I figured the pool would close at 10:00, so I just lay there. At one point, I took a pillow and covered my ears. I NEVER do that! I just needed to sleep! I got up, adjusted the temperature cooler, and just sat up for a bit. Sigh. This was NOT going well. I NEEDED to sleep.
I finally fell asleep sometime, but I woke up pretty “awake”
at 3:41. I don’t know if it was
excitement or jitters or what! But I was
awake. I checked my phone to see the
time, and I was shocked. “Andy, you NEED
to sleep ALL the way until 4:15!!!” I
lay back down, but I don’t think I ever went all the way under.
I took a shower, got dressed, packed up, and headed
downstairs. I was downstairs at 4:40 for
my shuttle. The driver was nowhere to be
found, though, so I sat in the van for 10 minutes. I finally went back inside and asked for
him. He came out, and I was nervous
about being late! We are supposed to
report an hour before our flight leaves!
I was glad to hear that I was the first trip of the day, though. That meant that the Captain was behind me.
I arrived at the airport, went through security, then headed
for the gate. I had NO idea where to go
from there! So I just stood around! I had to wait about 10 minutes, and the
Captain arrived. He showed me where to
go, and we headed out for the airplane.
He went through a walk-around with me, and it was basically the same as
last time. We then headed inside to get
ready.
I went through my pre-flight stuff, and I felt better with
it today. The Captain was laid back
again, and that really helped. Before I
knew it, the passengers were being loaded on, and it was time to go! Our first flight was to Cleveland, and the
Captain told me it would be my leg. The
weather was a bit crummy, but I was excited about that! We had overcast clouds at 1100 feet.
We taxied out, and I took the controls. We took off smoothly, and we were off! We climbed through the overcast layer, and I
had a BEAUTIFUL view of the upcoming sunset out my back right. With the lows clouds, it was just absolutely
stunning. I LOVED it. We were climbing all the way up to 23,000
feet, so we had a ways to go. Once we
were out of Syracuse, the weather was stupendous. It was “severe clear and a million.” Of course, I pushed on the auto-pilot, and we
just flew!
We arrived at Cleveland, and I did the visual approach. I kept my speed perfect, and I did a fairly
decent landing. It wasn’t a “greaser” by
any means, but it wasn’t rough at all.
We just kind of plopped down on the runway. We taxied to the gate and had an hour lay-over. I grabbed a couple of breakfast bars and
filled up on the coffee in the airplane.
We headed inside and hung out in the crew lounge for a bit.But the time passes pretty fast. I headed out again and pre-flighted the airplane. This time the Captain was going to be flying. We were heading up to Erie, the place where we just flew over! We took off of Cleveland and never got above 8000 feet. I LOVE that part of this job! He brought it in for a pretty close right downwind and had a gorgeous landing. We had a quick turn in Erie, so we actually stayed in the airplane. I was flying the next leg back to Cleveland.
We had a full flight (actually one person had to take the next flight!), and I absolutely love that. I took off back to Cleveland, and it was pretty simple! But I was loving it. I landed back at Cleveland where we had just over an hour of downtime. I grabbed a lunch from Subway and called Dad to let him know I was having the time of my life. He said he was bored at work. Sigh. I told him to follow me on our next flight up to Harrisburg. I would be flying again.
I headed out to the airplane to eat my sub and pre-flight
the airplane. Once again, it was time to
go! This time we actually climbed up to
25,000 feet. The highest I’ve EVER been
while flying! I LOVE it!!! We cruised on over to Harrisburg at 304 knots
and even hit 316 in the descent. The
descent was so much fun. We were told to
keep it tight, and the Captain let me fly the whole leg. I took off the auto-pilot a few miles out on
downwind, and we dove for the runway. We
were trying to beat a helicopter on final.
I kept it close, and I just flew it like the “normal” airplanes I’m used
to flying! I rounded out my base to
final and made a beautiful turn for the runway.
It was so much fun! It flies just
like any other airplane! But it’s so
much fun to hand-fly! I was so proud of
myself! I flew it wonderfully by
hand! I landed at Harrisburg, and we
taxied on in. We had one more turn for
the day. The Captain told me, “You’d never
be allowed to do that in an RJ.” So
true, so true! I LOVE flying this VERY
capable airplane!!!
We sat for about 45 minutes, then loaded up 13 passengers
and took ‘em in to Newark. Sort of. We had a 12:30 departure time. But it was pushed back to 1:03 for
traffic. We loaded ‘em up to meet the
1:03 timeframe, but it just wasn’t to be.
Tower informed us after starting that we now had a 1:30 slot. We would have to sit on the ramp and
wait. So we did. FINALLY, at 1:30, we headed for Newark. The Captain flew this flight, and I was busy
working the radios. It is pretty busy
airspace for radio calls. The flying
part didn’t seem too bad, though.
We worked our way in behind some heavy jet. We landed on Runway 4R and taxied on in. What a busy, busy place!!! We dropped off the passengers, and that was
it! I was officially done for the day!
And what a day it was!
I logged a beautiful 5.9 hours. I
just love it! The day was seriously
gorgeous for flying. It was so clear
after we departed Syracuse. We had
beautiful weather all around. I ended up
hauling 104 passengers today. That is
just so fun to me!!! I LOVE it!!!
I thanked the Captain for his flying today, said good-bye to
the Flight Attendant who will be leaving us next week, and then went to make my
dead-head flight back home which was leaving at 3:55. I arrived about 30 minutes before departure.
I grabbed a seat, plopped down, and realized how
unbelievably tired I was! I was ready
for my last flight (taken away from me because a Captain wasn’t available), but
once I sat down to rest and not work, my body just shut down. I would bounce my head in almost-sleep the
entire flight. I was tired.
But madly in love.
This is a dream come true. I
can’t wait to see what it’s like in actual weather! The airplane is a beast. She’s just FUN to fly. I’m in love with it! And I can’t wait for more!
I now have 7.8 hours of flight time. That’s so much better than 1.9! I’m thrilled.
I ended up back at the crashpad at 6:30. I had thought about trying to make it home
tonight, but I was quite content to wait until tomorrow morning. I took the night pretty easy. I went out at 9:45 to grab money from an ATM
for rent, but other than that, I just rested.
I needed it.
I went to bed at 11:30 P.M.
Alarm is set for 8:00 for a flight back to Springfield!
What a day! 5.9 hours
and 104 passengers! I’m in love.
No comments:
Post a Comment