.....so there I was.....

".....so there I was...." harks back to the days of WWII fighter pilots.  Pictures made famous depicting youthful 20 somethings using hand gestures to reinact there battles in the skies over Germany and how they bested their foe, on that day, at that moment.  My battle begins with my trip to LAX.  It started like all my other trips this month...EARLY.  And when I say early, I mean early.  3:15am wake up, early!  It was a quick trip to the airport.  I finally made time for a coffee, then strapped in for what was to be a 5:35 min. flight to LAX.  We pushed back on time and decided to start both engines for our taxi to the runway.  (under most conditions we only start 1 engine to save gas).  We get number 2 started (right engine) and then start number 1 (the left).  The left engine decided not to start.  It started spooling up normally, but when we introduced the fuel, there was no "light off".  We aborted the start and referenced our checklist. We tackled our "non-normal engine start checklist" and after a quick talk with maintenance we opted for another try.  This time it started normally and off we went.  The flight out was smooth and relatively quick considering the position and strength of the jetstream.   We would be tested one more time this trip.  At the end.  I flew the leg from LAX-EWR.  It was quick and smooth considering the winter storm stretching from Denver to Cleveland.  We were well above the weather at 39,000 feet, and although it was raining in Newark there was no snow in the immediate forecast.  In our decent we received a message  from dispatch indicating a wide-spread area of potentially severe turbulence below 6000' .  We informed  the flight attendants and asked them to be seated for the rest of the flight.  I've seen these reports before but nothing close to severe turbulence was ever encountered.  "So there I was......level at 6000' being vectored for our approach to runway 4 right at Newark.  ATC said the ride down to 2000' would be a little rough.  That's when  anything that wasn't secured in the cockpit started to float.  Not like being in outer space floating, but like being in a violently shaking snowglobe floating.  The auto-pilot was on and in a matter of seconds the airplane abruptly started to pitch and roll around all three axis.  The auto-pilot kicked off and it was my battle to settle with mother nature.  You must ensure smooth control inputs while trying to correct for deviations related to turbulence so you don't over-stress the aircraft.  I could not maintain our altitude and held the airplane at a constant pitch (up/down) attitude while accepting the deviations.  We had altitude deviations in excess of +/- 400 feet and airspeed fluctuations  +/- 35 knots.  This would be tolerable, although not enjoyable, if not for the extreme shaking and shuttering that came along with the fluctuations.  We had such bad eyeball bounce (inability to focus on the instruments due to the shaking) that it took both of us to coordinate altitude and heading inputs. Everything was deliberate and coordinated with regard to aircraft control.  The turbulence mellowed as we turned  toward the airport and the rest of the trip down the final approach was bumping but doable.  The landing was firm, but rewarding.  I'm proud to not have many instances that start with "so there I was....." but I  have this one with my battle over NJ with mother nature.  

What a difference two feet makes.

So Sunday I headed to St. Thomas.   A chance to leave behind the biting cold of the north east and enjoy some warm tropical sun (if only for an hour).   The day started like every other.  A check of the paperwork, follow up on the weather, and meet the crew.  Oh yeah, the crew, all 3 of us.  I forgot I was the International Relief Officer (IRO for short).   See, the FAA requires one extra pilot on trips  scheduled for more than 8 hours of flying and less than 12 hours.  Our St. Thomas trip was a turn (one leg down-get gas-one leg home) scheduled for 8:38 minutes.  I usually don't fly the IRO position. If I have to be on an airplane I want to be the one flying it.  The IRO does all the grunt work as well (like the preflight walk-around inspections in Siberia when the wind is blowing and it's -28* F). The IRO also needs to sit in the cockpit jumpseat for all operations from pushback, taxi, takeoff, and climb as well as decent and landing.  Sitting in the jumpseat is like sitting on slab of granite and using a blanket for padding.  The good news was once we leveled off at our cruise altitude, which today was 35,000', I got to settle into my first class seat and watch a movie.  That is until one of the guys up front needed to use the lav or they themselves needed a break.  Which unfortunately for me was often.  I haven't been in the jumpseat for a long time, but I'm always amazed when I am.  Sitting 2 feet behind the people doing all the heavy lifting provides such a unique perspective to our job as aviators.  That 2 feet instantly allows one to recognize and catch errors, see outside traffic first, and seemingly allows you know what each pilot is going to do before they do it!  (I guess thats why our instructor pilots always sit there to give us line checks and standardization rides, instead of sitting in first class).  The trip was uneventful and everyone did a great job.  We arrived early and basked in the sun, albeit for 35 minutes before heading home to sub-freezing temps and a vicious wind.  Sitting in the jumpseat offers up a rare view to our work as pilots, but there's still no better seat in the house than the 2 up front.  LAX is next.  K 

SFO recap

Uneventful trip to SFO on tues/wed.  Don't get me wrong -I do like it that way.  We did take a more northerly route over southern Canada to stay out of the jetstream and related turbulence.  We also  shot an approach into SFO because the weather was overcast at 600'.  This slowed the arrival rate into the airport and caused some delay vectoring for proper spacing.  When weather is at least 5 miles and 3000' ceilings it allows for visual approaches to be conducted and reduces spacing between aircraft  (usually from 5 miles to 3 miles) almost  doubling the number of airplanes ATC can accept.  It was a very nice touchdown, but it was immediately replaced by all sorts of bumps and shuddering. (SFO runway 28 right is very uneven and full of dips-so no matter how good the landing it's always negated).  Layover was great.  Nice weather and we stayed downtown so what's not to like.  The return leg was mine to fly and a standard departure.  We took off on runway 1 R  which departs over the water (bay) towards Oakland.  This does require a minimum climb gradient( six mile radius around SFO) above 3000'  so you don't go blasting through Oaklands airspace.  When heavy, which is almost always out of SFO, you usually make it by a couple hundred feet.  We made good time to Newark and although the weather was clear and winds under 10 knots, we were vectored all over NJ  before we landed.  Headed to St. Thomas on Sunday so we'll see what fun that offers up.......