I had a REALLY good week long vacation in Hawaii. How good? I gained 10 pounds. Booo.

So this week I hit up FatSecret.com and started using the app and software to track my eating again. I’ve used the site/app for a while. It’s a totally free service and I get no revenue from them so don’t think I’m mentioning the site to make money.

There is an app for iOs and Android. Works for me.

After putting in all my data it says I can eat about 2600 calories a day and loose weight. To do that I’ve been eating fish, rice and fresh vegetables this week. I feel a lot better. I’ve also been avoiding processed foods.

This is easy while at home. On the road. Not so much. Fresh foods don’t exist much in airports and when they are there….they are expensive. So I compromise…and plan.

I’m gone for 2 nights. This is the food I have packed away:

2 Oranges (breakfast)

4 Celemintines (snack in route)

2 Healthy Choice Steamer Meals (dinners)

3 Thomas Bagels in a freezer bag (breakfast)

2 Lara Bars (lunch/snack)

2 Cliff Bars (lunch/snack)

1 container of cinnamon almonds (my sweet vice)

All inside my suitcase with my clothes, Roku box…and all my other stuff.

More than enough food. I won’t eat it all. I pack it so I have options….and reasons NOT to go out. It helps I know both hotels I will stay in (Wingate and a Holiday Inn Express) both have Microwaves and Fridges in the room. None of my food needs refrigeration….but still nice to have.

I’m all out of GoPicnic meals this week. I ordered 18 meals from their website with a 40% off coupon for taking a survey. The discount brings them down to $2.37 a piece…far cheaper than the $3.99 in store or $3.61 from Amazon. I might have to order another shipment.

And with that…my first post in a long time that doesn’t directly mention flying.

http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/2012/02/ten-west-of-cofax.html?spref=fb

My first turn was interesting. While on a localizer approach I was descending to MDA when I saw the runway about 400 above minimums. The autopilot was on….and then it wasn’t.

“I didn’t do that.” were the first words out of my mouth. My right hand had been holding the yoke for the entire approach.

A quick scan of the instruments showed the localizer on the ground had turned off…which turned off lateral guidance on the autopilot. Thankfully this happened AFTER we had the runway in sight. If it happened before I would have been forced to go missed approach. It came back on….and then off again.

Landed normally. I then advised the tower that the localizer had turned off.

“Are you sure, the alarm hasn’t gone off.” replied the tower. Right then an alarm was going off in the background.

“Nevermind…gotta love this equipment.” the tower controller continued.

While on final during the the return flight we were cleared to 3000 which is the base of the class B shelf. There is a glass G airport under the shelf.

“Traffic! Traffic!” barked the TCAS computer. I saw a yellow blip on the screen climbing toward us. I looked outside (clear VFR day) and saw a plane coming up at us. Not just any plane…but a Piper Seminole from AllATPs.

“Traffic! Traffic! Climb! Climb Now!” barked the TCAS. My Captain clicked off the autopilot and began an escape maneuver. I got on the radio with approach and advised we were responding to a RA.

The seminole climbed to about 2700 feet and about a 1/2 mile away laterally. The RA likely came due to the rapid climbing ascent it was doing.

We landed normally. I then filled out the airline required paperwork. Anytime there is a RA event I have to fill out a form. Done.

The rest of the trip was nice. Overnighted right on a beach on the first night. The second night was in a forgotten downtown area…which was kinda crappy as everything was closed….and my crew was hungry. We had to wait for the hotel resturant to open at 5:30PM to eat. Glad I pack snacks!

The last overnight was in Lexington, KY….the site of the most recent United States crash by an airliner. Spooked me out a bit as I lined up with runway 4 I could see the fields where the Comair flight came to rest.

The airport has had a lot of changes since the accident including the removal of runway 8/26.

My four day trip ended uneventfully. Flew 21 hours over 4 days. Off till Saturday when I start a 17 hour 3 day trip.

