Owner: Sulako's Blog URL:http://sulako.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:24:43 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Existential angst, with airplanes! Site statistics:Click here
Earlier this week we were south, heading north, wh... 2007-07-13 07:22:00 Earlier this week we were south, heading north, when we heard this:"We have 71 souls on board, and 13,000 on the fuel. Smoke in the cockpit, we need vectors to the nearest airport"The guy sounded scared, but he was keeping it together. On our flightdeck, cruising at 38,000 feet, we looked at each other and shivered. Short of a thunderstorm removing the wings, any sort of cabin fire in flight is the worst thing I can think of. At 35,000 feet, even with an emergency descent and a runway nearby, it's going to take us at least 10 minutes to get on the ground. There are a lot of flammable, toxic materials used in the construction of airplanes, and a lot can happen in 10 minutes. I'm not even talking about the thousands of pounds of jet fuel, which by weight is more explosive than dynamite.We listened in, gut-sick and silent. They were handed off to a local tower frequency, and we lost radio contact right after they repeated their landing clearance. I have no idea what the cause wa
P-51 landing gone embarrassingly wrong. You can h... 2007-07-16 12:03:00 P-51 landing
gone embarrassingly wrong. You can hear the prop strike quite clearly.The only thing worse than making a bad landing is making a bad landing while being watched. And taped. And commented on by a loud-mouth.The s-word is mentioned a couple of times in this clip, but it's pretty appropriate.
Yeah, I'm still here. I flew a lot last week, and... 2007-07-22 20:14:00 Yeah, I'm still here. I flew a lot last week, and this week I'm on vacation so I'm not sure if I'll be posting much. Lisa is going in for a minor tune-up tomorrow, so I will be mostly hanging out and taking care of her through her recovery.Here are some pics I have shamelessly looted from some friends of mine, who fly long-haul for Air Canada. Eternal thanks to Smokey McT and Linus for the images, and the permission to post them.Japan Airlines 747 catching the sunShanghai 767-300, flying a thousand feet above.Over Alaska en route to Tokyo, China Airways 747 a thousand feet above.672 on the groundspeed. Roughly double that of my fine Citation 550 :)The sun sets as we are landing at Incheon airport, Seoul South KoreaMorning breaks over Greenland... en route to London from VancouverMostly dormant volcano over AlaskaVolcano over Kamchatka, RussiaMiddleton reef, South Pacificcluster of islands in the South Pacific ..... just south of FijiUpside down in a Tutor jet, circa 15 years ag
I sit in the waiting room, hyper-alert, watching t... 2007-07-29 07:47:00 I sit in the waiting room, hyper
-alert, watching the clock tick a minute forward every hour or so. We had both done all the reading, about how this was a necessary procedure and the complication rate is only 10% or so, and recovery time will probably only be a week or two and blah blah blah. Intellectually, I get it. But my intellect isn't working very well at the moment. She's gonna be just fine. And here I sit, looking up from my magazine every time someone walks into this large, crowded room. Is it an orderly, telling me that surgery went fine and I can go see her? Or is it far worse, a doctor, eyes burning red from fatigue and sadness, coming to tell me about unexpected complications and they did everything they could but...I'm used to having control, and I have none. I can just sit here and vibrate and watch the clock. My hands are cold and damp. My face feels hot, and my eyes are watering like when I stick my head out the car window while doing 130 down the highway.T
Okay, I'm back. The past month has been pretty cr... 2007-08-07 19:45:00 Okay, I'm back. The past month has been pretty crazy, but I have managed to recharge my blogging batteries a wee bit and I think I'm good to go for a while before my next big hiatus.Lisa is fine, thanks for your emails of support around that. She's up and walking and the bruises are healing, so pretty soon the only evidence of Summer 2007 is going to be three little pink scars. Not bad, considering.On the aviation front, we have moved our offices from the Landmark FBO at Pearson to a nearby hangar complex where the owner has given us a nice office and hangar space for the aircraft, along with access to lower fuel prices. In return we have made our aircraft available to the hangar owner should it be required, and I think it will work out pretty well for both parties.Anyway, that's me playing catch-up, it's time for a "real" post. It isn't aviation-related, but here's an awesome thing that happened to us recently. And by "awesome" I mean "This makes us look really bad. In f
For my birthday, Lisa took us to see "Evil Dead : ... 2007-08-09 08:45:00 For my birthday, Lisa took us to see "Evil Dead : The Musical". We got tickets in the 'Splatter Zone'. It did not disappoint. In fact, it was the best small-theater performance I have ever seen. The songs were great, the dialogue was truly hilarious, the actors were funny and raunchy raunchy, and the fake blood was copious.We were offered plastic ponchos, but declined them.We took these pics after we had towelled off our heads and faces. I had huge chunks of fake gore on my head, running into my eyes. It tasted like sugar.At least we didn't get pulled over on the way home; that would have been exciting :)An aviation-related post coming right up...
