Moments of March madness, regional airline version, with multiple First Officers. Thunderstorms and rain, then sleet, then wet snow at home. A week later at Chicago, an ILS down to bare minimums in heavy snow, with me as Pilot Monitoring. My good First Officer number one did a great job as Pilot Flying. Me in bold: "100 to minimums". "Lights in sight - minimums" "Continuing". "Runway in sight". Airplane: "One-hundred". "Runway in sight". "Landing". All in quick succession.
My smart-phone weather radar showed snow squalls passing through Chicago in waves: moderate snow, then short periods of heavy snow, all of it wet with fog. We boarded the next flight during moderate snow: we got deiced, then anti-iced at the gate, then heard murmurs over the operations frequency: "we don't have a holdover period for heavy snow, so we'll wait till it goes back down to moderate before we deice." My good F.O. updated the ATIC and it now reported heavy snow. Well, our charts don't have holdover times for heavy snow either. Time to be a Pilot In-Command and make a decision. We have a procedure for almost everything in the airlines. You can choose to operate per what's written in black and white, or interpret what is written in black and white. But there are gray areas. I looked at my green, anti-iced, clean wing, then at my good F.O. "It won't last long. They've been changing the ATIS every five minutes. Just because they don't have holdover charts for heavy snow, doesn't mean anti-ice fluid can't prevent contamination of the wing for a while, we just don't know how long." I sensed that we had an unspoken understanding, but I asked him outright just the same: "Are you OK with it? I think it will go back to moderate in a few minutes". Yes he was, and yes we went, and yes the snow went back to moderate five minutes later, and stayed that way at least until we took off.
March madness. Before the trip started I should've briefed my good F.O. number two better, he surprised me with: flight spoilers extended down low on approach (I told him before 1,000 AGL, he stowed them & learned from it); crosswind correction totally opposite of the actual wind during the flare (learned from that too); and after one of his landings he suddenly veered off of the runway on the high speed exit. It was un-briefed, un-planned, un-expected, and and un-apologized for. "80 knots MY AIRCRAFT" I exclaimed to transfer controls as he suddenly steered us off the runway. I didn't have to tell him afterwards that was one of my No-No's. It was the equivalent of driving your car full of people, seeing your freeway exit at the last second, jamming on the brakes and jerking the wheel, not comfortable or confidence inspiring for anyone.
March madness. After flying ten out of eleven days, with a one day break in between, I was totally spent. I did it to myself for extra pay the first time, the second time the company did it to me because of staffing problems. I was already near my scheduled FDP limit and felt tired, so I would've not accepted the extra flying if it had been another revenue flight, but because it was a deadhead flight to the overnight and flying the next day, I could be extended up to sixteen hours of duty.
March madness. Let me develop this one, though. "Nothing beats the sun on the water", I said, as my third good F.O., a former corporate flight department chief pilot, was taking a picture. We were slowly climbing up to our cruising altitude, eastbound over Lake Michigan toward Syracuse, New York. The sun was still rising on this morning flight, reflecting a beautiful golden-silver light on the gray-black water. So many times the interplay of sun or moon, clouds and water is in terms of black and white, and silver and gray. We enjoyed the moment in silence for a little, then he said "What you said made me think of another son on the water". It took me just a bit, but I quickly realized he was referring to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walking on water, toward his disciples, as told in Mark 6:45-52. I smiled and said, "oh, you're right!". What a play on words. We should've talked more, but it had already been established he and I were both God fearing Christian family men. We again in silence appreciated the glorious scene on the water, a physical manifestation and representation of the Godly glory and spiritual reality of the Son of God and Son of Man being not in the water, but on the water.
If you were a disciple of Jesus in that boat, witnessing him walk, er, march, on the water for the first time, you would think your eyes were deceiving you. You would do the mother of all double-takes. You might think you were crazy. March madness.
