My very first flight out of LAX as a pilot based there was delayed. Weather? Excessive flow you might ask? Nope. A dog on the loose on the tarmac. For 30 minutes airport police tried to corral the four-legged antagonist to no avail. The ground controller was very busy directing planes to stop and go on taxiways based on the dog's present position. Eventually we were able to get a word in to push from the gate. I didn't hear anything else further about the dog, so I guess they were able to capture it. Either that, or it met an untimely demise being sucked into the engine of a 777.
After a flight over to Phoenix and back, we headed back to Guanajuato in Mexico. We wouldn't arrive until evening, so we simply had dinner at a taco place and called it a night. My only flight the following day was the return leg to LAX, which took over three hours. The next day, however, I would be doing five flights, all short hops within the state of California.
The last leg of the day involved a flight from San Francisco to Bakersfield. It was about a 45 minute flight that went smoothly until about the last few miles when the air traffic controller stated that the long runway was closed which conflicted with any other reports we had. We calculated that it was still possible to land on the short runway, and proceeded inbound. Only one of the runways was lit at night. We assumed this was the open runway, but as we got closer, it didn't look right. This was the long runway that was lit up, aka the one that was supposedly closed. For the first time in my airline career, I initiated a go-around.
We talked to the controller, our dispatcher, the local police, and anyone that could confirm that the runway was in fact open. 5 sources said it was and one source said it wasn't. We did another approach and went around again after looking for any obstructions, big X's on the runway etc. Nothing. On our third pass, we landed without incident and immediately filed a report about the ridiculousness of it all. I don't need such stress late at night. After waking up in Bakersfield, I was welcomed by 100 degree weather and sun. I grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds and went for a run by the Kern River.
The only issue with this bike/run path by the river was that there was no river. I should have expected as much given the drought plaguing the state. Nevertheless, I appreciated having a dedicated path for activities as opposed to running down city streets even if the scenery was limited to oil derricks, dust, and overpasses. I didn't have my camera with, but I did find this picture from the news. The brown dirt you see at right is the "river." I am hopeful that today's flying will be easier than yesterday.