Rule #1 Always Come Home

Rule #2 See rule #1

Picked up a day trip on overtime yesterday. Simple 4 hour 40 minute turn.

I debated picking it up….then I saw the weatherman said the weather would be horrible ALL DAY…that sealed the deal.

I was hoping horrible weather would mean the flight would cancel….I’d stay home with pay.

I drove to work under partly cloudy skies. So much for horrible weather.

Blocked out 4 minutes early Captain flew it up.

The weather was starting to turn for the worse. Lots of turbulence.

Two hours later he greased it on. Quick 20 minute turn. Blocked out 10 minutes early.

Normal first hour of flight. Then we got a reroute. Now going on the backside of the weather. Fuel looked good.

Twenty minutes later we got another reroute. Further out. Fuel looked decent.

Another twenty minutes later a third reroute. Way out. Computer showed landing with 5 minutes of fuel to spare. Problem.

Pulled the power way back. Captain began typing messages to the dispatcher. We happened to be directly over an airport we serve….easy diversion.

ATC was very busy assigning reroutes. Lots of chuckles reading them back….none of us had the fuel to do it. I’m glad I brought my suitcase. Some pilots on day trips just bring a kit bag.

Thankfully they worked out a way into the hub….via direct to a VOR and RADAR vectors. RADAR vectors……into a major hub.

The closer we got the busier the controllers. at 15,000 feet we were cleared to 5,000. I tried to shallow out my descent to avoid the weather. Unavoidable.

Out went the spoilers and flaps. Dive! Dive! Dive!

It was a rough 5 minutes. Told to keep a speed of 220 knots. Moderate turbulence and updrafts the entire descent. I haven’t been pulled and pushed against my seat belts so much in a while. The autopilot was on, but I had one hand firmly on the yoke and one hand on the thrust levers. There were moments of turbulence where the trend vectors shot way up and then way down. Every now and then it was so rough I couldn’t read a single gauge or number.

Remember….don’t break Rule #1.

Further descent to 2500. Right at the bottom of the scud.

Picked up the airport 10 miles ahead. Cleared for the visual. Gusty crosswind 50 degrees to the right of centerline. Somehow greased it on. Done.

Went 40 minutes over block. Five hours twenty minutes total. Cha Ching!

As the passengers exited the plane several stopped to thank us for the safe flight a long with more than a few “good jobs”.

Start my 4 day trip tomorrow worth 20 hours thirty minutes.

When I walked in the door my wife knew about the bad weather but she wasn’t the least bit worried……the reason? Rule #1.

I got what I wanted…18 days off, domestic only…but almost all flying is in the cold states. Ick.

So over the last few days I’ve been working on my sequences.

My first sequence was a 3 day trip worth 16 hours. I started late Saturday morning and finished very late Monday night. Somewhere in there I sat around for over 3 hours between flights.

I searched and searched..and waited. I finally found a 21 hour 4 day trip with fewer legs and a much earlier finish. Icing on the cake (balanced out by the fact that I lost a day off !) was I could be on the beach by 4PM on day one! Traded!

My next issue was February 20th….Presidents day. Day care is closed that day.

My wife used to have that day off. Her company was bought out and the new company doesn’t have Presidents day as a paid holiday.

I was scheduled to start an 18 hour 3 day trip early on the 18th (a Saturday) finishing late Monday night (the 20th). The trip was scheduled to fly to almost all cold/snowy airports.

If I didn’t change it my wife would have to take a day off work and I would spend the weekend running de-ice checklist.

Once again I searched and searched and found a 3 day trip worth 17 hours in warm states…that starts on Thursday (the 16th) afternoon and finishes late Saturday night.

I get Sunday off…home Monday to hang out with my daughter….and very little de-icing.

I still have two of my original trips. The last one of the month is a 4 day. Eh. Hope to move that one so I can attend a family wedding.

For March I will pay MUCH more attention to my preferences for bidding.

Since I did the same trips, and thus stayed in the same hotels (at one hotel the exact same room each week….a little odd), I decided to pack my food for the trip.

