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.
I spent nine years flying the Boeing 737–100/200/300 series for America West Airlines based out of Phoenix.
The B737 (Baby Boeing) is a wonderful airplane, very well designed for its mission, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the left seat.
America West B737 picture courtesy of airliners.net
A recent Yahoo article highlights some of the latest aerodynamic and propulsion upgrades to the Baby Boeing as it strives to compete with Airbus and its latest version of the A320, the A320neo.
The newest B737, named the B737MAX, will continue the great legacy of Boeing and become a very successful aircraft enjoyed by pilots and airline management.
For additional information please click on the link here.
It’s amazing to think about this but, 56 years ago today (January 14, 1960), the very first flight of the Piper PA-28 Cherokee took place!
Picture – courtesy San Diego Air and Space Archive
In my world, the Cherokee is as ubiquitous as the lovable Volkswagen bug.
The Cherokee has been in production since 1961 and more than 32,000 aircraft have been built during those years. WOW!
The Cherokee, and its many variants, is a four seat (three passengers and a pilot), single-engine, light aircraft normally weighing about 2,100 lbs at maximum takeoff weight. It will normally fly anywhere between 3,000′ – 8,000′ at a cruise speed of about 120 mph.
The Cherokee is typically used by many local flight schools for pilot training purposes. I taught may prospective young pilots in many versions of the Cherokee during my days as a flight instructor in Arizona.
I’ve always loved the airplane, very reliable, easy to fly and maintain and a joy to spend an afternoon flying a cross-country flight with students anywhere in AZ.
Always one of my fave single-engine airplanes!
Happy Birthday to a classic!
It’s that time again, another aerodynamics class starts next week.
This time, however, I’m teaching the EagleVision Classroom (a virtual classroom that combines Web video conferencing and an LMS system) version of the course. EagleVision Classroom includes scheduled online time and real-time interaction with my students and me.
I’m scheduled to have 13 students across three separate campuses, Phoenix-Mesa, Riverside, California and Seattle.
I’ve spent this afternoon updating the course syllabus, weekly modules, term dates and the like in preparation for next week’s class and look forward to another fun semester!
My last step is to contact my guest speakers and I’m good to go!
ASCI 309 Aerodynamics
Many thanks to Aindrea, Caleb, Jaewon and Sam!
Again, another exceptional group of students!
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience working with my four students, learned something new from each of them and wish them great success in their lives and careers going forward!
I teach another aerodynamics class for Embry-Riddle Worldwide tomorrow night, 5-8:20pm, through mid December (nine-week semesters).
I teach at the university’s new Phoenix–Mesa campus, which is located at the Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport.
The university has redesigned the undergraduate curriculum increasing the pre-req courses for many of the 300 & 400 level courses, including mine. Therefore, I’ve only four students in my class as many have yet to transition to the new curriculum. Many professors are experiencing similar small class sizes during this time.
Embry-Riddle recently moved to a beautiful, brand new building last month equipped with five classrooms, a student lounge, kitchen, break room and administration offices. It is a slightly larger floor plan than the previous location in Chandler including an additional classroom.
I met with my boss this morning to go over some last minute details for tomorrow’s class. I teased her saying I should hold my class in the student lounge (they have large very comfy overstuffed leather chairs!) since I’ve such a small group of students.
I spent more than 18 years flying both the Boeing 737 and the 757 for America West Airlines (AWA). As such, I can certainly agree with the sentiment expressed in this AZ Republic article regarding the airline.
I started working for America West in January 1987 as a B737 First Officer. Two years later I upgraded to captain. I now currently fly the Airbus A319/320/321. Like many other employees at AWA, I thoroughly enjoyed working for the airline and always felt like I was part of a close-knit family. We always had that can-do spirit.
Now we’re all a proud part of the new American Airlines, with more than 100,000 employees flying around the globe, yet the original AWA crew will always remember where we started.
In my 18+ years with AWA, I’ve flown from Boston to Mexico City to Kauai, worked with a lot of great people and look forward to working with American.
It’s always great to catch up with Embry-Riddle alums and see where we’ve landed in the aviation/airline world.
This past week I flew a three-day trip with a Daytona Beach graduate. We had a great time reminiscing and comparing notes about our Riddle days. I spent three years on campus in Prescott before transferring to what is now known as the WorldWide campus.
