Yes, life has a habit of getting in the way of projects that need to be done. I have been trying to get a trip report written for some time, but there always seemed to be obstacles. Either the trips I was flying were not interesting enough, or (in one case) it was a good trip, but I lost my notes when I got back home. However, patience wins out, and here is my latest, including photos this time.

I am still calling it an ‘America West’ trip report because that is who I fly for. Since the merger with USAirways, our management has been working hard to present one image to the public – that of USAirways. However from a practical standpoint as a pilot, we are two separate airlines, flying under two separate FAA certificates. We can not fly their airplanes, their routes, or mix crews. Picture two pillars supporting one roof: The public sees the roof (USAirways), but there are two separate airlines flying under that name. We should all be combined under one operating certificate in a little over one year from now, at which point we will be one single airline in operation as well as name. Until then however, we continue on as two.

DAY ONE: LAS-SNA-LAS-FLL

My commute to Las Vegas started at mid-day as I had an earlier than normal report time. I took my son to daycare, then packed my bags and drove to the airport. Our airline has a ‘commuter policy’ that allows us two attempts on our own airline to get to work, and if we can’t because of operational problems (mechanical, weather etc) we are not in trouble for a ‘no-show’. AWA is now operating out of the new A gates at SEA, and it’s a nice change from the older B gates we used to use. I was booked on flight 139, leaving at 12:44pm. My backup was a flight that left at 2:45pm, but if I took that one, it gave me less than an hour to my report time in LAS when we arrived. That was cutting it a bit close for me, so I tried the earlier one first. The plane was on time and we pushed back from gate A2 on schedule. It was an A-319, N802AW. The crew was continuing on to Orange County, as was I, but I was going on a later flight. We had a good tailwind and landed in LAS early. I hauled my bags down to the crew room and checked my mailbox. With over three hours to my report time, I went over to the new D gates because they have a much better choice of food available than the older A & B gates AWA uses.

Here is a look at my schedule sheet for the trip. All times are local.



My first flight of the trip was scheduled to depart at 7:16pm, and I showed up at the gate an hour before that. The plane was just pulling in, and it turned out to be the same one I had taken down from Seattle, N802AW. After I had arrived in LAS, it had continued on to SNA and returned, and we were now going to do the same thing again in it. I waited in the jetway as the last of the passengers got off, and the lead flight attendant recognized me from the trip down. He laughed and shook his head at the fact that I’d had to wait so long for them to come back.

Once the passengers had deplaned, I got onboard and started my preflight duties. The Captain came onboard and introduced himself as we had not flown together before. He was relaxed and had a good sense of humor, and I knew it would be a pleasant trip. We pushed back five minutes early at 7:11pm and made a quick taxi down to runway 25R. The sun had set and a bright, thin crescent moon hung over the western horizon. The Captain elected to fly the first leg and we launched into the night sky. Going from LAS to Orange County is an exercise in time management, as the entire flight from takeoff to landing lasts less than forty minutes. As soon as we climbed away from LAS we turned to the southwest over the Mojave Desert. Our routing took us over Daggett, then we descended over the San Gabriel mountains just east of Ontario. Normally this time of year we can see the lights of the Big Bear ski area from quite a distance off, but on this Tuesday night they must have been shut down. The route from LAS to the LA basin is very familiar to us because of the large number of flights we fly to LAX, BUR, ONT, and SNA. On night flights there is a sharp demarcation line of dark to light at the edge of the mountains where they give way to the populated valley below. The swath of lights moves in a straight line away to the west, a series of continuous city lights from San Bernardino to Ontario to Pasadena, and on into downtown Los Angeles. If we had been going to LAX we would have made a right 45 degree turn to follow those lights to the airport. In our case though we crossed them southwestward, flew past the Lake Elsinore area, and over the Santa Ana Mountains, descending as we went. We lined up on the approach for runway 19R at SNA as the approach controller turned us over to the tower. The runway at SNA is quite short, only 5900 feet long, so we made sure we were on the right approach path, and the Captain put the wheels down right on the 1000 foot markers as planned. We turned off near the end and taxied to gate 7. We shutdown at 7:59pm, for a total trip time (pushback to shutdown) of 48 minutes.