I saw this funky little fighter plane on my recent... 2007-08-10 18:58:00 I saw this funky littlefighter
plane on my recent travels. It has a single engine and according to the ramp guy, was made in Poland. It's privately owned, and I guess primarily used for fun. The owner bought 2 of them and a few more non-working ones for spare parts.//update. I wiki'd it and it turns out it's called an Iskra. Still in use in Poland as a military trainer.//Here's a short little video of my walkaround. Meanwhile, the clouds were being cool so I took a few pics. I really need a better camera. And talent. Talent would be cool.Special Bonus footage:Our little office, circa 2 weeks ago, guest-starring Kitsch and Hewhocannotbenamed. We have moved since then, but that's a subject for future posts. No word on whether Kitsch ever found his pants...
On the road again today; here are some random note... 2007-08-15 19:38:00 On the road again today; here are some random notes.Today we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space in Washington. It's free, and it's totally awesome. We saw the Enola Gay, the Gossamer Albatross, a SR-71, some lunar landers, a space shuttle, the original Lear Jet, and a whole lot more. Pilot geek heaven, I tells ya. I'll post some pics and videos when I get back home, hopefully tomorrow. At the Landmark FBO in Washington Dulles, they have shiatsu massage chairs, much like the ones that are in shopping malls and cost $2 for each 5 minutes of bliss. I spent 20 minutes in one just now, and only got up because I was worried I might not be able to walk any more.About an hour ago, I saw one of the guys who is running for President of the United States here. He was sitting alone, working on his laptop and making phone calls on his bluetooth headset. After about an hour, his Challenger 604 (a heavy corporate jet) showed up, and he departed for parts unknown. I thought it
Early this morning, waaaay too early, we flew east... 2007-08-14 13:09:00 Early this morning, waaaay too early, we flew east for the day. I didn't bring my camera's data cable so I can't upload the cool pics I took until I get home.So I'll briefly talk about a tiny little niche of aviation politics, which has to do with crewing other operator's aircraft.We aren't the only people who operate this type of plane out of Toronto Pearson, and from time to time we get phone calls from other operators asking if we can provide a flight crew member for an upcoming trip they have, filling in for a sick pilot or a pilot on vacation or whatnot. It's a delicate little dance all-around. Some background info:A hypothetical standard daily rate for a Citation 550 Captain might be around $500/day plus expenses (meals, hotels, etc).A hypothetical daily rate for a Citation 550 First Officer might be in the neighborhood $350/day plus expenses.It sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that a Captain making, say, 70k/year with full benefits and on-duty 5 days a week costs th
2007-08-28 11:06:00 This poor fellow gets ejected into the rotor blade of a helicopter. It ends better than you'd expect.Pilot Ejected Into Helicopters Blades - Watch more free videos
2007-09-19 14:22:00 See if you can spot the poor decision-making in this clip.Or this one.
2007-10-14 11:39:00 I'm back. I took a month off because I was feeling pressure from readers of this site to write about stuff I didn't want to write about, and it was starting to feel like a job. I miss this, and it feels like fun again, so here goes nothing...All photos courtesy of Kitsch, click on them to make them bigger.We returned from waaaay out west the other day, flying empty back home.Wearing a tie is the worst part of this job, and it's nice to be able to dress casually on occasion. The food ain't bad either :)Arizona is like the surface of the moon in places.Speaking of extra-terrestrial bodies, we flew over a giant crater caused by a prehistoric asteroid. It stained the earth red with asteroid blood. Who are you going to believe, some geologist or uncle Sully?It was a 5 hour flight back home, and Kitsch and I made ourselves useful during the time spent in cruise :)//note to any particularly anal people: the last 2 pics are staged, somewhat :)
2007-10-19 21:52:00 Lisa, out on the town. I'm flying, which is presumably why she is looking up. This is kind of a theme.
