Day four of my last trip was rough.

I did sleep well though…actually I slept freaking great.

The overnight hotel was on the final approach path to the main runway. Planes on glide slope passed maybe 400 feet over the hotel. Close.

We piled in the van at 6:10AM. I was doing my preflight at 6:18AM. Close.

Blocked out on time. Perfect airplane.

The first of 5 legs.

A little chop…but nothing horrible.

Blocked in early. We were supposed to keep the same plane for the first 3 legs. Pulling into the gate the ramp controller advised our plane was going out in 10 minutes…to a city not on our schedule.

Swapped.

I hate plane swaps, especially when I don’t see them coming. I built my “nest” on my side of the flight deck. Eh.

Sure enough a crew was waiting for our plane. They broke theirs. Not really. The First Officer found an issue on the preflight that would take a while to fix.

They got our plane. We got theirs.

The APU on their plane was already out of service. Now the number 2 pack (a “pack” is an Air Cycle Machine..AKA an air conditioner) was also out of service. What does this mean? A hot airplane that has to fly low.

It’s summer…almost. It’s still hot outside. Even on a 75 degree day the cabin can be as warm as 80 degrees while empty. Throw is a bunch of bodies with a temp of 98.6 degrees…and it gets warm quick.

For whatever reason the ground crew did not connect the pre-conditioned air so the cabin was stuffy…the flight deck was downright hot. I called our operations and requested the air to be connected. Without an APU pre-conditioned air was the only way to cool the cabin down without starting an engine.

I left to do my preflight and grab lunch. Ten minutes later the cabin was tolerable while the flight deck was still hot.

We boarded up the passengers and then waited for the huffer cart to be connected. Jet engines use pressurized air to start. Without an APU we needed an external air source….thus a huffer cart.

The huffer as finally connected. We ran the external start checklist and my co-pilot started the 1st engine. Done.

I engaged the number 1 pack as the number 2 pack (that primarily cools the cabin) was out of service. Thankfully we were only half full and it wasn’t too hot outside.

When things aren’t normal it takes a little longer to get things done. I have to remind myself to NOT do my normal flows.

During the taxi out to the runway I used bleed air from the number one engine to start the number two engine. Not hard, but it requires a little more thought than using the APU. Done.

Due to various FARs we had to fly at a lower altitude since only one of the two packs was operational. Thankfully the lower flight levels had better rides. It was my co-pilots leg.

Nothing exciting until final. The out station has intersecting runways. Departures were launching off runway 31. We were approaching on runway 5. Tower was staggering departures and arrivals. On short final the aircraft taking off 31 was a little slow on the roll. We were preparing for him to abort or, more likely, us to go around. Thankfully he passed through the intersection just as we passed 300 feet above the ground.

Quick turn. Once again an external air start. My leg back.

Beautiful VFR day at my hub. Clear skies, calm winds….80 degrees now. Normally makes for an easy approach. It wasn’t too be….we were following a 747.

With calm winds the wake turbulence would stick around versus being blown away. I stayed high on the ILS and slightly to the right. I advised my co-pilot of my intention to remain high all the way to the runway and land long. He agreed.

My plan worked. Smooth all the way down. We did get a good whiff of burning rubber after touchdown which is too be expected as the 747 has 18 tires!

Third leg done. An hour sit and one more turn left.

The next plane was perfect. Nothing out of service. My leg again. Fairly short 70 minute flight. I flew a little fast as I wanted to finish early.

The out station was a former military base. Huge 200 foot wide runway. Vectored in for a left base. I was a little higher than I wanted to be as I turned final. I just idled the engines and called for gear and flaps.

I was on approach speed by 500 feet. Blocked in 15 minutes early. Done.

Last leg. We were all ready to be finished. We had already flown 6 hours 50 minutes that day.

Blocked out 10 minutes early. It was looking like we would arrive 25 minutes early….until center gave us a 90 degree vector off course. Congestion. Yadda, yadda, yadda….we blocked in 15 minutes early.

Twelve hour and thirty minute duty day….flew 7 hours and 30 minutes….I had been up for 13 and a half hours. Ugh.

My wife dropped me off on Sunday and would be picking me up. She planned on me being on time…since I was early I had time to kill. Hmmmm….my daughter does love Strawberry shakes.

Shake in hand I walked out of the terminal just as my family pulled up. Even though I was tired the instant my daughter peeked her head around her car seat and saw me I was refreshed. She was even happier when she saw the shake in my hand.

Off for 3 days. I start another dreadful 4 day Sunday afternoon. I’m soooo preferencing 3 day trips next month!

