Flight Level 390

• Minimum Brake Release Fuel
  Position: 100 miles west of KPHL (Philly)Altitude: 28,500 feet; climbing at 900 feet per minuteGroundspeed: 488 mph (425 kts)Equipment: A320Pax-on-board: 150Destination: KSFOOne of the cranky old timers that taught me the way of large jet aircraft told me the TOC (top of climb) fuel check was probably the most important on the whole flight plan. In hind sigh […]
• Independence Day Over Pensacola
  Position: Over PensacolaAltitude: 30,000 feetGroundspeed: 552 mph (480 kts)Equipment: 321 stretch Fi-FiPax-on-Board: 183 + 4 jumpersJuly 4, 0800 hrsOh Lord, what a beautiful day. Ahead, dark blue morning skies and light headwinds. Below us, the home of Naval Aviation. In my opinion, one of the finest places to be over on this fourth day of July. The Disney W […]
• 319 State of Mind
  Position: Over Sioux CityAltitude: 39,000 feetGroundspeed: 580 mph (505 kts)Equipment: A319Pax-on-board: 123Airborne... KSEA direct KBOS; day three of four.I slept seven uninterrupted hours last night in the KSEA crew hotel. I am feeling great, being mentally alert with pre-geezer aches and pains at a minimum. The first sight of the 319 at the gate extracted […]
• Midnight at 61 North
  Position: 60 east of PANC (Anchorage)Altitude: 22,000 feet and descendingFuel-on-board: 90 minutesPax-on-board: 123Equipment: A319Airborne...Good Lord, it is beautiful up here... Midnight at 61 north with ninety minutes of Jet-A in the tanks. I am trying to imagine how my life could be better at this point in the continuum. The sun is barely below the horizo […]
• Around the South End
  Position: Over KAMA (Amarillo)Altitude: 33,000 feetGroundspeed: 554 mph (482 kts)Equipment: A321 Pax-on-Board: 183 + 4 jumpersDestination: KBOSAirborne...Earlier, my dispatcher was nervously clearing her throat while describing the weather north of Amarillo, extending all the way to Casper. She told me about thunderstorms with tops in excess of 65,000 feet. […]

Blogging at FL250

• The Long Road Home
  Minnesota enjoyed a much warmer, dryer, and earlier spring than normal this year, and by early April motorcycles were emerging in hordes from the garages of their winter dormancy. Every time I saw them out cruising around the lakes on a beautiful evening, I'd feel a little pang of envy. Minnesota's riding season is too short to spend without a bike […]
• Long Day
  Louisville, 1:06 AM. I am lying back in a chair in my cheerfully nondescript hotel room, feeling the adrenaline seep out of my limbs. I've been running at one hundred and ten percent for hours now, and it's almost impossible to go straight from that to sleepfulness, so I sit here trying to decompress. A drink helps. The crew and I were planning on […]
• Appalachian Trail (Part 3)
  Our first night of camping was relatively warm (ie 35 degrees) compared to what I endured on my way across the southern states this winter, and I had finally brought along a mummy bag. Brad had a lighter bag but stayed warm by discovering a new motorcycle camping technique: sleeping with his helmet on. We broke camp in record time - I didn't know Brad c […]
• Appalachian Trail (Part 2)
  The sun woke me up before my alarm clock on Wednesday morning; the sky was cloudless and deceptively warm looking, making for a breathtaking surprise when I stepped outside. Asheville was under a freeze warning until mid-morning, which surely meant the Parkway would be treacherous until around noon. We had plenty of time for breakfast, so before Daphne left […]
• Appalachian Trail
  There are two people to thank for igniting my current motorcycling obsession. The first is my Dad; he was an avid motorcyclist back in the 70s, owning several British and Italian bikes that would be collectors items today before acquiring a Harley Electra Glide that was his pride and joy. He sold it when I was born and didn't ride again until a few year […]

Aviatrix

• Another Funny CVR Story
  Grant linked to this in a comment yesterday. It is spot on, taking the Onion`s usual formula of perfectly copying the format of a familiar news story while twisting it silly. Guatemalan Flight's Data-Recording Parrot Holds Clues To Crash I laughed too hard not to share it with those of you who don't read the comments. (You should, though: Cockpit […]
• Those Are Jelly Beans In Your Tanks
  I see from the journey log that the airplane got back late last night. It would have been outside my duty day. There's still enough time left on the airframe for my flight. I do all my preflight things, including splitting the last litre of oil between the engines, and we go out and once again do what we do. Thanks to my groceries, I have a new strategy […]
• Attitude Does Not Equal Authority
  The next day there is no delay. I wake, eat breakfast and go. Today I add two litres to the left engine and one to the right. You can tell we're getting close to maintenance when the oil consumption increases, but I haven't burned that much since yesterday. I'm putting more in than what is required just to replace what was there yesterday. A g […]
• I Almost Win A Car
  I almost won a car today. Really. Here's how you almost win a car. You get up in the morning, do your daily exercises, and check the weather. Then you go and discuss the day's flying with the client and they decide to postpone take-off for a while, so you use the time to do paperwork and personal stuff. I called the PRM regarding getting an exte […]
• His Casket is Actually Orange
  According to Yahoo News, David Warren, the inventor of the aircraft "black box", died last week. He was an Australian, and his father died in an airplane crash when he was nine. Here's an Australian article, with different details. "Black box" is the nickname given to both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, bo […]

The Gimli Chronicle

Plastic Pilot

• The safest way to protect your pitot tube
• Flying in the Alps eBook now available!
• Will VORs die?
• Just Because I Can… Posting live from 34.000 feet
• Do we have a safety culture problem?