CaptainStark
09-19-2004, 02:17 PM
LAS-PHL (Into the remnants of Ivan)
Brand new 700 (YAHOO!)
Just prior to pushback, ATC calls with a flow time to Philly. The weather there is overcast and they are worried about what happens when everyone arrives at once. They issue slot times so we arrive in some semblance of order. Our weather (WX) prog shows the worst of it arriving about the same time we are to arrive. We hope the prog is wrong but accept we may end up at our alternate. They issued us ISP but we think we can make to our next stop of PVD if dispatch agrees. No time for worry that now, as we have 4 hours of flying before we get to that decision. At least we have options.
We depart sunny LAS and turn east. ATC stops our climb for traffic several times. The ride is smooth except for a couple of layers of bumps. We are held at 29,000 (FL290) for a few minutes and then asked to expedite to FL370 as quickly as possible. We hustle our fat bird up and are rewarded with direct to Indianapolis.
T/O + 30 minutes: We check the latest WX on PHL and it nice, calm winds, 73 degrees under low overcast. No rain yet.
We wing northeast away from the Grand Canyon. Soon we are running just south of Lake Powell. The view is spectacular! Thirty minutes later we are over Colorado and I am staring down at Silverton at the north end of the Durango Silverton railway. The mountains are naked but snow is not far off. As we cross the southern edge of the front range of the Rockies we find ourselves over Pueblo. ATC calls and issues us a 15 degree turn to the left for traffic ahead. We fly this heading for nearly 20 minutes before being cleared direct to Indy.
Over eastern Colorado we hear ATC broadcasting the announcement, as they always do when weather systems pose a problem, that there are weather advisories available on flight watch frequencies. The area is for weather in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Thirty minutes later we can see the western wall of the cloud system Ivan has pushed out of the way. We advise the F/A’s and pax that if they need to move around the cabin, now is a good time because some bumps lie ahead.
We check the latest PHL WX: Scattered clouds, light winds, no rain. Whoo-Hoo!
About twenty minutes after I made my “turbulence ahead” PA, we enter it with a start. We inquire about the ride at FL410 and are told it’s better. We climb up and find a pretty nice ride. Later, about 40 miles north of Cincinnati, we find ourselves over Ivan. The ride is still good with only light chop. Just to be sure, we keep the pax seated.
1 hour out of PHL, we check the WX again: Overcast, light winds, no rain. Just for fun, we check the WX in Pittsburgh, west of Philly: Gusty winds, 1 mile visibility, heavy rain. We hear on ATC that Cleveland is getting dumped on. Hope Canoga has her umbrella.
ATC starts our descent into PHL early due to all the traffic on the Eastern Seaboard. We tell the FA’s to pick it up quickly and grab their seats in case it’s choppy down low. The ride is fairly good with an occasional pothole all the way in. Big off-course delay vectors and slow downs burn up 10 of the 30 minute early arrival we had planned on. We land under fast moving low clouds and taxi to the gate without getting wet.
PHL to PVD
Philly is famous for delays. We experience the worst kind. After pushback, we are started and stopped as we wind our way into traffic. One hour later we are cleared onto the runway by the ATC experts awaiting takeoff clearance. On the runway, we are held for another jet on approach to the runway right beside us. He is experiencing landing gear problems and wants the tower to count the gear as he drones by, low and slow. As he passes, we are cleared for takeoff by the ATC experts. We blast off and head for PVD. About 40 minutes later we land there under cloudy skies. I blame the delay on Debbie as we are planning to meet for dinner. Without any plans on my part, there would have been no delay, I am sure. Hope my passengers do not find out.
PVD-PHX (The next day)
Ivan has moved into the Northeast with a vengeance. Rain is falling heavily as we arrive at the airport. We skate through security and find another plane boarding at our gate. Ours is remote parked and will be towed in when this one leaves. I use the extra time to grab my favorite bagels at Dunkin Donuts.
Our plane is towed to the gate and we get it ready to go. Jets have been departing all morning but we are aware that some flights have been cancelled. We are not sure if it is weather related or a mechanical issue.
Just to be safe, we tell the pax we expect a few bumps on climbout and have advised the FA’s. They will remain seated until we tell them it is safe ahead.
