Still in Denver...

Logbook: It's Day 25. The others are starting to show signs of fatigue. As someone already working for the company, I did not have to attend the first two weeks of class like the majority of my class, so I have a slight edge in endurance, but barely. Over a week ago, we lost half of our class to cholera Cincinnati. Now there are but 8 of us. Provisions are low. I have been fashioning makeshift dinners out of vending machines and 7/11. Any time I have a day off, I immediately leave. After a brief stint in Orlando for a dentist appointment, I returned to Denver with Nicole along for the ride.

For our first excursion, we drove to a wilderness preserve. I had previously run through the area only to be harassed by small insects that would follow me for miles as I tried to outrun them. We didn't fare much better in the car. It was like an endless expanse if nothing. Finally, as we were about to exit the park, we spotted a bison. It eventually walked right in front of our car and I was briefly concerned about declining the rental insurance. We then went to a shopping center nearby before returning to do simulator training.

As it was Nicole's birthday a couple days later, I had to combat four different schedule changes in an attempt to make her day enjoyable. First we went to the zoo near downtown. She got free entry, a free ride on the carousel, a free ice cream, and a button announcing to the world that it was her birthday. She took advantage of all the perks with the exception of the carousel. There were lots of children who were like heat-seeking missiles going straight for my knees, but fortunately the zoo was fairly expansive so it was relatively easy to get away from the crowds.

Highlights included a tiger on a catwalk (ha!) who tinkled a little on an unsuspecting passerby below. A nearby elephant played with an empty keg (no doubt evidence of a wild night of trunking and peanut-binging). On the other side of the zoo, penguins queued up to get some fish from a worker. It was a fairly well-done zoo. I just get confused by zoos in cold climates. Like I'm sure the cheetahs are fine now, but what happens in December when there are like 3 feet of snow?

Due to my discombobulated schedule, we had to leave around noon. We got there at rope drop you see. I had to go to a briefing for two hours, then was supposed to have about 5-6 hours gap before the sim, but someone's checkride got rescheduled because they didn't have logbooks or something. And just like that, we were summoned in to do our sim session, 5 hours ahead of schedule. I had plans to take Nicole out to a nice birthday dinner, but I didn't get out until almost 9, had to return the rental car, and by then the food options were limited.

Ruby Tuesday's in the hotel parking lot was about the only thing still open. Hopefully Nicole enjoyed her large brownie fudge sundae served in a large goblet.


The following day before she left, we had a chance to try an Italian restaurant next to Ruby Tuesday's. It had a very interesting vibe. It was windowless, had three different levels of seating and was projecting Celine Dion music videos from the 90's onto the wall. Why? Who knows. It was entertaining. Evidently for dinner, it's hard to get a seat.

For another few sim sessions, my partner and I fought off engine fires, engine separations, stalls, flap failures, cabin smoke, windshear, and single engine missed approaches. We've done so many of them that I feel like flying a plane with two working engines is going to seem unusual at this point.


Now car-less again, meal options are severely limited. If I have a day off, I leave. I went to LA for 24 hours just to get out. Then, coming back, I chose an early afternoon flight on a 777 that was projecting 30 open seats. Somehow I ended up in the jumpseat. Summer travel is highly unpredictable. It's almost good I've been in training for the thick of it. Once fall rolls around, I can actually go somewhere and not have a family of six show up 10 minutes before the flight and ruin the numbers. Bah. One week left . . .

   

Mile High Boredom

I've now been in Denver for two weeks, though it seems like it has been much longer. You see, contrary to previous training events that were in Salt Lake City, I am now being trained to fly a new jet - the Embraer 175. If you are familiar with the Denver airport, you will know that it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. This picture was taken across the street from my hotel to give you some idea. There's nothing to do in the area and even less to eat. One of my classmates is a habitual visitor to Ruby Tuesday's whereas I have been buying cheap burritos from 7-11. Things are rough.

