My plane was landing any minute, so after dropping my bag I went up to watch my plane land from Charlotte. There was a jetBlue A320 to DCA taking off, so my plane was cleared to land 2 miles out. Shortly after they were cleared to land, they broke out of the low ceilings on short final
Taxiing to the gate
The airport was very busy. Every flight seemed like it was packed. There were people everywhere, and the terminal was crowded
N519UW getting ready to push back to Philadelphia
C-GFCP boarding for a flight up to Toronto. This was my first time seeing Air Canada at PBI. I have flown on Air Canada before, but never on rouge
As per usual the first announcements were made for boarding, and most of the plane stood up and all stood in the way of people trying to board. Anyone who looked like they knew what they were doing, had to fight their way to the front. Luckily I was able to board early. We ended up pushing back a few minutes early, and started to taxi shortly after
American 1841
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) – Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Boeing 737-800
N933NN
Seat 21A
Scheduled Departure Time – 1:50pm
Actual Departure Time- 1:57pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 3:43pm
Actual Arrival Time- 3:29pm
1 hour 32 minutes
N921NN was going to Chicago. I want to fly on this plane. I only got to fly on one old colors AA plane. It was an MD-80, never a 737
Taking off with N965JT to JFK close behind us. I’ve flown on N965JT before from JFK-PHX. The weather was showing 3sm visibility, with 5000 RVR, rain, mist and broken clouds at 1000ft
Into the clouds
And on top of the clouds
We stayed pretty low on this flight, and only went to 27,000ft
Cruising
Starting down towards CLT. It was a bumpy descent pretty much the entire way down
They were landing to the south, so we flew past the airport on a downwind for runway 18L. Luckily they didn’t make us fly to far out, before turning us on to final.
Final
We rolled out almost to the end
Pulling into the ramp next to N587UW pushing back for a flight to Orlando, I’ve flown this plane PHX - CLT
The next flight for N933NN was down to Fort Lauderdale
I had about an hour and a half until my next flight was departing
N655AE getting ready to pushback for a flight to Chattanooga, TN
D-AIXC pulling into the gate, after a 9 hour flight from Munich
American 1981
Charlotte, NC (CLT) – Indianapolis, IN (IND)
Airbus A319
N767UW
Seat 17A
Scheduled Departure Time – 4:59pm
Actual Departure Time- 5:20pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 6:39pm
Actual Arrival Time- 6:28pm
1 hour 8 minutes
N767UW had flown down from Washington, DC
17A
The captain welcomed everyone on board. He let us know that today’s flight would be taking place at 30,000ft. It would take us 1 hour 12 minutes, to fly 410 nautical miles to Indianapolis. He also added that we had three of the best, fantastic, fabulous, wonderful, competent and professional flight attendants in the industry. He also added that to enjoy the freedom of travel, we had to wear our masks. Finally his long speech came to an end, and the door was closed. We ended up sitting at the gate for about 15 minutes. Finally the captain resumed his speech. He said that we were at the gate furthest away, and on the opposite side of the airport as our departure runway. There is only one way in and out of the ramp, and we have to wait for everyone to get in before we could get out. He said that the crew wanted to get to IND as much as he knew everyone else did, and that nothing was wrong with the plane. We were just waiting for traffic
Taxiing to the gate, past N114UW that had just arrived from Hartford
We were given Line Up and Wait, and told it would be a minute in position for spacing. We were given a 190 heading, and then cleared for takeoff
Once we were in the air, we were turned to a 240 heading and handed off to departure
We initially climbed up to 30,000ft. Then it got a little bumpy so we went down to 26,000ft, and then we ended up at 23,000ft. the flight attendants came through with drinks and snacks. It wasn’t a long flight and before long we were descending
Cruising
Starting the descent
It was a cloudy night in Indianapolis. We had to descend through multiple cloud layers
We flew through the final for 23L, before joining the final for 23R
On final
Touchdown
N767UW flew right back down to Charlotte
I spent the first half of the month in Indianapolis. After passing my procedures validation, it was off to St. Louis for Sims. On the day of the flight, I took the 8:30am shuttle to the airport
N386FR was heading down to Cancun
Delta Connection “Endeavor” 4633
Indianapolis, IN (IND) – Detroit, MI (DTW)
Bombardier CRJ-900
N299PQ
Seat 15D
Scheduled Departure Time – 10:35am
Actual Departure Time- 10:41am
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:45am
Actual Arrival Time- 11:23am
42 minutes
N299PQ at gate A7, after arriving from Detroit
Boarding
15D
We ended up pushing back about 5 minutes early. The engines were started, and we taxied to runway 23R
We had to wait for a few diamonds to land, before we were cleared for takeoff
We went up to 19,000ft, for the short flight to Detroit. The flight attendants did not do any service, because the flight was so short. I had my Oral the next day, so I spent the flight doing some last minute studying.
