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.

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

On day 2 of a 3 day. Great 3 day trip. Great crew.

Started early with a 5AM van. First flight was nice. A whole 3 passengers on board. I’m sure the profit was gone as soon as we deiced.

Arrived early. My leg. VFR at the hub, but low clouds were quickly rolling in. Just an hour sit. In that hour vis went down to 1/8th a mile….100 foot cloud deck. Ouch.

Weather at the next outstation was 200 1/2. Sounds good but the ILS is out….and the approach lighting system was out….so below mins.

With the low vis at the hub and the out station. Delayed. Pushed 50 minutes late with a whole 7 passengers.

Vis was still 1/8 mile but the RVR was 800…so we could takeoff…but no return. We had a takeoff alternate and two destination alternates.

Headed to the outstation. I briefed the GPS approach to runway 4R. In range the Captain got the ATIS…4R closed. Only runway was 29….a 5200 foot runway.

I have landed on shorter….in a Piper Seminole.

My shortest in a jet was previously 6000 feet….6080 to be exact.

The performance chart showed I only needed 3100 feet. Of course I don’t land at the end of the runway…I land in the touchdown zone…hopefully the 1000 foot markings….leaving 4200 feet. Sounds great….but I’m not Chuck Yeager.

I briefed the GPS 29 approach. I stated I would plan on using maximum reverse and brakes….and probably plan to turn off at the end.

Then more news from the Captain….winds were 190@15G20. So now I had a gusty crosswind and a short runway. Yeah this is looking great.

Eight hundred foot ceilings. Once we broke out I went visual. I stayed right on the VASI till about 150 feet then “ducked under” as landing as assured.

Around 30 feet I began to “kick” the nose over and align it with the runway. Traveling 125 knots I didn’t mess around with trying to “grease” it on. I planted the mains…or thought I did…turned out somewhat soft…most likely due to the wind.

Heavy on the brakes and maximum reverse. The very light plane slowed down quickly. The Captain called “80 knots” with 1000 feet left. Exciting.

My new personal record….for a short runway.

Leaving was even more exciting as we were full. The performance charts showed we were 100 pounds under maximum takeoff weight for the runway.

Captains leg. I called rotate with maybe 1000 feet left. Exciting.

By the time we got back to the hub it was 700 and 10SM. Quick turn and out to the overnight.

Nice overnight. Tomorrow starts with a 5AM van. I go to the hub…back to this outstation and back to the hub. I then finish at 2PM….and off for a while. Vacation.

Time to watch TV…it took me quite a while to get my Roku box working…it is incredibly geeky as the Roku box can’t click “ok” for the hotel wifi. I carry a small Asus hotspot router that takes in the hotel wifi and then shares it with my own personal SSID. I have to connect the Asus hotspot router to the hotel then connect my Ipad to the Asus hotspot. I then use my Ipad to click “ok” to agree to the terms and conditions. The hotel wifi approves my router which then means anything to connected to the router is approved. Quite geeky and not for the faint of geek.

This was originally a 4 day. Due to scheduling changes by my mainline partner every flight after the overnight changed. I get paid for it all, but don’t have to fly it. Nice eh?

My report time was 4:30PM. My wife dropped me off at the curb and I signed in a few minutes early.

On the way to the crew room I passed the Captain who I flew with at the beginning of the month. We have the same line, but I traded 2 out of the 4 trips.

He said ,”Glad to see you’re back, I can’t believe you traded all those trips. You stuck me with a bunch of nut jobs!” I laughed and told him I’d see him at the plane.

Normal flight out. He said they put new hire reserves with him for all of the trips I traded out of. Most were okay , but a few were still new to the game and downright strange.

We were headed to a small airport where my airline is the only carrier. First time for me.

Night time. We spotted a beacon that we thought might be the airport. The controller vectored us off course for the descent. I had already briefed the approach. I assumed I would get another vector before getting a visual clearance. Nope.

“Airport 3 o’clock 5 miles report it in sight.” was what we were told.

“I believe that’s it…gonna be tight.” I told the Captain.

We were on a heading of 300 for runway 14. The airport being 90 degrees to the right meant a quick chop and drop or a long turn to the left.

Chop and drop it was.

Steep right turn while I called for flaps to be lowered. I would never have tried this when I was new to the airline or the plane. I have 104 hours in the new plane and feel pretty comfy with it.

I was on centerline and stabilized by 1000 feet AGL. Firm but not harsh landing.

The terminal is at the far end of runway 14 so I just used light braking and no thrust reverse to let it roll near the end.

We blocked in 20 minutes early. Now an 11 hour overnight.

Hotel van was late. The driver got stopped by a police checkpoint looking for drunk drivers. She apologized. Not a big deal since we were early.

Nice hotel. Six o’clock van for the next day.

It took a while for me to be able to force myself to go to bed early…especially when different time zones come into play. Went to bed at 9:15PM.