Having just completed my systems validation test (160 questions on things like ACMPs, PTUs, EDPs, and even a RAT), I was ready to unwind without hitting the books for once. My ol' buddy Greg was able to fly out to Denver for the weekend to explore downtown Denver with me. There is now a train that connects downtown to the airport, which is a relatively new thing.

35 mins later, we were at Union Station. We didn't have any particular destination so we wandered aimlessly for a bit until we ended up by the capitol. There were some nice gardens and such nearby as well. By now we were already getting hungry, so we commenced our search for lunch. We settled on a place near Coor's Field that had lots of outdoor seating. We, of course, had to find a place in the shade for my unfortunately pale friend whose long time nemesis - the sun - was fairly strong that day.

They had a large field for bean bag toss/cornhole, or whatever you might call it. I wasn't very good. The folks next to me must have been in a league. They looked very serious about the whole thing and were quite good. I was happy if I didn't send a bag sailing toward a fellow restaurant patron. The arrival of our food interrupted our intense matchup, so we retired our game and noshed.

After eating, we went to the Jagged Mountain brewery, one of many microbrews in downtown Denver and split a beer flight. It consisted of an orange ale, a tequila-cask ale, and others. Some were better than others. Then we continued walking to a different part of the city. We walked along the river by a place called Confluence Park. We debated going to an aquarium along the river, but it was both expensive-ish and crowded, so we elected instead to check out the nearby REI, which was massive (and also expensive).

After REI, we wound our way back by the river. Having walked many miles around downtown Denver in just flip flops, my tootsies were a bit dirty. I let the water clean them off a bit before continuing. Then, out of nowhere, the sun went away and the wind got really blustery. We picked up our pace thinking that it was about to storm. We made a right turn directly into the wind, followed by a few more turns - all of them somehow directly into the wind.


For shelter, we sought refuge in the Great Divide Brewing Co. We had a couple beer flights including a rice beer, a hibiscus ale, and their signature Yeti ale. When it appeared to have calmed down outside, we went out to get dinner at a place called Ophelia's. I guess back in the day it was like a tacky Moulin-Rouge-esque peep show/burlesque show or something to that effect. Now it's just an eclectic restaurant that plays obscure foreign films on a screen where the stage was.

I had some sort of South American burger thing with plantains and black beans. Thppbbt. Some sort of Korean western was playing on the screen. Even with the subtitles, it didn't really make much sense. Nevertheless, it was an interesting atmosphere. After that we worked our way back to Union Station to catch a train back toward the airport. When we got to our stop, the sun was setting and the temperature was dropping quickly. We briskly walked back to the hotel, having covered over 11 miles throughout the day. Regardless of the footwork, it was a welcome diversion from the four-block radius that is currently my life.

Hot in the City

With Nicole in tow, we left Los Angeles last night for Tucson. It was a cool 97 when we touched down. Since I had a long overnight in Tucson, Nicole decided to rent a car. The following morning we drove east of the city to the Tanque Verde Ranch, the shooting location of Nickelodeon's Hey Dude. Nicole was a big fan. She showed me a few episodes prior to going to Tucson. It was your standard Nickelodeon fare complete with jokes that landed flat delivered by kids who couldn't act, but I suppose as a kid, it would have been enjoyable.

Nowadays, the set is basically collapsing on itself and has been abandoned since shooting ended in the early 90s. We could feel the temperature rising as we walked around the ranch. It was only about 10am, but 100 degrees. Since we were already in the area, we continued to Saguaro National Park. We only had flip flops and it was quite hot and dry, so we weren't really fixing to go for any hikes. We just did a loop drive through the park that had a few pulloffs to look at the cacti. We saw some javelinas, or pig-like mammals, asleep in the shade of the visitor's center. I get it. It's hard to do anything on a day like today. It was now 110 degrees.




After the short loop through the park, we continued on toward Pima Air & Space Museum.

