A few pictures from my flight to LGA
My report time for my first day was 11:45am. I took an Uber to the airport and got to LGA around 10:45am, an hour early. That way I had plenty of time to find KCM, and get to my gate. The flight attendants showed up at the gate, and a few minutes later the Check Airman showed up and introduced himself. The plane had arrived a few minutes late from Norfolk. The gate agent was missing, and eventually they showed up after the plane had been sitting for a few minutes. By the time everyone had deplaned, it was already the scheduled boarding time. The CKA told the gate agent we would need a few minutes until they could start boarding.
Flight 4656
New York – LaGuardia, NY (LGA) – Nashville, TN (BNA)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 12:28pm
Actual Departure Time- 1:08pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 1:59pm
Actual Arrival Time- 1:51pm
1 hour 43 minutes
We headed down to the plane, and put away our bags. After this we headed down to the ramp, and he showed me a walk around. After this it was back upstairs, to get set up for the flight. It was pretty rushed as they had just started boarding. It had been 5 weeks since I was in the sim. Even longer since I had used the MCDU (FMS). He told me to do as much as I remember/ felt comfortable with and once the door was closed he would help me with anything that hadn’t been done, or answer any questions that I had. Every day since my checkride I spent time each day going through my flows, call outs, checklists and what I could for the MCDU. So the set up wasn’t to bad. I missed a few things here and there, but it was mostly done correctly. I made my call to clearance with our climb out, squawk code and initial altitude. We also talked about the Whitestone climb that we would be doing. He told me that I would be the one flying the first leg. Then he would be pilot flying the second leg. That way I could see where I was at. For the departure we would be making a quick turn to the south, followed by another turn to the north. On our route they also have us maintain 250 KIAS until 11,000ft, instead of the usual 10,000ft. So he showed me where I can change it. Next the captain made his announcement. As he was doing this I dropped a piece of paper, and went to pick it up. When I went down to pick it up, I looked back and saw a plane full of people sitting there. The woman in 1A was reading her book, none the wiser it was my first flight. After this the flight attendant shut the door, and it was just the two of us up there. It was a cool but kind of weird feeling. After working toward my goal for many years, I was about to fly my first flight. The captain walked me through my first call on the ramp frequency, and how to coordinate for pushback. We were given our instructions for what spot to push to. As we were pushing the captain had me start Engine 1. Once the engine was started, I set the flaps, and we checked the flight controls and reviewed our takeoff data. Once this was accomplished, we taxied up behind a CRJ and I waited to contact ground. I called up ground once it was our turn. The controller quickly rattled off our taxi instructions and I quickly wrote it down, as the captain started the taxi towards runway 13. We taxied around to taxiway Echo, and held short of runway 4 behind the same CRJ. One plane landed runway 4, and the CRJ crossed. After a Southwest 737 landed runway 4, we were given clearance to cross runway 4, continue to runway 13 and monitor tower. Once we were on the other side, the captain had me start Engine 2. Once they were both running, I turned the hydraulic pumps to auto, turned off the APU and started the time for our engine warm up, and we reviewed our departure one more time. Just as we passed the amount of time we need for our engine warm up, we were given our line up and wait clearance. The Captain lined us up on the runway, and said “Your Controls”. Shortly after this we were cleared for takeoff. I advanced the throttles and once the power was set the captain took them. It was my first time actually controlling the jet, and my first time flying since November. I was focused on the takeoff, my call outs and the departure that would be happening. The captain quickly called “V1, rotate”, and I pulled back and we were off. With the positive rate call, I called for the gear up and our initial heading. After 2 miles, we quickly started our next turn back to the northeast. I played with the trim a little, and followed the flight director as we quickly climbed. Passing 10,000ft, I called for the autopilot and we were cleared to the PARKE intersection. As we passed 18,000ft we set the altimeters to 29.92, and I noted it was my first time flying into the flight levels. Eventually we leveled off at 34,000ft, and that’s where we stayed for the entire flight. During IOE there is a list of things you have to talk about including things like radar, thunderstorm avoidance, deicing, threat and error management, international operations, diversions