Take Your Kids to Work Day...Airline Style

 This is why pilots rarely take their kids to work....As the son of an airline pilot, some of my favorite childhood memories are of the times I got to tag along with my dad at work.   Often these were simple trips to check his mail box at the airport, but when I was 12, he started taking me along on trips when he was piloting the airplane.Portland, Oregon, Las Vegas, Nevada and San Francisco, California stand out as a few of my favorites.  ...

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"When you land...please call this number"

I got the dreaded call this week, "When you land...please call this number."  For those of you who don't fly, I'm not sure how to accurately describe the feeling pilots get when they hear those words.  I rank this phrase right up there with "say your altitude."  Simple words that strike fear into any aviator.  For me there was an immediate uneasiness in my stomach as I perused my memory of the last hour of flight."A pilot lives...

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Early Morning Departure - Sacramento, California

I took these pictures early yesterday on my way out of Sacramento, California.  What a beautiful morning!  The great thing about going west is that even the early departures don't feel early.  The sun wasn't even up when we pushed from the gate, but my body thought it was after 8am.That's Lake Tahoe in the last two pictures.  The camera doesn't do justice to the view.  I wish you could have been the...

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MD82 or MD83...Differences Training

I took these pictures over about a thirty minute period earlier this week on a flight from DFW to CMH (Columbus Ohio).  We were flying toward the darkness, so night came fast.  This was the last of five legs and our only venture out of the state of Texas for the day.  A keen eye might notice that this MD80 looks different than most.Were you able to pick out any of the differences?  Notably, the center stack of engine instruments...

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"Waiting for Numbers"

I included this picture as part of a earlier post and thought it warranted a little more explanation.  What you see below is the "load closeout" that I saved from a recent flight from Dallas, Ft. Worth, Texas (KDFW) to San Jose, California (KSJC).  Anyone who has ever monitored the ground control frequency at a major U.S. airport has heard one of our pilots inform the tower that he was "waiting for numbers."  This little piece of paper...

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