When dreams come true... (long)

Well, for what its worth, 2 weeks into training in MSP, and I don't feel bad at all. Granted, having flown 135 PIC and 121 SIC previously, it's not as much of a change. At least I got the airplane I wanted (200 vs 900), don't know bases yet.
 
Well, for what its worth, 2 weeks into training in MSP, and I don't feel bad at all. Granted, having flown 135 PIC and 121 SIC previously, it's not as much of a change. At least I got the airplane I wanted (200 vs 900), don't know bases yet.

Excellent! Keep us posted. And let me know when you have time to connect while you're here. Will you be based in MSP?
 
Excellent! Keep us posted. And let me know when you have time to connect while you're here. Will you be based in MSP?

I can only hope not, I'd really rather prefer DTW, since I live there. At least the 200 eliminates the 2 NYC bases, being as it's only based in DTW & MSP. Even if I would get MSP, I should be able to get DTW quickly after OE is done. Lots of movement going on with us.
 
I can only hope not, I'd really rather prefer DTW, since I live there. At least the 200 eliminates the 2 NYC bases, being as it's only based in DTW & MSP. Even if I would get MSP, I should be able to get DTW quickly after OE is done. Lots of movement going on with us.

Endeavor?

Movement is good. In three months of bidding I've moved from 89% to 67% to 49%. Crazy movement!
 
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Endeavor?

Movement is good. In tgree months of bidding I've moved from 89% to 67% to 49%. Crazy movement!

Yup, lots of movement going on because of airplanes coming out of storage, due to other airlines being unable to cover their flying.
 
Sure as can be, the minute you think you have a line on things, the plan changes. MSP went super junior and was by far the biggest base offered, so now I'm stuck commuting from one base to another (to MSP). Remind me again why I joined this damn rat race.
 
Sure as can be, the minute you think you have a line on things, the plan changes. MSP went super junior and was by far the biggest base offered, so now I'm stuck commuting from one base to another (to MSP). Remind me again why I joined this damn rat race.

Sorry! 121 can be fickle!
 
Sure as can be, the minute you think you have a line on things, the plan changes. MSP went super junior and was by far the biggest base offered, so now I'm stuck commuting from one base to another (to MSP). Remind me again why I joined this damn rat race.

WTF is a "super junior"? is that like a double bacon with cheese and a fried egg?
 
WTF is a "super junior"? is that like a double bacon with cheese and a fried egg?

You're thinking of the Kosher Heart Attack Special: Bacon double cheeseburger topped with a shrimp & crab cake -- If God doesn't strike you down the cholesterol will. :lol::lol::lol:
 
WTF is a "super junior"? is that like a double bacon with cheese and a fried egg?

Nearly everyone got stuck with it, when historically (and even within the last 6 months), you had no chance in hell of holding MSP until well after training.
 
You're thinking of the Kosher Heart Attack Special: Bacon double cheeseburger topped with a shrimp & crab cake -- If God doesn't strike you down the cholesterol will. :lol::lol::lol:

That would be a new take on surf-n-turf. Have to give it a try after refilling the Lipitor 'script.
 
Just a reminder we are having a little POA get-together at the Hofbräuhaus near ORD at 8:30 pm next Thursday 11/19. MarkZ and Arthur (CPA) will be there. Anyone else in the neighborhood is welcome to join us.
We need to do that again in Newport. Do you ever layover in Cincinnati or Dayton?

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Might also be the buxom young lasses

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So close! I'm sitting in the terminal waiting on a flight home after a visit to Dr. Bruce.
 
The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic, but I'm still collecting stories. I'll post a couple of updates:

When I took this job I just assumed I'd be giving up the major holidays the first few years. I bid for Thanksgiving off and got it, for the most part. I just had a stand-up the night before that got in really early on Thanksgiving morning. So my wife headed northwest by car the day before while I stuck around to fly.

The stand-up was to BRD which is less than 20 min. from MSP...99 nm distance. We filed for 12,000'...I can only think of one other flight we do that's shorter.

The flight was uneventful other than the first time I'd flown with a woman captain. She was delightful and very easy to fly with. We did have an ARINC COOL caution message shortly after takeoff which she initially mistook for relating to our pressurization system. I was pretty sure it was just an avionics cooling fan hiccup but ran the QRH which had us switch to the backup fan and the message went away.

Later she was apologizing for freaking out (her words) over the caution message, but I assured her it was no big deal and we handled it just fine.

The next morning we need to deice to get the frost off, then headed off for MSP. It was my leg and it was a quick up and down except for the fact there was a low patch of clouds hanging over the eastern half of the Twin Cities...just enough to require a full ILS in order to get in. I shot the approach and landed, happy to be on the ground an hour ahead of my flight home.