Left to right, Rich and Pete in the American Airlines Airbus A320 flight deck in San Jose.
We had a regional airline pilot in our jumpseat during the three days who also was a Daytona Beach Riddle student.
Later on, I had one of my Prescott classmates and his wife on board our A320 seated in the passenger cabin. He walked into the flight deck during boarding and we had fun remembering the old days on campus. Scott is a United captain who often flies the LA to Tokyo route.
It occurred to me that we all represent different Embry–Riddle campuses: Daytona Beach, Prescott and WorldWide.
Cessna recently marked the 30th anniversary of the Caravan, a single-engine, turbine-powered utility aircraft.
The prototype Caravan first flew in December 1982 with the FAA certifying the aircraft in October 1984. Cessna has produced almost 2,500 Caravans since it was first delivered in February 1985.
The aircraft has logged more than 13 million flight hours in 100 countries and Cessna currently manufacturers four versions of the aircraft for various uses by operators.
The Caravan typically seats nine passengers with a single pilot at the controls. It can, however, seat up to 14 passengers. The aircraft is also used for cargo operations with such companies as FedEx, which operates more than 200 Caravans.
For additional information on the Cessna Caravan, please click on this link.
Ironically, I’ve never flown the Caravan yet, I’ve spent many hours flying the venerable Cessna 206 and 207 models.
To date, the 206 is my favorite single-engine aircraft. I flew that aircraft, and the 207, as a scheduled freight pilot, charter pilot, on scenic tours of the Grand Canyon and on agricultural summer contracts within the state of Maine. I also had the pleasure of ferrying the 206, loaded with aircraft mechanics and parts, back and forth between Maine and Arizona for two summers.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Cessna 206, please click here.
All these memories came back to me during a recent visit to the Phoenix Deer Valley Airport last month. I watched a Caravan land and taxi to a parking spot on the ramp right next to a Cessna 207. I hadn’t realized how much larger an aircraft the Caravan is when compared to the 207. In my day, the 207 was a large airplane.
Today, I’m privileged to fly the Airbus A320 series jet across the USA. What used to take me 20+ hours over three-days in a Cessna 206 (Arizona – Maine), I now do in 4+ flying hours (Phoenix – Boston) in the Airbus A320!
I started with America West Airlines (AWA) in January 1987.
I never thought I’d admit this, but I will miss the “Cactus” call-sign!
Many years ago, we switched from the “America West” call-sign to Cactus. At the time, I thought this was one of the dumbest things I had ever heard. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. I was somewhat embarrassed. However, one does gets used to it. Always the rebel, I’ve grown very fond of the call-sign and will certainly miss it! Who knew. Oh well..
Why Cactus?
This came about due to several airlines having very similar FAA call-signs such as America West, Southwest and SkyWest Airlines, which would occasionally cause the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) and airline pilots some communication problems on the very busy ATC enroute radio frequencies. This was certainly a possibility throughout the southwestern USA where America West operated the vast majority of its flights in those days.
The adoption of the Cactus call-sign by AWA was their attempt at resolving the issue, which it did, the problem was solved!
Please see the AWA route map from 1991 below where one can see the concentration of flights throughout the southwest.
Come the day, (estimated to be on April 8th), I can almost guarantee there will be a few missed radio calls by the now former Cactus pilots simply due to human nature. After all these years of being primed to listen for our call sign, Cactus, it’ll be an adjustment to our senses. There will be some second guessing, who was that for?
I do feel sorry for our ATC partners in the sky as there will suddenly be an additional 1,000+ daily US Airways flights on their radar screens now answering to the “American” call sign. An adjustment for the both of us.
Glad I’m not flying that day.
For additional information on the call-sign and the latest American / US Airways merger news, please click on this article.
Speaking of Cactus vs American, below is an Airbus A320 aircraft I recently flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport painted in the new American Airlines livery.
I took these two similar pictures (below) of Airbus A321 aircraft, which help to demonstrate the difference between the new exciting AA livery and the current US Airways livery.
Instructional Designer turned Instructional Technologist
Adventures of a city girl roaming the desert
A Perspective from 34,000 feet.
A Perspective from 34,000 feet.
From the Left Seat 