Technology and Coffee

With today’s technology  and coffee…

You can do anything. Accomplish anything.

Just do it… Dream On! 

All in a Day’s Work

This morning I was scheduled to fly from Phoenix to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and back to Phoenix.

In cool pilot lingo, this is known as a “Dallas turn.” In other words, fly somewhere (Dallas) and ‘turn’ around and fly back (Phoenix).

Overall, an easy day for a pilot. To make things even simpler, both scheduled flights had the same flight number. Yay …

We were assigned gate C39 this morning at the DFW airport.

We had a scheduled 90-minute break between flights in DFW so the three flight attendants and I set off for one of the four Starbucks located within Terminal C for our morning coffee fix.

I had a Texas-sized Coffee Caffè Misto, freshly brewed coffee with steamed milk, a fave! Mmm…

On our return flight home, we had a beautiful view of Tucson as we started our initial descent to the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

We flew the Airbus A320 to DFW with only three empty passenger seats. Our return flight to PHX, also an A320, was 100% full!

That was it, done for the day. Overall, not a bad day’s work.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Anchorage, Alaska. To me, thats one of the beauties of flying the Airbus A320 series of jets, a change of scenery.

 

 

 

American Airlines Boeing and Airbus jets

This is a great picture taken by a pilot while taxiing to Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

A nice mix of the old and new when thinking about today’s American Airlines.

The Boeing 737 and Airbus A319 and A320 jets are parked in the East Hold Bay while waiting for their respective gates to open up.

Aerodynamics .. Rap Style

I challenged my students to create a 30-second rap video for extra credit.

The theme was what aerodynamics means to the student. This was mostly for my own entertainment to see if anyone would jump on it. To my surprise and delight – one of my students did.

Here is her interpretation of what the class meant to her:

 

Good Morning From Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

A very pretty morning in Chicago earlier this week. And, an easy day ahead of me, one-leg home from O’Hare to Phoenix.

This is a route I’ve flown countless times in my 28+ years in the airline business. During those years, I’ve flown the Boeing B737, B757 and the Airbus A320 series of jets into Chicago.

Here is our route as depicted on the website, FlightAware.

We flew the Airbus A321 at 32,000′ enroute to Phoenix. A little zig/zag around some weather in the Kansas City area and that was about it. Overall, a rather smooth flight with about an 85% load factor.

Here is a picture of the A321 passenger cabin as we prepare for passenger boarding in Chicago.

The First Officer (copilot) and I had stopped by Starbucks, naturally, for our morning coffee and treats prior to arriving at the American Airlines gate H12 that morning.

Nothing like that first cup of Joe! Mmm.. That banana nut muffin isn’t bad, either! Haha

I’m all set! Let’s do our pilot thing and get the Airbus A321 all set for this flight.

We’re scheduled for a 3:08 flight to PHX. A little bit of forecast turbulence for the first 45 minutes or so, weather related, and beyond that a nice flight is expected at an initial cruising altitude of 30,000 feet.

As we burn off fuel, resulting in a lighter Airbus, we’ll climb on up to 32,000. A bit later on, we’ll climb to 34,000 feet somewhere over southwestern Kansas or southeastern Colorado.

As we taxi out for departure for O’Hare’s runway 22L, we run into a typical morning rush hour and come to a complete stop. About 15-20 minutes later, we depart into the morning sky off towards PHX.

In the picture below, if you look closely, you can see the Chicago skyline on the bottom right of the picture. OK, you might have to squint to see the buildings!

I’m parked behind an American Boeing 737-800. I wondered where they were headed?

After takeoff, we were assigned a few left/right turns by Chicago Departure Control as we climbed to an initial altitude of 5,000 feet. The turns are designed to help align the jets departing O’Hare based upon a number of factors. One of these factors can include our initial departure path. In my case, we were departing the Chicago area to the southwest and towards St. Louis, the nearest large city along our flight path.

Our flight plan to Phoenix included the very standard O’Hare 8 Departure procedure. Something we’re all quite familiar with when departing O’Hare.

Eventually, the Chicago controller issues us a clearance to fly direct to the initial departure fix, Acito. (See the O’Hare 8 Departure plate below.)

Acito is located just south and west of O’Hare. From there we we’re on our way towards St. Louis and eventually, Phoenix.

Several hours later, we flew right over beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my favorite places!

It was a sunny morning over the great state of New Mexico and a beautiful view from 34,000 feet.

Less than hour later, we arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

All in all, an easy day! One-leg home days are generally easy.

Generally!

Summer is Here

We were navigating around some summer thunderstorms earlier this week.  

In the picture below, we’re east of Las Vegas, New Mexico flying westbound from Charlotte to Phoenix. We were flying the Airbus A321 which was 100% full. Yay.. Surprisingly, it was very smooth deviating around the weather. A pleasant experience even though I had the seat belt sign illuminated. 

 

Heading to Chicago’s O’Hare and passing north of some thunderstorms southeast of the Sioux Falls area. We were flying an Airbus A321 flying at 35,000′. One of the benefits of the A321, it has a very good radar system. 

 

A Sky Harbor Morning

I just arrived in from Minneapolis. A bit warm but a gorgeous Friday morning in Phoenix!

It was a mostly smooth flight on board the A320 painted in the new American Airlines colors. We arrived at gate A11. You can see the Airbus (4th aircraft tail from the left) in this picture with the B757 parked to my right.

It looks like a very busy morning at the American Airlines Terminal 4 complex.

  
  

A gorgeous view of that pretty copper-colored FAA Control Tower at Sky Harbor. I’ve always liked it!

A great view of Camelback Mountain, which is just north of the airport. I don’t think many hikers are going to want to climb it today, it’s going to be a warm day!

Scenes from the Road

A few pictures from flying around the U.S. this past week.  

  

The old and the new at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. Two Airbus A320s parked at adjacent gates prior to departure. 

  

An Airbus being catered prior to departure from Sky Harbor airport. On the other side of the aircraft, the ramp crew are loading bags, cargo and freight. 

  

A newly painted Airbus A320 awaiting departure from Charlotte. 

 

Sky Harbor Memories

I recently came across this picture, courtesy of the Phoenix Business Journal, taken at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Terminal 4 complex. 

It shows several US Airways Boeing & Airbus jets parked at their gates. 

  During my airline career at America West, US Airways and now American, I’ve flown every one of those jets in the picture as a captain. 

A lot of fond memories come to mind when I think back upon my experiences in both the Boeing 737-300 and the Airbus A319s shown in this picture. 

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Airbus Jets

Here is a beautiful  picture I came across on the Internet of a bunch of US Airways Airbus jets at Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4. 

This picture is courtesy of Airliners.net