We had just under an hour so I only left the plane long enough to do the walkaround inspection and then started loading the computer with our new flightplan information. The fuelers had a momentary problem in getting the fueling system on the plane to work, but that was solved by working on the door switch in the fueling panel under the wing. We were refueled, catered, and the passengers loaded on schedule, and we pushed back at 8:57pm, three minutes early. For those of you who have flown out of Orange County, you know what I will to say next; the takeoff out of SNA is unlike any other in the country. Not only is the runway short, but because of the mass of multi-million dollar homes in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar, the residents have passed noise ordinances that are the most stringent in the country. On a normal takeoff we use only as much power from the engines as is necessary to ensure a safe and legal departure profile. At SNA however, they want us as high as possible when we pass over the ‘noise sensitive areas’. The drill for us in the Airbus is to use as much flaps as possible, which allows us to climb steeper than normal. Also, we use full power for the takeoff with no takeoff reductions allowed. That causes us to be at the 1000 foot power reduction altitude closer to the airport than normal. Then, instead of bringing the nose over to accelerate like normal at 1000 feet, we keep the flaps down and the airspeed down, using the engine power to lift us upward instead of accelerating. It is a steep, bumpy, uncomfortable climb up to 5000 feet where we are allowed to nose over, accelerate, retract the flaps, and return to a normal mode of flight. There are several pages in our navigation chart books devoted to the procedures unique to SNA and we are required to follow them precisely every time we depart. There are noise monitors off the departure end of the runway that, if tripped, cost the airline a lot of money.

After we pushed back from the gate we were told that there were ‘flow restrictions’ into LAS, and were given a two minute departure window to fit into our arrival slot. Fortunately it only caused us to wait a couple extra minutes on the ground, and we were ready to go when that time arrived. It was my turn to fly and we were cleared to go as we approached the runway. I lined up on the centerline and pushed the thrust levers to maximum. We accelerated down the runway and I brought the nose up to the proper climb attitude. I called for the gear to be retracted, then at 1000 feet for the power reduction. Then I turned on the autopilot, which is part of the procedure, so I could keep a lookout for traffic as we passed over the shoreline. Soon we were at 5000 feet and we cleaned up the plane while we were turning north toward LA. By the time we reached 12,000 feet we were turned northeast to pass over the San Gabriel mountains again, and over the Mojave into LAS. The arrival was uneventful and we made a left hand pattern to runway 25L. I made a smooth landing in the calm winds and we taxied to gate B1. We shutdown at 9:50 for a total time of 53 minutes. The plane was continuing on to Miami, and we had a nearly two hour wait for our next leg. I packed my flight bag and took my stuff down to the crew room. I spent the time getting my Jurassic-era laptop outfitted with a Wi-Fi card, and was pleasantly surprised that it worked. I spend so much time in airports and hotels that my slow dialup service is causing me to go prematurely gray. (At least I like to think it is premature).

An hour before our departure for Fort Lauderdale I went to the gate and found the plane waiting for us. It was one of our older A320’s, N645AW. We got the plane loaded on time and pushed back at 11:56, three minutes early (a recurring theme for this trip!). Because we had a completely full airplane we were close to our maximum takeoff weight. Also, this being an older plane, we had the earlier model engines on it that produce slightly less thrust than the newer ones. All this combined to mean that at the ‘normal’ maximum thrust, we were not legal to takeoff. However, we have several options in situations like this. Our first option is to do a ‘bleeds off’ takeoff where we use the auxiliary power unit (APU) instead of the engines to provide compressed air for the pressurization until we bring the thrust back at 1000 feet. This allows the engines to produce more power. Or, if we needed even more power, we could ‘bump’ the thrust on these older engines, an option that allows them to produce higher thrust for takeoff. The engines are limited in the number of times they can be ‘bumped’ before they must be taken in for an overhaul however, so we do that sparingly. Another option is the use of a higher rotation speed and V2 (takeoff safety speed, used for our initial climbout), but remaining on the ground while going faster down the runway also poses problems from possible abort scenarios. Yet another option (if needed) is combining the bump with the higher V2 speed. The final option is to remove passengers or cargo if there is no other way of making a legal takeoff. That usually isn’t a problem though, since the weight and balance is figured out before we push back from the gate. For this flight we were just a little over the ‘normal’ maximum, and doing a bleeds off takeoff brought us back within legal limits.

