Welcome to the Jungle!
Sitting in the right seat, you really don't have all that much responsibility. The typical F.O duties are to do the walk around, get the clearance, set up the FMS, V-speeds and read checklists. When the proverbial shit hits the fan, the Captain shoulders 100% of the responsibility and is accountable for everything that pertains to that flight. My first day of Captain O.E gave me more experience in that department than anything I have ever experienced before.
Day one was to be a 5 leg day. MSP-DLH-MSP-DSM-MEM-CHA was our scheduled trip. Due to some extreme circumstances, we flew 3 legs and didn't even make it to DSM. Our first out and back went very well. It felt weird to sit in the left seat and taxi the plane, but it was still a rush. Leg 3 is where "it" hit the fan.
Our planned flight was MSP-DSM. That's Minneapolis to Des Moine, IA. Its not a long flight and should have been a cake walk, but it was not to be. The first sign things were going to go bad was when we showed up to the gate. A quick glance at our release showed the plane had a deferred pack. A pack is an air conditioning unit that cools the cabin. We have 2 on board, but when one is not working, the plane doesn't cool very well. The weather in MSP was hot. 86 degrees F and sunny. This meant the plane was going to be hot and hard to cool down. The second sign things were trending downwards was we were going to have a full plane with a jumpseater up front with us. On short flights, we are usually weight restricted due to the aircraft being naturally nose heavy and a relatively high max landing weight. We overheard the gate agent talking to our dispatcher about weight and balance, we heard our dispatcher tell the gate agent that the magic number for getting the jumpseater on was 1600 in cargo. So when the cargo slip was handed up to us and saw 1680, we thought we were good to go. We closed the door, pushed back and began our long taxi to the other side of the airport. As soon as we began our taxi, we noticed the cabin temp rapidly climbing. All three of us sitting in the cockpit were sweating, I can only imagine how badly we'd have been sweating if we were in back with the Pax. The cabin temp reached over 95 degrees F. With only 1 pack operating, it was impossible to keep the cabin cool. We got all the way over to the far side of the airport and got a dreaded call from operations. We were nose heavy and needed to return to the gate for ballast or needed to kick the jumpseater off. We had already been taxiing for 15 min and another 15 back to the gate was not welcome news. ATC was not all the pleased either, because now we had to go against traffic to get back to the terminal. As we were crossing at the aiport on our way back to the ramp, we get a call from the flight attendant. There was a passenger on board that has a medical condition that is being aggravated by the cramped quarters and heat. I haven't had a medical problem on board before, so this was new to me. We quickly got on the radio with station operations and told them we would be returning to a gate and we needed one immediately. We told them we had a passenger on board that was having difficulty and we needed to get to a gate. We called back to the flight attendant and asked if the passenger would need medical assistance. Apparently the condition was worsening and she requested the paramedics meet us at the gate. Thankfully Ops. was on the ball and found us a gate, ramp crew and paramedics on short order. As soon as the engines spooled down, we dropped the door and the passenger was able to get the medical attention she needed.
So while we attended to the passenger in the jetway, we had another 50 pax sitting in a hot aluminium tube that is not getting any cooler. As soon as we could, we de-planed the pax. It was unfair to them to have to sit in that aircraft. So now I had to make my first captain decision. Do I re-board the pax on to this hot plane and put them through this ordeal again? Or do I try and find another plane to use. I chose option 2. There was no way I was going to take that plane again unless it cooled down. Even with the ground air hooked up, all window shades down and Gasper's open, the plane did not cool down. So, we politely told dispatch we were not going to take this aircraft unless it cooled down. Thankfully, there was another plane sitting at the gate right next door that we could take. Now its time for an aircraft swap ballet.
While the pax were switching gates and getting ready to board the new plane, the check airman left me in charge of the release and getting us fuel. I had known from the previous attempted flight that there was a line of thunderstorms popping up across our route of flight. When I checked the radar for the previous flight it was a line of popcorn cells. By now, it was developing into a fairly solid line. I took a look at our routing and saw that this line of storms would be smack dab right in the middle of our route and pushing their way towards our destination of DSM. You could see from the radar loop that the storms were building into a pretty massive line of activity. The line extended south west from the U.P of Michigan all the way to Nebraska. So now I'm thinking I need all the fuel I can get in case we need to fly around a bit until we find a hole to poke through, only problem is, dispatch doesn't want to give it to me. He seems to think we'll be O.K with only 500lbs of "C" fuel. (C fuel is contingency fuel. Just in case gas.) I, on the other hand, think 1500 lbs (about 40 minutes worth) is better. He tried to push me into accepting only 500 lbs, because he said the storms we not supposed to hit DSM for another few hours, but I wasn't buying it. I may be a new captain, but I've been around enough to know when asking for a little more gas is the smart thing to do. So finally after a 15min phone call to get the extra gas, he relents, he gives us 1400lbs. Not quite what I wanted, but its the best we could do and still take all 50 pax.
