irrational fear of flying

[bigbill]

Upper level winds have been extreme lately. That’s not uncommon in winter but they seem higher than normal. Probably not in real life but it seems that way. I flew to Las Vegas last week and it was about 4:10 in the air from Chicago. Thankfully, it wasn’t bumpy. In the other direction you’ll arrive an hour early.

Two years ago I did my standard business flight, LAS-BWI and the return trip was almost 7 hours because of upper level winds. That long in a 737 is trying. At least my employer covers my early bird and I had an aisle. I know SWA is doing Maui and Oahu, but I had a military booked flight about a decade ago that had a chartered 737 from LA to Honolulu. Nope.

[Mabouya]

I worked a lot leading up to and over Christmas, with long days, multiple legs per day and short layovers. It's quite fatiguing actually.

I was set to return home on an American Airlines flight that originally was scheduled to leave MIA on Tuesday at 7:42 PM, but they had an number of mechanical issues and kept pushing the takeoff back. Finally around 10:30 PM they found another plane for us and sent us scurrying across the concourse to a different gate with a plane that worked. Everything looked like it was going to work out (albeit super-late) but then the pilot they were going to use got delayed inbound to MIA, and timed out...

I'll spare you the gory details, but they eventually got us home about 20 hours after the original flight was scheduled to arrive. (minus the luggage, which arrived 24 hours after that)

So yeah, it's been a tough holiday travel season all over the board.

[vertical_doug]

Daughter's flight out of Aspen cancelled. (fourth day in a row for UA4716). Because of all the cancellations, and I-70 being closed west of Denver, next available flight is Thursday.
I can think of worse places to be stranded.

[AngryScientist]

Daughter's flight out of Aspen cancelled. (fourth day in a row for UA4716). Because of all the cancellations, and I-70 being closed west of Denver, next available flight is Thursday.
I can think of worse places to be stranded.

Do they give a reason for the cancel? This is a national or international flight? Yea, "stuck" in Aspen, how will she pass the time :)

[vertical_doug]

Do they give a reason for the cancel? This is a national or international flight? Yea, "stuck" in Aspen, how will she pass the time :)

Domestic

First delayed, then cancelled for unforeseen operational issues.

We had another guest who ended up being stranded in Grand Junction for 2 days.

Sometimes, it is just better to stay put.

[Mabouya]

Weather + holidays + COVID have all combined to make this a particularly bad travel season.

[vertical_doug]

funny how fiction meets reality.

[vertical_doug]

Saab, maybe you should volunteer for HK duty....

Live news: Cathay offers pilots $3,700 bonuses to endure Hong Kong restrictions

[Saab2000]

Saab, maybe you should volunteer for HK duty....

Live news: Cathay offers pilots $3,700 bonuses to endure Hong Kong restrictions

Per day? Then we can talk.

[echappist]

What of this 5G interference issue?

In the EU, they left a buffer between upper operating frequency of 5G and lower operating frequency of altimeters.

In the U.S., the FCC allowed the former to operate right up to the lower operating frequency of altimeters. Where do things go from here?

[rwsaunders]

United launches flight school.

https://unitedaviate.com/

[Saab2000]

United launches flight school.

https://unitedaviate.com/

Standard practice in most of the rest of the world. My own career came through a so-called ab initio program but overseas

[j44ke]

Standard practice in most of the rest of the world. My own career came through a so-called ab initio program but overseas

Correct me if I am wrong Saab, but US airline companies benefit from having the US military train most of its pilots. I think it was the case a while ago, but I don't know if that's changed.

[Saab2000]

Correct me if I am wrong Saab, but US airline companies benefit from having the US military train most of its pilots. I think it was the case a while ago, but I don't know if that's changed.

The ratio of pilots with a civilian background to those with a military background is about 50/50 at my carrier. I’d guess industry wide it’s overall far less military in terms of percentage.

Civilian pilots arrive generally with far more flight hours than military pilots but that’s not really a huge deal. All groups have to be trained by their airline anyway, a process that’s about 7-8 weeks long with a few weeks of IOE, Initial Operating Experience, with a training pilot, known as a Check Airman. But everyone in the US arrives at their airline nowadays with an Airline Transport Pilot certificate (license) and with some exceptions, at least 1500 hours. Most at a major airline have thousands of hours before their 7-8 week new hire training.

The ground up training in other parts of the world gets a pilot ready for the airline world but starts out like any other new pilot, flying training airplanes like a Cessna 172 or a more modern machine. Military pilots transition to jet training much sooner.

Others here with military experience can chime in. I’m all civilian.

[rwsaunders]

Saab at the Sundown Saloon at MDW.

[Scott G.]

Military pilots and airlines brings to mind an ancient joke......
(the following is lifted from the EAA joke page)


The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot.
They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them.
So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control
and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.

Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.

Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, -- And I didn't land."

[rwsaunders]

Musk offers teen $5K to stop tracking his private jet.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...sk-private-jet

[j44ke]

Musk offers teen $5K to stop tracking his private jet.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...sk-private-jet

Kid needs to be careful not to wander into a problem.

[rwsaunders]

How about that he's using social media to try and negotiate with Musk. If I were the kid, I'd worry that Musk's money might be used to public track the kid as well.

[monadnocky]

This seems like it could end very badly for this kid.