Day one was easy. I had a 7PM departure. One leg to the overnight….a reduced rest 8 1/2 hour overnight. Eh.

I’d been off for 9 days…same with my co-pilot. He used to be an instructor in the training center and just recently came back to the line. He took the first leg. We would trade at the outstations.

Normal first leg. He greased it on. He was surprised seeing as he was off for 9 days.

Very short overnight.

Day two was just 2 legs. Both mine.  I also greased them on…surprising myself as well. The first one was so smooth I had to check the RADAR altimeter to make sure we actually landed. Like glass. Several passengers commented on it. Nice eh?

Tired. The good part was the overnight hotel was literally on the beach. I COULD have had my feet in the sand at noon. I’m not a beach person though.

Met up with my crew for dinner. Nice dinner.

This morning started early with a 5:40AM van.

Four legs later at another overnight. We both greased them on all day.

Another long overnight.

Tomorrow is 5 legs…8 hours of flying. Not looking forward to it.

I truly don’t care for 4 day trips. Last time I had one was IOE last November. I have two more this month. Next month I am preferencing for 3 day trips.

Years went by and I played better and better versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. My favorite “jets” were from WilcoPub.com. The ERJ and CRJ aircraft are both highly detailed yet easy to use. I couldn’t wait to fly the real thing.

Fast forward to 2006. I decided to start flight training. One of my good friends kept asking me, “so when are you going to fly jets”, as my flying props wasn’t real flying.

When I was first hired by my airline I was flying a regional jet….a “big” one….not one of those “little” ones. In reality all RJs are “little” ones…some more cramped than others.

All airlines adjust fleet count in domiciles. Some domiciles get bigger…some domicilies get smaller…some domiciles disappear.

Last year the aircraft I was assigned too was dropped from my domicile. I was a man without a plane.

I had the opportunity to follow my plane to its new domicile. I’d keep my “big” RJ seat. Nah.

Those who have read for a while know I changed aircraft.

My new RJ isn’t as nice as my old RJ….but it’s still an RJ.

More importantly my QOL is much better on this new RJ. Quality of Life is waaaay more important than the equipment I fly. A Captain who was in the same position as me put it like this, “This is a job. You are paid to fly passengers safely from point A to point B. Who cares what kind of aircraft you fly. As long as it allows you to safely do your job and go home to your family at night, it doesn’t matter. Your family is what matters.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m home way more now than I was before. This is due to my company seniority increasing and my relative seniority increasing.

I’ve been here 4 1/2 years. I’m holding weekends off (if I want), most Holidays off, 16+ days off a month,  getting the vacation I want……and I fly a little dull jet. Life is good.

Over the last week they developed a nasty habit of cutting out all sound for a few seconds if I moved my head ….sometimes. A few seconds of no communication is very bad especially in the terminal environment.  I did find it only happened when ANR was turned on. So my temporary fix was to sit REALLY still in cruise. Once below 18,000 feet I just turned the ANR off and dealt with the extra noise.

There is a 5 year warranty so back they went. I am pretty sure it’s an issue with the cable.

Today I had to use the company supplied David Clamps…err David Clarks. Wow I forgot how heavy and clamping they are. Ugh.

Thankfully I have one trip tomorrow and then I am off for 10 days…I should have my Bose back before my next long trip. I hope so anyway.

I feel much better today so I went flying.

Originally I was scheduled to depart at 7:35AM, fly 2.15 hours and then have an 18 hour overnight. Tomorrow I would have flown 3 hours back to base and been done at 8:30AM. Sounds easy….however I didn’t want to sit a hotel for 18 hours.

Instead I traded that overnight trip for 2 day trips.

Today I did a very easy 2 hour 40 minute turn. Tomorrow I do a 3 hours 10 minute turn. Overall I am ahead on pay.

This morning I dropped my daughter off at daycare at 8AM. I then pondered parking at the terminal in short term parking versus parking for free in the employee lot. Parking short term would save me 15 minutes on each side of my trip. Hmmm.

Short term parking it was (AKA Princess Parking).

I didn’t have to report for duty until 9:25AM. To blow off time I went thru a car wash then sat in the airport observation area and read my kindle till just after 9AM.

My trip was incredibly easy. My leg down. Nothing interesting to blog about. Arrived early. Left early. Arrived back in base REALLY early. How early?

Well I was supposed to arrive back in base at 1:25PM. I was at home in my recliner at 1:25PM. It helped a lot that I princess parked and live really close.

I will do something similar tomorrow.

Being the dad of a toddler who attends day care 3 days a week means I am exposed to all kinds of germs….evil toddler germs.

