Interviewing in...

After an awesome weekend of LOFTs to Mobile, San Antonio then back, I'm beginning the awesome journey into preparing for my interview with Focus Air Cargo. They fly these planes (click on the word planes). So, once again, I will be blogging a little less. But still, I encourage you to check it out everyday! Who knows when the madness will start over again. I'll post something other stuff about the LOFT in upcoming days.

We stayed in Mobile, Alabama, yes I said 'bama! That was interesting. The Red Roof Inn wasn't that pleasant. The only thing that I remembered about the Alamo was that it was in the middle of downtown San Antonio (SAT) which was weird because I had always pictured it being in the middle of a desert. There was a river that ran through the city too, which was cool. Laura's house was amazing and her mom was more than hospitable. The friends were cool. Now I'm back. I'll up some photos later. Till then...

New things...

And the new title is, "Life After CAPT" I can't really think of anything else right now.

Current Tunes I'm listening to on "elipod" (that's what adelle calls it...she of course calls hers "mipod") I love music! Anything goes really...

• Reamonn - Wish Album / new album from Germany chill emo. I like it...
• Corinne Bailey Rae - Self Titled / UK Pop artist kind of like Natalie Imbruglia & Norah Jones ish...
• Third Eye Blind - Self Titled / living old school! oh come on, just gotta get high sometime. its a great picker upper esp. when going to the beach!

Google Calendar - good stuff...

and yeah...I'm planning a X-Country trip with Manoj and Laura to SD maybe. I'll keep you posted.

Hosting

This website is hosted by SiteGround.com

Note sure if any of your guys are interested in who I am hosting this website with, but you can check out the banner down below on the right hand side of my page and click that link. Or, you can just click here too or the one above. No seriously...check them out! They rock!

lastest recap

Well, my family and Adelle were here for quite a while hanging out with me in Sunny Florida. Check out the photo album for the latest.

I have an interview with Focus Air on May 2nd and 3rd so that means that I'm going to be studying ALOT!!! Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.

CAPT Graduation

*I added a link to the new photo gallery that I'm slowly compiling to the right...check it out*
This time, it was my turn! The morning started out great with my family getting a tour of the MD90 simulator in Daytona Beach at 7:30AM. That meant that all of us needed to be out the door at 6:45 in order to get there on time. After some strict regimenting, we stepped out on the minute.

We got into the sim and I demonstrated some hard landings as well as some soft ones just to show them the realism of the device. I had my dad, sister and adelle follow along with me while I was left seat. I let them try to land the plane and helped out whenever I saw that things were getting bumpy. Then off to the ceremony.

I graduated summa cum laude along with four stripes. It was definitely an awesome day. We even had a special individual, by the name of Dan Robertson, give a very intriguing speech about the status of our industry. The food service went well after a week long of setting up and confirming the necessary funds, but everyone really enjoyed it. It definitely beat out the traditional BBQ that we normally get, but it did come at a cost. Well worth it!

Check out the pix in the new photo gallery. Click here

LOFT 3 and 2...DONE!!!

Well, I had these two LOFTs with #3 yesterday and #2 today. The biggest failure of yesterday was that both FMS computer failed and we became a slant alpha aircraft using traditional VOR navigation. It was exciting and crazy on how fast you come up on each nav aid. Taking into consideration the altitude that you are flying at and just being fully ahead of the plane was the biggest lesson. It was great because I sat left seat and got to strengten my understanding and adhearnce to the boundaries between being Pilot Flying and Pilot in Command. Flying the plane from the right seat is a little difficult with always being fuly conscience that the Captain is still the Captain and that you need to ask politely that things be done. It's quite weird.

Adelle came in yesterday and I introduced her to Tio Oxie's. It was good times. We also hung out with Manoj, Greg, Steph and her friends at Daytona Ale House for quite a while. Good times!

LOFT #2 was today and I hand flew the flight due to both our autopliots being inop. I was el capitan today and once again flying into JFK with negative temps and icing runway condidions was fun. I elected to use flaps 40 and got the plane done rather well. I'm now officially done with the CAPT program and what a feeling it is!

LOFT #1

Today's first leg from LAX to LAS (Los Angeles to Las Vegas) went rather smoothly. I eleted to sit right seat because I haven't done a landing from that side before. This is course made me the First Officer and my flight partner Manoj the PIC. The whole first leg went without an event except for a closed runway forcing us to amend our approach into LAS. Nothing at all really too bad. We also were move aware of how much gas we had on board and how that would factor in if we were going to be holding for more than we had already begun to do so.

My leg, we had hell broke loose. The ground shift mechanism failed and that just caused all these aural alerts to go bezerk. We couldn't come back into LAS due to the weather minumums, so we just headed for LAX. Being that we couldn't get the gear up, we elected to just raise it using hte bypass switch but that caused us to not have it when we lowered the gear back down on the approach into LAX. I asked for a hold around Seal Beach to troubleshoot the problem and we deiced to go for the longest runway. It was a lot of communication between approach and company and the flight attendants, but it worked out well. Coming in for the landing was awesome. I was happy that I was able to hold the nose up for quite a while and didn't even put it down until around 70 KIAS. That made is rather smooth. We came to an abrupt stop and called for the passenger evacuation. Good times! Tomorrow should be even more fun. Adelle is coming!