It was the Captain’s turn again to fly the leg to FLL, and after waiting in a long lineup for takeoff, we launched into the night sky. About two thousand feet up from the runway we turned south, then east while climbing up to 33,000 feet. We leveled off and turned on the cockpit lights. This was our only ‘redeye’ of the trip and we sat back for a nice quiet ride - or so we thought. Just after we passed over Albuquerque one of the flight attendants rang us saying that they had a medical emergency in the back of the plane. He didn’t know the details because the aisle was too crowded for him to get to the back. I called the aft galley on the interphone and asked for a summary of the situation. I was told that some lady was jumping up and down, claiming that she was having a heart attack. The flight attendant in the back told me that there were two nurses onboard tending to her. Once they had checked her out she would report back to me. I called our company over the radio who connected us to ‘Medlink’, a medical service for the airlines that has a doctor on call 24 hours a day for situations like this. The nurses believed that the woman was probably having a panic attack, not a heart attack. She was provided oxygen and eventually she calmed down. We also found out that she had claimed a heart attack sometime before boarding too and were surprised that she had been allowed onboard. In any case, I reported all this, along with her vital signs to the Medlink doctor, who said we could continue to FLL and should just monitor her condition enroute. The Captain meanwhile had been getting ready for a diversion to either ABQ or DFW in case it had actually turned out to be a heart attack. Fortunately that didn’t happen, as it would have been a whole new can of worms if we’d had to land. Since the Captain and I had already flown to SNA and back before this leg, we had flown several hours at that point. If we had turned back and landed at ABQ we probably wouldn’t have had enough legal flight time left in our day to continue on to FLL. We (and the passengers) would have been stuck until another crew could have been found and brought to wherever we’d ended up.

Instead we sailed on through the night toward Florida. It was fairly cloudy both above and below us and we were flying in an inky blackness until we passed into east Texas. The southeast was clear though and the stars became visible as we flew on. Venus rose shortly before we started seeing the light of dawn, and as its light passed through the thick atmosphere at the horizon it flashed a rapid red-white-yellow-white-blue, until it rose above the light-altering layers of air ahead. That was when we started seeing the first hints of dawn creeping across the horizon. As we flew eastward along the Gulf Coast, we raced toward the rising sun and within an hour it was about to broach the horizon. We started downhill as we approached St. Petersburg on the west coast of Florida. We joined the arrival procedure for FLL at St. Pete, and as part of the procedure we flew south toward Ft. Myers until turning east across the everglades. The sun rose above the cloud layer at that point causing us to put on our sunglasses for the last few minutes of the flight. The light also started illuminating the ground where we could see vague shapes at first through the morning mist, which soon resolved themselves to be farmers fields just east of Ft. Myers. Here is a shot of what we saw before our final descent across the Everglades:



The fields ended as we descended, replaced by the nearly endless swamps of the everglades. We sank down through a few broken cloud layers, with nothing manmade below us except for the ‘alligator alley’ freeway. We came through the last layer of clouds at about 3000 feet and saw the coastline ahead in the misty light of dawn. The airport was a sea of lights ahead, although we couldn’t make out the runway itself until we were about 10 miles out. The Captain put us down on runway 9L while a Delta 757 and a USAirways Express RJ waited for us, about to start their day while we ended ours. We parked at terminal E, which we now share with USAirways, instead of our old one at the B gates. We shutdown at 7:15am EST for a total time of 4:19. It is always a strange feeling to be so tired at the end of our day, dragging ourselves through a terminal that is filled with chipper energetic people just beginning their day.