For whatever reason I woke up at 3:45AM….and couldn’t go back to sleep. Annoying.

Arrived at the airport at 6:20AM. TSA has an agreement to let flight crews bypass security. Nice.

Very windy outside…and cold…and rainy.

Preflight done….ears freezing. Note to self…pack ear muffs again.

Initial winds were 250@20G30.

The longest runway is runway 32. The next longest was runway 22. Problem…wet runway + crosswind + the need for anti-icing meant performance penalties.

Runway 22 had a 15 knot crosswind. Runway 32 had a 28 knot crosswind. Thankfully the performance data supported runway 22. The Captain briefed the takeoff. If we had to return (in case of an engine failure, fire or other emergency) we’d use runway 22 instead of runway 32. Even though 32 was the longest, it had the most crosswind component.

On the taxi out the winds changed…now 270@27G36. About equal crosswind but more favoring 22 still.

Holding short of 22….new winds….280@30G37.

Now runway 22 had a 32 knot crosswind while runway 32 had just 24 knots.

We taxied across 22 and then over to runway 32. Gusty takeoff and we were off.

Turbulent climb out but we broke out of the clouds at 10,000 feet. Smooth after that for a while.

The Captain was a bit worried we’d be extended once we got into base. Lots of “sick” calls on Holidays. I thought positive.

Arriving into base I pulled up the weather, gate assignment and crew assignment. Great weather, decent gate and no crew assignments. We were done.

Blocked in 12 minutes early. I headed outside and waited for my wife. While waiting my phone rang….it was scheduling. I didn’t answer. Not required to since I’m not a reserve.

They left a voicemail stating they needed to cover a “quick turn” and if I didn’t call back it would cancel. I didn’t even consider calling back.

Lack of staffing on scheduling’s part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

My wife arrived and I was home a few minutes later.

I’m off till Saturday when I start my January line. Simple 3 day trip.

My line for January was 4 three day trips. It’s a 3-4-3 trip. Three legs on day one, four on day two and three on day three. Just 3 different cities. Not bad at all.

Because I have vacation I’m only doing 3 of the 4 trips.

Time for a nap, that early self induced wake up is catching up to me. If I had done that “quick” turn I would still be flying right now.

Oh and that flight didn’t cancel…..they put a reserve on it.

Nothing exciting…which is how flights should be.

After getting home though I started to not feel so hot. Seems my daughter brought a gift home for me….a cold.

Had to call in sick tomorrow. First time calling in sick in months. I still get paid for my overtime trip. Hope to be better by Saturday.

I had an 11:15 report time. My daughter wasn’t feeling the best so we kept her out of daycare. My wife went to work early in order to get off early. How early? She woke up at 4AM. Yeah.

My wife met me at the terminal at 11:05AM. We made the swap and then I headed inside. Signed in and off for snack for the trip.

My initial gate was number 56. Then it changed to gate 59. Then it changed to gate 61…all in less than 15 minutes. Reason? Plane swaps.

The initial plane was at gate 56. We would have been on time. But then the plane at gate 59 broke and they were already late. They gave the crew at gate 59 our plane at gate 56. They then gave us the plane at gate 59 with a delay. I guess they realized it would be a while and instead assigned us the plane coming in to gate 61.

We were due out at 12:00PM. The inbound was due in at 11:49AM. Yeah so much for easy.

Finally onboard at 12:10PM. Problem…the cap for the potable water connection is missing….water is dripping out. Mechanic called.

Finally blocked out at 12:39PM with 11 passengers on board. We had an hour sit at the outstation scheduled. Most of that was gone.

My leg. Lots of turbulence in the area. So bad we descended from FL370 to FL290 to find smooth air. Thankfully we were tankering an extra 3500 pounds of fuel and were able to fly that much lower. Every now and then the dispatcher runs the numbers to see if it’s cheaper to tanker fuel (take more than needed) than it would be to buy it at the outstation. For most airlines fuel is always cheaper in the Hub.

The outstation is in close proximity to a few mountains…I call them mountains…maybe they are just hills. Made for nice scenery.

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Decent landing. Blocked in 26 minutes late.

Twenty minutes later (it seemed like much longer) and we were being pushed back for the return flight with just 30 people on board. We actually blocked out 16 minutes early.

Turbulence again at FL280 for the return. Descended to FL260. Thankfully the dispatcher planned for us to fly low so fuel wasn’t an issue.

Busy at the hub. Assigned 22R initially. On about a 2 mile final tower asked if we could take 22L so a 747 could depart on 22R. Fine with us….except for the 737 taking the runway on 22L.

Cleared to land. Descending through 500 feet the 737 just started rolling. The 737 rotated just as we crossed the threshold. Close.

Landed 24 minutes early. Then it happened. Congestion on the ramp. Yadda ,yadda, yadda, blocked in 8 minutes late. Since we left early I went over block. All in I went 24 minutes over block time…not too bad on overtime.

Tomorrow I go back for another turn…hope it’s easier.