March madness, basketball version, is coming right up to Easter. Easter will be on April 1st. Easter will be on April Fools Day. Does that make believing Christians fools this year? My last good F.O. might think so. The other night over buffalo wings and a beer with my Flight Attendant, he stated matter-of-factly that "85% of the founding fathers were deists. I'm a Deist." Well we eventually talked about his Deist beliefs, and my Christian beliefs. And I should've asked Dr. Google sooner, but 85% is pretty far off. It's more like 15%, if you just go by the Denominations they belonged to. I will fly with him again I hope, and we can continue the conversation. It was good just to share with a co-worker my faith in Jesus again, and what He means to me for my life, for the here and hereafter.
It's not madness to believe in a personal, benevolent God, who is (1) Holy and demands Justice because He is Holy, and is (2) Loving, and full of Grace and Mercy - both at the same time. We might not understand God, because His ways are not always our ways, even though we were created in His image. It is not madness to believe that you need a Savior, and that Jesus is who the Bible clearly states He is.
Thanks for reading my blog, and may God Bless you!
Monday, March 26, 2018
Friday, March 9, 2018
Crew Room Conflict
It has been a pretty long time since I posted on this blog. Welcome back to me! My church is doing a church wide discipleship program and about 300 of us are involved in it. My small group of eight are involved too. Through the course, I remember how I saw this blog is a way to combine my experiences on the line and in the sky with my spiritual life and share that with readers, and I recall what joy it was doing that. So, I’d like to start blogging again, but maybe in a different way.
Recently hired I had an experience worth sharing , well often I have experiences worth sharing but it is usually my wife and maybe my daughters who get to hear about it. They are growing up! My oldest is 17 ½ and other daughters 13 ½, someday soon they will stop using ½ numbers, that will be a bittersweet moment.
I had a crew room conflict, and it wasn’t pretty. Our new crew room in our new base is small, much too small for the number of folks based there. They say they are working on a larger crew room but the ugly rumor part of that is we are waiting for another regional airline to vacate it for us. There are four computers used to check in for our trips and do various tasks, only two of them typically work at a time.
After verifying which two of the four machines were working, I verbally put my name in the hat, so to speak, to use a computer after a Flight Attendant was done. I turned my back and checked my V-File in the employee filing cabinet. I turned around and she was done, at the same time another Flight Attendant across the room asked if that computer was open. I’ll save you some suspense - the conflict wasn’t with her. I mentioned I had been waiting for it and would be quick. I was closer in any case. With just a little anxious self-conscience about it, I checked in for my trip, printed my trip sheet out, looked at the announcements quickly, and logged out.
I stood up, turned around and starting looking for the Flight Attendant, saw her, and told her I’m done, come on over. Simultaneously a First Officer was on short final for the chair and computer I’d just vacated, and it became clear he wasn’t going around. “I told this Flight Attendant she would be next.” He wasn’t going balked landing either. “What are you doing, she is next, she’s been waiting”. He had landed and was exiting the runway, no radio communication at all. He didn’t even acknowledge me, much less my request.
My temper rose up quickly and I muttered in defeat “I guess you don’t give a crap then”, as I walked away. He had been closer than she was, as a matter of fact, but I didn’t see him when I was looking for her. She wanted to hide at this point and not get involved. I shrugged my shoulders and told her “sorry, I tried.”
He was done even quicker than I was, got up, walked to nearby where I was, and took out his phone. It was then that I started to think “I’m think I’m scheduled to fly with this guy. I am scheduled to fly with this guy. Do I want to fly with this guy? Does he want to fly with me?”
“Hi, this is _______ ________, and I’m calling in sick”. He was calling in sick, right there in the crew room, which was a good decision under the circumstances. I shook his hand after he ended the call, and we talked it over, talked it out. He was on day six of flying, after being extended and junior manned over the weekend. Crew Scheduling had been abusing him, and as the most senior F.O. in base, he felt didn’t deserve that and had had enough. Enough that he mentioned that he had thought about quitting his job. There was some personal stuff going on too he mentioned, it had been an awful morning already.
I’d worked with him before on a simulator checkride a few years back, but had never flown with him on the line. I didn’t recognize him at first, less hair, more belly, although I’ve changed appearance some too. There may have been some extenuating circumstances contributing, but for his privacy and my some short measure of respect for him I won’t address it.