It was a short van ride to our hotel just south of the airport. We had recently changed hotels, and not for the better. This one had already gained a reputation for poor service and multiple problems with our crews. It was my second stay at that hotel and despite the warnings I had found it OK the first time. This time though was different. Tired, weary, and ready for bed I found a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door to my room. The key didn’t work either, as it had obviously been locked from the inside. I went back downstairs and they couldn’t figure out why the room was still occupied. It was a ‘crew floor’, meaning that most of the people there were airline personnel. They gave me a new room, and guaranteed it would be ready for me. Wrong. It too was occupied. So I went downstairs again and got the manager. I was pleasant and quiet about it, but obviously they didn’t have a clue what was going on. Their records on who was in what room was in a shambles so they put me on another floor. This time it worked and I was asleep within minutes.

Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast, I had covered three of the four corners of the country that day. I had been awake for 21 hours, and it was just over 17 hours since I had left Seattle. It had been a long day, and only the first of four for the trip. Hopefully the rest would be a little shorter, and less ‘interesting’.

DAY 2: FLL-LAS-SFO

We had a short layover in FLL, just long enough to sleep, eat, and get ready. The van picked up us at 7pm and we were at the airport within 15 minutes. At the gate we had to wait for the plane to arrive, so we sat back and read the ‘morning’ paper. I had a bag of dark chocolate M&M’s with me, which were a big hit with the flight attendants. It’s too bad they don’t make them any more.

The plane arrived, and it was another of our older A-320’s, N627AW. We had a full load of passengers plus some strong headwinds, which meant extra fuel for the trip. Our takeoff paperwork showed that even doing a ‘bleeds off’ takeoff would not work because the runway in FLL is only 9000 feet long – somewhat shorter than most other major airport runways. This meant we had to do a ‘bump’ takeoff as I described earlier. After the engines had started we would push a button to allow the engines to have a higher temperature limit to produce more power on takeoff. This gave us the power required to meet the FAA climb requirements if we had an engine fail during takeoff.

With the passengers loaded we pushed back at 8:17pm, three minutes early. It was a crystal clear night in southern Florida, with almost no wind. It was my turn to fly, and the traffic on the airport was light so we taxied straight to the runway. We did have to wait for two incoming planes, then we were cleared into position. As a Delta 757 cleared the runway we were given our takeoff clearance. The runway at FLL is not the smoothest, and there is always an odd rocking motion as we begin a takeoff over the uneven surface. We bounced along at full power until we reached the desired speed, where I pulled back on the sidestick and we were airborne. We crossed the shoreline seconds later, then started a wide left-hand turn to the northeast. Because of heavy airline traffic departing Miami northbound, we were required to stay down low – around 10,000 feet until most of the way across to the west coast of the state. Then we were allowed to climb up to our initial cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. We turned north to follow the coastline and saw a beautiful reflection of the moon in the waters of the gulf. Over the panhandle we turned westward, and passed some thundershowers that were drenching southern Louisiana.

This is a view of our navigation display as we passed by the thunderstorms – the green blotches on the left side of the screen.



The clouds built us below us, cutting off our view of the ground, but it was still clear above. We chased the crescent moon west as it set, drawing out a beautiful sight. As we passed between Lubbock and Amarillo Texas the moon touched the horizon and had become an incredible deep red color as its light passed through the thick atmosphere. The image wavered and snaked around as the crescent moon bent and bowed, looking like a slow-moving crimson python.

Further on we encountered some turbulence over Gallup New Mexico as we caught the edge of the jetstream that had dipped down over the four-corners region. We turned on the seatbelt sign, and had the flight attendants sit down too. There were a few minutes over the Grand Canyon where the turbulence subsided enough for the flight attendants to clean up and put away their service, then they sat down again for the descent and approach. It didn’t smooth out until we were over Lake Mead at 9000 feet, on final approach to runway 25L at LAS.

We parked at gate B-11 at 10:23pm PST for a total time of 5:06. That was 40 minutes ahead of schedule thanks to the light headwinds. We were keeping the plane for the second leg to SFO and had an hour and a half before departure. I went to the crew room to check my mailbox again, and talked to some friends who were in the middle of their own trips. Back at the plane I went through the preflight procedures and waited for the Captain to return with the flight paperwork.