The desert surrounding the air force base is known as "the boneyard" and contains the remnants of older military aircraft that have been retired from service or are no longer needed to meet the country's needs. We visited the museum after chugging some Gatorade. There were various exhibits inside, within range of overworked air conditioning systems, but the most interesting sites were outside. There were examples of military aircraft, civilian airliners of past and present, and even some old MiGs.

Naturally all of this was probably a lot more interesting to me than Nicole. I was frolicking amongst the petting zoo of aircraft and Nicole was dragging behind me, her body slowly succumbing to the heat. If I spent to much time with the B-52s and KC-135s, I'd be peeling Nicole off the ground like a fried egg.


After getting some Mexican food for lunch, we went back to the hotel to relax before getting ready for our flights. It was now 116 degrees. Supposedly Phoenix SkyHarbor airport closed down a few years back because the temps got so hot that takeoff performance could not be calculated since it was off the scales. Anyway, that's my next stop and it's supposed to be 120 tomorrow. At least I'm not flying the 200 anymore.

Track Town, USA

Eugene, Oregon is one of those places I have been to probably a dozen times before, but never left the hotel. That is because I have only ever done standups here and until today hadn't even seen daylight in this city. On the van ride to the hotel, one of the flight attendants casually mentioned, "So you know this hotel is haunted, right?" The rest of us did not know this little detail. The van driver nodded his head in agreement. "Room 305," he exclaimed without hesitation. While checking in, the other flight attendant jokingly told the desk clerk to give us room 305. The man looked up from his desk and deadpanned, "Well, it's not really limited to one room. It's the whole north building." Which building are we in? The north. Now, it's not an inherently scary hotel. There are some touches that make it feel quite old and a little odd, but there's nothing on par with having an old baby crib in one's room (like we almost had in Albania). I had a decent night's rest, but awoke abruptly at one point with the realization that room 305 doesn't exist.

You see, I was on the 3rd floor, but all 3rd floor room numbers started with a 7. At that moment I thought to myself, "Great. I'm in the murder room and that sound in the hallway is a ghost getting a mountain dew and a bucket of ice." Against all odds, I made it through the night, and went for a run in the morning. I followed a bike path along the river and did a loop trail through a park called, "Pre's Run." It is named for Steve Prefontaine, the famous runner, who competed for Oregon and ultimately took part in the Munich Olympics before dying prematurely in a car accident.

It was a scenic run on a beautiful day. Many people were out on the path. After I returned, I went back out in my flip flops and walked to the University of Oregon, which was just across the river. I made a stop at Hayward Field, where Pre ran track. It's also where the national championships are held these days. It's not open to the public, though I read you can take a running tour of the track if you schedule ahead of time. That all seems very silly. I guess it's like hallowed ground for runners, but at the end of the day, you're still just running in a circle.

I worked my way back to the hotel and called it a day before getting ready for my next flights back down to LAX and on to Tucson, Arizona where it is a brisk 114 degrees. . . but it's a dry heat I'm told.

Brian's Whimsical Thoughts on Air Traffic Control

I'm here at the hotel near San Francisco International watching planes fly over the bay from the window. SFO is an interesting airport operationally since they typically land completely perpendicular to the departing traffic. This means that airplanes taking off share the same piece of pavement just a minute before a plane landing crosses that same spot going another direction. It's a little trippy to be rolling down the runway and look out my right window to see a 777 just 2 miles away heading straight for us. That being said, it works.

In LA, Phoenix, or Seattle, there an array of parallel runways which are dedicated to aircraft departing or arriving. At nighttime in LA, it is always impressive to see two lines of white lights extending to the horizon - each light representing an aircraft. On a clear night, you may see 16 or more. It is pretty fascinating to know that there are people who can organize flights coming in from Tokyo, Telluride, or Tucson, and have them all lined up with the proper spacing. I couldn't do that job. It seems... complicated.

