easy trip to get back in the flying world again. It was only a turnaround from DFW to San Jose and back.DFW was packed with spring breakers headed for all parts of the globe. It sure doesn't
DFW Is Closed For Business?? 2008-03-23 19:20:49 So we were on day two of a three day trip. Last night was only one leg from DFW to Newark. Easy enough. Still no cookies though.....we had to stay at the Newark Airport Hotel again.When we left Texas the previous night, all the weather forecasts were calling for a couple of severe thunderstorm days in Dallas for the following two days. As luck would have it, our day would have us returning from Newark to DFW and then on to Nashville. But after looking at the north Texas radar returns, we both had serious doubts as to whether we would make it to DFW this day. Typically our company does a lot of preemptive canceling of flights whenever severe weather is forecast for a hub. They didn't do that today. Bad decision!We departed on time with 140 passengers and waited in the usual lineu Read more:Closed
, Business
A Bad Week For MD-80 Drivers 2008-03-29 12:22:46 At AA, we pilots spend the entire month trying to keep our trips intact as much as possible and to end up the month with as many hours flown as possible. That's because we only get paid for the hours we fly. We have no trip guarantee like most other airlines. The general public often seems to be under the impression that airline pilots only work about 40 hours a month! Not so. At AA we work about 80 hours a month. But those are hours actually spent at the controls. So when you see an AA pilot walking through the terminal, at the gate, checking weather online, or even in the bathroom, he or she is not getting paid. We only get paid when the airplane is moving. There is no pay for any of our time spent before a trip, during a layover, or after a trip is over. There is no pay for tim Read more:Drivers
The Great Southwest 2008-04-03 14:15:30 Enough complaining about AA...time for some sightseeing in the western US.Last week ended with a turnaround to Las Vegas and back. As usual we were completely full. I can't ever remember not being full going to Las Vegas. It's an incredibly popular destination.We launched behind this ATA DC-10. It's a former Northwest airplane now painted in ATA colors. I just read where ATA ceased operations so I imagine this DC-10 will be parked soon.We climbed on up to 32,000 ft and enjoyed a smooth ride under clear skies across the Texas panhandle. We even passed this guy above us. It's pretty rare for an MD-80 to pass anyone but I think this was an RJ. They cruise a little bit slower than we do.New Mexico went by and then came Arizona. It was a little hazy by then but I managed to get a shot Read more:Great
, Southwest
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