Hot and Heavy

Next up was a trip to Paris, France.

The last time I went to Paris was in 1990 and we were using the smaller Orly Airport. Since then, AA has moved over to the much larger Charles De Gaulle Airport. It is the second busiest airport in Europe after London Heathrow.

Runway 17R at DFW was the departure runway. Takeoff weight was 405,000 pounds. Almost at maximum gross weight today due to a full passenger load and extra fuel for expected lousy weather that was forecast for our arrival time in Paris.

Takeoff was behind this British Airways Boeing 777 headed for London. Two minutes for wake turbulence separation and then we received our clearance.

Having flown the MD-80 for so many years, I was accustomed to takeoff speeds from around 120-130 knots with an occasional liftoff speed around 140-145. But this day the outside temperature was high and we were using a reduced flap setting so our liftoff speed was a speedy 170 knots. That's 195 MPH! A blown tire or any other condition requiring an abort would be ugly. An aborted takeoff at that speed would still have us stopped with runway remaining but our brakes would be extremely hot and our tires would be about to burst I'm sure.

The takeoff roll seemed endless.....then came the "V1" and "rotate" calls from the FO and we lifted off smoothly and the Boeing climbed up nicely as we brought up the gear, then flaps, and turned to the northeast.

The speed limit in the US for aircraft flying under 10,000 feet is 250 knots. But since we were so heavy this day, our minimum climb speed was 260 knots so we requested and received relief from that speed limit from Air Traffic Control. So away we went at 260 knots until the transition to a 330 knot climb speed above 10,000 feet. Only 9.5 hours to go. The crossing was mostly smooth and uneventful. Dinner arrived from the galley just as the sun was setting over the northeast coast of the US.

In a few more hours it was time to prepare for the arrival into Paris. The weather was not nearly as bad as forecast and we were able to fly a visual approach to a west landing. Look at all the rubber on that runway.....it needs a cleaning!

Paris is a beautiful city. There's always something to see. I spent several hours walking all over the place. I ended up near the Latin Quarter and the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!!


The next morning it was time to go home to DFW. My wakeup call came at 7 AM local time which was midnight for me since I was still on Texas time. It's not so easy to get up at that hour and go to work. Luckily we get a rest break during the flight for some much needed sleep.


As I mentioned earlier, CDG is a very busy airport. We waited in the lineup for nearly 20 minutes before our turn on the runway came.


We launched right after this Air France A-321 landed.The North Atlantic was looking pretty calm on the surface but I was still happy to be crossing it overhead at 550 MPH as opposed to mushing along on a ship in open waters. The leg to DFW would last 10 hours this day. Once again it was uneventful and mostly smooth......just like we like it.



For a look at some more of my photos, please aviate over to Plane & Simple.