etc. So we started on this flight. We also spent time setting up for the approach, as well as discussing how we would descend on the arrival and fly the approach and landing. This would be my first time landing the jet. This flight was a little under 800NM. Before I knew it, we were under 200NM and starting to descend. We descended via the PASLY4 arrival. Eventually we were vectored off the arrival, and cleared for the visual approach for runway 2R. The CKA walked me through how to slow down, descend and get configured. At the Final Approach Fix he had me disengage the autopilot, and hand fly the landing. We were following a citation a few miles ahead of. We were still kind of fast, and the tower controller had to tell us to slow down since we had about 50 knot overtake on the traffic ahead of us. The CKA mentioned he wish they hadn’t brought us in this close, and it would be tight and to be ready for a possible go around if he didn’t get off the runway. We were about 2 miles out, and he was still on the runway. Tower told the citation to hurry off, because we were very short final. He made it off just in time. I was trying to watch him, but also more focused on my first landing. As the runway started to come up, I pitched back just a little and slowly brought out my power. I was waiting for a firm landing but it actually was smoother than I was anticipating, but more off centerline then I would have liked. I pulled the throttles back into reverse, and at 60 knots the captain took the controls. Tower asked us if we could make H4, and that the corporate jet would move. Once he started to move, we went behind him and taxied towards gate C15. As we got closer to the gate, I started the APU. Once we parked at the gate, we ran the parking checklist. At the gate, we talked about the flight and landing and what went well and what could have been done better. After this I went out to do my walk around. It was a lot warmer on the ramp in Nashville, it was 93 degrees. Once I verified that the two engines and two wings were still there, I headed back up to get ready for my next flight. I had about 20 minutes until we had to be out of the gate. All in all the first flight was a good experience. I didn’t feel like I was that behind the plane, and it was so cool to actually be flying a jet. My first flight as an airline pilot, was in the books
Flight 4621
Nashville, TN (BNA) – Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 2:30pm
Actual Departure Time- 2:53pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 5:35pm
Actual Arrival Time- 5:51pm
1 hour 58 minutes
The Captain said that with each flight he would be helping me less and less. But since the set up was rushed in LGA, we went through how the set up should go. This time we were out of the gate two minutes early, and started one of the engines. After this I called Nashville ground, and were given taxi instructions for runway 2L. We were given a wheels up time for Philly, so we pulled off to wait. At one point a plane turned down the wrong taxiway. The controller was nice about it and said that he actually missed work, he had been on vacation and it was his first day back. A Southwest 737 and an Endeavor CRJ-900 were taxiing down the runway. We were told to get in line behind Southwest. Once the Southwest 737 started its takeoff roll, we were given Line Up and Wait. After waiting a few seconds on the runway, we were given runway heading and cleared for takeoff. This leg I was pilot monitoring. So I called out once the power was set, 80 knots, V1 and Vr. I checked in with Nashville Departure climbing out of 1,700ft for 4,000ft. The controller cleared us to 15,000ft, on a 090 heading. We climbed via the CHADM3 departure. Passing 10,000ft I turned off the lights and sterile light, and passing 18,000ft we switched the altimeters to 29.92. We spent the flight being handed off from center to center. We spent the entire flight at flight level 310. As we got closer to Philadelphia the controller gave us some vectors for spacing. We were cleared to descend via the PAATS3 arrival. When we reached 10,000ft, we slowed to 250 knots. The controller descended us and told us to expedite and we could expect to join the localizer from our present heading. Then a second later they changed their mind. They turned us to the west, and put two planes in front of us, before they turned us back on to the final. The captain had flown this leg, and I was pilot monitoring. However once he had the plane fully configured, we transferred flight controls and I did the landing. This landing was also decent, but still a little off centerline, I quickly corrected and once we slowed down the captain took the controls back. I checked with ramp, and our gate was open. The ground controller cleared us to spot 8, and with that we taxied to gate B14. The next crew was waiting for the plane, so I didn’t have to do a walk around. We gathered our bags, and headed into the terminal. We had a little over an hour until our last flight to Raleigh, or so we thought.