Yes, complicated. And with that in mind, I thought I'd discuss my relatively apolitical thoughts in privatizing the ATC network. For some background, the FAA, a governmental group oversees almost all aspects of aviation operations from maintenance compliance to issuing pilot licenses to airport procedures and yes, air traffic control. Their official function is to "promote aviation and ensure safety."  I have many issues with the FAA, and I also have issues with the current white house administration, so you can be assured a fair debate from me.

You may have read that privatizing ATC is nothing new, and over the last few decades has been proposed by both democrats and republicans. Trump argues that privatizing the industry will cut down on delays, save money, and modernize an aging infrastructure. In short, why would anyone not want this? Well, I did my homework. I would say I'm all for privatization if it makes sense. But in this specific scenario, I'm skeptical as to how privatizing alone will accomplish all those grandiose promises.

First off, the U.S. would not be the first country to privatize its air traffic control. Others have done it including our neighbor to the north - Canada. Trump used it as an example of a success story. So here's the difference. I looked it up and there are a total of 41 control towers for all of Canada. Maybe that seems like a lot, so allow me to list the airports in Southern California with control towers that I have personally landed at. Ready? Ok. Los Angeles International, Long Beach, Ontario, Burbank, Corona, Brackett, Chino, San Bernardino, John Wayne...

...Carlsbad, Camarillo, Oxnard, Brown Field, Lindbergh, Montgomery, Fullerton, Torrance, Hawthorne, Santa Monica, Van Nuys, Whiteman, Ramona, Riverside, El Monte, Victorville, Palm Springs, and THEN I have to pause to think if I'm missing anything. I think you get the idea. While it's good to look at what works in other countries, those success stories might not apply to the U.S., the largest and most complicated ATC network in the world. Now to address the modernization issues. Trump alleges that privatization somehow will reduce delays and allow more direct routes.

So here's the thing with that. While it is true that the U.S. system is based on ground installations as opposed to satellites, all modern airliners are GPS-enabled and most major airports already use GPS waypoints, ie imaginary fixes that can be flown to with the push of a button. If I wanted, I could even make up my own fix and call it MATZO and set it at 24000 feet. Then I could create another point 8 miles south of it called BALLZ at 19000 feet and make a note to be at 280 kts at that point. So whether or not a ground-based installation even works is irrelevant. Our aircraft can still go direct to any point in space the controller chooses.

"But I flew Spirit recently and was delayed!" Ok, so here's the deal. And this is not my opinion, it is based on the actual delay codes. By far, the biggest reason for delays is weather. Second is maintenance. And the promise of taking more direct routes is overstated. If you track the routes of any flights going across the U.S. you will note that they are pretty much straight lines except to go around weather or military airspace. So the saving time and fuel argument may be technically true, but grossly overstated.

"But I heard we are using paper strips to keep track of aircraft! That sounds real old!" I took this picture in the Long Beach tower about 4 years ago. Those are computers! And next to that ginger, are a few pieces of high-tech paper for notes. The aviation industry is odd like that. Gate agents furiously type into computers simply to print off a boarding pass. Dot matrix printers issue flight releases for the crew, who then board a multi-million dollar aircraft that is somehow capable of transporting people at great speeds around the globe. It may seem anachronistic, but it works. Any paper strips used by ATC are primarily a backup if the computers go down. As great as computers are, they are not fail-safe.

So what's your point, Brian? It is this. Give me a reason for privatization that is compelling and makes sense, and I'll be on board. Don't just say what people want to hear. In many ways it's like the guy who proposed circular, banked runways and said it would improve safety and cut down taxi times. And while the nice animation of an A380 landing at an angle on a circular runway may have looked sharp, it's completely impractical and from a pilot's perspective borderline insanity.

"Privatizing ATC will make things cheaper!" Unlikely. Probably about the same if not worse. "No more delays!" Not unless you can control the weather, and since climate change is a Chinese hoax, we will just have to deal with it. #scienceburn "But the government can't do anything right!" Perhaps. I like the idea of
the increased (at least in principle) stability that results from taking the budget away from children in D.C. who whine and shut down the government. I had a student who took an instrument pilot checkride during the last government shutdown. When I signed him off months later to take his commercial checkride, I had to meet with an FAA inspector in person just to get permission for my student to take the test since the previous paperwork had vanished from their records... 