Our takeoff is smooth for about the first 30 seconds and then we enter the rapidly changing winds associated with tropical depression Ivan. We experience constant turbulence with periods of moderate lasting for a minute or more as we climb. I advise the passengers that up front were doing fine but hope everyone in back is doing as well. I am suddenly terror stricken: Did Dunkin Donuts forget my ham and egg bagels??? (Phew, I find them buried in another bag!)
Munching as we climb our way through 10,000 feet and around a rain shower showing up on the radar, I make another announcement to the folks advising them that ATC has told us the ride gets better the higher and farther west we fly. Mark, my trusty partner is doing a great job driving. I dig for another bagel.
As we cross into upstate NY, we find relatively smooth air at level off. Ahead, we can see another band of clouds and know we may get a bump in a few minutes so we leave the FASTEN SEATBELT sign on. After a few bumps we are in the smooth and let the pax up.
Thirty minutes later we are in light chop and the ATC folks tell us it will get worse before it gets better. Over St Louis, everyone is complaining but FL390 is the best ride. We have now burned off enough fuel to climb to 390 so we request it and are cleared.
Climbing through FL380, we enter a strong shear which changes our airspeed rapidly by ten knots. At this altitude and weight, the autopilot has only so much authority to control the plane. Otto gives up and with a “CLICK” and an alarm quits flying. The momentary out-of-trim condition makes the plane “dip” for a nanosecond. Mark quickly and deftly retrims the plane and levels off at 390 where Otto is put back to work.
Across the US, we find areas of smooth and areas of chop. Knowing I will have a special passenger with me on this flight next week, I am trying to get all the bumps out of the system this week. From the looks of it, it should be smooth as glass by then. But, there’s always next week’s hurricane to ponder.
The forecast for Phoenix is for thunderstorm activity being pushed ahead of a hurricane off Baja. Fortunately, we are arriving early in the day and the descent is very light chop as we cut through moisture laden clouds east of Phoenix. Nothing in the way of rain showers appears on the radar so we turn it off. We land 35 minutes early and taxi to the gate. When the door opens we feel the unusual feeling of humidity. By early evening, Phoenix will be blasted with many thunderstorms dropping much needed rain. Another example why flying early in the day is good!
Brand new 700 (YAHOO!)
Just prior to pushback, ATC calls with a flow time to Philly. The weather there is overcast and they are worried about what happens when everyone arrives at once. They issue slot times so we arrive in some semblance of order. Our weather (WX) prog shows the worst of it arriving about the same time we are to arrive. We hope the prog is wrong but accept we may end up at our alternate. They issued us ISP but we think we can make to our next stop of PVD if dispatch agrees. No time for worry that now, as we have 4 hours of flying before we get to that decision. At least we have options.
We depart sunny LAS and turn east. ATC stops our climb for traffic several times. The ride is smooth except for a couple of layers of bumps. We are held at 29,000 (FL290) for a few minutes and then asked to expedite to FL370 as quickly as possible. We hustle our fat bird up and are rewarded with direct to Indianapolis.
T/O + 30 minutes: We check the latest WX on PHL and it nice, calm winds, 73 degrees under low overcast. No rain yet.
We wing northeast away from the Grand Canyon. Soon we are running just south of Lake Powell. The view is spectacular! Thirty minutes later we are over Colorado and I am staring down at Silverton at the north end of the Durango Silverton railway. The mountains are naked but snow is not far off. As we cross the southern edge of the front range of the Rockies we find ourselves over Pueblo. ATC calls and issues us a 15 degree turn to the left for traffic ahead. We fly this heading for nearly 20 minutes before being cleared direct to Indy.
Over eastern Colorado we hear ATC broadcasting the announcement, as they always do when weather systems pose a problem, that there are weather advisories available on flight watch frequencies. The area is for weather in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Thirty minutes later we can see the western wall of the cloud system Ivan has pushed out of the way. We advise the F/A’s and pax that if they need to move around the cabin, now is a good time because some bumps lie ahead.
We check the latest PHL WX: Scattered clouds, light winds, no rain. Whoo-Hoo!
About twenty minutes after I made my “turbulence ahead” PA, we enter it with a start. We inquire about the ride at FL410 and are told it’s better. We climb up and find a pretty nice ride. Later, about 40 miles north of Cincinnati, we find ourselves over Ivan. The ride is still good with only light chop. Just to be sure, we keep the pax seated.
