All Is Well In Paris

The opportunity came along recently to trade one of my Caribbean trips for a Paris trip. Not having been there in almost a year and thoroughly enjoying my previous visits to the city, I made the trade.

Departure from DFW is in the late afternoon with an arrival in Paris the following morning.


All loaded up and ready to taxi...get that MD80 out of the way!! We had a mission to accomplish! (they probably did too)

Takeoff weight this day was close to 400,000 lbs. Every seat had an occupant. Our liftoff speed was close to 170 knots with a climb speed of 330 knots above 10,000 ft.
Not a problem for the Boeing and it's General Electric powerplants.

Before long we were pointed Northeast and cruising at 33,000 ft under clear skies as the sun was setting in the West. In just a few hours we would be staring a sunrise in the face and putting up our sun visors.

Paris in the summer seems to bring out the crowds. I don't know if I have ever seen the city quite so busy.

The French have an excellent idea at work in Paris. Bikes for rent. You can rent a bike from a multitude of locations throughout the city. All you need is a credit card and off you go. Then you can drop off your bike at any of those locations....you don't have to go back to where you rented it. What a great concept. And they are relatively inexpensive also. I intend to try it someday.

Naturally I had to visit the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Always an impressive sight.Then a walk through the Latin Quarter.



Kind of busy today.

Is that lady picking her nose?





So then back to the hotel for some rest. The next morning our crew of 13 was up early for the leg back to DFW. Departure from Paris is before Noon with a mid-afternoon arrival time in Texas.

Charles de Gaulle airport is a very busy place. But there's always something interesting to see. Look at this Air France A320 in retro colors.

Next up was this Air France B-747-400 and then it was our turn.

The headwinds were brutal this day. The leg took just over 11 hours. Our individual rest breaks were extra long and allowed for a nap and a movie!

All is well in Paris.

Next up, a trip to the 49th state.



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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.