Instead of eating out…and eating a lot…I brought my own. Each hotel had a microwave and fridge in the room. I packed along healthy choice steamer meals, oranges and my new favorite meals “GoPicnic” meals.

GoPicnic has a line of meals on the go that require no fridge, are healthy and all natural. They are mostly high in protein so I feel fuller longer. My favorite is the hummus and crackers followed by the turkey pepperoni. I buy them from Amazon for super cheap.

My no eating out worked…except for day two when I was one GoPicnic meal short. Eh. I tried.

Nothing terribly exciting on the trip. I had musical Captains as my regular Captain was removed from the first day and a half due to a 30 in 7 conflict.

On the last leg of the trip my Captain was flying and I was on the radios. Cruising along at FL380…all was great. I was just looking ahead at a contrail of an aircraft 10 miles ahead on the same routing. The use of GPS and FMS has made airways very compact. Sometimes it’s neat…sometimes annoying as we go through the exact same air as a preceding aircraft…which might be a heavy.

Anyways I was just watching the contrail when I heard my flight number in my ears along with “contact center on 124.95″. I didn’t respond. It was repeated. I then looked over at the Captain and said, “Hey they want us on 124.95″. He just said “yeah I know…remember I’m flying.” Doh! I had flown the first 2 legs of the day and my mind was stuck in flying mode. Made for a funny moment.

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Off for 4 days. I start a truly crappy 3 day on Saturday. Just for comparison my 3 day this month was worth 20 hours and change. Only had a single 2 hour sit.

My next 3 day trip is worth 16 hours and has a huge 3 hour 20 minute sit. Just crap. I’m trying to trade it for a 2 day trip followed by a day trip. Hope it goes through.

Beyond that I was happy to hear a long time reader of this blog got hired at Expressjet. I met him once while on an overnight years ago. He built his hours the old fashioned way…getting flying in however he can. I have several friends at Expressjet and most are very happy. He’s young and has 40+ years of flying ahead of him.

My airline hiring has slowed. I did see a new hire in the crew room the other day. They are easy to spot as they have super clean luggage, are quiet….and still own their souls. Ha!

Every year since 2008 I have gone to the North American Autoshow in Detroit. It’s my annual pilgrimage. To be open…I go to about 5 autoshows a year….only a few different cars at each one. Eh.

Anyways the public show ended the following Sunday. I had a 3 day trip starting Saturday. Decisions.

Go Friday or don’t go at all.

The loads on my airline/mainline partner looked great going there, but only marginal coming back. I had to get back.

I keep in touch with a lot of pilots I met while at ATP. They work for various other regionals. I hit one up to check the loads on another airline I could use as a backup. Marginal as well.

Marginal + marginal = let’s go in my book.

To get there as early as possible I jump seated offline (offline = not my airline or mainline partner) to Detroit as the offline flight got me in 40 minutes earlier.

I hopped in a rental car (I love National Emerald Isle!) and was at the show by 10:10 AM. Great show.

By 1PM I was done. Headed back.

The offline direct flight back left at 3:10PM. I was sitting in the gate area at 2:00PM. No agent at the desk.

I checked in with my wife and played on my Kindle Fire.

Around 2:20PM a pilot walked up to the counter and set up camp. He was waiting for the gate agent. I was in plain clothes.

Panic set in. I politely asked if he was jump seating or deadheading.

For offline jumpseaters it’s first come first served. He would get the jump before me if the flight was full.

Sure enough an earlier flight cancelled. My marginal flight was now overbooked. Crap. The agent arrived and gave him the jump.

I had 3 hours till my online flight and 4 hours until the next offline flight. Both were overbooked because of the cancellation. To make matters worse…a good amount of snow was to fall in about 2 hours.

Time to strategize.

I stood infront of a bank of departure monitors looking for a way out. I would be two legging it home.

Each time I saw a flight that I could make time wise I would check the loads from that city to my home. I finally found a way.

