Sunday, June 24, 2012
"How's the ride up there"
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty entertaing day for me.....ask any other pilot that flew up here and they would tell you they were far from entertained.
It all started on my last push of the night outbound for my overnight.
The weather was looking pretty gloomy as we were boarding and by the time all the passengers were on the airport went into a ground stop due to so called thunder storms over the filed.
Now first off I wouldn't call what was over us a thunderstorm...to me it was just a big rain cloud. More annoying than anything else.
The ground stop left us stranded on the ramp unable to go anywhere because our ground crew was inside "safe and sound" ridding the storm out...what a bunch of sissies!
I can do nothing but except this and finish my lunch while watching our rampers throught the gate window dancing and beat boxing inside the terminal.(beat boxing is putting your hand over your mouth to make booming and spitting noises to dance too....it's by far one of the most restarted things you could possibly whiteness!) At this point I thought about giving them a shot of radar (turning on or weather radar and pointing the dish at them) to liven up the party lol....but I'm not that mean! After all they can't help that their stupid!
While all these rapper's trapped in ramper's bodies put on their performance inside for all to see,us and dozens of planes sit out waiting to leave.
There are planes lined up as far as I could see. No one was taking off and the radios where buzzing with life.
The radio chatter was hilarious to me. The controller would ask plane by plane if they where ready to leave and one after the other " oh umm I don't know" lol the only thing I can equate it too is going to your local pool one day when it first opens and watch as all the little kids rush right up to the edge of the pool but none jump in..they just stand there each looking at the next to see if they are going to make the jump..too sacred to be the first one themself!
Hell if it were possible I could see some of these guys hopping out of their plane and sucker pushing the guy next to him off the ground and then asking "how bad was it?".
After about an hour we finally get pushed and rush to the edge our selves just to sit and wait agin...yes waiting to let someone else take the plunge first.
After about a half hour of sitting at the end of the runway the captain looks at me and asks how do you feel about going with this crosswind spread? "good let's go!!!".
So off down the runway we go pulling it off the ground and into the black nothingness that was looming above us.
Upon reaching this ATC (air traffic control) calls "callsign xxx how is it up there?" hahaha Me "dark and wet!!" ATC "open mic with chuckling in the back ground...roger"
About another 5 minutes into this we start hitting the bumpyness....not would I would call turbulence but just enough to make me start feeling at home.
Right after this the radios open up with all these frantic calls from planes behind us to ATC reporting moderate turbulence behind and below us.
I start laughing as they are all demanding ATC do something about this...first off we are the lead plane and it was nothing I was going to write home about much less call ATC on, second what the hell are they supposed to do about it?
About this time ATC calls us "hows the ride up there?" Me "fine...my seat is a little lumpy though" you hear laughing as ATC calls back "any turbulence" me "na...we flew through the wake of a bird fart a bit ago though" a pause then laughter ATC "say again" me "unable" lol I was not about to try that twice!! There's a lot of laughter on the radio followed by a random plane "that's not funny it's bumpy down here" lol awww poor guy!!
This is the kinda stuff that keeps me entertained all day!! And yes I had along reflecting period about my being a smart ass on the radios and came to the conclusion...it's not my fault I don't have a filter on my mouth so there for I can't be held responcible for half the shit that comes out of my mouth, pluse I can't believe anyone would let me talk on the radios but they do..Hell the FCC gave me a nice pice of paper saying I could so that makes it legit and also makes it their fault!!
If I had it my way I would fly all the legs and never talkon the radios....problem solved.
So all you ATC guys out there...you can from this point forward hold the FCC accountable!
About a half hour into the flight we get into some what I would consider light to moderate turbulence.
I know the flight attendant is up doing her service so I look at the captain and say I'm going to seat her so she doesn't get hurt...he approves.
I hit the call button to get her on the little gally phone to tell her to put her cart up so we don't have a 200lbs projectile floating around back there. After about two minutes of no answer from her I ding her again..now when we ding her she is supposed to stop what she is doing and answer us. Another two minutes with no answer so ding three...no answer.
So I decide I'm going to find out what's going on back there. I use my phone to look through the peep hole and take a picture.
I cant belive what I see....she is sitting in the back with a guy passenger chit chatting!!!
I look at the the captain and say our flight attendant is defective as I hold my phone up. He looks and shakes his head as I say "screw it I'm not trying any more...if we brake this FA the company will just get us another one!"