Flight 4665
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) – Raleigh, NC (RDU)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:15pm
Actual Departure Time- 7:46pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 9:00pm
Actual Arrival Time- 8:46pm
1 hour
The plane arrived from Louisville. Once everyone was off, we headed down and got set up. It was the third leg of the day, and I was starting to get used to how everything goes. We dealt with a very “friendly” ramp controller trying to get out of the gate. Behind an airbus, we were finally #1 coming out of the alley. There was a decent line of planes ahead of us in line. We were about #15 in line for takeoff. Every so often the controller would call out the sequence. When we # 4 in line, we started the second engine. After a 30 minute wait, we were cleared to Line Up and Wait on 9L at K6. It would be my leg to RDU. The tower instructed us to fly heading 125 on departure. I quickly set the heading bug, and advanced the throttles. Once we were in the air, departure cleared us direct to the TEBEE intersection and to maintain 12,000ft. A few minutes later we got handed off to Washington Center. Eventually we got up to our filed cruising altitude of 28,000ft, but after only a few minutes there was some light turbulence so we gave 26,000ft a try. A little later we went down to 22,000ft. It was a pretty sunset to look at, as we got set up for the arrival into RDU. The weather at RDU was overcast at 800ft, with rain and mist. This would be the first instrument approach. There was some moderate precipitation on the arrival, and we just had to do a slight deviation to get around it. As we descended, we were told to expect the ILS 5L approach. After being cleared for the approach, we were assigned 170 knots until a 5 mile final. The captain told me that once we got the runway in sight the autopilot would come off, and I would hand fly the approach and landing. About 3 miles out the approach lights came into sight, and shortly after this the runway did too. With that I clicked off the autopilot, and primarily focused on the glideslope and every so often I would glance outside the PAPIs. There were some rain showers on final, so we had the windshield wipers on. I got a little high on the glideslope, and quickly corrected. The landing was decent, and it was a quick taxi to the gate. As passengers were deplaning two new flight attendants and the gate agent came on the plane. They told us they had been delayed two hours, and their pilots had to ferry another plane. The gate agent had told us that crew scheduling had called them, and wanted to speak with the captain. After calling them, it was confirmed that we were being rescheduled. He told me that we would be flying this flight to Pittsburgh. We had been scheduled for a 19 hour overnight in RDU, but now we would have 12 hours in PIT. Then the next day we would have to double deadhead back to RDU to meet up with our original flight attendants, and resume the rest of our trip. The captain was not pleased with this. He told me that he would take this leg since I was probably tired. There would also be no teaching on this flight. As the captain set up, I went down to do the walk around
Flight 4742
Raleigh, NC (RDU) – Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:30pm
Actual Departure Time- 10:00pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 8:52pm
Actual Arrival Time- 10:56pm
56 minutes
The weather that was there on the descent, was still there. Tower advised us of some moderate to heavy precipitation. The captain told the tower he would like a few seconds in position to take a look at the weather. It was raining, and the windshield wipers were on as we rolled down the runway. We went through some turbulence, as we climbed through the weather. Once we were on top it ended up being a smooth flight to Pittsburgh. It was the first time all day I was able to relax a little, and look out the window as we flew towards Pittsburgh. The flight was the quickest of the day. We set up for the approach, and landing. The captain flew us on to final, and gave me the landing again. He taxied us into the gate. I went out to do the walk around, and he shut the plane down. After this we walked down to get the shuttle to the hotel. It had been a great, but long day. We also only had about 11 hour overnight, and the next day would involve a double deadhead to get back to Raleigh to join up with the original flight attendants for the rest of our trip. The next morning it was back to PIT for day two. The day was starting off with two deadheads to get back to RDU. We would be flying PIT-CLT-RDU, on an A320 and an A321. The first flight was uneventful. We were originally were supposed to have 1 hour 20 minutes in between flights. Once we boarded the second flight we sat at the gate for an hour. The plane had a maintenance issue, finally after an hour of sitting the captain informed us that we would need to deplane. An hour later we got back on, and pushed back. After a 2 hour 40 minute delay, we took off for the 29 minute flight to RDU. Below are some pictures from the deadhead flights:
Pulling into the gate, next to N195UW the A321 I was taking to RDU
While I was sitting and waiting, I watched two 737s, and an A320 pushback from the gate next to us
Flight 4872
Raleigh, NC (RDU) – Chicago, IL (ORD)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 5:35pm
Actual Departure Time- 7:05pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 7:08pm
Actual Arrival Time- 7:50pm
1 hour 45 minutes