 So as previously mentioned, I'm not happy with either side, but again, give me facts, not fantasy. Don't try and sell me a candy bar and tell me it cures cancer. Finally, none of the logistics have been discussed. How will this affect costs for the
common private pilot and general aviation industry? Will all current controllers need retraining? Will they keep their jobs? For the most part I think they do a pretty solid job. That is except for the guy who works ground control at LAX and yells out, "5704 STANDBY! I'll contact you!" 10 minutes go by... "Who's at the top of Charlie Six?!" "Uh that'd be 5704." "Oh sorry, I forgot. You should have contacted me."  Yeah, thanks for ghosting us, Chad. I actually have no idea what his name is, but he seems very Chad-like.

If this whole privatizing air traffic control thing does somehow go through, the traveling public wouldn't likely see any difference. The sort of worse-case scenario I can foresee is a poorly managed corporation that then needs bailing out by the government. If you have ever rode Amtrak, you have some idea how that might play out. And if you want my really honest opinion, here it is. Privatized or not, we will adapt in the industry. However, when Trump was gearing up for infrastructure week, I thought we were going to invest in our bridges, highways, and airport terminals. That I can get behind. Improving rail travel in the U.S. wouldn't have been a bad idea either. He picked literally the most complicated thing. Trump needs to think small and perhaps fill some potholes before he takes on ATC.

Turning Japanese and Swapping Canadians for Brazilians

Yes. The CRJ-200, a 50-seat passenger jet that changed the regional airline industry will no longer be flown by me in about two days. I don't think I'm going to miss it. In July I am training to fly the Embraer 175, a completely new jet, and from what I hear, far superior to what I am flying now. Every time I fly the 200, there is a maintenance issue. Yesterday, an engine wouldn't start. You know... minor maintenance things. That plane is single-handedly ruining my quality of life since we are always delayed.

For the rest of the month, I will be flying the CRJ-700, which means I have already had my final flight in the -900, which culminated in a smooth landing in Las Vegas about a week ago. Nicole took this picture of us taxiing to the gate in San Diego in that very same plane. Anyway, we arrived to Ontario, California around 2am, because of maintenance delays. I have never overnighted here before as it is not served from LAX directly, which is only about 50 miles away. As far as LA traffic goes though, I might as well be on Mars.

Across the street from the hotel is the Ontario Mills outlet mall, which has a lot more stores than the mall in Minot, North Dakota. There must be a significant Japanese diaspora in this area because the first store I entered was a Japanese clothing store. My eyes were drawn to this t-shirt which is simply an image of a burger. Needless to say, I bought that before you could say, "No onions." For lunch, I went to the food court and had a bento box from a Japanese fast food. It was not really anything close to what I would actually eat in Japan.

It was, however, very similar to Japanese food one would acquire in Japan... at Epcot. I guess they realize that hot dog buns filled with cold ramen or seaweed-wrapped onigiri filled with raw fish wasn't what the American palette was craving. Today, we will end up in San Francisco for an overnight. Initially I was considering going into the city, but the nearest BART station is 2.5 miles from the hotel, so I won't really have time to watch seals knock each other off floating platforms down by the wharf. I will instead be stuck around Millbrae, California, a city known for being close to San Francisco airport, and little else. I have 7 more flights in the 200 before I bid it adieu for the rest of my life. Do I hear a choir singing? Oh... no, that's just the passengers yelling out because the temperature control is completely out of whack.

 

Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego

My San Diego overnights are typically short, arriving in the evening and departing early in the morning. During this last four-day trip, I finally had a San Diego overnight of respectable length. Nicole even decided to join me by taking the short hop from LAX on American... in first class. Pretty swanky twenty minute flight for her. I was flying for Delta and coming in from Las Vegas, where I have been running shuttle flights for the last few weeks. I'm not too keen on that airport or its clientele, but that's for another blog post.