She finally called about 10 minutes later and it was pretty much "bla bla bla" to me.
Today I'm off and back at the crash pad....oh joy!!!!
Tomorrow I head north for 6 days to test fly a new plane and do proving runs on it. At least I won't be here!!
By the way one of my roommates just got home and he's in the kitchen singing show tunes!!! Perfect...it's going to be along night!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
A new redisgned life on the east coast complete with gay roommates
Well folks it's been awhile since my last post.
I have to apologize to those who have been trying to keep up.
I have been very busy upgrading to a bigger,faster plane and moving to the east coast.
I left bush flying with Dan back in march and neither of us has looked back.
We have both gone on to bigger and better things in our life's and my only regret is that we separated, him staying in Alaska and me moving here to the east coast.
The east coast has been exciting to fly, pay is fantastic if I could ever stay flying! But the life here sucks!
I chose to come to the east coast to be number one on the seniority list and get the best schedule. Turns out this move has been nothing less than a cluster fuck.
I was banking on over nighting very night that I was here.For two reasons...one I double my daily salary where I'm not in my base city,two I didn't want to have to get a crash pad!
For those of you who don't know what a crash pad is I'll try to explain. It's a little slice of HELL!!!!
My crash pad is a three level row home, I have an explanation for row home too!!! A row home is like herpes...they are great blistering soars on this country with no cure insight. They are houses built up side by side so close that I could help the guy next door brush his teeth while I sit on the toilet!
On top of that the only crash pad that had any avlable room was the one I got and it's a flight attendant crash pad! (most crash pads are segregated pilots and flight attendants) now most guy would say score!! I get to live with a bunch of chicks! But you have to rember I am on the east coast...very gay friendly. Infact all of my roommates 18 of them are all gay guy flight attendants!!! Now I'm not a homofobe but these guy are different from any gay guy I have ever met.
First off they are very open and flambouent here, as well as very pissy and stuck up!! I would much rather deal with 18 pissy women then these dudes.
It's like because they feel they are the wrong sex they have to be double pissy to make up for it.
It has crossed my mind to put a tampon in each one of their mouths while they sleep just to prove a point!!
On top of that they all feel the need to try to convert me to the other team...walking into this place as a straight man is like walking into a military recruitment office their all going to try to convince you to sign up.
Lucky for me I'm from the south and my mouth has no filter so these conversations are always hestarical to me...to the others around me not so much!
Ontop of all the gay recruitment this place has no air conditioning....yes I said no air conditioning!!!
Now you would think that the norther east coast wouldn't be that hot...wrong!!! It's hot as hell here.
Now I'm from the deep south, one of the hottest states in the country so I'm used to the heat but what I'm not used to is not having A/C to me it's almost uncivilized I'm mean hell even our tractors have A/C's on them!!!
I spend most of my time here going out alone witch sucks cause drinking alone is just a means to an end it's not enjoyable or funny it's just kinda sad.
These are the times I wished Dan would have come with me, our shenanigans would have caused so much caose in this circus of any airline that it would have kept us entertained forever!
As far as the flying goes its pretty mundane none of the near death experiences like the bush flying.
The guys I'm flying with are all pretty good guys we do have fun... The other day the captain I was flying with was eating a lunch he brought from home while I flew, I was in a daze looking out the window not really paying attention to anything when I here " dude" so I looke over and the captain has two baby carrots shoved in his nose. I laughed so hard I almost pissed my self!! I doesn't seem that funny now especially compared to the crap me and Dan used to pull in the bush but I take what I can get these days!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Don't ruin our fun Sick-O
Well It's been very busy here in Alaska. Between being sick and flying my ass off I have been exhausted and not really wanting to do much of anything. But it's like they say "no rest for the wicked". Of course no one here will give me a break...god forbid I don't want to do anything and ruin everyone's fun.
For the last week my apartment has been more of a frat house/bar for the rest of the pilot's, airline employees, and who ever else just shows up!
It all started Friday when I came home sick as a dog, wrote on the blog and then went to sleep on the couch. Later that evening I was woke by The Phoenix bursting through my door half lit wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a flower lei and sun glasses. I immediately bust out laughing. First it's winter in Alaska and he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, second it's dark out side and he's wearing sun glasses. To top it off he is holding a half a glass of whiskey. Knowing the Phoenix at one point that glass was full and I'm betting it was not that long ago.