I am vigalint about hand washing as soon as we get home from daycare. It helps…but sometimes germs sneak through. My daughter had a snotty nose for a few days last week. Guess who got it next?

My trip started Sunday afternoon. I felt good enough to start the trip. Seven hours flying with 3 legs.

My Co-pilot started the trip. Long first leg. The next two were mine.

The overnight was at a fairly small airport. Calm winds. We asked and were cleared for a straight in approach to runway 10 and cleared to land. Another regional jet was cleared for a visual approach to runway 28….but only for the approach as we were cleared to land.

It is a bit unnerving to see an airplane approaching from the opposite direction during landing. I made a nice landing and made a quick stop to get off the runway as soon as possible. I didn’t do one of those “slam on the brakes and throw everyone forward” landings….just a “land the mains, lower the nose and gradually apply brakes and thrust reverse”. Done.

I felt pretty stuffy after getting on the hotel van.

The next morning I was a little better.

Decent overnight.

During the flight back to base I got a little more stuffy. Not worth it.

Once we were back in base I banged out sick. Flying stuffy…even just slightly depending on the time of day, isn’t worth it. I rarely call in sick. I have almost 2 full months of sick time in the bank. Done.

A bonus of calling in sick? I get to hang out with my germ transporter….errr daughter a little more.

The only interesting part was the last leg. Beautiful VFR day at my base. While on a right downwind at 7000 feet AGL I saw two planes on final for the runway we were assigned. I told my co-pilot I had the airport and traffic and he could call them both whenever.

As the second plane was directly abeam my right wing the approach controller cleared us for a visual approach, “speed 160 until 5 mile final” was the final instruction. I clicked off the autopilot and began a base turn while slowing.

We were on about a 5 miles from the runway as is when I started the base turn. I turned a bit early. We were about 4500 feet AGL. Normally I’d be around 2400 feet on an ILS approach. Hmmm.

Engines idled. I called for all the flaps and gear to be extended while holding 160 knots. Steep descent but smooth.

I never added power until around 400 feet AGL. Decent landing. Done.

My line for next month is sweet and sour. The sweet part is I have 10 days off in a row. The sour part is I have all 4 day trips. I hate 4 day trips. It was my own doing as I made some questionable choices during bidding. Eh.

Again one leg to the overnight.

When I signed into the computer a message popped up that my co-pilot was “restricted”. Hmmm K.

This normally happens when the Captain is new to the plane. They are considered “baby” Captains until they get some time under their belt.

I was first to the plane. Cold and dark. I was happy about the cold part as it was fairly warm outside, but the ground crew connected the pre-conditioned air so the cabin was very comfy.

The rest of my crew arrived. The Captain was indeed new.

He just finished training and IOE on this plane. He had been a Captain on another fleet type. Several years ago he flew my current plane as a First Officer so he knew how everything normally worked.

I could tell he wasn’t really wanting to fly (he had been off 9 days, when I’m off that long I want to “watch” the first leg as well) so I offered to fly the first leg.

The cabin was full of paying passengers. There was a company pilot wanting to go home…a really tall new First Officer.

I’m almost 6 foot tall and don’t enjoy sitting in the jump seat of my plane…or any regional jet. The new First Officer was a good 6 foot 5. He squeezed himself into the seat. I felt bad for him….as it was a 2 1/2 hour flight. He wanted to go home…and the jump seat was the only way to get there that night.

Up, up and away. Once at cruise I broke the silence and asked how long the First Officer had been with my airline. I was guessing about a year. I was way off…he was hired just 4 months ago. He was one of the most junior on the seniority list.

We all talked about the state of the industry, upgrade prospects and the normal flight deck topics.

I programmed the VNAV function of the FMS to have me level at 10,000 feet, 30 miles from the airport. My normal setting. The closer we got to the airport, the higher the required rate of descent.

Due to traffic enroute the required descent rate was higher than I felt comfortable doing. Normally I won’t go higher than 3500 feet per minute (unless in an emergency) as it is just uncomfortable beyond that. When we finally got clearance to descend the VNAV was reading out a 5000 foot per minute rate to meet my 30 miles out at 10,000 feet. No thanks.

I just set 3500 feet per minute, idled the thrust levers and popped open the flight spoilers.

Told to expect runway 5R so that’s what I briefed.

Dark, moonless night which made it a bit of a challenge to find the runway even on a VFR night.

We were approaching FROM the south. It would be a right turn to line up with 5R. I had the ILS frequency tuned in and waiting.

We were cleared to 2500. While descending at 3500 feet per minute with the spoilers out we were still indicating 290 knots…which is 40 knots too fast for below 10,000 feet.