It was a light load and short flight to SFO, so we didn’t have to worry about a ‘bleeds-off’ or ‘bump’ takeoff. We pushed back right on time at 11:54pm and joined the long line for takeoff. The 11pm and midnight banks are among the busiest for AWA at LAS, as we can have over 20 aircraft going out within a ten minute period. We were in the middle of the bunch so we started only one engine to save fuel during the taxi. When there were about four planes to go we started the second engine, did our final checklist and pulled onto the runway when it was our turn. I was flying this leg too, and the plane felt so much different because of the light weight. We accelerated much more rapidly and our rotation speed came much sooner. We blasted up into the night, and the bright lights of the Vegas strip passed by my window as we climbed out. ATC allowed us to climb straight ahead over the mountains west of LAS and then we turned north to join our departure path. We flew north over Beatty Nevada, then turned west over Bishop California and across the Sierra mountains. Because of the short flight we only climbed up to 28,000 feet. About the time we crossed the Sierras it was time to descend again. There was a weak weather system along the coast that had pushed multiple layers of clouds over the central California valley. The layers were very thin and this allowed light to penetrate up from the cities below. As we passed over Modesto we could see a half-dozen or more thin layers of clouds lit up from below, making it look like we were flying through a ghostly white layer cake. The clouds also meant that we had to shoot an instrument approach into SFO. We were lined up on the ILS for runway 28R by ‘NorCal approach’ and then were turned over to the tower. They cleared us to land, and we broke out of the cloud base about 1500 feet above the waters of San Francisco bay. The runways at SFO are not smooth either and after touchdown we bounced along the ground until we pulled off just past the intersecting north/south runways. It is always a little odd to be the only plane moving at such a big airport. The tower controller was obviously bored, and cleared us right to the gate with no radio frequency changes to ground control or ramp control. We parked at gate 27 at 1:21am for a total time of 1:27. There were so few passengers that by the time we finished our shutdown checks and opened the cockpit door, the plane was already empty except for the flight attendants and our gate agent. The mechanics showed up a minute later to do their overnight check on the plane and we hurried off to the hotel. The flight attendants had a long layover and were going to a downtown hotel, while ours was fairly short, so we were going to a nearby one. Half an hour later my head hit the pillow and I was deep into dreamland (where I happen to own my own 767, Gulfstream G-V, and Piper Cub, with a 10,000 foot runway in the backyard, thank you).

DAY 3: SFO-PHX-MSP

I woke up early and went for a walk along the bayfront path that goes by our hotel. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and it felt good to get out and stretch. By the time I was ready to go back it was nearly noon, and as I walked past an In-n-Out burger place my stomach let me know in no uncertain terms that it was being ignored. I got some lunch there and watched the planes taking off from runway 1 at SFO. Back at the hotel I packed my bag and caught the 2:30 bus to the airport. There is a great deli near our gates named Max’s, and even though I had just eaten I bought a Pastrami sandwich for later. Our plane pulled in just as I got to the gate, and it turned out to be the USAirways/America West Heritage plane, N838AW. It is an A-319 that is painted in America West colors, with the USAirways name across the top. It is one of four ‘heritage’ planes that will be in the colors of the four airlines that made up USAirways; AWA, PSA, Piedmont, and Allegheny. A year from now it should be the only plane left in the teal & orange of AWA.

I waited in the jetway and as the incoming Captain got off he asked if it actually was the heritage plane. He hadn’t noticed the new name on it when he’d left PHX so he stepped outside to take a picture of it. I stowed my bags in the cockpit, then did my exterior inspection, taking some pictures myself. It is always nice to fly a new plane, and this one had just been delivered to AWA in November.