The flight went by quick and before long we were already descending
Final 22R
Touchdown
N299PQ spent a few hours on the ground before flying to Buffalo
I had a little over an hour, until my next flight was departing
N461SW getting ready for a flight to Pellston, MI
N351NB at gate A70, after arriving from Buffalo
Delta 2955
Detroit, MI (DTW) – St. Louis, MO (STL)
Airbus A319
N351NB
Seat 22A
Scheduled Departure Time – 12:51pm
Actual Departure Time- 12:59pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 1:29pm
Actual Arrival Time- 1:10pm
1 hour 11 minutes
22A, next to N362NW getting ready for a flight to Minneapolis
The door was closed, and a few minutes later we were pushing back. Once the engines were running, we taxied to runway 21R
N538US taking off to Los Angeles
“Delta 2955 RNAV SERGY runway 21R, cleared for takeoff”
We checked in with Detroit Departure, as we were climbing out of 3,000ft. We were cleared to 17,000ft, and then handed off to Cleveland Center
On this flight, the flight attendants only came through coffee, tea or water, and almonds. I also spent this flight studying
At one point I happened to look down, and the airport looked familiar. Sure enough, we right over IND again
Descending into STL
When we passed 10,000ft the flight attendant made one of my personal favorite announcements, that “we were cleared to land”
The pilots checked in two miles north west of JEXAR, on the visual to runway 11
The flaps were still down when we got to the gate. It wasn’t until after the engines were shutdown, that they were finally retracted
N351NB flew right back to Detroit
The next few weeks was sim training. My checkride started at 7:00am. It started with a two hour pre briefing, which included going through my logbooks to determine my flight time was all proper and met all the requirements. My sim partner and I decided they would go first, and I would go second. It definitely wasn’t fun having to wait close to two and a half hours. Eventually it was finally my turn. The format for the checkride was a line fight, from point A to point B. My scenario was a flight from KBWI-KEWR. I would have up to two and a half hours to complete the “flight”. I walked into the sim to get myself set up, while the APD took a quick break. In the sim was myself, him and the seatfill. He was there to act as the captain. He could do whatever I told him to, but he couldn’t prompt me on anything. At first it was kind of an awkward dynamic because he was just sitting there in silence other then calling for checklists. I quickly got into a routine though, of telling him what needed to be done. After about 20 minutes of going through the initial cockpit checks, set up and checklists, the “doors” were closed and I called for our pushback clearance. The RVR was set at 1600, so it was a low vis taxi out to the runway. We were quickly cleared for takeoff. I flew the SWANN3 departure. I initially called for a heading. Once we were in the air, I was cleared to Dupont (DQO). Passing 10,000ft, the seatfill did his flow. After this I had him get the ATIS for EWR. As we were already inside of 130 nautical miles. The weather at EWR was right at CAT II minimums. I had the captain load the approach, bug our course and minimums. He also had to get our speeds from the performance manual since the ACARS was inoperative. He then briefed the approach, and I had him call EWR ops that we were in range. After this I called for the descent checklist. Shortly after this we were given a descend via clearance. The bottom altitude on the PHLBO3 arrival was 8000ft. From here we were vectored towards the course, and given a descent to 3,000ft. I slowed the plane down, and called for the flaps and gear. I was cleared for the ILS 4R, and flew the approach to about 100ft AGL, and not surprisingly we didn’t get the runway insight, so I performed a go around. On the missed at about 1,000ft the autopilot failed, so I had to hand fly from there on out. It was the published missed at TEB, at 2,500ft. It was a parallel entry into the hold. As I was flying to the hold, I called for the autopilot fail QRH. Once we were established in the hold, I had him get the updated weather at EWR, and our alternate LGA. I made the decision to divert to LGA. Once we went through holding speeds, holding fuel, talking to passengers