Who Says It's Hot In Phoenix?

In keeping with the West is Best theme....Another recent trip of mine took me out to Phoenix. By June of any given year, Phoenix is already well into the 100 degree days, but this day was an unusual exception. It was only 88 when we landed at 4 PM and very clear. No global warming here....

The arrivals from points East are routed either from the Northeast or the Southeast. Nothing is allowed to come straight in from the East due to restricted airspace. Today we flew the Northeast arrival over Payson, Fountain Hills, and then Mesa and Tempe.

The Superstition Mountains were well in view today as was the Salt River where I spent many hours over the years tubing down the river. Those were fun times.


Here's a shot of a long final approach to the West.On short final you pass just slightly North of Arizona State University. This is a good look at the campus. Sun Devil Stadium is also visible.

Not long after landing it was time to head back to Texas. Like the arrivals, Eastbound departures from PHX are always routed to the Northeast or the Southeast. Today we flew the Southeast departure. It took us pretty close to White Sands missile range in New Mexico.
Once over Western Texas, we passed through a developing storm front. Lots of cumulonimbus clouds were building. They would soon be full blown thunderstorms. The hole in the middle is where we passed through. Down at the surface we could see the dust being blown up from all the fields. This was a West Texas dust storm in the making!


The tops on this cell were well in the 50,000 ft range. There would be no climbing above this one in our MD-80 today!

In less than an hour we were parked at the gate, packing up our stuff, and would soon be headed for our respective homes.


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Always Apologizing

Just as my last trip went surprisingly well, the following one was pretty awful. There are times when I almost feel embarrassed that I work for an airline given the bad publicity that we receive. And today was a good example of that.

It was supposed to be just an easy turnaround from DFW to Philadelphia and back. I was hoping to be home by 10 PM if all went well. But right after sign in at noon I could see that things might not go smoothly. Our departure had been delayed for 45 minutes for ATC flow control delays to the east coast. PHL was reporting good weather but there was a large area of weather in the deep south that was moving up the east coast and causing issues with ATC.

I joked to the First Officer that this was turning into a possible all-nighter. Little did we know.....

I called clearance delivery at DFW to verify our delay and they replied that ATC had just added two hours to our expected departure time! So I told our gate agent and she just got mad and said that we would be boarding on time and that we'd have to take our delay off the gate somewhere. Not so fast I said....time to go over her head and ask the ramp tower if we could stay on the gate for a while and not board our full flight. They said "no problem...you can have the gate for as long as you want".

Hearing this the agent got even more angry and called her supervisor to complain. But I guess it didn't do any good since her phone call was very brief. I can understand why an agent wouldn't want to deal with a bunch of delayed passengers, but for her to want to load them all on a confined airplane just to get them out of her hair is just not the way to treat our paying passengers. She was not seeing the big picture.


Moving on....our delay was now up to four hours and we were finally boarded and almost ready to push back when one of our rampers came up to tell me he spotted a couple of nicks on two of our compressor blades on the #2 engine. He had been standing on a cargo loader and was looking into the engine inlet when he saw them. So out came maintenance 15 minutes later and they reported that the nicks were within tolerance and we were good to go. I said we'd take the plane as long as they'd sign the logbook stating such. Well that changed everything....the mechanic stormed off and didn't come back for 20 more minutes. When he returned he said that the nicks were now out of tolerance and that the plane was out of service! We weren't surprised....that kind of thing happens way too often with maintenance. They hate for us to write things up in the logbook because that generates more work for them. But if we don't write things up, they don't get fixed and that's just bad for everyone. Things just kept getting worse this day.

They found us another plane in short order but it was in another terminal so that took another 30 minutes to get everyone off the first plane and on the second one. Then right before pushback again our #1 flight attendant called to tell us that she was missing a trash container in the forward galley and that it was a required item for departure. 30 minutes later we had our trash container and finally on the taxi way headed for the runway. By now we were over five hours late. Our passengers were furious. So was this puppy we were carrying in the belly!

I had been making numerous PA's all afternoon long but they only go so far in calming people down. I told the flight attendants to "comp" the first round of drinks. Maybe that helped a little.

