American 1844
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) – Dallas, TX (DFW)
Boeing 737-800
N947AN
Seat 25A
Scheduled Departure Time – 3:51pm
Actual Departure Time- 4:09pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 6:10pm
Actual Arrival Time- 5:48pm
2 hours 39 minutes
N947AN at gate B9, after arriving from Dallas
Boarding had started a little bit late, and there were several wheelchairs that had to board. It was a completely full flight. The door was closed at 3:57pm, and we were pushing 1 minute later
Holding short of the runway, next to N589JB getting ready to depart ahead of us to White Plains. I had flown N589JB down to PBI, the night before
Once N589JB was rolling down the runway, we were instructed to Line Up and Wait. We were also told to expect no delay, since there was a Southwest 737 on a 4 mile final
The tower controller instructed us to fly a 070 heading and to maintain 4000ft, and once we were in the air we would be vectored back onto the departure. With that we started a very long takeoff roll down runway 10L
We checked in with Palm Beach Departure climbing out of 1,400ft, on the 070 heading. We were cleared to 12,000ft and given a 360 heading. Eventually we were cleared to a fix on the departure, and were instructed to resume the OLAKE1 departure. The pilots requested about 10 miles north to get around some of the weather, before we started the turn. Shortly after this we were handed off to Miami Center
We flew through around a lot of build ups on the way out of PBI, but it was a smooth ride.
It started to clear up as we approached the west coast of Florida
We initially leveled off at 34,000ft, before climbing up to 36,000ft as we approached Louisiana out over the Gulf of Mexico
Cruising
An American Eagle (I presume an Envoy) E175 followed us for a while, before passing directly underneath us
The flight attendants came through with drinks and pretzels
As we flew over Louisiana and into Texas, the solid overcast layer beneath us that had been present most of the flight started to break up
On a downwind
The gear and flaps were fully lowered while we were still pretty far out
We made a smooth touchdown on runway 35L, and taxied for about 10 minutes to the gate
Pulling into the gate next to N836AW, getting ready for a flight to Harrisburg, PA
N947AN had one more flight to Hartford, CT. The person sitting next to me was going on this flight. They were saying how they don’t fly a lot and were hoping they wouldn’t have to go to far at DFW. They lucked out, and got to take the same plane
After a week in Dallas, it was time to go home. The hotel shuttle dropped me off about 2 hours before my flight back. It was the same driver who had driven us all week to the class. He was very friendly, and talkative. Turns out he used to live about 15 minutes away from where I lived in New York.
I was able to get through security pretty quickly, and had time to kill before my flight
N178US was going to Minneapolis
N416UA was heading to Chicago
N992AU was getting ready for a flight to Los Angeles
N237AK had just arrived from Seattle
United Express “Mesa” 6054
Dallas, TX (DFW) – Houston, TX (IAH)
Embraer E-175
N89362
Seat 10A
Scheduled Departure Time – 3:45pm
Actual Departure Time- 4:04pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 5:05pm
Actual Arrival Time- 4:40pm
36 minutes
N89362 at gate E4, after arriving from IAH
Boarding
The view from 10A. N470UA that had just arrived from Houston, and was going out to Denver a little later
Boarding finished around 3:30pm. A few last people got on at the last minute, and the door was closed at 3:40pm. By the time the flight attendants had finished the safety demo, we were still at the gate. The captain announced that they were finishing up loading some last minute bags. He also added that it would be a very quick flight down to Houston. He wasn’t going to have the flight attendants do any service, since we would only be spending about 5 minutes at cruise. We finally started to push back at 3:54pm. The flaps were lowered as we were pushing back, before the engines were started
“AirShuttle 6054 RNAV TREXX, runway 17R cleared for takeoff”
Climbing out of DFW
We leveled off at 24,000ft for a few minutes
Starting the descent
Final 8L
The next flight for N89362 was to Grand Rapids, Michigan
I had a few hours in Houston, before my flight back to PBI. This was only my second time at IAH. So, I got some dinner and walked around the airport until it was time for boarding
N118SY getting ready to depart to Nashville
N68817 was going to Portland, OR
N423UA at gate E3 after arriving from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
United 313
Houston, TX (IAH) – West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
Airbus A320
N423UA
Seat 12A
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:45pm
Actual Departure Time- 7:52pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:10pm
Actual Arrival Time- 10:52pm
1 hour 53 minutes
12A, next to N428UA departing to Baltimore
The captain welcomed us aboard and gave us the details of the flight. He informed us that we would be spending the next 1 hour and 56 minutes with 87 of our newest friends, and that he would get us to Florida as quick as physics would allow. We pushed back 5 minutes early, and taxied to runway 15L
Climbing out of IAH
Shortly after we leveled off the woman ahead of me hit her flight attendant call button. In the row in front of me was the woman, and a commuting AA flight attendant. When the flight attendant came up, they told him that a fluid was leaking on them from up near the call bell. They also mentioned that it was kind of rusted. The flight attendant looked at it. He brought some towels up, and it was still leaking. He told the woman that the air conditioning on this plane runs through there, and sometimes it leaks. He thought that’s what it was but if it would make her feel better, he would let the pilots know. A few minutes later there was a burning smell. Everyone within the few rows of where I was sitting smelled it. She called the flight attendant again. He said that they had burned some meals in first class, and that it was unrelated to the leaking fluid. He said the pilots were aware of it, and were not concerned because everything in the cockpit appeared normal. He thanked the woman for letting him know, and told her to always speak up if she seems something that she doesn’t think is normal. The flight attendant handled it very professionally. There were a few people around me who seemed nervous about the burning smell. He made sure they were feeling okay about it, before they started the service. He came through during the service, and twice after to make sure everything was still okay. By the time all this and the service was done, we were already approaching the west coast of Florida. As we crossed the west coast, the captain was announcing the initial descent
Cruising
The moon was pretty bright out over the water
Approaching the west coast of Florida
This was my first time landing at PBI, to the west. We flew south of the airport, out over the water. ATC cleared us down to 1,500ft, and then for a visual approach as we lined up for runway 28R. We were instructed to maintain 180 knots until a 5 mile final, for spacing with a Delta A321 ahead of us.
Final
It was a pretty hard touchdown, with heavy braking
Pulling into the gate next to N67827 that had arrived an hour before us from Newark
N423UA spent the night at gate B2, and flew right back to IAH the next morning
It took a while for the bags to start coming out. There was another flight that was at the carousel ahead of us. The bags from our flight didn’t start coming out, until that flight was done. I waited over 30 minutes for the bags to start coming out. When I was in college in Arizona, I would fly the late night CLT-PHX flight. The flight landed around 12:30am, and a lot of times it would be a long wait for the bags to come out after that flight. But this was the first time in a while that I had to wait that long. Other than that, all the flights on this trip were good. It was a quick and easy trip to and from Texas.
