Flight Level 390

• Old Dog Training
  Position: The School HouseIt's that time of year again... The best and brightest of the Training Department/Flight Standards are trying to teach this Old Dog new tricks. Some of the classroom/simulator instructors are compadres of mine from the earlier days of political incorrectness. The days when Line pilots were really, really bad... Not just sort of […]
• Frost Rings
  Position: OVR (Omaha VOR)Altitude: 32,000 feetGroundspeed: 398 knots (457 mph)Equipment: A320 V2500 A5 enginesPax-on-Board: 136  Airborne... Two hours fifty-seven minutes since selecting landing gear UP.Ahead of us... Snow covered fields of Nebraska stretching to the horizon. Even though the sun is in my eight o'clock low, reflected sunlight is intense […]
• Ten West of COFAX
  Position: 200 nautical miles west of Philly (KPHL)Altitude: 35,000 feetGroundspeed: 570 knots (655 mph)Equipment: A321 Enhanced... New metalPax-on-Board: 183 plus 3 jumpersAirborne... No twilight yet. Winter tailwinds have put us one hour ahead of sched arriving into Philly this morning; my dispatcher has assured me Philly ops knows we are about to come out […]
• Jumping Wake Turbulence
  Position: Taxiway Hotel... KSLCGroundspeed: 30 knotsEquipment: 319Pax-on-board: 123Max forward taxi speed limitation on the 319 is 30 knots. I taxi at 30 knots when I can do so safely. Dry surfaces, light winds with smooth concrete joints are required, and of course, no one ahead blocking the way. The heavy loads of Christmas and New Years are behind us, as […]
• Christmas Lift 2011
  Position: 100 miles south of KMSPAltitude: 37,000 feetGroundspeed: 515 knots (592 mph)Equipment: A320 V2500-A5 enginesPax-on-Board: 150 + 2 jumpersLocal Time: 0220 hrsAirborne... Compass heading 091 degreesIt's the beach thing again... Think I am looking west (for as the Led Zeppelin song goes: there's a feeling I get when I look to the west...) Th […]

Blogging at FL250

• In Patagonia - Part Two
  Google "Patagonia," and the first result is the website of a clothing company by the same name based in Ventura, CA, some 5800 miles from the real Patagonia's northern border. Its logo is the outline of the Fitz Roy massif near El Chaltén, Argentina. The name was well chosen, for it evokes a wild, remote, and rugged land of rock and ice ripe f […]
• In Patagonia - Part One
  Well, I've been procrastinating writing this post for a while since we returned from South America, because I knew it was going to be huge. We took some 1200 photos over the two weeks we were in Chile and Argentina, and there were actually quite a few things I never bothered to get the camera out for. Just selecting the photos I wanted to use in this po […]
• War Stories
  I spend a lot of time at FL350. A lot of time. NewCo's average stage length is longer than most regional airlines', particularly those that fly turboprops and 35-50 seat jets. For the most part that's a good thing. It means less work, less stress, less unpaid time on the ground. It results in more efficient trips and more days off work. That s […]
• Southward
  Merry Christmas to all! Today Dawn and I are flying to Atlanta and then onwards to Santiago, Chile, for the start of a two-week vacation in South America. We'll be stopping in Santiago, Púcon, and Puerto Varas before boarding the Navimag ferry for a four-day journey through the Patagonian fjords to Puerto Natales. From there we will spend a few days tre […]
• Silent Night
  Today is December 22, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Here in Minneapolis it is short indeed, at 8 hours and 46 minutes. The sun rises at nearly 8AM, sets at 4:30PM, and never reaches higher than 21.6º above the horizon. This is the price we pay for gloriously long summer days with lingering sunsets and dusky twilights that cling to the we […]

Aviatrix

• Always Check NOTAMs -- Even When Running Drugs
  Pilots and regular readers know that a NOTAM (NOtice To Air[wo]Men) is a little bulletin describing a change to facilities, airspace or procedures that isn't published on the current charts and publications. They look boring. They can be tedious and repetitive to read. Most of them won't pertain to your operation. If you fly out of some little flat […]
• CAT I Takeoff
  I'll tell you about the circular yurt construction shortly, but today I couldn't pass up this story about a cat that escaped from its carrier before take-off on an Air Canada flight. Air Canada allows small pets to be carried in the passenger cabin, provided that they remain in approved pet carriers that fit on the floor under a seat. The door to t […]
• Solve for X
  Today someone in an aviation workplace was either amused or insulted, I'm not sure which, by my excitement that he was genuinely using trigonometry for real things. I'm afraid that he may have thought that my excitement and admiration was over the fact that he knew how use trigonometry at all, but really this is just one cool part of a very cool pr […]
• Helicopter Charter
  I'm not currently working with helicopters, either as a charter customer or with a company that operates rotary ring aircraft, but I had to love this trojan horse spam. Your order for our air commuter services has been received and processed. The chopper will be at your disposal from 3.30 p.m. wednesday to 5.45 tuesday. Once again, the rates are as foll […]
• Truth Be Told
  The post from a few days ago didn't actually herald my being back. It was actually an indication that I'd neglected the blog for so long that a post I had written long ago and postdated to the far future came due and published itself. I didn't have a good plan for when to schedule it at the time and had been punting it forward through time for […]

The Gimli Chronicle

Plastic Pilot

• Five tools necessary for adequate airport snow removal
• My personal aviation Christmas tale…
• Thank You, and Merry Christmas
• So much to do, and so little time… an aviation wish-list for 2012
• Something new at Frankfurt Airport and a video of Tegucigalpa