You have to remember Zelda!

This is just nuts. I thought that my other friend had some mad skills, but this is ingenuous!

Zelda Finished in 25 Minutes

DC9 type + 1

Well, its a new day and I have a type rating!!! I still haven't really been able to digest that idea, but it feels so good. I've been awake since 2:00AM and couldn't go back to sleep. It's starting to get ridiculous why I keep on feeling refreshed with so little sleep. I feel awake, but then I get really exhausted later on in the day and my muscles are starting to ache like I've been awake for > 24 hours. Oh well...I'm sure that my sleeping habits will get back to normal. Make sure you read the post below.

It is done!!!

I am an official DC9 rated pilot (w/ the limitation of initial operating experience required). Just to clarify, I did all the training in an MD90 Simulator, which is of the same family and aircraft type as the DC9. It was a rough ride to start out with but the circle to land I executed went really well. I'm just happy that I'm done and ready to begin the infinite search for a career with thousands of hours of flying. I graduate this Friday, April 7th.

Here are more photos of the MD90 type aircraft. Click here!

I still can't sleep

So, I've resulted in reading, "What's the funiest things you have ever heard on the radio," on Airline Pilot Central. Good stories there. Check it out! http://forums.airlinepilotcentral.com/showthread.php?t=2263

i.e.

ATC to Northwest enroute from Florida to NYC: NW123 turn right 20 degrees for spacing into NYC.

5 minutes later - ATC to NW: NW123 did you turn right or left????

NW 123: ahhhhh which way did you tell us to turn?

This is getting ridiculous!

It's Monday April 3rd at 1:38AM and as I am writing this blog I have my final checkride is at t-minus 7.5 hours. I've already gotten 5 hours of sleep by going to sleep at 8:00PM, but now I can't sleep. I already woke up at 11:00PM and was able to go back to bed, but now it's just getting hopeless. I'm not having nightmares like last nights "QRH on fire!" I'm just not getting proper sleep or something. It really stinks. Tossing and turning...blogging, oh well, back to the bed!

is it the uniform?

Finally some recognition / respect is back and we are all once again in the lime light. Check it out...Pilots are ranked as the 3rd most sexiest job for 2006. I just thought that this was a fun fact. http://www.salary.com/advice/layouthtmls/advl_display_nocat_Ser388_Par594.html

This actually reminds me, after this coming Friday, this blog will have to change to something else being that I'm going to be done with the CAPT program. Should I just start another one or just continue it with a tag line, "Life after CAPT." We'll see which way I head, but in the mean time, any suggestions out there?

Tomorrow is the day of judgment

After today, it showed that I hadn't flown in quite a while. I mean the circle to land was great except getting blown a little too far right, but it was probably one of the best that I have done. I also was able to exit on the first taxiway. The emergency descent flow went really well, but I did have some issues on coming down. Coming out of a hold at flight level 290, I was set at 265 kts and I noticed the cabin altitude increasing rapidly. I initiated the Cabin Altitude procedure and when I put on my mask, I just started coughing and sneezing. It definitely wasn't a good sign, but I pulled the throttles too early and had a hard time getting to a descent speed of 320. On an engine abnormal on takeoff prior to V1, I yelled out, "Abort!" instead of "Reject!" which I have always done before up until the time where I get tested. Of all the times I said it outloud in the car on the way down, or chair flying, I still said the wrong thing.

As most of the instructors have noticed, I try to rush things or execute procedures too quickly. It's definitely just a time to reflect and really really consciously get myself to think, think, think, rather than speak or react instantaneously.

Here's a nice picture of the type of plane that I have been training to fly. I only wish that I could get a chance to fly the real thing, even if it is as a first officer or jump seater even. I've sit as a passenger on an MD88, but sitting in the cockpit is always a different story.

+1 / T-minus 1.5

So, with the time change already affect here on the East Coast, I've been awake since 1:00AM tossing and turning. My mind has been all over the place from failing to passing, to just contemplating all the possible scenarios that I might be given. It's racing at .84 mach! (okay that was retarded) but there are definitely too many things going through my mind. I finally just gave up on sleep and cooked some Campbell's Mushroom Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I've brewed my coffee and am ready to head out! It's 3:56AM here and its just amazing how long I've been awake. I think that it is the longest weekend of my life. It's the anticipation that kills.

Counting down...

Well, its Saturday and I'm eagerly awaiting my turn for the pre-rate ride tomorrow morning at 5:30AM. If you take into account the time change where we "spring" the clocks forward, its a wake up call at 2:30AM and leave the house by 3:30AM to get there before the 4:30AM start. It's going to be awesome. I'm just kicking back today a little and going over some final points about the MD-90 including limitations and chair flying. Should be a great day! I just thought that this picture was awesome. Only if...someday