I felt a little sheepish about making the scene, so I asked him was it something I did to make him call in sick, the way I reacted at the computer? I mentioned I was trying to save the computer for the Flight Attendant, and he seemed to have a new sensitivity to that. I think he understood that I was trying to show her respect. He asked where she was; he suddenly wanted to apologize to her. She had left the crew room to escape the tension and breathe.
I agreed with him that if you’re not emotionally ready to fly then you’re not fit for duty and should call out sick. I assured him that we should fly together in the future, and agreed that he should get his rest. I tried to encourage him to hang in there, now was not a time to quit.
But should I have stood up to him like I did for the Flight Attendant, or let him be like a rude driver on a crazy freeway without any pushback?
It was time for me to head to the gate, with or without my First Officer, to get set up for our first flight, meet my Flight Attendant (the one involved was not her), let the gate agent know we would be delayed, and get in touch with Crew Scheduling to find out when our replacement F.O. would arrive. So I excused myself and headed out for less tense environs.
I saw the Flight Attendant in question in the hallway and mentioned he wanted to apologize to her, she found it difficult to believe. Turning around, he had followed me out in the hall, speaking to a Pilot Manger who wanted him to explain his sick call, a standard practice especially for a sudden sick call at show-time. I encouraged her to approach him, and wanting to give them privacy, moved on out of the way. I think he apologized, she accepted, and they resolved the conflict.
My emotions were dizzy all that first day of this recent trip going over what occurred in my mind and heart. Fortunately they did find a new copilot for me within 30 to 45 minutes, my replacement was a new line holder, and had the idealistic attitude of “commute in early and tell crew scheduling I’m here, do you have anything for me to do?” going. Well, they sure did! Two and a half days later I saw him in the hotel I was checking out of, he was still flying a rerouted trip, even though he is a line holder. But now he had a good story of above and beyond service he maybe shared at his upcoming interview with a Major Airline. He is a U.S. Air Force Veteran Pilot, and just might be a Regional Airline short timer by now, I imagine.
Respect for women is important, whether your status is higher or lower than them, whether you’re young or old, male or female, subordinate or superior.
One person who showed great respect for women was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Stories abound in the New Testament Gospels where he held them in honor and respect, had them undertake important roles that weren’t in line with ancient attitudes about women, in a culture where men totally wrote the rules and enforced them.
Don’t take my word for it, take these Christian Writers and Bloggers words as well:
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/jesus-extraordinary-treatment-of-women/
https://bible.org/article/christianity-best-thing-ever-happened-women
https://www.gci.org/church/ministry/women6b
God bless you, and thanks for reading my blog.
Recently hired I had an experience worth sharing , well often I have experiences worth sharing but it is usually my wife and maybe my daughters who get to hear about it. They are growing up! My oldest is 17 ½ and other daughters 13 ½, someday soon they will stop using ½ numbers, that will be a bittersweet moment.
I had a crew room conflict, and it wasn’t pretty. Our new crew room in our new base is small, much too small for the number of folks based there. They say they are working on a larger crew room but the ugly rumor part of that is we are waiting for another regional airline to vacate it for us. There are four computers used to check in for our trips and do various tasks, only two of them typically work at a time.
After verifying which two of the four machines were working, I verbally put my name in the hat, so to speak, to use a computer after a Flight Attendant was done. I turned my back and checked my V-File in the employee filing cabinet. I turned around and she was done, at the same time another Flight Attendant across the room asked if that computer was open. I’ll save you some suspense - the conflict wasn’t with her. I mentioned I had been waiting for it and would be quick. I was closer in any case. With just a little anxious self-conscience about it, I checked in for my trip, printed my trip sheet out, looked at the announcements quickly, and logged out.
I stood up, turned around and starting looking for the Flight Attendant, saw her, and told her I’m done, come on over. Simultaneously a First Officer was on short final for the chair and computer I’d just vacated, and it became clear he wasn’t going around. “I told this Flight Attendant she would be next.” He wasn’t going balked landing either. “What are you doing, she is next, she’s been waiting”. He had landed and was exiting the runway, no radio communication at all. He didn’t even acknowledge me, much less my request.