The Phoenix has come to get me to go to a going away party for one of our mechanics. A party I tried to forget about opting to sleep instead. But now with what I am seeing standing before me I decide there is no way in hell I'm going to miss this train wreck!
Now knowing this party is about 2 miles away I ask him if he has a way for us to get there. He tells me that one of our passengers that is in Anchorage left his car in the parking lot and if that passenger didn't return on the last flight that he would take his car. I tell him okay let me get ready.
About an hour later the Phoenix returns and we head down stairs and out to the parking lot. when we get to the parking lot we find that the car we were going to use is not there. I'm in no mood to walk, it's cold, I'm sick and the Phoenix is just about trashed so walking is not an option.
I decide that we will boost D-Reb's car. We get in and I try to start it and it's a no go. The battery is dead. I think great we are running out of options and ask the Phoenix if he has any other ideas...of course not! So I hand him a flash light and tell him to start searching every car in the parking lot for jumper cables, he looks at me like I am out of my mind but agree's.
While he is doing that I am searching for key's and cables too. I find key's to a cargo van next to D-Reb's car and of course the battery is dead. About that time the Phoenix come's back and has jumper cables so I decide to try to daisy chain the dead batteries together to see if I can get enough juice to start D-Reb's car. As I get everything ready The Phoenix opens D-Reb's hood, I hook up jump in and low and behold the damn thing starts!
After about 5 minutes of letting the car run we get everything put back where we got it and go to close the hood. But some how the Phoenix managed to break the hood and not just break it so much as completely rip it off the car! I look at him and asked "what did you do" he just looked at me with a blank face and said "I don't know". So I go about trying to reattach it to the car. After about 20 minutes I decide that the hood is not an essential piece of equipment for our commute and quickly MEL it ( throw it on the ground).
The Phoenix asked me " are you just going to leave that there" I respond " yep now get in the car I'm leaving"
The party was pretty much uneventful. They had a live band, a few of the members tried to get me to play with them after they found out I played. " I'm not here to play...I'm here to drink your whiskey!"
Over the next several day's the flying had been steady putting in 6 plus hour flight days then coming home to relax only to have a party started at my place.
Even on Valentines day when I was sure I would be able to rest while every one was out with their wives they partied here bringing their wives before going out to dinner. So with me the ATC guy and the Phoenix having no one to have dinner with we decide to go together to take advantage of the couples valentine special at the local diner. yeah I spent valentines night with two dudes over a candle light dinner lol pathetic!! but is was super cheap!
Over the course of a week we drank so much beer I am seriously thinking about subsidizing my income with recycled beer cans.
On a lighter note Dan and myself have been given class dates for the Sabb. March 26th, Dan will be Anchorage based and I will be headed to Boston. So this could very well be the last month that we will be based out here as Bush Pilot's. Watch out civilized flying world...here we come!!
For the last week my apartment has been more of a frat house/bar for the rest of the pilot's, airline employees, and who ever else just shows up!
It all started Friday when I came home sick as a dog, wrote on the blog and then went to sleep on the couch. Later that evening I was woke by The Phoenix bursting through my door half lit wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a flower lei and sun glasses. I immediately bust out laughing. First it's winter in Alaska and he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, second it's dark out side and he's wearing sun glasses. To top it off he is holding a half a glass of whiskey. Knowing the Phoenix at one point that glass was full and I'm betting it was not that long ago.
The Phoenix has come to get me to go to a going away party for one of our mechanics. A party I tried to forget about opting to sleep instead. But now with what I am seeing standing before me I decide there is no way in hell I'm going to miss this train wreck!
Now knowing this party is about 2 miles away I ask him if he has a way for us to get there. He tells me that one of our passengers that is in Anchorage left his car in the parking lot and if that passenger didn't return on the last flight that he would take his car. I tell him okay let me get ready.
About an hour later the Phoenix returns and we head down stairs and out to the parking lot. when we get to the parking lot we find that the car we were going to use is not there. I'm in no mood to walk, it's cold, I'm sick and the Phoenix is just about trashed so walking is not an option.
I decide that we will boost D-Reb's car. We get in and I try to start it and it's a no go. The battery is dead. I think great we are running out of options and ask the Phoenix if he has any other ideas...of course not! So I hand him a flash light and tell him to start searching every car in the parking lot for jumper cables, he looks at me like I am out of my mind but agree's.
