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Jethead Goes to School
Canada’s future is certainly bright, judging by the students in Miss Giulia’s sixth grade class at St. Monica Catholic School in Ottawa. What an articulate and considerate group they are, and they were...
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The Flight of The Fatass.
Couldn’t come at a worse time, when each cent spent on fuel strains the budget of every major airline. The fact is, a direct operating cost airlines cannot avoid is fuel usage, which is directly linked...
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Vuelo Loco: Tennyson, Dead Fish and Mexico City.
Listen, I’m a fan of Mexico. Really, I am. What’s not to like about Mexico City? Always looked forward to those downtown layovers–it was part of my job–but they’re scary dangerous. Probably not for the...
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The “Whys” of Airline “Ground Stops” For Passengers
For many passengers, flying is an unfamiliar, sometimes confusing experience made all the more so by the lack of understanding of inconveniences like ground delays. Often it seems such take-off delays...
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Your Kids On An Airliner, Flying Alone? Do It Right.
Little big man standing by the gate, already gone. Mom’s there, the pain of the thousand miles about to shove themselves between her and the boy draws her eyes into a squint that you know damn well is...
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Summer Storms, Airline Flight, and YOU as Captain.
Well that’s going to be trouble, your air sense tells you as you wing westbound. Because you have to turn around and come back once you reach LAX–and this stuff, you can feel it: it’s growing. In a...
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After the storm: fly home–but not so fast.
After the divert to Wichita Falls, time to gas and go: Flight Dispatch says DFW is accepting arrivals. That’s all we needed to hear–we’re refueled and refiled with Air Traffic Control. As soon as we’re...
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Summer air travelers, beware: he’s out there!
Summer air travelers, beware: he’s out there. I mean that guy. The one who will make your travel a little less pleasant, probably unknowingly, but still. For example, cruising at 40,000 feet northwest...
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Airport Smackdown: Jethead vs. LaGarbage
What better to beat the blistering heat of a Jethroplex summer than a float in your own ce-ment pond? You bid the later-in-the-day flights and you’re senior enough to hold them. That means the morning...
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Airline Pilot Confidential: The Teddy Bear Incident.
It’s the middle day of three back-to-back turns–pace yourself. In fact, it’s the second leg of the middle turn, Dulles International, 7pm–time to get out of town: the elephant walk of international...
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How Big is the Sky?
The cockpit is a solemn place in the pregnant pause between preflight and pushback. Always, like a deserted island where everything’s already been said: checklists done, preflight complete, systems...
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Summer Weather, Flight Delays and YOU.
You can see the weather plain as day. But it’s miles away, right? How could that cause flight delays? Or worse, on a day that’s clear at the airport–yet your flight shows a one hour or longer departure...
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How do YOU land at San Francisco International Airport?
Here’s how you land at San Francisco International. First, the view over your left shoulder as you cruise “downwind” for your arrival into San Francisco International. You’ve arrived from the Pacific...
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Jet Fuelishness
I’ve always agreed with the pilot maxim, “The only time you can have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.” But, as with all things in life, there’s a catch: first, you have to be able to lift the...
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The Flight of the Pilgrims
The construction paper Indian headband was festooned with crayon-decorated paper feathers, hand-colored in orange and brown. The boy under it had the whirlwind dishevelment of preschoolers, with...
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A “simple” aircraft change? You tell me.
Walking down the jet bridge to the plane, flight plan in hand after outwitting two balky printers, and I overhear a man telling a woman, “It was something to do with the plane coming in.” Maybe a...
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Malaysian 370 and the Land of Oz.
Since we first considered here what didn’t happen to Malaysian Flight 370, there’s been a virtual flood of “theories” proposing what did. The problem is, all of them start out with “it’s possible...
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Flying the Fuel Mule to Seattle
Pace yourself: a Seattle turn is 1,600 miles northwest, then 1,600 southeast. Seduced by the 12 day work month, you’re about to find out how 90 flight hours can be logged in so few days. And, for W2...
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Air Travel: 3 Simple Ways to Make Your Summer Flights Easy
Summer time air travel can be stressful, but there are practical and simple things you can do to make your trip easier. Here are my top 3 simple ways to make your summer air travel as efficient and...
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Air Travel Illustrated: The Holiday Flights.
Some times words won’t do, or maybe illustrations can do better. Regardless, if you’re flying somewhere for the holiday, this is your life enroute. If you’re home already, here’s what you’re missing....
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