1 hour out of PHL, we check the WX again: Overcast, light winds, no rain. Just for fun, we check the WX in Pittsburgh, west of Philly: Gusty winds, 1 mile visibility, heavy rain. We hear on ATC that Cleveland is getting dumped on. Hope Canoga has her umbrella.
ATC starts our descent into PHL early due to all the traffic on the Eastern Seaboard. We tell the FA’s to pick it up quickly and grab their seats in case it’s choppy down low. The ride is fairly good with an occasional pothole all the way in. Big off-course delay vectors and slow downs burn up 10 of the 30 minute early arrival we had planned on. We land under fast moving low clouds and taxi to the gate without getting wet.
PHL to PVD
Philly is famous for delays. We experience the worst kind. After pushback, we are started and stopped as we wind our way into traffic. One hour later we are cleared onto the runway by the ATC experts awaiting takeoff clearance. On the runway, we are held for another jet on approach to the runway right beside us. He is experiencing landing gear problems and wants the tower to count the gear as he drones by, low and slow. As he passes, we are cleared for takeoff by the ATC experts. We blast off and head for PVD. About 40 minutes later we land there under cloudy skies. I blame the delay on Debbie as we are planning to meet for dinner. Without any plans on my part, there would have been no delay, I am sure. Hope my passengers do not find out.
PVD-PHX (The next day)
Ivan has moved into the Northeast with a vengeance. Rain is falling heavily as we arrive at the airport. We skate through security and find another plane boarding at our gate. Ours is remote parked and will be towed in when this one leaves. I use the extra time to grab my favorite bagels at Dunkin Donuts.
Our plane is towed to the gate and we get it ready to go. Jets have been departing all morning but we are aware that some flights have been cancelled. We are not sure if it is weather related or a mechanical issue.
Just to be safe, we tell the pax we expect a few bumps on climbout and have advised the FA’s. They will remain seated until we tell them it is safe ahead.
Our takeoff is smooth for about the first 30 seconds and then we enter the rapidly changing winds associated with tropical depression Ivan. We experience constant turbulence with periods of moderate lasting for a minute or more as we climb. I advise the passengers that up front were doing fine but hope everyone in back is doing as well. I am suddenly terror stricken: Did Dunkin Donuts forget my ham and egg bagels??? (Phew, I find them buried in another bag!)
Munching as we climb our way through 10,000 feet and around a rain shower showing up on the radar, I make another announcement to the folks advising them that ATC has told us the ride gets better the higher and farther west we fly. Mark, my trusty partner is doing a great job driving. I dig for another bagel.
As we cross into upstate NY, we find relatively smooth air at level off. Ahead, we can see another band of clouds and know we may get a bump in a few minutes so we leave the FASTEN SEATBELT sign on. After a few bumps we are in the smooth and let the pax up.
Thirty minutes later we are in light chop and the ATC folks tell us it will get worse before it gets better. Over St Louis, everyone is complaining but FL390 is the best ride. We have now burned off enough fuel to climb to 390 so we request it and are cleared.
Climbing through FL380, we enter a strong shear which changes our airspeed rapidly by ten knots. At this altitude and weight, the autopilot has only so much authority to control the plane. Otto gives up and with a “CLICK” and an alarm quits flying. The momentary out-of-trim condition makes the plane “dip” for a nanosecond. Mark quickly and deftly retrims the plane and levels off at 390 where Otto is put back to work.
Across the US, we find areas of smooth and areas of chop. Knowing I will have a special passenger with me on this flight next week, I am trying to get all the bumps out of the system this week. From the looks of it, it should be smooth as glass by then. But, there’s always next week’s hurricane to ponder.
The forecast for Phoenix is for thunderstorm activity being pushed ahead of a hurricane off Baja. Fortunately, we are arriving early in the day and the descent is very light chop as we cut through moisture laden clouds east of Phoenix. Nothing in the way of rain showers appears on the radar so we turn it off. We land 35 minutes early and taxi to the gate. When the door opens we feel the unusual feeling of humidity. By early evening, Phoenix will be blasted with many thunderstorms dropping much needed rain. Another example why flying early in the day is good!