Another Freight Dawg

Well, we had a great time in the islands. We came back up to Miami on Wednesday, and were supposed to be finished for the day. We went to the hotel, checked in, and had the room keys in our hands. Then the fun began. The Captain’s cell phone goes off, and scheduling asks how long until we could be in Ft Myers, FL…well, this was around 1 PMish.

We finally finished our day, in Acron, OH at almost 10 PM, having been through Ft Myers, and Kansas City. Needless to say, it was a long day. We have since been able to stay one day in the Miami area, and now sit in between Memphis and Nashville, TN. It’s a lovely little town called Jackson, TN, and I’m hoping to go golfing tomorrow before it reaches 100+ degrees again.

We should be out of here on Sunday, finally getting to go home after a stop in Miami again. Over all, we were scheduled to be out from Sunday to Thursday, with about 9-10 hours of flying. We are now going to have been out for 1 week solid, and a ton more flying. Wednesday alone was 8.2 hours of flying time.

Well, I hope everybody out there is doing good. Until next time, fly safe…

WOW! Sorry for not having updated this in soooo long. Anyways, I’ve been busy for a little bit. I am now sitting in Anguilla, BWI (British West Indies), and having a “rough life”. My travels have taken me up to the northeast a couple of times now, through the midwest, and to Panama (no, not Panama City, FL, but the real Panama). It’s definitely been an adventure.

As I sit here, reflecting on the “jet-setting” lifestyle, I am very proud of where I am in life, and in my career. Overall, it has been a good transition, with great Captains to learn a ton from. I am feeling more and more comfortable in the airplane with every flight. The schedule has been very manageable, for the most part. I wish we had a better time off policy, but we’re working on this.

Anyways, as previously mentioned, we are in Anguilla, in the British Virgin Islands; just a stone’s throw away from St. Maartens. I have been snorkelling most of today, and plan on more tomorrow. We will be heading to Miami on Wednesday, and enjoying some great Cuban food. I will also get to spend an evening with my brother-in-law, so it should be interesting there.

It’s always humbling to see life in other parts of the world. As beautiful as this island is, with pristine beaches, we definitely have a greater appreciation for America and all that it offers. If you haven’t been out of the country, make sure and visit some place. It always makes me appreciate life a little more than I already do.

One of these days, I’ll figure out how to put pictures on here, and give you a journal of Washington, DC, Panama, and Anguilla. Until then, I hope everything is going as well for everybody out there as it is for me and my family!

I’ve been on line for a little while now, and have had a blast flying this airplane. It’s definitely a different type of flying from freight.

So, my first flight was to Augusta, GA, a few days before the Masters’ Tournament began. My Captain for this flight is a former freight dawg himself, and we get along great. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for this flight. We went to Fort Myers, FL, to pick up passengers, and then to Augusta. Well, since we were empty out of our home airport, it was my leg…unknown to me at this point. We get to the end of the runway, and the Captain says your leg, do the briefing. Okay. That’s interesting. So, we go blasting off and I’m still in the Pilot’s Lounge trying to figure out how to get everything ready for this flight. It was not pretty.

I did finally catch up to the airplane. On short final at our destination. I managed to do a good freight dawg approach into the airport…unfortunately I am now a charter pilot and shouldn’t be doing this. I was behind the airplane on about a 10 mile final, 5000′, high and fast. I managed to trade the speed brakes for flaps at about 4 miles out, slowed down, and stabilized…well at least before we touched down :-).

The Captain didn’t say much other than we were high…thanks for that. So, I guess I made an okay impression, since he didn’t take the controls and we made it down okay.

Since then, I am feeling more comfortable with the airplane, and building up trust with the Captains. I have 3 different Captains, and I have now flown with all of them, with good results.

So, now I’ve been to Fort Myers, Miami, and Ocala, FL, Augusta, GA, Asheville, NC, San Juan, PR, Ft. Worth, TX, Phoenix, AZ, Camarillo, CA, and I am sitting in Washington, DC, until early tomorrow morning, when I head home for (hopefully) a couple of days. I won’t keep track of where I’ve been any more, since it looks like I’ll be visiting numerous places.

For those on JC, I will try and let people know when I’ll be in town, but it will definitely be short notice and subject to change. As always, questions and comments are always welcome!

Fly safe everybody…it’s been a rough week aviation-wise!!!

I’ve finished ground school, and it is truly the proverbial fire hose shooting info at you for 6 days solid. It was very informative, and a remarkable experience. In 6 days, over 7-8 hours per day, we learned all the systems of the airplane, limitations, Standard Operating Procedures for Bombardier and for us to use in the simulator. Then, when our brains were full to the brim for the day, we went into a procedures trainer.

For some airplanes, the Procedures Trainer is nothing but cutout pictures of the cockpit and then posted on cardboard or plywood so you can “feel” what the airplane looks like, get used to switch positions, and go through the general process of how to operate the plane. For us, it was a flight simulator without motion, so we could get used to the way the autopilot works, how the Flight Management System (FMS) works and a great feel for what the airplane will do. Basically, it helps you get accustomed to the “buttonology”.

We have our practice checkride tomorrow. We’ve been in the sims every day since Monday, spending 2 hours as Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Not Flying (PNF), so we can get used to the SOP’s, and the airplane. We’ve done everything from high altitude depressurization, engine failures, engine fires, various system problems, engine failures on takeoff, engine failures prior to takeoff, engine failures after a missed approach, more system problems, normal operations, engine failures in flight, and more engine failures.

This airplane is definitely a very powerful beast!! It has been awe inspiring to see the performance it can generate, and how it handles with one engine shut down. It was also scary to see the lack of performance it has a high-altitude airports. We used Aspen, CO, as quite a few of the clientele in these business jets like to vacation there, and it’s a challenging airport to fly out of.

Overall, I am feeling more and more comfortable in the simulator, and looking forward to getting into the actual airplane. Only tomorrow to go, then checkride on Monday. I’ll then head back to Florida for some more “in-house” training, including emergency evacuations, etc., and start flying very soon.

One of these days I will have a flying story for you…until then back to the books. Have a great day!!

is officially full, and starting to overflow!!!! More to come as I get time. Plan on an update on Sunday.