2007-10-18 20:07:00 All pix by Kitsch, all praise to him. Click on the pix to make them big.We were the first aircraft to depart Pearson this morning, punching a hole in the thick fog. How foggy? RVR 1400, which is somewhere around 1/4 mile visibility. I have done zillions of takeoffs in 1/2 mile visibility, that's nothing special. And I have done lots of RVR 1400 takeoffs before. In the simulator. But after 20 years of flying, this was the first one I had ever done in real life.First we had to follow the taxiways to find the runway. It's a lot harder than it sounds, even though we are both familiar with the airport. There was no visual reference besides the green lights embedded in the taxiway, and we were worried about overshooting our intended intersecting taxiways.Once we got on the runway, this is what it looked like. Each set of lights is 200 feet down the runway.The airplane behaved, and our carefully briefed and discussed plan on what to do in case we lost an engine on takeoff wasn't
2007-10-17 19:55:00 When the King Air Captain asked for our catering, I knew we were screwed.Wait...what?As a favor to an Ops Mgr friend of mine, I was pinch-hitting (or perhaps, pinch-Captaining?) on a jet operated by another company, technically competitors of ours. Again, what? //We were totally covered at my company - all our other pilots were in the air, so I knew I wasn't going to be needed by my employers. I had gotten approval from my boss, the owner, and the fee for my services was going straight to my company rather than in my pocket. Like I said, I was doing this as a favor to my Ops Mgr pal rather than any attempt to line my own pockets//Anyway, we were going to fly a politician to a meeting a couple of hours away. Most likely you have heard of this person.Before we fired up, I got a call on the Crackberry; it was a member of the politician's security detail. We were briefed by him on what to expect; the car containing the politician would be coming through the gate at such and such a
2007-10-23 14:48:00 I'm on vacation until Sunday, October 28th. I'm visiting my mom in Nanaimo BC, then visiting my dad and his family in Saskatoon. I fly next Monday, and I'll have a good story for you then - it's about how Lisa and I met, and it's actually aviation-related.
2007-11-10 17:16:00 I'm back from vacation. It was awesome. You know what else is awesome? This safety briefing from a flight attendant. Listen and laugh.
2007-11-17 19:29:00
Freezin' :)
2007-12-19 06:47:00 Click on the pic to make it bigger, then be jealous of my narcotic pain meds :)I woke up at 3am with pus coming out of my ear and in considerable pain. I have had a sore throat for the past couple of days, but it got better yesterday and I thought I had dodged whatever it was. In fact I had dodged nothing, it had simply moved elsewhere in my body to regroup and fester. So I woke up the lovely Lisa and got her to drive me to emerg (my sense of balance was also wobbly, and I didn't want to drive), where the doctor diagnosed me with a 'wicked' ear infection.//Sidenote: my wait in emerg was about 5 minutes before I saw the doc. I paid $0. Even the parking was free. Don't believe everything you hear about the Canadian medical system. The prescriptions were free also, due to my company's medical plan. That being said, if I had to pay for it out of my own pocket, they would have come to $27 in total - not bad, considering I'd pay 100x that amount to get rid of the pain.At least
2007-12-11 21:12:00 So a few weeks ago a guy from the Wall Street Journal drops me an email and asks a few questions, which I answer. Today, I show up in the freakin' WSJ, section R, page 6. That is kinda cool. Unfortunately there is no link to the article as the WSJ is subscription-only. If I find one online, you know I'll be posting that one :) Anyway, I guess I should make a post. Today was an interesting day, pilot-geek wise. Kitsch and I took a group of bankers to the east coast for a few hours, then back home. It was kind of funny though; there was another jet on this same run, but the other jet was a large corporate jet and it was taking not just a regular banker, but the president of the bank. Yup, we took a half-dozen bankers in our small jet, and their bank president flew alone in a large jet. I guess that's what I'd shoot for if I was inclined to be a corporate type - being the guy who gets the big plane alone to himself. I'd wear tiger pajamas; you are welcome for the visual :)A
No title 2008-03-02 20:09:00 Check out this rather intense video of an Airbus A320 dragging a wingtip while attempting to land.From FlightGlobal.com :"This Lufthansa Airbus A320 suffered a wing-tip strike before executing a go-around during an attempt to land at Hamburg International Airport during high winds on 1 March.Germany is among the countries battered by hurricane "Emma" as the storm swept across Central Europe.The country’s weather service, Deutscher Wetterdienst, warned of widespread strong winds, and meteorological equipment at several German airports recorded gusts exceeding 30-40kt.Weather data from Hamburg Airport showed winds gusting up to 49kt. The A320, identified as D-AIQP, was apparently arriving on runway 23 after a domestic service from Munich.Its left wing-tip contacted the runway and the aircr
No title 2008-02-27 07:15:00 Click on the court summons to make it larger.So Lisa and her friends were driving to Ottawa to see her brother. They got as far as Kingston before getting lost and turning onto a sideroad, where they soon met an undercover police car. The officer claims that he clocked them going 138km/h in an 80km/h zone.It gets better...in Ontario, being charged with speeding more than 50km/h over the limit means the following:1. Immediate 7-day driver's license suspension - you have to give it to the officer on the spot.2. Immediate 7-day seizure and impoundment of the vehicle (we pay the towing and impound fees - in Lisa's case around $325)3. If convicted, minimum $2,000 fine (max is $10,000) and 6 demerit points (which could triple her insurance from $130 to $400/month)4. If convicted, probable susp