and dispatch, it was time to set up for the approach. We got vectors to the localizer, and were cleared for the ILS 4. We broke out at about 500ft, and landed. The captain taxied, and I called ground for our taxi instructions. The checklist was done, and once we got close to the gate I started the APU. Then we shut down, and that was the end of the checkride. After the checkride, it was time for the debrief. He debriefed us together. We started debriefing around 2:15pm. The APD started talking and just talking, and talking and talking. I had a 5:40pm flight. I had just spent 5 weeks in a hotel, and wasn’t planning on spending another night in St Louis. I still had to go back to the hotel and get my bags. I finally in the nicest way I could, let him know that I had a flight that night. He finally finished his speech, and after a long day I left at 4:00pm. The shuttle driver had to pick someone up at the airport, before bringing me back to the hotel. I quickly ran up to my room, grabbed my bags and got on the shuttle back to the airport. I got to the airport around 4:45pm. I had less then an hour to check my bag, and get to the gate
DL check in
N317US at gate A6. It had just arrived from Atlanta
Delta 1535
St. Louis, MO (STL) – Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Airbus A320
N317US
Seat 27A
Scheduled Departure Time – 5:39pm
Actual Departure Time- 5:52pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 8:10pm
Actual Arrival Time- 8:02pm
1 hour 10 minutes
27A, next to N836SK getting ready for a flight to Detroit. I’ve flown this plane DTW-SYR before
Boarding had started about 10 minutes late, and it was a full flight. We finished boarding at 5:35pm, and we started pushing back right ontime
The pilots called the tower to let them know we were ready, and holding short of runway 29. The winds were straight down the runway at 22 gusting to 27
Climbing out of STL
On this flight we went up to FL340, where we stayed for the entire flight. Between the checkride and then rushing to the airport, it had been a long day and it was the first time all day I could finally relax.
The flight passed quickly, and before long the spoilers were out
The flight attendants came through once early to make sure the cabin was ready for landing, and then sat down early because it got pretty bumpy
Descending on the CHPPR1 arrival
Final 26R
N113DX was the plane I would be flying to PBI. They were following us on the approach
N113DX taxiing behind us
N129HQ had just arrived from DCA. I flew on N129HQ in 2012 from PHL-ATL, when it was still in US Airways colors
Pulling into the gate, next to N371NW that had just arrived from Toronto
The next flight for N317US was up to Toronto
I headed over to my next gate, and by the time I got there boarding started shortly after
Delta 2253
Atlanta, GA (ATL) – West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
Airbus A321
N113DX
Seat 17A
Scheduled Departure Time – 9:30pm
Actual Departure Time- 9:51pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:14pm
Actual Arrival Time- 11:19pm
1 hour 28 minutes
17A, next to N345NB that was going to Roanoke later that night. I originally was supposed to be sitting way in the back in 37A. Right before boarding I saw that 17A had opened up. I quickly grabbed it, because I didn’t want to be stuck waiting for a long time to deplane once we landed
The flaps were lowered while we were still pushing back. It was a fairly quick taxi out to 27R. There was just a few planes ahead of us. As we were taxiing, the controller gave us a new departure frequency
“Delta 2253 RNAV SLAWW, runway 27R cleared for takeoff”
Climbing out of ATL
About 30 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendants came through with drinks and snacks
Starting the descent
PBI was landing to the west. We flew south of the airport, and flew out over the water before turning back towards the airport
Final 28R
Pulling into the gate, next to N136DQ. My first time seeing the A220 at PBI. It had flown LGA-PBI earlier in the day. But it had diverted to FLL. Then after a few hours on the ground, it flew the 20 minute flight from FLL - PBI
N113DX flew back to Atlanta the next morning
I’ll have the next 4-5 weeks off until IOE. I am glad that I am done with airline training, and have the next few weeks off before I start flying