Of course I had no way of quickly checking the loads for the offline flight.

A flight was set to leave at 3:50PM to a city I could connect in. I quietly stood in the line to speak with a gate agent. Four other pilots in line. Thankfully one saw my crew ID around my neck and let me know they were all deadheading. Nice.

The flight was delayed. The new arrival time gave me 40 minutes to connect to my flight home.

Boarded up. I was in the jump seat. I always get the odd look from passengers when they see me in plain clothes turn left onto the flight deck instead of right into the cabin.

Before pushback they were overweight for takeoff by 300 pounds. Partially due to extra bags…partially due to me being in the jump seat. They worked it out but knew they had another problem…landing weight.

Their dispatcher gave them 1000 pounds of taxi fuel assuming there would be delays from the snow. The snow hadn’t started. They only burned 300 pounds on the taxi.

Once at cruise they realized they were 1500 pounds over max landing weight. Ninety minute flight….out went the flight spoilers.

With the spoilers out and thrust levers up fuel burn increased dramatically….as did the noise.

Thirty minutes out and they were still 400 pounds over. They descended early and put flaps out in addition to the spoilers. Turning final they were finally right at landing weight. Done.

At the gate I thanked them for the ride and walked quickly to my next gate. Old airport….I had to exit and then re-clear security.

Walked on board with 20 minutes to spare.

Got home around 8:30PM.

Work the next day began at 7:10AM.

Day one was normal. Nothing too exciting.

Day two was normal until the hotel leg.

Weather at the overnight was crap. Given an alternate. Huge group of old folks on board who came off an 18 day cruise. They had a lot of bags. Way more than average.

For a full flight the average cargo load is around 2400 pounds. For that flight the weight was 2900 pounds. The extra 500 pounds plus the alternate meant we had to leave 1 passenger (an employee non-rev) behind. Before we left the gate we were 90 pounds UNDER max landing weight.

Captains leg. About 40 minutes out we realized we were 800 pounds over. This was due to a 110 knot tailwind. Time to work.

Early descent and spoilers out for us as well. With the tailwind we ended up putting gear out at as well. Delayed vectors and a few turns later we burned off the excess. Done.

Day 3 of the trip goes from the outstation to the hub back to the same outstation then back to the hub. I flew the first two legs.

First leg fine.

For the second leg we left the gate being 150 pounds under max landing. Tailwinds. Six hundred pounds over. I got to play the same game. Landed 50 pounds under max.

It was also my first time landing on snow in the new plane. The weather was :

28020G26KT 1 1/4SM -SN BR BKN006 OVC012 M01/M02 A2949

Landing runway 31. Slight crosswind while landing on snow. Mostly uneventful. The new plane feels different than my last, wobbly mains even in dry conditions.

I love my schedule this month. Easy 3 day trip. Just 3 cities and 10 legs! Next month my schedule is crap. I have 18 days off…but the trips are horrible.

Off for two days. I go in for an overtime day trip Thursday…off Friday then my last awesome 3 day trip starts on Saturday.

Answer:

Yes it can be normal. Weight and balance is a tricky task at best….. aggravating at worst.

This is really good timing on your question as I’ve had 3 flights with fuel issues in the last 4 days. I’ll write those blogs in the coming days. For now…I’ll stick to the question.

The ground crew could have legitimately loaded the correct amount of fuel, but then conditions changed. Most fuelers are good so I will assume that’s what happened. I will attempt to explain a flight where the “right” amount of fuel can be the “wrong” amount of fuel.

I will use the following numbers:

Empty weight:

Max Ramp Weight: 61000

Max Takeoff Weight:60750

Max Zero Fuel Weight: 51610

Max Landing Weight:54578

Empty Weight: 38500

Those are the easy weights. Issues come up with short runways or airports near terrain. Just because a plane can takeoff weight 60750 pounds doesn’t mean it will be able to every time.

So in the original question “why on earth didn’t he simply fly lower or climb at a slower rate instead of making us sit there”….here ya go.