My temper rose up quickly and I muttered in defeat “I guess you don’t give a crap then”, as I walked away. He had been closer than she was, as a matter of fact, but I didn’t see him when I was looking for her. She wanted to hide at this point and not get involved. I shrugged my shoulders and told her “sorry, I tried.”
He was done even quicker than I was, got up, walked to nearby where I was, and took out his phone. It was then that I started to think “I’m think I’m scheduled to fly with this guy. I am scheduled to fly with this guy. Do I want to fly with this guy? Does he want to fly with me?”
“Hi, this is _______ ________, and I’m calling in sick”. He was calling in sick, right there in the crew room, which was a good decision under the circumstances. I shook his hand after he ended the call, and we talked it over, talked it out. He was on day six of flying, after being extended and junior manned over the weekend. Crew Scheduling had been abusing him, and as the most senior F.O. in base, he felt didn’t deserve that and had had enough. Enough that he mentioned that he had thought about quitting his job. There was some personal stuff going on too he mentioned, it had been an awful morning already.
I’d worked with him before on a simulator checkride a few years back, but had never flown with him on the line. I didn’t recognize him at first, less hair, more belly, although I’ve changed appearance some too. There may have been some extenuating circumstances contributing, but for his privacy and my some short measure of respect for him I won’t address it.
I felt a little sheepish about making the scene, so I asked him was it something I did to make him call in sick, the way I reacted at the computer? I mentioned I was trying to save the computer for the Flight Attendant, and he seemed to have a new sensitivity to that. I think he understood that I was trying to show her respect. He asked where she was; he suddenly wanted to apologize to her. She had left the crew room to escape the tension and breathe.
I agreed with him that if you’re not emotionally ready to fly then you’re not fit for duty and should call out sick. I assured him that we should fly together in the future, and agreed that he should get his rest. I tried to encourage him to hang in there, now was not a time to quit.
But should I have stood up to him like I did for the Flight Attendant, or let him be like a rude driver on a crazy freeway without any pushback?
It was time for me to head to the gate, with or without my First Officer, to get set up for our first flight, meet my Flight Attendant (the one involved was not her), let the gate agent know we would be delayed, and get in touch with Crew Scheduling to find out when our replacement F.O. would arrive. So I excused myself and headed out for less tense environs.
I saw the Flight Attendant in question in the hallway and mentioned he wanted to apologize to her, she found it difficult to believe. Turning around, he had followed me out in the hall, speaking to a Pilot Manger who wanted him to explain his sick call, a standard practice especially for a sudden sick call at show-time. I encouraged her to approach him, and wanting to give them privacy, moved on out of the way. I think he apologized, she accepted, and they resolved the conflict.
My emotions were dizzy all that first day of this recent trip going over what occurred in my mind and heart. Fortunately they did find a new copilot for me within 30 to 45 minutes, my replacement was a new line holder, and had the idealistic attitude of “commute in early and tell crew scheduling I’m here, do you have anything for me to do?” going. Well, they sure did! Two and a half days later I saw him in the hotel I was checking out of, he was still flying a rerouted trip, even though he is a line holder. But now he had a good story of above and beyond service he maybe shared at his upcoming interview with a Major Airline. He is a U.S. Air Force Veteran Pilot, and just might be a Regional Airline short timer by now, I imagine.
Respect for women is important, whether your status is higher or lower than them, whether you’re young or old, male or female, subordinate or superior.
One person who showed great respect for women was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Stories abound in the New Testament Gospels where he held them in honor and respect, had them undertake important roles that weren’t in line with ancient attitudes about women, in a culture where men totally wrote the rules and enforced them.
Don’t take my word for it, take these Christian Writers and Bloggers words as well:
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/jesus-extraordinary-treatment-of-women/
https://bible.org/article/christianity-best-thing-ever-happened-women
https://www.gci.org/church/ministry/women6b
God bless you, and thanks for reading my blog.
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