A Very Merry Christmas

This post starts out on a sour note, but ends well…so stick with me. The year 2000 was a difficult year that culminated in the story I‘m about to tell. I had already missed my oldest daughter’s birthday and baptism, my anniversary, Easter, Thanksgiving and pretty much everything else of any importance along the way, so it came as no surprise that I held a line in December that worked on Christmas day. I was on reserve from December 21st through the...

Read More

Kids and Airplanes

I come from a long line of men obsessed with aviation and a slightly shorter list of women who support our love of the skies. One of my Grandfathers was a private pilot, the other was a B-25 Crew Chief in WWII and my own Father flew OV-1 Mohawks in Vietnam followed by a 32 year career with Delta Air Lines. There are even aviators on my wife’s side of the family with a Grandfather who flew for Braniff in the ‘50s and ‘60s before tragically passing...

Read More

Back In The Seat

I’m not sure if there is a way for me to explain all the events of the last two days without writing a book. I thought of naming this post “Two Days of Hell” but decided while accurate, that it sounded a little too melodramatic. Late aircraft, fog, freezing fog, a near miss on the arrival to Austin while preparing for a CAT III approach, maintenance issues on the ground and in the air all topped off with irate passengers and a tired and ticked off...

Read More

Vacation!

Ok, ok...I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks now.  Truth is, I've been  on a much needed vacation and just haven't made time for writing.  Also, I usually write when I'm on layovers and...well...I haven't had one of those in a while.  Not to worry, my glorious step away from aviation (forgive me for putting it that way) will end this Friday and life will return to normal for me and my escapades around the country.(The...

Read More

Delay After Delay on top of More Delays and Rough Air

Ok, so here’s my disclaimer.  Yes, there is a tone of sarcasm in today’s post…a slightly dark side to my personality maybe…but no, I do not have anything against RJ pilots.  That’s not to say that I don’t have anything against RJ’s, but that’s an entirely different subject.  As a matter of fact, I crawled my way up the aviation ladder at a regional airline and have nothing against those who did the same.  So please resist the...

Read More

Questions and Answers

I’ve been getting a number of questions from readers lately…some general in nature and some pretty specific.  I thought it might be fun to post some of the questions and my responses to them.  If you would like to submit a question, there’s a button in my profile you can use to send me an email.  If I post your question, all personal and identifying details will be removed.The following questions are from a guy flying an...

Read More

Close Call

The picture above is Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) flight 182, a Boeing 727, after a mid-air collision with a Cessna 172 over San Diego, California on September 25, 1978. PSA 182 was on a downwind leg for runway 27 at the same time that the 172, N7711G, was flying a practice ILS approach to runway 9. After the impact, both aircraft crashed, killing a total of 144 people…135 passengers and crew aboard PSA 182, a student and his instructor in the...

Read More

An Unexpected Ferry

I was scheduled to finish my three day sequence by 8pm and, assuming all went as planned, should be relaxing at home by 9.  We started on Sunday afternoon with a pretty long 3 leg day and just under 8 hours of flying followed by a slightly shorter 2 leg day with just over 5 hours in the cockpit and finished up with one 3 hour leg home. We call these 3-2-1 trips and they’re usually difficult to get, especially for someone junior like...

Read More

Hermine's Revenge

In my 18 years as a commercial pilot, there have only been a handful of approaches memorable enough that I remember them in detail…Dallas, Ft. Worth in an ATR-72 in 1996 when I encountered wind sheer while flying an approach I probably shouldn’t have accepted in the first place…Toronto, Canada in the winter of 2002 in an MD-82, flying an ILS in white-out conditions with a strong 90 degree crosswind to a runway that was in serious need of a plow…New...

Read More

Multiple Approaches

Flight level 330...Mach .76...clearance to cross Baton Rouge at FL230. We were at the top of descent, planning our arrival and approach to New Orleans when I requested a weather report and sent notification to the station personnel on the ground that we’d be touching down a little after 10 pm. The weather was forecast to be marginal at best, but conditions at the airport were better than planned with high ceilings and light winds. The temperature...

Read More