We load up all the pax, take care of the paperwork, get the plane all ready to fly and head off for attempt number 2 at getting to DSM. I'll finish the flight in another post......there's plenty more to come.
Day one was to be a 5 leg day. MSP-DLH-MSP-DSM-MEM-CHA was our scheduled trip. Due to some extreme circumstances, we flew 3 legs and didn't even make it to DSM. Our first out and back went very well. It felt weird to sit in the left seat and taxi the plane, but it was still a rush. Leg 3 is where "it" hit the fan.
Our planned flight was MSP-DSM. That's Minneapolis to Des Moine, IA. Its not a long flight and should have been a cake walk, but it was not to be. The first sign things were going to go bad was when we showed up to the gate. A quick glance at our release showed the plane had a deferred pack. A pack is an air conditioning unit that cools the cabin. We have 2 on board, but when one is not working, the plane doesn't cool very well. The weather in MSP was hot. 86 degrees F and sunny. This meant the plane was going to be hot and hard to cool down. The second sign things were trending downwards was we were going to have a full plane with a jumpseater up front with us. On short flights, we are usually weight restricted due to the aircraft being naturally nose heavy and a relatively high max landing weight. We overheard the gate agent talking to our dispatcher about weight and balance, we heard our dispatcher tell the gate agent that the magic number for getting the jumpseater on was 1600 in cargo. So when the cargo slip was handed up to us and saw 1680, we thought we were good to go. We closed the door, pushed back and began our long taxi to the other side of the airport. As soon as we began our taxi, we noticed the cabin temp rapidly climbing. All three of us sitting in the cockpit were sweating, I can only imagine how badly we'd have been sweating if we were in back with the Pax. The cabin temp reached over 95 degrees F. With only 1 pack operating, it was impossible to keep the cabin cool. We got all the way over to the far side of the airport and got a dreaded call from operations. We were nose heavy and needed to return to the gate for ballast or needed to kick the jumpseater off. We had already been taxiing for 15 min and another 15 back to the gate was not welcome news. ATC was not all the pleased either, because now we had to go against traffic to get back to the terminal. As we were crossing at the aiport on our way back to the ramp, we get a call from the flight attendant. There was a passenger on board that has a medical condition that is being aggravated by the cramped quarters and heat. I haven't had a medical problem on board before, so this was new to me. We quickly got on the radio with station operations and told them we would be returning to a gate and we needed one immediately. We told them we had a passenger on board that was having difficulty and we needed to get to a gate. We called back to the flight attendant and asked if the passenger would need medical assistance. Apparently the condition was worsening and she requested the paramedics meet us at the gate. Thankfully Ops. was on the ball and found us a gate, ramp crew and paramedics on short order. As soon as the engines spooled down, we dropped the door and the passenger was able to get the medical attention she needed.
So while we attended to the passenger in the jetway, we had another 50 pax sitting in a hot aluminium tube that is not getting any cooler. As soon as we could, we de-planed the pax. It was unfair to them to have to sit in that aircraft. So now I had to make my first captain decision. Do I re-board the pax on to this hot plane and put them through this ordeal again? Or do I try and find another plane to use. I chose option 2. There was no way I was going to take that plane again unless it cooled down. Even with the ground air hooked up, all window shades down and Gasper's open, the plane did not cool down. So, we politely told dispatch we were not going to take this aircraft unless it cooled down. Thankfully, there was another plane sitting at the gate right next door that we could take. Now its time for an aircraft swap ballet.
While the pax were switching gates and getting ready to board the new plane, the check airman left me in charge of the release and getting us fuel. I had known from the previous attempted flight that there was a line of thunderstorms popping up across our route of flight. When I checked the radar for the previous flight it was a line of popcorn cells. By now, it was developing into a fairly solid line. I took a look at our routing and saw that this line of storms would be smack dab right in the middle of our route and pushing their way towards our destination of DSM. You could see from the radar loop that the storms were building into a pretty massive line of activity. The line extended south west from the U.P of Michigan all the way to Nebraska. So now I'm thinking I need all the fuel I can get in case we need to fly around a bit until we find a hole to poke through, only problem is, dispatch doesn't want to give it to me. He seems to think we'll be O.K with only 500lbs of "C" fuel. (C fuel is contingency fuel. Just in case gas.) I, on the other hand, think 1500 lbs (about 40 minutes worth) is better. He tried to push me into accepting only 500 lbs, because he said the storms we not supposed to hit DSM for another few hours, but I wasn't buying it. I may be a new captain, but I've been around enough to know when asking for a little more gas is the smart thing to do. So finally after a 15min phone call to get the extra gas, he relents, he gives us 1400lbs. Not quite what I wanted, but its the best we could do and still take all 50 pax.
We load up all the pax, take care of the paperwork, get the plane all ready to fly and head off for attempt number 2 at getting to DSM. I'll finish the flight in another post......there's plenty more to come.
posted by Windsor at 4:45 PM
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