I just returned home for a six day trip through Nagoya and Manila, but before I write about it I wanted to post pictures of the Applefords from England.
This is Robert and Katy with their daughters Sophia and Claudia. They're from Sevenoaks near London and were on holiday in the US. They'd visited Boston and the Cape and were on their way to New York to span the Atlantic and return home.
Rand, Robert, Sophia, Claudia, Katy and John
I'd just run into my good friend John Vivenetto as we were commuting to DTW to start trips. John's an A-320 captain and was scheduled to return to BOS for an overnite and I was commuting out for yet another shortcall when we met the Applefords and engaged in conversation. It turns out that this was Sophia's sixth birthday and we were happy that she was able to celebrate it in the US.
I have to apologize here. I promised Robert and Katy that I'd send these photos to Claudia and Sophia, but as luck would have it, my shortcall reserve day turned into a six day trip. My organizational skills are apparently lacking though as I've misplaced their email address. I'd mentioned my blog so can only hope that they see the pictures here. Should you read this though, please leave an email address in the comment section and I'll be more careful this time.
Once again, happy birthday to Sophia, thanks for flying with Delta and journeying to visit us Yanks this summer.
An interesting sidenote: John has an identical twin brother, Tony, who's an NYC 757 captain with us and John's wife Peggy flies for USAirways. Tony and John and I think Peggy too, all flew for PBA.
And thanks very much to the Airbus crew who got us to work on time.
Jacob, who is a Navy Corpsman and has just returned to the airline from active duty, Ashley and Sakura...
Charlie
and Doug
Just found your blog. Lot's of great reading and love all the photos, too!
ReplyDeleteHello Again Capt. Peck. Nice to see a post from you, however brief. What ajoy to meet a nice the Appleford family from England. I hope that they caught your link and eventually get their pix.
ReplyDeleteHmm: A short-call reserve that turns into a six-day trip must be interesting and I hope that you'll write about it- *soon*. (It has been a little dry around here...) A Six-day Pacific trip, even if un-expected, has got to be a lot better than flying the 'stimulator' every quarter to maintain currency. Yes? Lastly good sir, some many ages ago there was some mention of your down-bidding, perhaps back to 757/767 flying, if only to get some real flying hours. As I recall, there was some mention of a rather small 747 fleet, a lot of pilots that liked to show up for their trips and precious littke for you to do , except commute to MSP for refresher and currency training. I never heard the outcome of that bid, but you are apparently still flying junior reserve on the 744. What happened? Did the company just refuse you? Is there some minimum time in type/seat before you are allowed to change airplanes again? I'm missing something. As strictly a personal opinion, I tink it would be a shame to wrap-up a distinguished fling career by flying the 'stimulator' one last time. The commuting is obviously difficult and it is winderful to spend time at home, working on your many projects. Last I also heard, you were a pilot and thoroughly enjoyed driving REAL airplanes. YOu know.. the kind that make a lot of noise and go far more than 15' into the air. What happened? I'll bet that there are at least three good great blog posts behind that story. I look forward to hearing about how a short-call turned into a six-day - and all the rest. Thanks and Happy Landings.
Wondered why the chair was empty at DTW.....
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great Holiday-the 4th in New England must be special. You getting any flying in the taildraggers lately?
Off to ATL (yawn)
Tim 8 DME_W_ORD
Hey Rand,good to have you back. Curious if you prefer your schedule flying longhaul through several time zones as opposed to multi hops in the states(money notwithstanding). Also,I enjoy flying low approaches in rainy crappy wx. Am I crazy? Do you? Lastly,have you had a chance to fly with Clay yet or does he hold a much higher line as a senior fo? Thanks,Mike V
ReplyDeleteHey Rand,
ReplyDeleteI was just going through some old Airways issues circa 2000 that are stashed in my attic. I was flipping through the July 2000 issue and there was this neat article about a former NEA/DAL Dakota Pilot, Mike Farrey. I thought to myself, "this is something Rand Peck would like to read". Then I checked who wrote it.....SURPRISE!
Hope you are doing well!
J.
what is an amended flight release and when would a flight plan be amended?
ReplyDeleteBruins fan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing and letting me know that you've found my blog, much appreciated. But what will we do next season without Tim??
Cedarglen,
Yes, I'm always happy to get assigned a trip and would much rather fly than satisfy the law with the simulator. With regard to the 767 though. When we get a new assignment, we're frozen into that position for two years, thus I'm unable to bid my way out of the 747 until April of 2013. However, the 747 is very heavy with reserves and each time that the company has a "system" bid, I expect to be "bumped" from the airplane. This has happened to at least 5 or so pilots junior to me on the 747. But each time that it comes close to bumping me, someone senior to me bids off the airplane to another catagory so I'm spared, so my fate is out of my hands and at the whim of senior bidders. Would I like to leave the 747 to fly the 767-400 out of JFK? Yes. As much as I really enjoy the 747, I dislike its mission. After years of Asian flying, I'd prefer European trips and the ability to fly more regularly, but until my freeze is up, this is out of my control. Thanks for writing,
Tim8,
Where was my surrogate? I paid someone to keep my chair warm! The fourth is a big deal here in Amherst, NH and is a lot of fun, I look forward to it. Not much private flying lately, too many home projects. Have fun in ATL.
MikeV,
No, as much as I enjoy the 747, flying 12 and 13 hour legs is not my cup of tea, therefore, when I get a trip with a 3 or 4 hour leg to Manila or Taipei I'm quite pleased. And if they terminate with a low approach, even better. I have 30 years of short and medium haul experience flying between DTW and hundreds of out stations and loved it. And like you, the worse the weather the better. I enjoyed nothing more than hand flying a precise ILS in a DC-9 or 727 with no map display. Constantly recomputing my position in my head as we'd be vectored for an approach, adjusting speed with no auto-throttles and configuring using the picture in my brain was very satisfying. No, you're not crazy, you're proud of your craft and enjoy performing to a high standard. Don't change! No, I've never flown with Clay but bump into him from time to time on layovers.
J,
Mike is a good friend who lives nearby here in NH, you'd enjoy him and his DC-3 parked in his backyard.
Tim,
After we receive our release and you've seen many of these because I post pictures of them when I write a travel story, dispatch often changes something like minimum required fuel or they'll add a new destination alternate or possibly remove an MEL that was posted on the original release. These need to be addressed so they have a choice. Either issue a complete new release which can take some time, or simply send us an ACARS message "amending" our current release advising us to add that alternate or remove that MEL etc. I'll acknowledge that ACARS which lets the dispatcher know that I'm aware of the change and off we go. An amended flightplan would occur when the dispatcher or ATC has changed our routing. This is important. I'll enter the flightplan into the computer as part of our preflight procedure. Then, sometime later the FO will call ATC for a "clearance" prior to pushback. The clearance is most usually, but not always the same as the dispatcher planned and that I entered into the computer. It's important to be aware of this amendment and go back into the computer and adjust it if that clearance has changed. This is a subtle change that has caught many a pilot off guard.
Thanks everyone for writing and I hope to have a new story up soon.
Thanks,
Rand
Have a GREAT 4th Rand, hope you are home for it!
ReplyDeleteTim 8DME_W_ORD
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