We were full going to PHX, and it would also be our only daylight leg of the trip. It was the Captain’s turn to fly, and I got my end of the setup done in plenty of time. We pushed back right on schedule at 3:39pm and started both engines for the short taxi to runway 1L. We were at the runway within three minutes, and ready to go. We had to wait for crossing traffic landing on runway 28, then were cleared to go. Just before we got our clearance a Northwest A-319 was cleared for takeoff on the parallel runway just a few hundred feet to our right, 1R. His takeoff position is just behind our so when we started rolling he was almost even with us. We accelerated in formation down the runways. As we approached the crossing runways we lifted off and I glanced to my right to check on the traffic on those runways. What I was in that split second will stay with me forever. We were about a hundred feet in the air, and the Northwest Airbus was lifting off in formation with, us a couple hundred feet to our right. At the same time I looked down the crossing runways and saw two planes on short final for 28L & R, their landing lights bright even in the daylight. With the nearby Northwest and the two others landing it was a truly impressive sight. I returned to my job, retracted the landing gear and activated our planned navigational routing. At 1000 feet we started a turn to the left, and I glanced out at the Northwest plane. He was beginning a turn to the right, his belly facing us as he swooped away, the glistening waters of the bay below him. Beautiful.

We made a turn west following the departure path, then south. We climbed up to 29,000 feet heading toward Bakersfield. Our routing to PHX was south along the central valley, and over the mountains to the western end of the Mojave Desert, just west of Edward Air Force Base. Then we would turn left over Victorville and fly eastward over the desert just north of Palm Springs to Blythe, and into Arizona.

Here are the San Gabriel mountains, looking eastward, with Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead visible.



Looking back out my side window at the setting sun reflecting off the Salton Sea. The distortion at the inboard edge of the wing is caused by the cockpit window.



The sun was setting as we descended toward the wide valley where Phoenix is, the jagged brown mountains casting long shadows across the barren landscape. Our arrival path was originally planned to be an easterly one along the south side of the airport with a left turn to final on runway 25L. As we passed abeam the airport however ATC turned us north to cross over the airport, then a right turn for a downwind to runway 26. This would be better for us because AWA’s gates are on the north side of the airport and would make our taxi in shorter.

We turned toward the airport over the city of Mesa, and paralleled a Southwest 737 landing on the south side. The sun had set as we turned west, but the sky was still a fiery orange and red. The lights of the city sparkled yellow and the outlines of the downtown skyscrapers could be easily seen against the hills in the distance. The Captain made another great landing, and we pulled off for the taxi back. Good luck was on our side as I called ramp control and found that our gate was open. We passed several of our less-lucky co-workers biding their time in the ‘penalty box’, waiting for their gates to be ready for them. We shutdown at 6:19pm MST for a total time of 1:40. We were keeping the plane for the next leg and had about an hour until our departure to Minneapolis, so after finishing the shutdown procedures I pulled out the sandwich I’d bought in SFO and ate it in the cabin while the cleaners picked up and vacuumed the interior. Outside, the sun had set giving us a beautiful view of the new control tower under construction.



Once the Pastrami and cole slaw were gone I went back up front and started the preflight preparations, including the exterior inspection.



The new flight attendants came onboard just as I reached the cockpit and we all introduced ourselves. The setup went well and when I looked back the plane was already half full. It always amazes me how many people it takes to get our job done. I can have my head down in the cockpit making sure the operational items are covered and we are safe to go, while behind me the real reason for the flight – the passengers – are taken care of by gate agents and flight attendants without me even knowing about it. If I have extra time I do like to stand up in the cockpit doorway and say hello as the passengers board, which I did this time once the preflight preparation was finished.

With everyone onboard, the plane fueled, bags loaded, and flight plan filed, we pushed back from gate A-26 at 7:20pm, three minutes ahead of schedule, and started our engines. There is a lot of work being done on the two connecting taxiways between the north and south sides of the airport. Bridges over the main roadway are being rebuilt and one or the other has been shutdown for nearly a year. This causes some headaches in trying to taxi around PHX, but ATC handles it well and soon we were on our way to runway 25R, the main departure runway on the south side of the airport. We were one of the first out in that bank of departures so there was only two planes ahead of us when we reached the runway. It was my turn to fly and we lifted off into the clear, calm, black sky.