A now retired captain once told me that AA should really stand for "Always Apologizing". How true!!


So then we get to PHL 5 1/2 hours late and sure enough, our gate is occupied! Another apology to the passengers....10 minutes later and we're finally parked.

They loaded us up quickly and in less than one hour we were westbound for DFW. 3 1/2 hours later at 2:00 AM we were parked back at DFW.

I finally made it home by 3:00 AM. That was a long day!



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The Great Southwest

Enough complaining about AA...time for some sightseeing in the western US.

Last week ended with a turnaround to Las Vegas and back. As usual we were completely full. I can't ever remember not being full going to Las Vegas. It's an incredibly popular destination.

We launched behind this ATA DC-10. It's a former Northwest airplane now painted in ATA colors. I just read where ATA ceased operations so I imagine this DC-10 will be parked soon.

We climbed on up to 32,000 ft and enjoyed a smooth ride under clear skies across the Texas panhandle. We even passed this guy above us. It's pretty rare for an MD-80 to pass anyone but I think this was an RJ. They cruise a little bit slower than we do.


New Mexico went by and then came Arizona. It was a little hazy by then but I managed to get a shot of Meteor Crater near Winslow. It's a little blurry but you can still make it out pretty well. It's almost one mile wide and over 500 ft deep.



The descent started just after the Grand Canyon and took us over Lake Mead. The Colorado River feeds this lake. The water level is pretty low these days as you can see from the water line.
Then on my side along came Hoover Dam. For many years the road between Arizona and Nevada crossed right over the dam. The state line runs right down the middle of the dam. But in the photos you can see where there is a new bridge being built over the river. It should cut down on the traffic jams.
Once again it is a little blurry due to the haze but you get the idea. After that it was time to land and find our gate.

Just under one hour later we were full again and climbing eastbound across Arizona. The sun had set, smooth conditions prevailed, and we even had a nice tailwind on the going home leg. And to make an easy day even better, our gate was open at DFW, our ground crew was in place to wave us in, the gate agent was there to open the door, and I didn't have to wait too long for the employee bus to get me to the parking lot.

So sometimes the job isn't all that bad.



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A Bad Week For MD-80 Drivers

At AA, we pilots spend the entire month trying to keep our trips intact as much as possible and to end up the month with as many hours flown as possible. That's because we only get paid for the hours we fly. We have no trip guarantee like most other airlines. The general public often seems to be under the impression that airline pilots only work about 40 hours a month! Not so. At AA we work about 80 hours a month. But those are hours actually spent at the controls. So when you see an AA pilot walking through the terminal, at the gate, checking weather online, or even in the bathroom, he or she is not getting paid. We only get paid when the airplane is moving. There is no pay for any of our time spent before a trip, during a layover, or after a trip is over. There is no pay for time spent at hotels, riding airport shuttles, clearing customs and immigrations, flight planning, gate changes, or anything else you can think of. There's no extra pay for flying on holidays or weekends either.
Now I'm not complaining...It would just be nice if people would realize that the airline pilots life is not as most people perceive. It's not all that glamourous. Now it's still a pretty good job most of the time but this last week was a difficult one for the MD-80 line pilots at AA. I'll explain later.

After last weeks thunderstorms in Dallas destroyed my work schedule for the week, I had hoped that the remainder of my month's flying would go smoothly. But then came last Wednesday and the MD-80 groundings.

The week started with a turnaround to Columbus, Ohio and back. That was an easy day with great weather and a good view of Columbus from the downwind to 28L. In the upper left corner you can make out the Ohio State campus.

For years now this old Sud Aviation Caravelle jet has been parked at CMH. It used to be painted in Airborne Express colors and looked pretty good, but it now looks like it will die a slow death on the ramp.







The following day was another easy one. DFW to El Paso and back. No issues that day either.


The next day brought a three day trip. The first day was only one leg from DFW to Detroit. We launched behind this Lufthansa A-340 bound for Frankfurt.

On the morning of day two when we arrived at our gate, we saw that our flight to Chicago and then on to Tulsa had been canceled. What was up?