After the post-flight I bid farewell to the crew and head to the gate next door for my flight home. Turns out it's completely full. No problem, I'll take the jumpseat.

We get loaded up and strapped in, then start running the numbers. Due to weather in FAR we need extra fuel for an alternate. That, combined with a full load, means we're at the limits of the 200. We ran the numbers at list six different ways. If we added enough ballast to offset a third person in the nose, we were overweight. Without the ballast we were a fraction of one percent too far forward on our CG. We couldn't make it work.

With an apologetic announcement to the passengers we reopen the door and I deplane, watching my turkey dinner with family depart! The next flight was two hours later. I phoned the family and told them not to wait. That was a good move because the snow started shortly thereafter and we ended up in a long deice line. So almost four hours after I was originally supposed to be there I finally arrived.

But I was home. And there were plenty of turkey leftovers! Life is good.
 
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The Not-so Routine Stand-Up:

Lastnight I had another stand-up, back to ABR which is one of our shorter (and least desireable) ones. I got back from our trip home for the holiday just in time to take a quick nap, shower and head for the airport.

I get there a bit early to learn the inbound delayed, but not enough to affect us going out. I head to the gate next door which is a bit quieter than our departure gate. I'm joined shortly thereafter by our young FA, then our CA. I'd met him once before in the crew lounge but had not flown with him. He's fresh off his CA upgrade in October, so is still high mins (adding 100' & 1/2 to all minimums for the first 100 hours.)

As we look over the release we see one of the Packs has been deferred. While not uncommon, it's still fairly rare and adds a bit more complexity to our job. Once on the plane we review the MEL and procedures for single Pack operations. One of the concerns is if you don't transfer the bleeds just right all that 10th stage manifold pressure gets directed toward that single Pack and you can get an over-pressure condition.

Well, sure enough....we take off, on climb out he calls for the After Takeoff Check which involves transferring the bleeds. I THOUGHT I did it right but we get the flashing caution messages and R PACK OVER PRESS message. Dang!!

He asks me to run the QRH while he advises ATC we need to level at 7,000' for a few minutes. I walk us through the QRH procedure which takes several minutes but eventually we end up with the bleeds transferred and the single working Pack doing what it's supposed to do. We head on to ABR.

The weather there is about 6,000' overcast so after a descent through the deck he shoots a nice visual and we're on the ground. 20 minutes later we're at the hotel and headed to our four hours of sleep.

The next morning we arrive to a frost-free plane (yay! No deicing!) then get the weather reports. Sadly, MSP is under a snow storm. And while the TAF doesn't look too bad, the current METAR is below his mins and, since it's a short flight (40 min.), we're told the METAR is controlling. Later, when the weather lightens up well above his minimums, we are told the TAF is now controlling and the TEMPO is below his minimums!

While waiting around we're re-reading the regs and computing our Flight Duty Period to figure out when we'd time out if the weather doesn't cooperate. That would get real ugly!

Three hours later we're in an acceptable segment of the TAF and the weather is good, so the dispatcher says, "Go now!" We quickly add a few hundred pounds of fuel to make up for what the APU has burned, then fueler over-fills us by another couple hundred pounds. Dang. Normally, we like a little extra. We definitely wanted enough, but knew we were pushing our maximum landing weight as it was. This was going to exacerbate that problem. Oh, well...

We get ready to fire up, but now there's a little frost on the wings! So, we deice and go through those protracted checklists for that little bit of frost. But we can't take any chances.

Finally we get airborne on my leg and climb out headed to MSP. We manage the bleeds swap without a hitch this time. Then we start looking at fuel and it appears we're going to be 600 lbs over weight at landing. So we start doing things to burn a little more fuel....fly faster, start down sooner, get dirty quicker, keep the power up, etc.

We advise ATC and they give us some vectors to squeeze someone else in ahead of us. I'm thirty miles out and have flaps out and drop the gear 20 miles out! Anything to burn more gas. Finally, we see the numbers we need as I hit the final approach fix. I still try my best to grease it on because we're at max landing weight. The CA reports seeing less than 100 fpm on the VSI just before touchdown. It was pretty soft, if I do say so myself....like a butterfly with sore feet!!

Mission accomplished. But I need a nap.
 
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Mastering the bidding system:

I've talked about our PBS. I'm still figuring it out. But as my seniority has crept up I've been getting more of what I've been requesting. So, for December, I decided to go for it and try to get Christmas off, plus one other day earlier in the month for a Christmas party I wanted to attend.

One of my former students is also an FO a little behind me in seniority. As a former IBM programmer he's very analytical. He's been diving into the PBS docs to understand the system. I now run all my bids by him for feedback. I told him my goals for December and he gave me some pointers on things I might try to get what I wanted. I did as he instructed.