Because of reported turbulence over the Rockies we were planned to go east over Albuquerque first, then over east Texas, and finally turn north to go over Omaha Nebraska and Ft. Dodge Iowa to begin the arrival sequence. We leveled off over eastern Arizona and we turned up the cockpit lights. I’d forgotten that we were supposed to get a meal on this flight, and when it arrived I found it was – of all things – a pastrami sandwich. I laughed and told the flight attendant that two was probably too much for one day, and that she could have it if she wanted. She said thanks and took it back to share with the other FA’s. As we crossed over Gallup New Mexico we hit turbulence again just like the night before, except that it was worse this time. We made everyone sit down and we descended trying to find a smoother altitude. It’s amazing what a difference only 2000 feet can make, but at 33,000 feet was barely noticeable while at 35,000 it had been kicking the you-know-what out of us. After we passed into Texas we got reports that it was smooth again up higher and we climbed to get better fuel economy. The clouds thickened up over the midwest and soon we were descending into the twin cities area. We broke out below the clouds at 5000 feet and watched as another AWA plane coming in from Las Vegas passed over us as they maneuvered us for the approach. I made a very smooth landing on runway 30R, and we taxied back to park at gate C-16. We pulled in at 11:28pm CST for a total time of 3:08. Our other company plane landed beside us as we were on the taxiway and they pulled up next to us at gate C-15. We all got done with our post-flight activities at the same time and walked together to the shuttle area where the bus took us to the hotel. Before I went to sleep I checked my new Wi-Fi card with the hotel system and it worked great. Score one for progress.

DAY 4: MSP-PHX-LAS

I woke up to see a new coating of snow on the ground. Because of my scheduled late arrival into LAS at the end of the trip and an even later arrival back home in Seattle (around 2:30am PST) I slept in as best as I could, getting up in the late morning. It would have been close to a 24 hour day if I hadn’t slept in and had instead arose with the sun in Minneapolis. With an afternoon to kill I went to the Mall of America since the food choices were a lot more varied than at the hotel. The mall was pretty quiet as it was a Friday in February, and most of the kids were still in school. I thought about going to a movie but none of them started early enough for me to get back to the hotel in time to change and catch the van to the airport. Mall food is mall food wherever you go though, and it can be tough to find something healthy and tasty at the same time. So I did as I often do in that situation and cheated, knowing that at least the crew meal would be better for me.

Back at the hotel, packed and ready, we took the van for the short ride to the airport. We went through security and over to gate C-9 where our plane had just arrived. There was a stack of jumpseat forms for the Captain to sign from some of our own employees trying to get to work in Phoenix, and a couple of pilots from other airlines trying to get home. The Captain had a great time talking to the jumpseaters, the gate agents, and some passengers. He really made it a joy to come to work. The gate agent said the plane would be full but we might be able to get everyone on. The Captain signed all the forms and we boarded to start our preflight checks. This time it was a newer A-320, N674AW. I went outside to do the preflight inspection, being careful not to slip on the icy ramp.



As we finished the setup two of the jumpseaters came into the cockpit, having been told that the plane was full. One was a Northwest pilot who lives in Phoenix, the other one of our own Captains who was going to work. The Airbus cockpit is pretty roomy compared to similar sized planes like the 737, but with four of us up there it was definitely cramped. With one of the jumpseaters behind and to my left, I wouldn’t be able to slide my seat back to stretch like I usually do. However being a commuter myself I am grateful for the option of using the jumpseat and would never complain about its use.

We pushed back at 5:16pm, two minutes past schedule, (late for the first time on the trip), and started the engines. It was a short taxi to the end of runway 30R, but we had to wait for a couple Northwest commuter planes to land before we were cleared into position. It was the Captains turn to fly and as we waited in position, we saw the sun set below the horizon. We had to wait a couple minutes for traffic from the other runway to depart, then were given the clearance to go. Even though we were full and heavy, the cold air and long runway meant we didn’t have to use full power for the takeoff. We rose up over the twin cities, and turned left to fly south toward our first departure fix of Omaha. As we climbed we rose faster than the sun was setting and created our own personal second sunrise of the day. We leveled off momentarily at 15,000 feet for traffic, with the twice-risen sun and snow covered fields in view.



Soon we were allowed to climb to our cruising altitude and sat back to talk. The Northwest pilot told us about the troubles they were having in bankruptcy, and we discussed the merger with USAirways. There are a lot of unknowns yet with our merger including seniority integration and a new contract. Nobody ever said it would be a boring career.