Let’s take a look at LGA….an airport with short runways and terrain (buildings). This flight will take place in the winter.

Winter operations cause performance penalties just like summer operations. The reason? Ice……and the need to get rid of it.

I will use the following weather:

KLGA 240051Z 17012G18KT 1/2SM R04/6000VP6000FT -RA BR OVC020 03/01 A2956 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2

Low vis…rain and windy.

I’m going to keep it really simple (even though it gets incredibly complex when taking into account wind, pressure and temp). Runway 22 is in use for takeoff.

The flight has 58 passengers. Their weight is assumed to be 10324 (178 pounds each). Before boarding begins all are assumed to be an adult.

The 2 hour flight is expected to burn 6500 pounds of fuel

The FAA required 45 minute reserve fuel weights 1500 pounds

The destination weather is marginal. The alternate requires 2300 pounds of fuel. Total of 10,300 pounds of fuel.

So lets add it up….20624 pounds of fuel and people…add in the empty plane weight of 38500 equals 59124….leaving 1626 pounds to spare. We haven’t looked at the runway performance data. My airline has big fancy computer program for this. The engineers look at accelerate and stop distances along with terrain avoidance (and all the other FAR required performance data). For runway 22 runway we are limited by the climb performance to avoid terrain. Max takeoff weight is 59800. Not a big hit….950 pounds.

Now for you fellow airline pilots I’m fully aware credit (thus more weight can be carried) by taking into account headwind, temp and pressure. But….let’s keep it simple.

As of now everyone can go.

Boarding completes…the plane pushes back and heads to runway 22. Then it happened. Snow. New performance penalty. A hefty 900 pounds.

New max takeoff weight is 58700. The plane left the gate weighing 59800. The dispatcher reworks the alternate. A new one is found that only requires 1300 pounds of fuel. The flight is legal…as soon as they shed 900 pounds. At this point fuel is the easiest thing to shed.

Offloading fuel is expensive. The fuel can’t go back into the ground (for airports with ground refueling) or just any fuel truck. The fuel must be offloaded into a separate container to avoid contamination. Often cheaper to burn it.

Thus the plane will sit somewhere on the airport property with both engines running and the APU burning….to shed that 900 pounds. Taking off and flying lower isn’t an option as they are too heavy to takeoff.

If the snow had started before they left the gate they would have likely left behind people or bags.

Believe it or not people are often cheaper than bags. People can be bought off at the gate. Their bags goes on to their destination. If the person goes but the bag stays the airline pays a very hefty fee to have the bag hand delivered to the person.

Hope this answered your question. I truly hate math so I tried to keep it easy. That’s all for now…more blogs over the next few days.

My wife and daughter had real tickets both ways. The return flight started filling up a few days ago. The day prior it was overbooked. Another airline cancelled a flight and thus filled up the flight with my wife and daughter. I could still jump seat….but…eh.

PHOG is a fairly small airport. The main runway is 6995 feet long. Not terribly long for flights to the mainland. The biggest plane I saw there was a 767-300.

Honolulu has several more flights to the mainland. I figured once I got there, I could easily hop on my mainline partner or any other airline and get home.

It would have been nice to be on the same flight as my wife and daughter, but if I was in the jump seat I wouldn’t be able to help out so we decided I should at least be comfortable for the long flight and head to PHNL.

I looked up the jump seat procedures for Hawaiian. Not terribly hard.

Hawaiian flies 717′s between the islands. They had flights almost every hour, sometimes twice an hour, between PHOG and PHNL.

I decided on the 3:43PM flight which would give me 2-3 hours to find a way from PHNL to the mainland.

After asking for a ride from the Captain I took my seat for the short hop.

Once at PHNL I took a bus over to another terminal where the mainland flights were located.

Thankfully I was able to get a real seat on my mainline partner for the flight home.

During pushback the APU shutdown…plane went dark. Thankfully it restarted. No delay.