This flight was departing right across the terminal from where the CLT flight arrived at. As soon as we walked up to the gate, the agent asked the captain if he was ready to board. He said that we literally aren’t on the plane. She said “okay, I will send them down in a minute”. The captain said once the crew is ready, you will be the first to know. The gate agent seemed annoyed with him, and didn’t say anything else. When we got down to the plane it was very hot. The temperature in the cabin was in the mid 90s. The plane had been sitting for several hours, and they had not hooked up any air or closed the window shades. Sure enough a minute or so later the gate agent came down and asked if we were ready. The captain had her come on the plane, so she could see how hot it was. He said now we will have to wait until the cabin cools down, before we can have passengers board. She kind of sighed and left without saying a word. I quickly did my walk around, and then started to set up for my first flight into O’Hare. As we were waiting the captain talked about not letting gate agents pressure you into doing things and rushing to board or close the door. Finally it cooled down, and everyone boarded and we quickly pushed back. It was a lot nicer of a day, then the night before. We taxied out to the same runway, and took off. We climbed to 34,000ft, and stayed there for the entire flight. As we got closer we were given lower and lower altitudes, and eventually were cleared for the ILS 10C. We were following a heavy several miles ahead of us. I took the autopilot off, and hand flew from the Final Approach Fix. This was the first landing that was good, from the approach through the touchdown and roll out. I had heard a lot of things about flying into and taxiing at ORD. But I found the controllers nice, and we got in and out of the gate relatively straight forward with minimal delays.
Flight 4798
Chicago, IL (ORD) – Syracuse, NY (SYR)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 8:25pm
Actual Departure Time- 9:06pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:15pm
Actual Arrival Time- 11:35pm
1 hour 29 minutes
When I first got my IOE trips, literally the first thing I noticed were the letters SYR. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Sure enough on my second day of flying, I was not only flying into SYR, but overnighting there too. I had spent most of my life living in Syracuse. My family had just moved to Florida, a little over 6 months ago. The last time I was there was last November. This would be my first time back since we moved. I had spent my entire life flying in and out of SYR. I spent years going to SYR to watch planes takeoff and land from the time I was really little. So it was super cool that on my second day at an airline, I would by flying into SYR. We had to wait for one CRJ-700 that was blocking us. Once they started to move, we pushed back. I started engine 1, and we quickly started to move to the top of the alley because we were blocking someone else that was ready to push. We were given our taxi instructions to runway 9R. As we were heading out, the captain had me start engine two. Once it was our turn, we were given a heading to the northeast and cleared for takeoff. We climbed quickly out of Chicago, and quickly the lights started to fade as we climbed over Lake Michigan. Chicago Center cleared us to flight level 330, and to the EBAKE intersection. On this flight we continued to talk about some of the topics we had to cover during IOE. As we approached Buffalo, we started to get set up for the landing. Cleveland Center gave us our descent. They had us leave 330 within two minutes, and cleared us down to 11,000ft. This was my first time flying into an airport that we had to manually get the ATIS, as opposed to sending for it through the ACARS. Runway 28 was the active this evening. As we got closer to 11,000ft, Cleveland handed us off to Syracuse approach. I was getting excited as we got closer. I don’t like upstate New York and am happy to not live there anymore, but it was so cool to be flying into SYR as an airline pilot! The captain checked in with approach, and a familiar voice was on the other end. He was a controller who has worked at SYR for years, and I had talked to him many times at my last job. He had us descend as well as turn to a heading that would put us on a right downwind. As we got closer to the airport, we flew right over the airport I had worked at last year flying skydivers. I tried to find the airport, but it was a small uncontrolled field, and obviously late at night there wasn’t anybody around and the lights were off. As we entered the downwind SYR was in sight off to my right, and off to my left I could see the neighborhood we used to live in. The captain made sure it was good for us to slow down, as there was another E-175, CRJ-900 and an A320 on the frequency. As we slowed down, I called for flaps. The airport was at our 4 o’clock position when the controller cleared us for the visual. I was planning on flying a few miles further out, but the CRJ was coming from the other side and he turned us a little sooner then I was expecting. I quickly slowed the plane down, and called for the rest of the flaps. It was strange having to manage the descent as well as lining up with the runway ourselves. Up until now I hadn’t been cleared for a visual, when we were not lined up with the runway. By the time we had lined up the PAPIs were showing 3 white, 1 read and I was high on the glideslope in the plane. I corrected and made a decent landing on runway 28. I made the standard right turnoff. It was always taxiway Golf, but last year when they did construction on the runway, it had been changed to Zulu. The tower controller was also another familiar voice. He always did a good job in my experience with him. He instructed us to make the right turn off the runway and taxi via Alpha and Echo to gate 9. Once we parked, I headed down to do my walk around. Back in 2015 when I was in high school, I worked on the ramp at SYR for US Airways. When I first started, I worked the early morning shift. It started at 5am, and it was still dark outside. At the time there was always an E-175 at gate 9 for the early morning flight to Philadelphia. This time I was doing my walk around on the same ramp, same plane but this time as the pilot. Pretty cool. Except this time the plane wasn’t in US Airways Express colors. It had been a good day, but also another long day since we had the two deadheads that ended up being delayed.