While he is doing that I am searching for key's and cables too. I find key's to a cargo van next to D-Reb's car and of course the battery is dead. About that time the Phoenix come's back and has jumper cables so I decide to try to daisy chain the dead batteries together to see if I can get enough juice to start D-Reb's car. As I get everything ready The Phoenix opens D-Reb's hood, I hook up jump in and low and behold the damn thing starts!
After about 5 minutes of letting the car run we get everything put back where we got it and go to close the hood. But some how the Phoenix managed to break the hood and not just break it so much as completely rip it off the car! I look at him and asked "what did you do" he just looked at me with a blank face and said "I don't know". So I go about trying to reattach it to the car. After about 20 minutes I decide that the hood is not an essential piece of equipment for our commute and quickly MEL it ( throw it on the ground).
The Phoenix asked me " are you just going to leave that there" I respond " yep now get in the car I'm leaving"
The party was pretty much uneventful. They had a live band, a few of the members tried to get me to play with them after they found out I played. " I'm not here to play...I'm here to drink your whiskey!"
Over the next several day's the flying had been steady putting in 6 plus hour flight days then coming home to relax only to have a party started at my place.
Even on Valentines day when I was sure I would be able to rest while every one was out with their wives they partied here bringing their wives before going out to dinner. So with me the ATC guy and the Phoenix having no one to have dinner with we decide to go together to take advantage of the couples valentine special at the local diner. yeah I spent valentines night with two dudes over a candle light dinner lol pathetic!! but is was super cheap!
Over the course of a week we drank so much beer I am seriously thinking about subsidizing my income with recycled beer cans.
On a lighter note Dan and myself have been given class dates for the Sabb. March 26th, Dan will be Anchorage based and I will be headed to Boston. So this could very well be the last month that we will be based out here as Bush Pilot's. Watch out civilized flying world...here we come!!
Friday, February 10, 2012
The Sniffels
Well Today was my first day back to flying. I have been here for about a week but have been sick and I am still sick.
Dan went home last night leaving me here as the only FO so I felt like I had to try to fly today. That was a bad idea and what makes it worse is I knew better. My head is congested and going to altitude and coming back down reeks havoc on the ear's. Mine feel like someone stabbed me with an ice pick right in the ear.
On top of the constant ringing in my ear's I'm here alone and I'm supper board with out Dan here to instigate and participate in my shenanigan's.
Speaking of Dan...today is his birthday. He is apparently trying to be clever and delete this info form his online social networking pages as too keep the world from knowing.So I'm here to tell the whole world it's Dan the bush pilot's birthday!!
Happy Birthday Dan!!! and good luck with that Cha Cha thing! lol
Dan went home last night leaving me here as the only FO so I felt like I had to try to fly today. That was a bad idea and what makes it worse is I knew better. My head is congested and going to altitude and coming back down reeks havoc on the ear's. Mine feel like someone stabbed me with an ice pick right in the ear.
On top of the constant ringing in my ear's I'm here alone and I'm supper board with out Dan here to instigate and participate in my shenanigan's.
Speaking of Dan...today is his birthday. He is apparently trying to be clever and delete this info form his online social networking pages as too keep the world from knowing.So I'm here to tell the whole world it's Dan the bush pilot's birthday!!
Happy Birthday Dan!!! and good luck with that Cha Cha thing! lol
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Fun in the sun
Typically my day's off are not usually relevant to this aviation based blog but yesterday broke that mold.
As I was out running earns yesterday I received a call from my father in-law asking if i would want to meet up with a friend of his who has heard about my blog and wanted to go flying with me. Well what the heck it's a beautiful day and well I do love to fly. To top it off this guy is wanting to do aerobatics so I'm totally in!
As I make the 2 hour drive to meet up with him I start wondering to my self who is this guy? what type of plane does he have? it's probubly some guy with a Citabria.
About an hour into my drive I get another call from my father in-law giving me more detail on this guy. Apparently he moonlights as a professional competition aerobatic pilot flying in competitions and air shows across the country. I start to think to myself. Now wait a minute... this professional aerobatic pilot like's my stories...enough so that he want's to fly with me personally. Ok this guy does know I'm not one of those Alaskan TV pilot's right? Seriously I didn't think my stories were that good, hell I was even thinking I was being too detailed, a bit negative and was debating a change in writing style. Plus this guy has to have a million stories better than mine.