For some reason we landed 15 minutes late. Originally my flight was to land 20 minutes after the flight with my family. Not a big deal.

I’m debating making my annual trek to the North American International Auto Show tomorrow. I’ve been every year for the last 3 years. Pretty tired.

I go back to work Saturday morning for my 3 day trip.

Finally….a shot from the house where I spent a week in Kapalua. …it was…….Legen—–dary

Every now and then airlines change the gate for departing…and arriving flights. This isn’t done for fun. It causes a lot of headaches.

Let’s just look at two gates call them gate 10 and gate 15

Flight 290 is scheduled to leave at 8AM from gate 10.

Flight 042 is scheduled to arrive at gate 10 at 8:20AM. The same plane is to leave from gate 10 at 8:55AM.

Flight 831 is scheduled to arrive at gate 15 at 8:25AM. The same plane is to leave from gate 15 at 8:55AM.

Flight 290 has a mechanical issue at 7:55AM. No ETA yet.

Flight 042 lands at 8:10AM and is told to hold for gate 10.

At 8:15AM Flight 831 lands. ETA for flight 290′s repair is 8:45AM.

Flight 042 is sent to gate 15. All the passengers waiting for the next departure at 8:55AM are sent from gate 10 to gate 15. Additionally all the baggage handlers are alerted as Flight 042 has connecting passengers. Baggage handlers have to go to gate 15 to get the new bags. Additionally the handlers have to bring the bags for the outbound flight down from gate 10 to gate 15.

After the baggage handlers are alerted the fueler, caterers, cleaning crew and flight crews must be alerted to the gate change.

Flight o42 pulls into gate 15 on time at 8:20AM.

Flight 831 pulls up and is told gate 15 is occupied and there are currently no open gates. Hold.

The same alerts go out for flight 831. Meanwhile flight 290 is waiting at gate 10. Every minute of delay cost money as that plane is scheduled to do other flights and the flight crews are scheduled to fly other flights.

Some joke that changing gates is our “Passenger fitness program” as they walk from gate to gate. Trust me flight crews hate gate changes just as much as passengers as we know all the behind the scenes stuff has to work just right. Sometimes it’s flawless…more often than not it’s not.

Airlines plan for the best…clear skies, perfect planes and perfect passengers. Sometimes things just go bad.

It’s not always a mechanical issue that causes a delay.

Hey passengers….some of you treat my aircraft like a dumpster. You leave all kinds of crap stuffed in the seat pockets (even though the flight attendants pass by several times for trash), you let your kids tear up magazines and leave bits all over the floor, you are just messy. Not to mention sometimes people “toss their cookies” and don’t always hit the bags.

The worst I’ve had was a family of 5 sitting in a row. Mom was holding a baby. Kid one next to the mom. Two other siblings across the aisle. One kid vomited. Then another. Then the mom….onto the baby she was holding. No one hit a bag. It all hit the seats…the walls…the floor. Bad. Delays.

And when weather happens….again more gate delays. When pilots/gate agents state it’s a ATC/Weather Delay….it really is an ATC/Weather Delay. Your “friends” might be at the airport you’re flying to and it might be BEAUTIFUL. But it might be really crappy a few miles away on an important airway/route to the airport.

Think I’m done with my soap box. The big point is….when delays happen….roll with it. Yelling at a gate agent…being rude to a flight attendant or posting a rude comment on twitter/Facebook will get you no where fast.

Tips….book non-stop flights….directly with the airline. I call people who book on sites like Expedia , expidiots. If something goes wrong and you book with the airline…they help directly. If you book with Expedia…call Expedia.

If you must have a connection…give yourself time. If you are connecting thru Chicago in the winter…don’t book a 45 minute connection.

If you are flying on a regional jet there’s a 95% chance your carry on bag won’t fit. The bins are smaller. Blame Embraer and Bombardier….not the flight attendant. And don’t you dare say, “it always fits”….because it won’t. Just leave it in the appropriate area.

K…gonna put my soapbox away for a while.