SYR ramp
Flight 4540
Syracuse, NY (SYR) – Washington DC, (DCA)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 4:56pm
Actual Departure Time- 5:36pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 6:20pm
Actual Arrival Time- 6:39pm
1 hour 3 minutes
The next afternoon I was back at SYR for 3 flights. The plan for the day was SYR-DCA-JFK-RIC. I had met someone I knew for the afternoon, and got dropped off at SYR. I met up with my crew at security. The plane had gotten a late start coming in from DCA. We waited at the gate for a little bit. There was another E-175 that was going to Chicago. The ORD plane got in first. The gate agent came up to us, and said there had been a plane swap. This was now our plane. We headed down the jetway. As we were about to get on the plane, another gate agent came running down. He said that she is new, and didn’t really know what she was talking about. But this plane was still going to Chicago. So it was back into the terminal. But by the time we got back up there, our correct plane was just pulling into the gate. Once we got on the plane, I called clearance. We were cleared to PTAKI interaction, then to the Elmira (ULW) VOR. In the past, they would clear people direct to ULW, so I wasn’t sure what PTAKI was. We boarded up and pushed back as quick as we could. Some passengers had to be moved around for weight and balance. By this flight I was starting to get into the routine of how things are done. Once the tug was disconnected, I set our takeoff flaps and we tested the flight controls. Ground gave us the taxi instructions for runway 10. As we taxied out the captain had me start the second engine. We called tower ready to go, but had to hold short due to a piper that was turning base to final. After their touch and go, we were cleared for takeoff. The captain taxied us onto the runway, and gave me the controls. The last time I had taken off runway 10, I was in a Cessna. After a few seconds of speeding down the runway, I pulled back on the controls and we were in the air. We had to level off at 10,000ft, while we waited for New York Center. As we were waiting, I called for the autopilot to be engaged. There was some weather that was moving in, and we had to deviate around some of it on the flight down. At one point Potomac Approach had to vector us off the arrival for spacing. Eventually we were cleared direct to the BAL VOR and to rejoin the arrival. I flew the Mt Vernon Visual to runway 1. Flying over the bridge, I turned off the autopilot. This runway would be the shortest I had landed on so far. It was a decent landing, and a quick taxi into the gate.