As I arrive my father in-law is waiting on me. We talk and hang out while we wait for the guy to arrive. When he arrives we head to the hanger. As the door opens my mind can't believe what my eyes are seeing! sitting in the corner is a bright red Pitts C model!! Ok surely this guy isn't going to let me fly his half million dollar toy...no this will just be a ride along which is fine because I am a cheap date!
Looking over the plane me and the guy "J" start to talk. He tells me how much he enjoys my stories and is looking forward to flying with me. after a bit of chit chat he begins briefing me on the flight and what we will be doing. During this conversation he tells me that I will be flying and not to worry because I can't do anything to break the airplane. I'm thinking to myself "LOL wana bet"!!!
All suited up we hop in and taxi out and away we went.
For the next 45 minutes we proceeded to burn a hole in the sky. He showed me how to set the plane up to do a handful of maneuvers I spent the rest of the time putting on an air show for friends and family who were waiting on the ground.
I want to give a big thanks to J for sharing his toys with me and to RG for introducing us.
Hahahaha to all my readers out there I am now taking request's. If you would like to personally fly with me I will be more that happy to do so and promise to write about you and the flight in my blog.
As I was out running earns yesterday I received a call from my father in-law asking if i would want to meet up with a friend of his who has heard about my blog and wanted to go flying with me. Well what the heck it's a beautiful day and well I do love to fly. To top it off this guy is wanting to do aerobatics so I'm totally in!
As I make the 2 hour drive to meet up with him I start wondering to my self who is this guy? what type of plane does he have? it's probubly some guy with a Citabria.
About an hour into my drive I get another call from my father in-law giving me more detail on this guy. Apparently he moonlights as a professional competition aerobatic pilot flying in competitions and air shows across the country. I start to think to myself. Now wait a minute... this professional aerobatic pilot like's my stories...enough so that he want's to fly with me personally. Ok this guy does know I'm not one of those Alaskan TV pilot's right? Seriously I didn't think my stories were that good, hell I was even thinking I was being too detailed, a bit negative and was debating a change in writing style. Plus this guy has to have a million stories better than mine.
As I arrive my father in-law is waiting on me. We talk and hang out while we wait for the guy to arrive. When he arrives we head to the hanger. As the door opens my mind can't believe what my eyes are seeing! sitting in the corner is a bright red Pitts C model!! Ok surely this guy isn't going to let me fly his half million dollar toy...no this will just be a ride along which is fine because I am a cheap date!
Looking over the plane me and the guy "J" start to talk. He tells me how much he enjoys my stories and is looking forward to flying with me. after a bit of chit chat he begins briefing me on the flight and what we will be doing. During this conversation he tells me that I will be flying and not to worry because I can't do anything to break the airplane. I'm thinking to myself "LOL wana bet"!!!
All suited up we hop in and taxi out and away we went.
For the next 45 minutes we proceeded to burn a hole in the sky. He showed me how to set the plane up to do a handful of maneuvers I spent the rest of the time putting on an air show for friends and family who were waiting on the ground.
I want to give a big thanks to J for sharing his toys with me and to RG for introducing us.
Hahahaha to all my readers out there I am now taking request's. If you would like to personally fly with me I will be more that happy to do so and promise to write about you and the flight in my blog.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Free at last Free at last
This morning I woke up with the full intention of doing absolutely nothing. As I arrived in Op's the girls told me I had a four leg trip to fly today. I told them I did not want to do anything...I swear those girls don't listen to me!
Annoyed I give in knowing the four legs will still get me back in time for my dead head to Anchorage so off to get the plane ready.
I grab the flight manifest and see I am running cargo runs with Hazmat on this trip. This is fine with me no passengers to deal with. Still in the mind set of doing as little as possible today I set up the plane so that I can sling the cargo net from the roof like a hammock so I can crawl back and go to sleep.
The first leg captain Trapper is flying and there is too much cargo in the back to use my hammock so I intend to wait until the second leg after we off load some cargo I should have plenty off room and Captain Trapper can fly.
After the first stop we start our taxi out Captain trapper look's at me and tells me "this is your leg"...but I don't want to fly today. Crap he out ranks me....I swear I need to get myself another one of those stripes!!
Off we go. As I descend into the next stop I decide that I am going rebellious for them making me fly. I fully intend to use every inch of this ice covered runway for my landing. I'm not going into beta or reverse I am going to let this thing roll out all the way to the end letting the breaks do all the work.