Our crew tracking folks advised us that we had grounded a bunch of MD-80's for hydraulic pump wiring harness inspections. This sounded bad....and it was. The MD-80 is the backbone of American's fleet. We operate 300 of them. A grounding of any portion of the fleet would be a scheduling nightmare.

We ended up dead-heading back to DFW and spent the night there with the understanding that we would complete the third day as originally planned. But late that night I received word from our scheduling folks that our flights on day three had also been canceled. So my three day trip ended up consisting of only one leg of actual flying and one dead-head leg. So we lost our planned pay for all those legs that were canceled.

Now multiply what happened to us many times over for the hundreds of other MD-80 pilots that had the exact same thing or even worse happen to them this week! We had crews stranded all over the country for several days. Some even got stuck in Mexico and Canada. (However, I don't feel too bad for the crews that got stuck in Los Cabos or Puerto Vallarta).

Typically we can make up for the loss of pay during a given month by volunteering for trips that come available through sick calls, mis-connects, cancellations, weather, or whatever other reason. But in this case, our month is almost over and most of us won't be able to make up the time and will end up with a much smaller paycheck.

And the company will not kick in and pay us for all the time we lost. Unfortunately that's just the nature of our union's and company's relationship these days. It's not a very good relationship but hopefully we can improve on that the next time our union negotiates a contract. Time will tell.


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DFW Is Closed For Business??

So we were on day two of a three day trip. Last night was only one leg from DFW to Newark. Easy enough. Still no cookies though.....we had to stay at the Newark Airport Hotel again.

When we left Texas the previous night, all the weather forecasts were calling for a couple of severe thunderstorm days in Dallas for the following two days. As luck would have it, our day would have us returning from Newark to DFW and then on to Nashville. But after looking at the north Texas radar returns, we both had serious doubts as to whether we would make it to DFW this day. Typically our company does a lot of preemptive canceling of flights whenever severe weather is forecast for a hub. They didn't do that today. Bad decision!

We departed on time with 140 passengers and waited in the usual lineup for takeoff. Number 20 or so.

Looking across the field we spotted the New Jersey Devils Boeing 727 parked near a hangar.


About an hour and a half after takeoff we received an urgent message on our onboard printer from our dispatcher in Ft Worth. "We need you to land NOW in Nashville....DFW is closed due to severe thunderstorms."

So I called him on the radio to advise that we were 5000 lbs overweight for a landing in Nashville and that I'd prefer to go to Memphis. He agreed. So we called the cabin crew to let them know and then I made a PA to the passengers to give them the bad news. I thought I heard some groaning from the cabin!

Diversions don't usually go very well and today was no exception. Our agents in Memphis didn't want to let anyone off the plane. They already had another MD-80 on another gate and two more diverts were inbound. But I wasn't about to make 140 people sit on the plane for who knew how long. That kind of stuff makes for bad headlines. So I had to go over their heads and called the higher ups and soon our passengers were in the terminal enjoying the Memphis airport instead of the back of the MD-80.

Over the next four hours I had numerous phone calls with our dispatcher. The storms at DFW just kept coming in waves. It seems that one of the control towers at DFW had to be evacuated when they spotted a funnel cloud headed their way. Fortunately it never touched down but the delays were growing and growing. American Airlines ended up canceling over 1100 flights this day. What a mess!

We finally got a release from ATC after about five hours in Memphis. We got caught up in a long line of FedEx departures but that was OK. More photos for me!

We didn't lose too many passengers...most all of them got back on board. The hour long flight to DFW ended up taking almost two hours with all the deviations and speed reductions. It was choppy too....we ran out of barfbags!

The airport terminal was a giant mess. It looked like a huge campground. There were cots everywhere. Most all of the airport hotels were full and hundreds of passengers were forced to spend the night in the airport.

We returned the next morning to complete our trip. It was only a turnaround from DFW to Dayton and back. DFW's weather had improved greatly but now Dayton was getting it. We flew an ILS down to minimums in heavy rain. It all worked out nicely and before long I was enjoying a couple of cookies on the way back home.


The arrival back to DFW gave us a nice view of downtown Dallas with Love Field in view.




