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