We both arrived around noon, and after checking in to the hotel, we began walking around downtown. It's about half a mile from the hotel to the bay, where we found large crowds.

We walked by the USS Midway and all the various charter boats and fishing vessels before reaching this statue entitled, "The Unconditional Surrender." Look, clearly she's not into it. I feel like I read that the photo that inspired this statue was actually staged, which makes it more confusing. She knew there was going to be a picture taken and still was like, "No, I can't even pretend. Not into sailors. Just not feeling this at all. Is it over yet?"


Anyway, from there we cut back in near the gas lamp district, where we encountered more crowds and slow walkers. We walked by the Padres stadium and then back out to the bay. We used the bathrooms at a Hilton near the convention center (sometimes a good bathroom is hard to come by) before relaxing for a bit at a nearby park.

There were various workout stations throughout the park including balance beams, pull up bars, and hanging rings. I impressed Nicole with my Olympic caliber performance at each station. We slowly worked our way back to the hotel, which was a little over a mile away at this point. We stopped briefly at a rooftop bar called Altitude on top of one of the hotels. We didn't stay long. We took in the view and called it good enough. Some of the folks on the roof were quite loud and obnoxious, and we are basically old people who are no longer amused by such things.

We got dinner later on in Little Italy. I had fish n' chips. If that seems off, it's because Little Italy was packed. Waiting two hours to get a table was far less desirable than going to a pub owned by some kiwis. You see, people feel obligated to eat Italian food in Little Italy, but as the area is not yet called Little Auckland, we lucked out. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and both Nicole and I are hoping for an easy nonrev experience back to LA. I'll be heading back from SLC since my deadhead isn't for almost four hours after we are scheduled to land. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Wheelin' & Dealin' in Reno

Yes I am still here. I didn't have many overnights in April or May and also took 3 weeks vacation in between, so there hasn't been anything to really blog about. I just received my line award for next month and despite entering virtually all of the same parameters as last month, I ended up with all 4-day trips when I prefer to have locals (one-day trips). I cannot make any sense of the bidding software. Anyway, here I am in Reno, the biggest little city in the world... or so I'm told. We are put up in the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino.

I have been here probably six times before, but never for any significant length of time since they were standups. This was my first real overnight. When I got on the hotel shuttle, a Southwest crew joined us. I thought one of the pilots looked very familiar and sure enough it was my sim partner from Atlanta almost two years ago. As vast as the world of aviation is, it is still a relatively small community. At a wedding reception of 200 guests, how many are commercial pilots? One? Zero? It was good to catch up for a bit before checking in.

The rooms are pretty nice, though it does sort of smell like it used to be a smoking room during the 80s until they decided to change hotel policy. The following morning, I bypassed the slot machines on the ground floor and walked downtown. There was some kind of old car show going on. I was expecting downtown Reno to be dead on a Saturday morning, but it turned out to be quite bustling. I had to wait about 15 minutes to get McDonald's. While the cars were a nice touch, I mostly came to see the sign.

It was a mostly older crowd checking out the old cars, which I guess makes sense. There was a live band playing music from the 50s and 60s nearby. A news van was broadcasting old radio spots from the 70s, including a Honda one that was created by a company I used to work for before I quit my job to go fly planes. I personally logged the tape and digitized it for the company's archives, so it was kind of trippy to hear it being broadcast. "Follow the leeeeeeeader, he's on a Hondaaaaaaaaa!"

I can think of a lot of folks who would have really enjoyed the old car show. Alas, I am not much of a car guy. While I keep trying to tell people that the Hyundai Elantra is the gentleman's car, it seems to fall on deaf ears. Plus, I have now been to Cuba, so old cars are old hat. Har! After perusing the cars for a bit, I walked the two miles back to the hotel to get changed and ready to fly. There will be a lot of overnights next month, so probably a lot of blogging as well. Brace yourself.