Delta's New Livery!? APU's Warmth

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Well folks, the internet is crawling with all different pictures of what Delta is planning to paint their planes after their emergence from bankruptcy. What do you think?

I've been hanging around the APU of our aircraft a lot more than normal because of the late winter. Once again, I've been extended for about 5 days straight and I really won't be surprised if I don't get a 6th day. I might as well take my Captain's advice and always pack for 6 days straight. I dead-headed to Wichita, KN today after 3 legs and I'm ready for more tomorrow. I just want to get a trip that goes out West already. Looks like I have a good chance of getting a Reserve or Relief Line this upcoming month because of the amount of lines that we cut. Oh well, should be another exciting month. I'm just happy that I'm flying!

Reserve between two off days...

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Being on reserve between two off days stinks because you can't go home. That's about it. Also the chance of having an overnight or having a nap then turning into a 2 day then 3 day, then all the way to another 6 days straight kind of stinks, but I'm happy for all the flying. I've accumulated about 75 hours already in the first 30 days of me flying here at Atlantic Southeast Airlines. It's been fun and is always exciting. Flying never gets old. I want to do more flying out west though and am hoping that I get the LAX temporary duty. We all hear later on in the week. *crossing my fingers*

Flaps 8.....?

in

Well, my first exciting "moment" which ended in a non occurrence, happened last night on the last trip of a 4 leg day. I finished with a total of 8.14 hours after the fact. So, here's the story.

Yesterday was the 5th day after being extended like crazy with 3 naps, a regular overnight (about 7 hours rest total finally after I got to sleep) then followed by another overnight then a full day to finish it up. I was originally "scheduled" to be off on Tuesday, then it got moved to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and I have to have Saturday off tomorrow because of the Federal Regulations. I was lucky that I packed extra expecting that I was going to be extended. All the other roommates were getting extended like crazy, so I just prepared for the worse and that's what I got. I'm enjoying all the flying though really.

We had a jumpseater for the last leg to Des Moines, Iowa which was my 2nd of the day. That was pretty cool, and it was my leg to take. I had a great take off and cruising was normal. Moving ahead into the approach segment, we were cleared to join the localizer, and as I began to slow down and descend, I called for "Flaps 8." To my surprised, we got a Yellow Caution Message saying "Flaps Fail." I kind of paused a little bit and just proceeded by asking for the QRH or Flaps Fail. I asked the Captain what he wanted to do, and we got vectors around the Des Moine city at 4000 feet. I continued to fly the plane until the checklists were done and we contacted all the necessary people. Finally, the Captain took over the aircraft in preparation for a No Flap landing. This increases our approach speed by about 30 knots to 178! Definitely a lot faster. To top that off, the usuable runway for 31 was about 7898 ft. We needed 7000 so that means that it was all good. We declared an emergency just in case if we were to run off the runway and / or have the breaks overheat. We got all setup and I asked to get vectored back and that we were ready. The jump seater was definitely a little surprised too.

Anyways, coming in at that speed (178 knots = 204.838742 mph) definitely made the ground move like I've never seen before. The trucks were out on the runway with their lights all flashing, the flight attendant notified and we were set. The captain was really calm and I was too, surprisingly. "100 feet.......50 feet.....40....30..20.10" The Captain executed the landing with finese and awesomeness! It was smooth and had barely any float. I have to say that it was just freaking tremendous. He even kept the nose wheel off the ground for a little bit and then followed with some heavy braking and full reverse. We still had about 3000 feet of runway left! The jump seater was all excited and we both congratulated the captain on an excellent execution. All in all, it was not that bad. I definitely had a little of an adrenaline rush and couldn't sleep for a while, but I finally laid my head down and got some rest knowing that today was going to be another long day. Oh yeah, I didn't eat all day long except for a granola bar and some stuff that I had for breakfast at the previous hotel stay. I can't wait for this last leg today. I get to go home and sleep on my air mattress!

too little time..

in

Lets see, I rode the jumpseat of a Delta 757 on my way back from San Diego which was awesome except for the fact that I wasn't able to get any sleep. The crew on board was entertaining and I just loved chatting to them. Of course, I did wish that I got some sleep, but I got enough.

I haven't been able to post that much at all lately because of the schedule that I've been given as of late. I've been on what the company calls "Naps" for exactly what it is. The past two trips that I have had, I left around 2130, arrived at 2245, got to the hotel by 2330 and then went to bed around midnight or 0100, then had to wake up at 0400 - 0415 to get downstairs for the shuttle back to the airport to take the aircraft back. These last two days have been somewhat of a blur, but I'm hanging in there. I was going to have another Nap tonight, but I guess that since the layover time is > 8 hours, it's considered a regular overnight. I also noticed that I already got extended for another RT (roundtrip) right when I get back in the morning so I won't be back till about 1200 tomorrow.

I better get ready for another fun filled night! Oh yeah, the 30 minute flight time to Augusta, GA is a little crazy in terms of being rushed. You are up then back down, and its just crazy busy.