Gen Ops Mod CRJ200 in Freezing Weather

in , ,

Today was the first day of Ops Mod and we got to learn about stuff like the new Aero Data System that we are using for Takeoff Limitation and Weight and Balance figures. It went really smoothly today with another sponsored lunch from ALPA. So far, our class has gotten just about 1 or 2 free lunches every other week while we have been here in training. It's not a bad deal. The hotel is a different matter but at least the newest classes that started today got the benefit of our complaints. They got put up in the Amerisuites which just have too many nice amenities that it's a shame to even compare it to the hotel that I'm at right now. So with that, I'm not even going to start to mention any of them.

The calculations seem to be pretty easy and the homework wasn't that bad. You just have to get use to how to read the dispatch release and the actually Take-off and Landing Report. We have 3 more days of this with a test on Thursday. Then I get 5 days off before all the simulator sessions. I know that I have to study a lot and get all my flows down still, but I'm trying to work something out where I could use my time wisely and get a lot of studying done while traveling!

Adelle got to find out who was who on my travel list so she's ready to head out and use them. I told her to check out some flight, but who know how the loads are and to where we would actual travel to. I'm also still unsure on the whole cost of traveling. I'm getting my second paycheck tomorrow which is going to be tremendously large! I'm excited for that! <-- that was sarcastic by the way but who am I to complain really. I'm loving what I'm doing.

Oh yeah....totally forgot too, the temperature right now in Atlanta is freezing! I saw a puddle today that was iced over. Here's what the weather was this morning until the afternoon where it heated up to a warm 45 degrees. Now as I post this tonight, its 30F!

On other notes:

  • Chick-Fil-A has a nice restaurant / diner here in Atlanta and I have to admit that I was impressed. I'll definitely go there again.
  • The FAA is posed to announce that they are increasing the age limit for mandatory pilot retirement tomorrow. The new age is 65 years old. I really have mixed feelings about this because it just means that I will be forced to wait another 5 years until I upgrade. Just to think that all the major airlines are going to be postponing their hiring for another 5 years kind of stinks. On the other hand, it does prolong my "career" another 5 years. Can't complain there I guess. I think that the one stipulation is that someone in the cockpit has to be age 60 of younger while the older pilot is present. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/29/national/main2410945.shtml

of getting on an open flight!

in , , ,

After all the testing taking on Friday, I decided that I should try to get on a flight and use some of my benefits. To make a very long story short, out of the 3 that Justin and I listed ourselves on, I got on the last one, but decided to just stick it out together and we finally just got onto another airline. We connected in Phoenix and then made our way to San Diego. Adelle picked us up and we tackled the first thing on the itinerary list: Hit up In-N-Out Burger! I ate that Cheeseburger #2 combo so fast that I really don't even remember it.

We woke up early the next morning (Saturday) and headed to Kono's in Pacific Beach for breakfast, followed by some arcade action at Vincenzo's place then to PQ. Okay so my old time friend of more than 20 years hooked up an arcade machine with a comptuer setup and has over 4300+ arcade games. That includes the NES emulation and everything. It was awesome just playing some Street Fighter 2 and some Altered Beast again! That was a pimp setup. I hope to kick it more with him and everyone else once I get back. I just wanted to get some good old house time and we got to eat some Buckey's Ice Cream and PQ Donuts for some good dessert time. The breakfast at Kono's was just so much that I didn't even eat anything for lunch besides the pint of Ice Cream. (Mudd Pie and Toll House combo is the best) Back to Adelle's townhome for some rest and then off to Wildomar to see my parents. We had some good dinner there then drove down to Adelle's parents house to play some pool and then back up for one last goodnight. My mom has been doing really well lately and its nice to see that my father and her are "hanging" out. My mom is awesome! She just told me that she was looking into some older community place in Vegas and it looked sweet. I just don't know how the heck I'd be able to take advantage of the place because apparently we younger ones are not allowed. Oh well...

I got some Jamba Juice today which totally hit the spot. It stinks that they increased the price by 35 cents but it is definitely understandable being that California lost about $1 billion dollars of crops over this winter freeze. We drove around downtown for just a little bit and got dropped off at the airport. Found out that the PPR number works great and Justin and I were on our way to play more of the standby game. We were numbers 2 and 3 and got seats 1 and 2 out of three available. We were lucky. Our backup plans seemed good too, but this early flight was just right. The Captain announced that the flight was going to be 3 hours and 22 minutes and I was shocked! Everyone screamed a little bit on our landing in Atlanta which startled me a little bit but I thought that the crew did awesome especially in the weather that they were facing.

Ate some Ruby Tuesday's and then I'm off to bed! Goodnight! I'm going to try and head out somewhere this week, but from what I've seen, its hell trying to get on standby on a Delta flight. We'll see how things pan out. I can't really risk too much you know?


For more pictures from the trip. click here

to ride along in the air

in ,

I just found out today, by testing it out for myself, that I was able to list myself on Delta's system. The next obstacle would be to find out what fares I need to pay for and to find out whether or not I can actually use this system. Supposedly because I was able to go through with it, it should be okay! I even found it on my itinerary under Delta.com. It's going to be an interesting day today.

I did well on the System Final today. We had a great "review" prior to taking the test which helped out a bit but I ended up still averaging a 98%. Can't do anything about it anymore. I'm just looking forward to actually putting my knowledge to the test and practicing all the flows. This is when the fun begins! I can't hardly wait, but the amount of more studying to do is going to be a handful.