Flight 4901
Washington, DC (DCA) - New York, NY (JFK)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:45pm
Actual Departure Time- 8:22pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 9:08pm
Actual Arrival Time- 9:30pm
1 hour 8 minutes
We kept the same plane for this flight as well. We had a little bit of sit time, so plenty of time to set up and do the briefings for the flight. We pushed back right on time. The ground controller informed us that we had a wheels up time, in about 40 minutes. We ended up going down to the pad near runway 1 and shut down the engines and waited. About 7 minutes before our time, the captain had me start the engines. We got in line behind an American A321 N167AN the medal of honor plane, that was doing a charter flight to Madison, Wisconsin. Once we leveled off, we sent for the weather at JFK. It hadn’t been great, but it had deteriorated since our departure from DCA. The ATIS was showing 1/4sm visibility, 5000RVR, fog, vertical visibility at 300ft with light southerly winds. The captain and I began to discuss a CAT II approach. As we were doing this Washington Center advised us to expect holding at the CAMRN intersection, due to the volume of planes and weather going into JFK. There was a published hold, so we went through and verified it was correct, and then activated the hold. The captain mentioned he only holds a few times a year, so this was great experience. We then went through and calculated our holding fuel and speed, messaged dispatch, informed the flight attendants and passengers of the situation. We originally had an alternate back at DCA. The dispatched was able to switch our alternate to PHL, which gave us a little more holding fuel. Luckily it wasn’t long in the hold, and we were given a vector out of the hold and a lower altitude. We were given a 040 heading and 250 knots. There were at least 4 or 5 planes ahead of us that we could see. The clouds were about 1000ft below us, and covering the entire ground, you couldn’t see any lights coming through. The approach controller advised us that the RVR had gone up a little bit. The captain said if I felt comfortable, I could do the approach. He would have his hands near the controls. We discussed the approach, what all the call outs would be and we reviewed the go around procedure. With the visibility I would keep the autopilot on until the runway was in sight. The captain checked in with tower. The wind was 150 @ 6, and the RVR was more then 6000. We were full configured and the plane called out 500ft, and we were still IMC. Just before the “minimums” call, the approach lights came into sight, then the runway quickly came into sight. The lights were really bright. I clicked off the autopilot. We were a little fast, since the approach speed was a little higher due to the visibility. So I pulled my power a little later then I should have and floated a little bit, and had a firm touchdown. The captain said it was decent, given the conditions. We exited at taxiway Juliet, and were instructed to hold short of the 22R ILS critical area. As we held short, I called ramp and verified our gate was open. While we waited to cross, I watched a KLM 787 to Amsterdam and an Iberia A330 to Madrid takeoff and disappear into the low clouds. Once the two heavies were in the air, we were cleared to cross the runway, taxi straight ahead to the ramp and monitor ground. JFK is another airport that I have flown into many, many times and it was cool to be flying a jet into JFK. The airport looked cool with the low clouds, and airport lights were bright against the low dark clouds as we taxied into the gate. We entered the ramp from taxiway November-Charlie, and taxied straight into the gate. Due to the delay and holding, we were now running late. As soon as all the passengers had deplaned, we headed straight to our next gate
Flight 4691
New York, NY (JFK) – Richmond, VA (RIC)
Embraer E-170
Scheduled Departure Time – 10:00pm
Actual Departure Time- 10:57pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 11:29pm
Actual Arrival Time- 11:48pm
51 minutes
The plane was waiting for us. It had arrived before we did from Norfolk
A7-BEG pushing back for the 12 hour flight to Doha
During the walk around there was one bag sitting on the ramp. I had to call operations, to have them come back and load the bag. We got set up as quick as we could, and boarding was done quickly. Right after the door was closed, I called ramp for the push. There was a plane blocking us. Once they started to move, we pushed. The weather had improved, but still was not great. The visibility was ½ mile, mist, 6000 RVR, Broken at 300, and overcast at 800ft. As soon as I switched to ground, I heard the ground controller repeatedly in an annoyed tone calling an American 737 that had landed from Miami trying to get to the gate. In between her calls to American, I was able to call and get taxi instructions for 22R. We were told to turn right on bravo, and hold short of uniform. She finally got ahold of American and told them to move because “they were in the way”. Then they made a wrong turn, and that set her off “because they messed everything up”. While she was yelling at American we were cleared to cross 31R at Victor, then make the right turn onto Charlie and taxi down to 22R. As we were taxiing I saw the Singapore A350 rolling down 22R, for its 18 hour flight to Singapore. There was a Delta A330-900 to Paris, and an American A321 to Boston that we followed to the runway. I was pilot monitoring for this flight. The RVR was 5,500 and we were cleared for takeoff. It was a quick takeoff roll, and it was right into the clouds. I checked in with departure climbing out of 1,700ft on the way to 5,000ft. The controller cleared us to 