The sun set again very slowly as we turned southwestward over Omaha and we chased the fading light all the way across the country. It was a busy day in the US airspace and the chatter on the radio never let up. It was a change for someone like me who used to flying in the dead of night on red-eye trips. The good news was that the jetstream had finally worked its way northward from where it had been camped the previous few days, and we had a smooth ride all the way to PHX. My crew meal arrived and I discovered that the Northwest jumpseater was starving, so I gave him my meal; I could easily find something in PHX. We descended over the rim country north of Phoenix and in the last fading light of the sunset could see the city ahead of us. We had a direct approach into runway 26 on the north side of the airport and taxied back to park at gate A-14. We shutdown at 7:33pm MST, seven minutes ahead of schedule, for a total time of 3:17.

This trip was unusual for me in having more than one leg on the last day. We also had over two hours to kill in PHX before our last short leg to LAS. I packed my bags as the plane we had brought from MSP was going out to Los Angeles. I went to the main crew room to stow my bags and returned to the concourse to get a Thai chicken pizza from the California Pizza Kitchen. OK, pizza is not diet food either, but it sure is good.

I stayed in the crew room for about an hour hoping to see some friends that I normally don’t get to see since I am based in LAS, but it was late and not too many flights were passing through. So an hour before my departure I went back upstairs to begin the last leg of the trip. The plane was at the gate, and it was an A-319, N823AW. I was ready to get back home and fortunately it was a short hop to LAS to finish the trip up.

One of the nice things about PHX are the reader boards that let us know the status of the flight:



This one shows that we are flight 539, aircraft 823, due out at 2154 local. The flight is going to LAS and continuing to CLE and there are 39 minutes left to departure. (The 39 is fuzzy – it changed from 40 just as I took the picture).

We had several crews onboard going to LAS as part of their schedule to start their own trips that evening, plus a few LAS based pilots going up to start trips too. The plane was completely full again and we ended up with two jumpseaters in the cockpit, and two more in the extra flight attendant jumpseats in the back of the plane. With a capacity of 124 passengers, five crew members, and four jumpseaters, we were about as full as the plane can get. We pushed back at 10:01pm, seven minutes late because the ramp crew had to load some late baggage. It was my turn to fly again and I expected us to take off to the west as normal. However just as we pushed back they switched runways and were departing to the east. I reset the information in the FMS (flight management system) computers as we taxied to runway 7L. There was just a short lineup and we barely had to slow down before being cleared into position. We took off close behind a Southwest 737, and got bounced around in his wake turbulence a couple times during the initial climbout. At about 3000 feet though ATC turned us to the north and toward LAS. For such a short flight we only climbed up to 26,000 feet, and as soon as we were through 10,000 I put my PHX charts away and pulled out the ones for LAS. There was a lot of traffic and ATC maneuvered us around, slowing us up and vectoring us around before sending us to the final approach course. We approached the LAS area over Lake Mead and turned final abeam Hoover Dam, slipping down the ILS to runway 25L. My last landing of the trip was a greaser, and we pulled in to the gate at exactly 10:00pm. But hang on there, isn’t that one minute earlier than when we left? Sort of, but in reality it was a 59 minute flight that crossed a time zone. Either way, we were done. I packed my bags and said goodbye to the Captain, and we both said we’d be looking forward to our next trip together.

My flight to Seattle was going to depart out of an adjoining gate, so I called home to let my wife know I’d be there as expected, and sat back in the gate area to relax. The four-day trip covered nine legs, took exactly 22:00 of trip time, and covered 7521 nautical miles.

Seven3Seven said it in his last trip report: Don’t do this job unless you’re in it for the view. I agree completely, but would add that you should do it for the people too. The Captain was friendly and fun to fly with, plus he was very competent and smooth in flying the plane too. The jumpseaters were interesting to talk to and made the trip go faster. The flight attendants, gate agents, and rampers all added to the fun of working this job too. You meet a lot of great people in this profession, which is just another reason to love it. I know I do.

HAL