My friend at another airline took some good pictures today. You should check them out at http://klubic.blogspot.com. He's been good at updating his site every other day. I also have another friend from ASA who is working on his website. You can find that here. http://www.eachristiansen.com. It's a work in progress, but I'm sure that it's going to turn into something awesome!

of test taking....

in

I'm really going to start running out of titles for each new blog but anyways back the topic of this entry: I HAVE A TEST TOMORROW!!! It's just the written version and it shouldn't be that difficult, but I know that I'll miss a couple here and there. Hopefully I won't. You know what? It'll never end...this test taking thing. I guess there really isn't any other way to put numbers on someones knowledge of detail of skill on double checking. You know of course that that's where I fall short. I always not only question myself, but only if and only if I really really know and think that I am right, I'll be 75% sure of the answer. Not even 99% sure. I really hope that I do really well tomorrow and I think that I will but of course there are other things that I should be worrying about especially what's in store for me in the upcoming weeks. It's only going to get a little more difficult.

Back to studying!

  • Breakfast - cereal and a nutri grain bar
  • Lunch - two cans of Starkist tuna with some bread and cheese and lots of carrots
  • Dinner - canned Chef Boy R Dee something along the lines of beef and pasta and a triple layer cheese sandwich

This diet isn't going to get me back to my old waste line huh? I'm totally like growing outward now. Good thing that I finally just gave in but I still own a good pair of motivational pants (my old size) that I'll try in 30 days. I'm going to try to work on it. I just need to workout a little bit more. Goodnight!

...of moving

in , ,
I just got reassigned to LAX about a week ago and even though I won't be showing up for duty until May 1st, I can't hardly wait! It's so exciting!!! I'm heading back west. Because of that move of mine though, I'm at the bottom (2nd from last) on the seniority of first officer pilots out of 50. It kind of stinks, but hey...seniority is everything and I'm a brand new fish. I even just moved up a couple of spots because the roster grew by 20 more this part 15th with the new January training class. So, right now, I'm just thinking of what my living quarters will be like, where in the LA area, where in the Atlanta area will I be staying for the 1.5 months after IOE...there's just so many things to take care of. This Saturday will mark the 1 month date of when I started and when all my benefits commence. I can't wait!

I ate lunch at Smokey Bones!!! I'm loving it there. Made a production of it today and it ended up that 8 of us ate there. It was just so good! The pulled pork combo with two sides, loaded mashed potatoes and BBQ baked beans rock! I also got to catch up on two of my shows tonight and studied all my flash cards again. It's almost getting easier but I also started the Immediate Action Items and got most of those taken care of as well. It's going well really, but I'm still scared for the oral exam. I finished the Computer Based Training (CBT) Lessons so I'll be hopefully using my time wisely after the lunch break to continue studying for the systems final on Friday.

I worked out tonight again...had a can of tuna fish with hot sauce afterwards and now I'm headed to bed. By the way, more contract negotiations and mediation should be taking place on February 5th and 6th so I'm crossing my fingers. Looks like that is after the fact of when Delta is suppose to be finalizing their Request For Proposals and announcing who is going to do what regional flying for them.

...living without roommates

in , , , , ,

This past 3 weeks have gone by rather quickly and I have to admit that living by myself in a hotel room once again has yet to spike the "awesome" meter. As I tell everyone else, it's only cool when you're 18, single and wouldn't mind inviting people upstairs every now and then. Living the true penthouse life-style. Well, that couldn't be done here either at the oh so luxurious Red Roof Inn, Atlanta North. It's quite enjoyable when you hear little scratching between the walls then upon breakfast, your peers tell you that what you hear is the sound of mice. That's a spike in the sarcastic "awesome" meter.

Again, back to the subject, I've since lived in a place where there was always social interaction with at least someone else. From 2005 up until living in the hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Luxembourg and now, it's just not fun. Even though there are more than 16 of us floating around the floors and halls of this hotel, not to mention the other 30 or so new employees, it just doesn't have the common room effect where you could just lie down on a coach, talk random stuff and "hang out." It almost is a production every time you want to get people together. Don't get me wrong, we're all here for one thing and that is training, but still, a living room can bring the needed ingredient for sanity...at least on my end.

I was able to get a lot of studying done tonight and am surprised by the amount of notecards that I have learned. It's definitely one of the best strategies to get to know simple facts quickly. Now if I could only get the memory action items down pack, I think that I would be 50% ready for the test on Friday. We'll see how my studying goes for tomorrow.

Let's see here is my dining menu for today:

  • Breakfast - One Jimmy Dean's Ham Cheese Sandwich (where after I microwaved the thing, all the cheese melted onto the plate so I had to improvise and just eat an American Kraft singles square along side it), one glass of orange juice, bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal and a Banana.
  • Lunch - amazing leftovers from Smokey Bones which included half of my leftover Pulled Pork Sandwich, 1 potato skin loaded with cheddar cheese and bacon, and 1 chicken strip.
  • Dinner - Canned Italian Ravioli, Deli Meat Sandwich with melted cheese and some carrots with dip.

All of this was within the confines of my awesome hotel room. I have to say that I'm very happy that I was able to save up a little money today. I even went back to Best Buy to exchange my camera, bought some batteries, and still spent less because I brought the $30 worth of coupons. Good deal! After that, Eric, Justin and I went to Barnes and Nobles and I didn't buy a thing! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.

Now, if I could only find some time to actually configure my Linksys Router to the DD-WRT firmware, I could share my internet connection and save more money! Loving it! I didn't get to work out today, but at least I ate well and am drinking way too much water. I'm doing just about 750 mL every hour or two which definitely is just awesome!

sports news: Bill Parcells retired today so does that mean that the Chargers are going to lose another one of their staffing coaches, Wade Phillips? It's going to be a tough year next year. We're already lined up to play both SuperBowl contenders. How exciting!