The Trinity River is normally just a trickle but today you can see it was way over it's banks. Almost 5 inches of rain in one day will do that every time.


It's springtime in Texas.




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Back On The Line

It was mid January when I last set foot inside a cockpit. It's a good thing we use checklists! It's amazing how much you forget in such a short time period.

I gave my first officer fair warning about my absence from work these past two months. He seemed envious that I had been off for so long. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that we went on a cruise while I was off work status! I asked him to keep an eye on me and if I goofed up anything to please speak up. Although I would expect that from anyone I fly with no matter what the situation. I always do the same for my crew mates.

This would be an easy trip to get back in the flying world again. It was only a turnaround from DFW to San Jose and back.

DFW was packed with spring breakers headed for all parts of the globe. It sure doesn't seem as though the demand for air travel has decreased at all considering the state of our economy. All of our available seats were full this day.

Good weather was forecast all along the route. The westbound leg took us over the Texas panhandle, then the four corners region.


Monument Valley was looking very monumental this day.




Lake Powell looked pretty good too.



Then came the Sierra Nevadas and finally an arrival routing over Modesto and a straight in approach to SJC from the south.


The freight guys were taking a break today...it was a Saturday.



We picked up a fresh load of passengers and headed back to DFW. The routing this time would follow the road trip I just took a couple of weeks ago. We flew south towards Edwards AFB then turned east towards the Colorado River, then across northern Arizona, New Mexico, and finally Texas.

By the time we set the brakes back at DFW it was just like old times. I was back on the line once again..... When is my next vacation??



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Road Trip: Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I would probably soon be posting something completely un-aviation related. And this is it.
But the photos are pretty good and most readers can relate to a road trip. So thanks for reading.

My knee surgery last month was the result of a fall down some wet boarding stairs as I was helping an elderly lady off a flight in Mexico. We had parked on the ramp and no jetbridge was available so a set of portable boarding stairs was being used. It had just rained and they were wet... .I slipped and ended up at the base of the stairs with a damaged knee. She didn't fall...just me.

Because it was a work related injury, I was forced to jump through several hoops to get permission to non-rev on my airline while I'm on sick status. It was a hassle getting the associated doctors to send their letters of approval to the workers compensation people at AA but eventually it got done and I had the OK from everyone.

Why was I non-revving?.....For the road trip!

BD, my roommate/girlfriend, has family in Livermore, California. It's not too far from San Jose. There was some antique furniture at her family's home there that she needed to transport to her home in Texas. About the only way to get this stuff home to Texas was to do it ourselves with either a small cargo van or a large SUV. The professional movers wanted a small fortune for this and she didn't trust them with her antiques anyhow. So we went the way of a large SUV and planned for the long drive to Texas.

The flight from DFW to San Jose went right over Northern Arizona. The Grand Canyon was looking pretty good this day.



San Jose was reporting some fog with low ceilings but our crew today was able to find the airport with no trouble.....They did a nice job.



We rented a fully loaded GMC Yukon for the road trip. It was very nice. At least we would be comfortable on the road.




I can't go to California without visiting my favorite burger joint in the country. In-N-Out. Darren can attest to their goodness!! I even display their bumper sticker on my flight case at work!
After a day and a half in Livermore getting stuff ready and refueling with In-N-Out burgers, it was time to head for Texas.


We launched from Livermore at 5 AM and headed towards Arizona. The route took us down Interstate 5 through the San Joaquin valley where the thousands of trees and crops were showing off their colors.





Passing Tehachapi pass we could see the hundreds of windmills on the hills. It's a great place for them...the wind was howling this day.






On past Barstow joining Interstate 40, the Hector (HEC) VOR went by on our left. Then came Needles, the Colorado River and then the Arizona State line.

Dinner would come in Kingman, Arizona. After a short drive through town and a shot of the old Santa Fe locomotive in a city park, guess what we found? In-N-Out Burger!! I sure wish they would expand to the rest of this country.


After that fine meal we pressed on past Williams, Flagstaff, Winslow and finally after a day of driving, it was time to stop. Our home for the night would be in Holbrook, Arizona.


Our accommodations for the night could be a story all by itself so I'll save it for the next installment. Stay tuned.





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