Bids came out last week and not only did I get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, I got the two days before and the two days after off, PLUS the other day for the Christmas party! I was a happy camper!

I will work New Years but that doesn't bother me at all. I just wanted Christmas with the family as I know I won't have my folks around for too many more, so hate to lose any now.
 
Love the stories and the positive attitude !

I'm in the process of adding Commercial Multi Engine to my Commercial Helicopter and Private Airplane with the intent of getting a job at a Regional airline, mostly due to what I've read in this thread.

Thanks for all the stories, inspiration and updates,
Jeff
 
Does Skywest have the 3585 exemption, or are you guys saved from dealing with that nonsense?

I got out of MSP last night before the mess that today was going to be. I've got a week off before I start sims now, I generally didn't find the 200 systems to be difficult
 
Does Skywest have the 3585 exemption, or are you guys saved from dealing with that nonsense?

I got out of MSP last night before the mess that today was going to be. I've got a week off before I start sims now, I generally didn't find the 200 systems to be difficult

We operate under 3585. Overall the 200 systems are pretty decent, although much better in the 700/900, especially the Environmental Controls System (ECS).
 
Love the stories and the positive attitude !

I'm in the process of adding Commercial Multi Engine to my Commercial Helicopter and Private Airplane with the intent of getting a job at a Regional airline, mostly due to what I've read in this thread.

Thanks for all the stories, inspiration and updates,
Jeff

Good luck!!
 
We operate under 3585. Overall the 200 systems are pretty decent, although much better in the 700/900, especially the Environmental Controls System (ECS).

I think the systems aren't bad, they aren't a whole lot different than anything else I've flown, but our books are terrible. They're in the process of rewriting everything to harmonize the way things are done with Delta, so that's making a mess of some things here and there.

Thankfully, I've got a few days off to decompress before the FTD/Sim fun starts. Hopefully, I get out of MSP before I even finish the sim, with a bid being open that looks favorable to get back to DTW.
 
I think the systems aren't bad, they aren't a whole lot different than anything else I've flown, but our books are terrible. They're in the process of rewriting everything to harmonize the way things are done with Delta, so that's making a mess of some things here and there.

Thankfully, I've got a few days off to decompress before the FTD/Sim fun starts. Hopefully, I get out of MSP before I even finish the sim, with a bid being open that looks favorable to get back to DTW.

Congrats on finishing ground school. Where are you headed for sims?
 
If you have a break in MSP, let's grab dinner.

I've got a couple days there in MSP I believe I have as off days. The whole thing doesn't wrap up until something like Jan 7 or 8, IIRC. It's very, very slow compared to my last 121 training.
 
I've got a couple days there in MSP I believe I have as off days. The whole thing doesn't wrap up until something like Jan 7 or 8, IIRC. It's very, very slow compared to my last 121 training.

I've got a lot of stand-ups I December plus a fair number of days off. I could do lunch almost anytime and dinner if not on a stand-up. Shoot me some dates and we will connect.
 
I've got a lot of stand-ups I December plus a fair number of days off. I could do lunch almost anytime and dinner if not on a stand-up. Shoot me some dates and we will connect.

Will do, once I dig my schedule out, I'm in decompress mode from ground school still. Have a few more days off before I have to go ride along a couple flights, then head back to MSP.
 
Will do, once I dig my schedule out, I'm in decompress mode from ground school still. Have a few more days off before I have to go ride along a couple flights, then head back to MSP.

Sounds good. I'll pm you my cellphone. Text message is a great way to catch me.
 
I've got a lot of stand-ups I December plus a fair number of days off. I could do lunch almost anytime and dinner if not on a stand-up. Shoot me some dates and we will connect.


For us non-line folk... Can you please define "stand-ups"?
 
For us non-line folk... Can you please define "stand-ups"?

Fly the last flight out of the hub in the evening, get to the hotel, spend a few hours there, to show back up at the airport to fly the first flight back to the hub.

At some airlines, they aren't well liked and go junior, which seems to be the case at Skywest. At some airlines, they go fairly senior.
 
Fly the last flight out of the hub in the evening, get to the hotel, spend a few hours there, to show back up at the airport to fly the first flight back to the hub.

At some airlines, they aren't well liked and go junior, which seems to be the case at Skywest. At some airlines, they go fairly senior.

The good stand-ups go very senior. They pay 7+ hours for a night in a hotel with 6+ hours of sleep. Many senior people do nothing but stand ups.

The ones that go junior are the less desirable. They're often 5 hours of pay with around 4 hours of sleep. They leave later and get back earlier.

If you can handle the sleep schedule they're a great way to have an airline career plus pursue other business interests.
 
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