Completing the sweep

Yesterday I started a 4 day trip that will officially have me finishing out the year on the road. In 2007 I will have missed every single major holiday due to work. Easter, 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve all away from the family. Just to start off the new year on the right track, I'll be spending new years day on the road as well (just a hint of sarcasm there). 2007 was a wash as far as holidays go, hopefully 2008 will be a little better.

2007 was a good year. Got married, got a better job, watched the Squirt grow into a little boy. Life around the house has improved significantly now that I'm home more. My Ameriscare days had turned me into a sullen beast of a pilot that had me spending too much time complaining and enough time appreciating the good things in life. Being home a soft 6 days a month really took its toll. Now I'm home closer to 12-15 days a month and I think its really made a change at home. Although 2007 did not start off very well at all with the loss of my friend Dan Hughes and his F/O Terry Patty down in Mexico, the year progressively got better as it went along. Hopefully the upward trend will continue in 2008.

Wheelin and Dealin

All this month, I've wheeled and dealed to get 4 day trips worth the most amount of flying time. I managed to cheat the system and get myself assigned a high speed line instead of a reserve line. (You might be asking yourself what a high speed is. A high speed can go by many names, stand up overnight, CDO, stand up and illegal just to name a few. It is a duty period that extends through the night hours. You will fly the last flight into an airport and the first out in the morning while staying on duty all night long. A typical flight leaves base at 9:30pm, gets into the outstation around 10:30pm. You pack up all your stuff and head to the hotel to try and catch a few hours of sleep before your return flight. Typically the first flights of the day leave around 6:00am so that means a 5:30am show time, 5:00 van and a 4:30 wake up call. So if your lucky, you can get more than 4 hours of sleep between flights.) Some people like high speeds, but I'm not a big fan. You dont fly much. So you may be asking yourself "why did he bid for a high speed line if he doesn't like them?" because I am an official line holder now and can now pick up open time, drop and swap trips whereas on reserve, I couldn't do any of that. So, I took full advantage of the loophole in the system and as soon as I was awarded a line, I went through and swapped'n'dropped everything I could for 4 day trips. I managed to do quite well for myself for the first time out. I got rid of most of the high speeds and picked up several 4 day trips to bring my credit hours over 90 for the month. The real downside is that I couldn't get rid of my high speeds on the 24th, 25th and 26th. I tried everything, but it looks like I'll be on the road for x-mas. I kinda had a sneaking suspicion this would happen seeing as how I am low man on the seniority list. It sucks, but comes with the territory.

Todays commute

KMKE 112019Z 28007KT 3/4SM R01L/4500VP6000FT PLSN BR FEW006 BKN016 OVC024 M01/M02 A3003 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1 1/2 P0004
KMKE 111952Z 27004KT 1 1/2SM PLSN BR BKN008 OVC022 M01/M02 A3003 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3 SLP179 P0007 T10061022
KMKE 111943Z 28003KT 1 1/2SM PLSN BR BKN008 BKN017 OVC024 00/M02 A3004 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3 P0008
KMKE 111922Z 28004KT 1 1/2SM PL BR FEW008 OVC019 00/M02 A3005 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3 SNE22 P0005
KMKE 111912Z 32004KT 1 1/2SM SNPL BR SCT008 BKN013 OVC019 00/M02 A3005 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2 1/2 P0003
KMKE 111852Z 29004KT 1 1/2SM SNPL BR SCT005 OVC015 00/M02 A3005 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2 SLP185 P0011 T00001017
KMKE 111849Z 28004KT 1 1/2SM SNPL BR SCT005 OVC015 00/M02 A3006 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2 P0012
KMKE 111752Z COR 31006KT 1 1/2SM SNPL BR BKN005 BKN009 OVC020 00/M01 A3007 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1 3/4 RAE32FZRAB35E51SNE1656B47PL CIG 004V008 SLP191 8/7// 4/007 933018 P0003 60035 T00001011 10006 21006 55012
KMKE 111741Z 32005KT 1 1/2SM FZRAPL BR BKN005 BKN010 OVC038 00/M01 A3007 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 2 RAE32UPB32E35FZRAB35SNE1656PL P0006
KMKE 111732Z 32004KT 1 1/2SM PLUP BR BKN005 OVC038 00/M01 A3006 RMK AO2 RAE32UPB32SNE1656PL P0005
KMKE 111652Z 36005KT 1/2SM R01L/3500V4500FT RASNPL BKN003 OVC020 01/M01 A3006 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3/4 RAB10E26B52SNE10B26PL PRESFR SLP187 P0012 T00061006
KMKE 111650Z 35005KT 1/2SM R01L/2400V4000FT SNPL BR BKN003 OVC020 01/M01 A3006 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 3/4 RAB10E26SNE10B26PL PRESFR P0011
KMKE 111634Z 34004KT 1/2SM R01L/4000VP6000FT PLSN BR BKN005 OVC020 00/M01 A3009 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1 RAB10E26SNE10B26 CIG 004V008 PRESFR P0006
KMKE 111632Z 32005KT 1SM R01L/5000VP6000FT PLSN BR SCT005 OVC020 00/M01 A3010 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1 1/4 RAB10E26SNE10B26 P0005

Today is by far the worst weather day I have seen in a long, long time. For those that dont read metars, is says in plain English, light winds, visibilities fluctuating between 1/2 and 1 mile, freezing rain, drizzle, fog, snow, snow pellets, rain and freezing rain pellets (whatever those are). I wish I had my camera with me so I could take a picture of the flight information screens they have in the terminal. There is not a single flight operating on time, 75% are cancelled and the few that are operating, are hours behind schedule. I am curently sitting in the terminal, hoping I make it on a flight to work. All the morning flights were cancelled so that means everyone that is brave enough to still attempt to travel today had been rolled back to the flight I am trying to take. The flight went from having 47 open seats at 8:00am to being at -27 available currently. When I showed up to the gate I knew the only way I was going to make it on the flight was if I signed up for the jumpseat. So as I approached the gate agent, I took a peek behind the counter and to my dismay I saw 3 jumpseat forms already filed out. Uh, oh. Not looking good. About the only thing I have going in my favor is that I take priority over them because they are all off-line jumpseaters. My company is affiliated with Big Red and therefore I have a higher boarding priority than they do. I hate to have to pull rank like that, but I'm trying to get to work. If I didnt have to be at work tonight, I would let them take the seat. Well, we'll see how this goes...I'm off to the gate.

Here are a few photos I've taken over the last few weeks. Sunrise's may be beautiful, but I still hate seeing em. It used to be that if I saw one, that meant I was flying all night. Now it means that I got up really really early in order to to be flying at the crack of dawn.

Home
A Fatty in Memphis
This last one is pretty cool. We were following company traffic a few miles ahead of us at FL320. We chased their contrail half way across the country from Detroit till they descended for Tulsa. We kept on truckin to Oklahoma City.