Now before we go any further let me explain a few things. The break system on this plane is fully capable of stopping the plane in the amount of runway I had but the airline is cheap and using breaks wears them out and they have to replace them second having to taxi back down a runway wears on the tries causing them to have to be replaced more often so they like us to land and stop in time for a turn into the ramp to prevent wear.
Today I don't care for one the plane go's down for a phase inspection as soon as we get back and during that inspection they have to replace the breaks anyway second I think it will be cute to blow by the turn with villagers standing on the ramp waiting for us in the cold and then smoke them out when I pull up.
upon landing I use damn near all of the runway..holding the breaks the whole time. Now it's very cold out side and the breaks are very very hot by the time I taxi back to the ramp. lol when I hop out of the plane the breaks are producing more fog than a twisted sister concert. All I can do is giggle and think " morning b****es"
When I get back in the plane Captain Trapper is grinning at me like he thought it was clever too but then again he always grins when he farts and he is constantly doing that. I didn't smell anything and this guy will make you want to jump out of the plane some times so I'll assume he thought it was funny too.
The rest of the trip was uneventful most of the time I was giggling about what I had done.
When we returned home I could not get out of the plane fast enough. I run into Op's and ask if I am released from duty the girls laugh and shake their heads so I make a B-line upstairs to pack my bag.
Now I have to sit here and wait for the plane to come in about 4 hours from now. I'm so damn excited I might even skip to the plane singing "I'm off to see the wizard"
Well folks hopefully this will be my last post until I return to duty on the first. At least when I return I will be back to rooming with Dan...no more of new guy or Hollywood thank God!!
Annoyed I give in knowing the four legs will still get me back in time for my dead head to Anchorage so off to get the plane ready.
I grab the flight manifest and see I am running cargo runs with Hazmat on this trip. This is fine with me no passengers to deal with. Still in the mind set of doing as little as possible today I set up the plane so that I can sling the cargo net from the roof like a hammock so I can crawl back and go to sleep.
The first leg captain Trapper is flying and there is too much cargo in the back to use my hammock so I intend to wait until the second leg after we off load some cargo I should have plenty off room and Captain Trapper can fly.
After the first stop we start our taxi out Captain trapper look's at me and tells me "this is your leg"...but I don't want to fly today. Crap he out ranks me....I swear I need to get myself another one of those stripes!!
Off we go. As I descend into the next stop I decide that I am going rebellious for them making me fly. I fully intend to use every inch of this ice covered runway for my landing. I'm not going into beta or reverse I am going to let this thing roll out all the way to the end letting the breaks do all the work.
Now before we go any further let me explain a few things. The break system on this plane is fully capable of stopping the plane in the amount of runway I had but the airline is cheap and using breaks wears them out and they have to replace them second having to taxi back down a runway wears on the tries causing them to have to be replaced more often so they like us to land and stop in time for a turn into the ramp to prevent wear.
Today I don't care for one the plane go's down for a phase inspection as soon as we get back and during that inspection they have to replace the breaks anyway second I think it will be cute to blow by the turn with villagers standing on the ramp waiting for us in the cold and then smoke them out when I pull up.
upon landing I use damn near all of the runway..holding the breaks the whole time. Now it's very cold out side and the breaks are very very hot by the time I taxi back to the ramp. lol when I hop out of the plane the breaks are producing more fog than a twisted sister concert. All I can do is giggle and think " morning b****es"
When I get back in the plane Captain Trapper is grinning at me like he thought it was clever too but then again he always grins when he farts and he is constantly doing that. I didn't smell anything and this guy will make you want to jump out of the plane some times so I'll assume he thought it was funny too.
The rest of the trip was uneventful most of the time I was giggling about what I had done.
When we returned home I could not get out of the plane fast enough. I run into Op's and ask if I am released from duty the girls laugh and shake their heads so I make a B-line upstairs to pack my bag.
Now I have to sit here and wait for the plane to come in about 4 hours from now. I'm so damn excited I might even skip to the plane singing "I'm off to see the wizard"
Well folks hopefully this will be my last post until I return to duty on the first. At least when I return I will be back to rooming with Dan...no more of new guy or Hollywood thank God!!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
All good thing's must come to an end
Today marks the end to our good weather and hopefully this months duty for me!!!!
Although today was a very beautiful day here on the Alaskan peninsula the winds have started to shift and pick up speed. Landings have become fun and exciting as cross winds were 35-40 knots and the best runways having a surface equivalent to an ice skating ring! hahaha can we say breaking action Nil!!! thank god for Beta and Reverse!