12,000ft. The clouds hadn’t changed much, and we broke out on top as we passed through 4,000ft. It was clear and smooth on top. Next the controller gave us a 150 heading, and then we were cleared to the WAVEY intersection. Shortly after this we called NY Center on 128.3. It wasn’t a long flight. We only spent a few minutes at 24,000ft, and as we flew over Salisbury, MD we started descending. Just like the other flights that I was Pilot Monitoring, the captain had me do the landing. I was a little long, and touched down at the end of the touchdown zone. He said that I should have taken my power out a little sooner, and flared a little to much which caused me to float. It had been an interesting day, between the holding, approach to minimums and weather in NY. One of the flights I have flown the most is SYR-JFK. So it was cool that I got to fly to both airports in one day. The next day would be the last of the first trip
Flight 4691
Richmond, VA (RIC) – New York, NY (JFK)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 2:54pm
Actual Departure Time- 3:15pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 4:19pm
Actual Arrival Time- 4:04pm
49 minutes
There isn’t that much to say about this flight. we pushed back right on time and taxied out to runway 16. I would be the pilot flying all 3 legs today. There was a hotspot at the end of the runway. Runway 20 and 16 are close together, so we obviously verified we were on the correct runway. We were then cleared for takeoff, and given a heading. When we sent for the weather, they were using 22L. But as we descended through 8,000ft, they advised us they had just switched the runways around. We would now be doing the RNAV (GPS) Z approach to runway 13L. This was the only non – precision approach I did the entire time. It was also the first circling approach I had done. The set up was fairly rushed since we were already at 8,000ft when they gave it to us. Since I was pilot flying and we were below 10,000ft, the captain briefed the approach, and then we did the runway change items on the checklist. The autopilot accidently got turned off a little early. The approach was okay, could have been better, but the landing itself was pretty smooth. Once we were at the gate, we talked about it. He said that we didn’t have time to go over it in the air, since they gave it to us at the last minute. He gave me some suggestions on some things I could have done better, and some tips for non precision approaches. The weather was a lot nicer this afternoon, then it had been yesterday. Just like the night before at JFK once everyone deplaned, we headed over to the next gate.
Flight 4599
New York, NY (JFK) – Cincinnati, OH (CVG)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 5:05pm
Actual Departure Time- 5:56pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 7:22pm
Actual Arrival Time- 7:26pm
1 hour 30 minutes
N750AN had arrived early in the morning from Buenos Aires
Once everyone boarded up, we pushed back. Ground was busy. It took a few minutes to get a call in. After a few attempts at calling up ground, we finally got our taxi instructions. The airport was busy, and we had to get in line. We held for a few minutes near terminal 1, before continuing towards 13R. There were about 25 planes ahead of us in line. After close to an hour taxi, it was finally our turn. After takeoff, we were given a 185 heading. Departure cleared us to Robbinsville (RBV). We eventually made our way to 34,000ft, where we stayed for the entire flight. There were some small deviations we had to do for weather, but nothing major. We finished some of the topics that had to be discussed during IOE. After this it was time for the descent, and landing. It was a quick taxi into the gate, and a quick turn before the last flight
Flight 4586
Cincinnati, OH (CVG) – New York, NY (LGA)
Embraer E-175
Scheduled Departure Time – 7:53pm
Actual Departure Time- 8:42pm
Scheduled Arrival Time – 10:00pm
Actual Arrival Time- 10:18pm
1 hour 36 minutes
As were taxiing out to the runway, we got a reroute due to some thunderstorms between us and New York. We had to reload the route, contact dispatch and verify the fuel. After this we departed, and were cleared to the SITTR intersection. The first part of the flight was uneventful. As we approached the weather, we looked at the radar and had to make some deviations. The last 40 minutes of the flight were kind of hectic, there was some pretty decent bumps along with rain and lighting. NY center cleared us to descend via the KORRY4 arrival. They started us down a little late, so it was rushed getting down. The captain was trying to show me something with VNAV on the arrival, but ATC kept changing our altitude, or vectoring us. Once we were below 10,000ft, the weather cleared up a little bit. It was just a little bumpy. We got a great view of New York City, as we flew up the Hudson River. Eventually we were turned to the east, and from there onto the localizer. Once we were established, we were cleared for the approach. This would be my first time landing at LGA at night. The landing wasn’t too bad. A quick call to ops confirmed that gate 25 was open, and it was a quick taxi into the gate. Once we got to the gate, we ran the parking checklist. The captain and I talked for a few minutes just to recap the first few days, what was good, and what I could improve on etc. Overall it was a great experience the first few days. I learned a lot from the check airman, and got to see holding, ILS to minimums, busy airports like JFK, DCA and ORD as well as smaller ones like RIC and SYR. It was also really cool to get to fly into SYR on my first airline trip. The following afternoon I was back at LGA for my last IOE trip. The second one was just two days.