I leveled off at 10,000 feet and bled off speed. Once at 220 knots I started the descent again. I could have started at 250 knots but I like having a buffer in case of gust or if I need to descend faster I have room.

I had the airport beacon in sight…we were cleared for the visual…and I thought I saw runway 5R…but it was on the wrong side of the airport. I was looking at 5L.

Autopilot was off…I was hand flying.

The jump seater hipped me to about where runway 5R was…finally saw it….as I flew through centerline.

Wide turn as I overshot final. Back on centerline. Wet runway. Greased it on…which is typical when the runway is wet.

The jump seater unfolded himself. The passengers deplaned. My crew headed out to find the hotel van as none of us had been there before. We waited in the right spot. Nothing. I learned long ago to not wait too long. I called the hotel. “We already told you to take a taxi.” was what I was told. I politely stated no one told me or my crew and advised we would find a cab. The cab was contracted through the hotel so we didn’t have to pay out of pocket. The driver was clearly annoyed as it was a set fare. He drove like he was being chased by the cops. No tip for him.

Away we went. Long overnight.

The next day was easy. Three legs. I hoped to finish early as the last two legs are heavily over blocked. I used to fly that turn all the time in my old plane and would arrive 15-20 minutes early without trying. It wasn’t too be.

At the outstation we were ready to go 10 minutes early…then it happened. We were waiting on a passengers bag who was connecting…from another airline. Bleh. Blocked out 5 minutes late. Arrived on time.

I was off for the weekend. We all flew over to see my dad. Almost drove. Eh. It was my daughters 47th and 48th flight. She did fine.

My next trip is a low 13 hour 3 day trip. Same one I did two weeks ago. Long boring overnights. Can’t wait!

Before and after every flight I have to preflight the airplane. Well not technically me…my manual states the Captain has to make sure someone does it…but 99% of it the time…it’s me.

At my hub I can use a key or combination to get out to the ramp and back up to the plane. I carry the key at all time. The combination hasn’t changed in years. Easy.

At outstations and other hubs….not so easy.

Most airports have electronic/mechanical keypads that I have to enter a combination into for the door to unlock. Every single airport uses a different combination. Some are 3 digits…some are 5. Some are press and hold two buttons and then press a third button. Others I have to have the rampers let me up and down (mostly at airports that are also military bases).

For flights where I overnighted at the airport the gate agents are pretty good about telling me the code before I head to the plane. If not it’s on our flight release.

When doing a turn I have to look the code up myself. Most of the time I am able to hold onto the code for the few minutes it takes to inspect the plane. Every now and then…I brain fart.

Most of the time for early morning flights I am the only person on the ramp. If I forget I get to yell up to the plane for my cabin crew or Captain to look up the code and let me in or just tell me the code.

Bleh.

My two day trip was easy…but long.

First flight left at 9PM Tuesday. Very short flight. My co-pilot rotated at 9:14PM and flared for landing at 9:42PM.

I slept in Wednesday. Long overnight.

Five leg day. First leg was mine. Full load of passengers. Same short flight. I rotated at 12:39PM and greased it on at 1:08PM.

Quick turn….with a plane swap 18 gates away.

Next flight was a  longish 2 hours. Full load of passengers. Dodged a bit of weather. Rain. I shot an ILS approach to about 800 feet then visual. Greased it on.

Captain took the next two. Two hour flight back….then another plane swap.

The last turn was very short. Captain flew it out. Wheels off the ground at 7:49PM and landed at 8:13PM.

I had the last leg. Just 3 passengers. Very light plane.

Wheels off at 9:01PM. Being light the plane climbed like a rocket.

Now a word. For reasons I can’t explain it is much easier to land a plane when it’s heavy than light. I’m thinking a heavy plane just settles onto the runway easier.

The hub wasn’t very busy. Normally we land on the outboard runway so that’s what I briefed. Turning final tower cleared us to land on the inboard. Beautiful VFR night. I clicked off the flight director and lined up with the inboard runway. Calm wind…clear skies…light plane. What could go wrong?

I was right on approach speed crossing over the fence. I began reducing power slowly. It looked good….then it happened. Thud.

The mains touched slightly but I had a bit too much back pressure so we went up again maybe a foot….then mains skipped a bit…touching then not touching…touching then not touching. Finally down. Much more firmly. Bounced it on.

Bleh. Tired. Five legs, 7 hours of flight time. Done.

We were early because of the light load and nice weather. I was in my car when we were supposed to be landing.

I go back tonight for a 7:40PM departure. One leg to the overnight. Just three legs tomorrow.

Bidding closes soon for May. Finalizing my preferences.