Even though the wind's were not favorable and the annoyance of the constant shaking from the turbulence it was one of those day's were I took a thousand pictures in my mind that I will never forget.
As I look down at the bearing sea below me it reminds me of the sky with all the snow covered ice packs looking like fluffy clouds and the glistening cold blue water of the bearing painting the sky around them. It looked to me just like a calm spring morning with a sky scattered with clouds but I was looking down as if viewing it through a mirror.
On the leg home I was in a hurry and didn't want to fly so I let George do it for me. ( the auto pilot) As I sat there looking out of my window at the mountain range I couldn't help but notice the base of the ranges for as far as I could see looked very different. They looked like the were shear cliffs dropping off for hundreds of feet and all the ranges were connected together. Now I know this not to be true...I have flown through those ranges hundreds of times. As I keep staring at it, it looks blurred almost distorted like as if I was looking through a very out of focus lens.I take my sun glasses off rub my eyes and look again, nope still there. I wipe the window with my sleeve thinking the window must be smudged. This also had no effect. I start to panic thinking my vision is going so I start looking around...every thing close or with out feature looks right but the rang is still distorted. As I sit there wondering what is going on I look over at my OAT gauge (outside Air temp) and it is oddly warm up here as compared to on the ground. All at once it hit's me! What I am seeing is caused by a temperature inversion. (when the air temp above is warmer than below) Though I have flown in temp inversions many times before I have never seen this phenomenon before only remember reading about it in books
A few more minutes of taking this in and I as done fading into day dreaming until out decent into the airport.
The change in winds mean a departure of the good weather here as it will only be a matter of time before the next big low pressure system pushes in making flying and life here miserable.
I hope it holds out for another day because tomorrow one of our two planes is supposed to go in for a phase inspection meaning I wont have to fly Thursday or Friday. Without having flights means I can be released from duty two days early. I only have to fly tomorrow morning if we have enough flights to constitute flying both planes, if not I get to hang out all day and dead head to Anchorage tomorrow night starting my migration south in search of warmer weather, better food, and softer beds!
Although today was a very beautiful day here on the Alaskan peninsula the winds have started to shift and pick up speed. Landings have become fun and exciting as cross winds were 35-40 knots and the best runways having a surface equivalent to an ice skating ring! hahaha can we say breaking action Nil!!! thank god for Beta and Reverse!
Even though the wind's were not favorable and the annoyance of the constant shaking from the turbulence it was one of those day's were I took a thousand pictures in my mind that I will never forget.
As I look down at the bearing sea below me it reminds me of the sky with all the snow covered ice packs looking like fluffy clouds and the glistening cold blue water of the bearing painting the sky around them. It looked to me just like a calm spring morning with a sky scattered with clouds but I was looking down as if viewing it through a mirror.
On the leg home I was in a hurry and didn't want to fly so I let George do it for me. ( the auto pilot) As I sat there looking out of my window at the mountain range I couldn't help but notice the base of the ranges for as far as I could see looked very different. They looked like the were shear cliffs dropping off for hundreds of feet and all the ranges were connected together. Now I know this not to be true...I have flown through those ranges hundreds of times. As I keep staring at it, it looks blurred almost distorted like as if I was looking through a very out of focus lens.I take my sun glasses off rub my eyes and look again, nope still there. I wipe the window with my sleeve thinking the window must be smudged. This also had no effect. I start to panic thinking my vision is going so I start looking around...every thing close or with out feature looks right but the rang is still distorted. As I sit there wondering what is going on I look over at my OAT gauge (outside Air temp) and it is oddly warm up here as compared to on the ground. All at once it hit's me! What I am seeing is caused by a temperature inversion. (when the air temp above is warmer than below) Though I have flown in temp inversions many times before I have never seen this phenomenon before only remember reading about it in books
A few more minutes of taking this in and I as done fading into day dreaming until out decent into the airport.
The change in winds mean a departure of the good weather here as it will only be a matter of time before the next big low pressure system pushes in making flying and life here miserable.
I hope it holds out for another day because tomorrow one of our two planes is supposed to go in for a phase inspection meaning I wont have to fly Thursday or Friday. Without having flights means I can be released from duty two days early. I only have to fly tomorrow morning if we have enough flights to constitute flying both planes, if not I get to hang out all day and dead head to Anchorage tomorrow night starting my migration south in search of warmer weather, better food, and softer beds!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)