No title 2008-02-21 10:41:00 I'm in New York right now, on a company trip. The flight was routine, so I'll quickly segue to something more interesting.This is a video clip my friend Jennifer made of a trip she did to Toronto Buttonville, flying a medevac in the MU-2. She's been a Captain on the MU-2 for some years now, and has it mastered. This is no small feat, considering the level of difficulty of the MU-2. For example, I can take my hands off my C-550 during flight and the plane will be rock-solid in its flight path. Hell, I could probably land my Citation II with my eyes closed and my hand only on the trim wheel, paying attention only to the rad-alt callouts. On the MU-2, my record for flying it with no hands before having to take control again was 6 seconds. When I did my first flight in the MU-2, my eyes
No title 2008-02-04 20:33:00 I got an interesting letter in the mail today from Transport Canada. In it was an advisory circular, entitled "Protecting the health & safety of employees on board aircraft in epidemic situations involving airborne communicable diseases".Basically, it's what to do when the bird flu mutates and becomes communicable from human to human, which is probably going to happen sooner rather than later. When it does, millions of people will become infected and a pretty good chunk of those will die. Anyway, Transport Canada has decided that it's a likely enough scenario that they need to come up with a plan to fight it. After all, airplanes carrying sick pasengers will make any epidemic a pandemic within a few hours.It says lots of basic stuff like the flight crew should use respiratory protectio
No title 2008-02-01 06:36:00 Crossing 600 miles of water to get to Bahamas.I like that pic. I don't know how it's going to look on the blog, but at home it looks like I can actually look up and see into space.These shots were taken a short while ago in a Citation Bravo, which is the newfangled version of the Citation II I fly - the airframe is the same, but the engines have 10% more thrust, the landing gear is trailing link (makes for softer landings) and the cockpit instruments are a lot more modern.We took this plane to Bahamas. To be honest, I am less excited about that area than I used to be - there are only so many days I can walk along the beach with a pina colada before I start to pine for my couch at home. It's weird, but true. Anyway, where were we?Right, Bahamas.I'm posting these pics as I'm looking outs
No title 2008-01-30 07:25:00 I think this clip has been around for a while. Or maybe I just saw it in a nightmare I had once. A 747 gets hit by lightning while taking off in a thunderstorm.To me the solution might be to not take off in a thunderstorm, but then again I'm not a 747 Captain.
No title 2008-01-23 10:25:00 Heading straight west for 2 tanks of gas gets us here...Departing one airport for another one nearby, we pass over a normal, boring area of houses.Click on any/all pics to make em bigger.Wait a minute...let's zoom in a little. Those aren't all just houses....Miles and miles of the awesomeness that is a US military airplane graveyard. How many billions of dollars went into these planes? I wonder what stories they could tell?On approach, we watched the sun play with the fog in the hills.Yeah, my job is pretty cool.The next pic down is what we saw when this convo took place:"Sully-1, call the airport in sight. It's 12 o'clock and 10 miles.""Umm, if you say so. I'm thinking we'd like vectors for the ILS""The airport is reporting 15 miles visibility"; the controller spoke slowly and carefu
No title 2008-01-18 13:31:00 We are looking to hire a charter coordinator for our operation. I suck at drumming up business, so it's time to hire someone who doesn't suck, and who can get us 150 - 200 hours worth of client charter per year. Do you live somewhere near the Greater Toronto Area?Are you good with people? Are you smart?Can you legally work in Canada?This is a NON-FLYING position, and it won't lead to flying down the road. We want someone who will make this into a long-term position, and who will invest time and energy into this job, so I'm not really interested in someone who will just do this until they can get a flight crew position.Here's the offical job description; please email me a resume if you are interested.Position: Charter CoordinatorContact Person: Sulako (I'm gonna be reading the resumes, a
No title 2008-01-16 09:57:00 This is how I want to end my flying career, rather than, say, blunt trauma followed by a fire.In this video, a United 747-400 is performing a low approach at Frankfurt International airport on Rwy 25L. This was a retirement flight of the captain and the tower in Frankfurt asked him if he would do a low approach. It was filmed from the tower.
No title 2008-01-05 06:27:00 Happy New Year! I hope 2008 is spectacular for all the right reasons.Well my ear has healed to the point that I can fly so that's cool. One note I wanted to bring you up to speed on. Got some others too;Aviatrix over at Cockpit Conversation blog has gone from a public blog to an authors-only blog for the time being. This may change again in a short while, but for now, from now on Cockpit Conversation won't be public. It's nothing personal, she has to do it for professional reasons and that makes total sense to me. You aren't missing any posts, so don't worry that you are falling behind; She hopes to be blogging again soon and I'll certainly update with details as they become available to me.I wonder what joys and tribulations the next year will bring us? I'm guessing more trouble in
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