SFO-ATL and a Few Extras!

I will be away on vacation in Michigan through August. I will be back then, but please visit Captain Rand Peck's blog in the meantime at http://randpeck.blogspot.com/

I have fallen slightly behind behind in my posts, now I have DL46 and several extras! I recently flew DAL46 from San Francisco to Atlanta. The flight was operated by a 767-300ER. I was originally scheduled for a NWA 757 SFO-MSP, but a crew rest contigency made us go through ATL. I got to the airport at 0500 for our 0600 flight out. We loaded up and waited for our company 737 push back out of our alleyway. Shortly after, we pushed back and taxiied out and around to 1R. Here we are climbing out with traffic directly below us, a US Airways 737 I believe.

Here we are shortly after completing our climb, cruising over the Sierra Nevadas.

Due to thunderstorms over the plains, we flew a more southerly route to avoid them. This took us through Texas as pictured here, with traffic heading southbound under us (bound for DFW or IAH I would assume).

We are now completing our four hour journey from the west coast. Here we are now on our downwind leg for approach into Atlanta's 26R.

After my First Officer made a rather firm landing, we taxiied in to the gate.

Here is a shot from flying NWA217 on the 757-300 from MSP-PDX. I took this shot a while before takeoff, but just after this was taken, the snow started really coming down! We had about a 45 minute delay due to de-icing.

The long-hauls are fun in themselves, but I also love the chance to get out on the light aircraft in the midwest. I took this shot from Pinnacle 2472 from Minneapolis to Hancock, Michigan. Hancock is a small, uncontrolled airport in the upper peninsula of Michigan. To put it into perspective, Hancock is about 100 miles northwest of Marquette. This was a beautiful afternoon shot of the cirrus clouds in the sunny, spring, Michigan sky!

Here are a few US Airways shots. In this shot we are prepping in Ft. Myers for our flight to Charlotte. The flight attendants have the rear doors open to cool the aircraft.

Here is a shot from the tower as AWE1126 prepares for its trip up to CLT.

Here is my last shot. This is of AWE1461 from CLT-RSW.

Stay tuned for my 100th flight with Delta Virtual! I also have a few pictures from Alaska coming up. I also just got my bid back for June, and I was able to get a 5-day Japan trip!

Until next time, keep the blue skies up and the engines rumblin'.

My First Trip to Hawaii!

Here is my long awaited trip to Hawaii. It certainly was a tough fun trip, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to fly it. As we near the summer transatlantic season, I will be looking forward to my Glasgow trip on US Airways over Memorial Day weekend. It will be my first time flying to Glasgow. Anyway, back to the South Pacific! We took off out of San Francisco at 3:46 local time on runway 28L. Due to our weight, we needed the longer 28L rather than 1L/R. Here we are on our climb out over the Pacific, direct to BEBOP, our oceanic entry point.



After making our way across the Pacific, we are now on our initial descent into Honolulu to complete our 4 hour 51 minute flight. We also have some traffic to our 4 o'clock heading to the northern part of the Hawaiian chain. Throughout the cruise of our flight Michigan State basketball has been playing in the final four against UCONN I believe. I was flying this on 3/27, and if someone could confirm that, that would be great. I was getting ACARS updates constantly in-flight. As we descend there was about 12 minutes left in the 2nd half with MSU up!

After descending via the MAGGI3 arrival we have arrived on 8L in Honolulu/Hickham AFB. I love the close in downwind, and flying final with Pearl Harbor off our left side.

I quickly taxied into the ramp at Honolulu and ran up the jetway to see the final seconds of the MSU game!! WE WON!! Yes! What better way to top off my first Hawaiian trip? AND... I was flying the "Bernie Epple," our first 757-300 named after a long-standing and loyal Northwest flight attendant. I had to venture back onto the plane after the game to finish the shutdown checks, and then snapped a quick picture on the ramp as we waited for the crew bus.

After learning about the island of Oahu, and resting up, I was ready to head back to the lower 48. We checked the latest winds aloft (which we later learned weren't accurate), and loaded our fuel for Northwest 222 Heavy back to San Francisco. Here we are taxiing towards 8R, the "reef runway."

Here we are again taxiing to 8R, with water on both sides of the taxiway. Mind you, I had to get up at 2:50AM EDT for this flight, so ACARS traffic and talk was very light this evening. And to think, I would get up at midnight for a double-leg flight going inter-island then on to Seattle. I am glad I declined that routing! (I would have to get up at mid-night!)

Here we are climbing out past Waikiki beach on the MKK4 departure to CLUTS.

Here we are at cruise about 92nm from CLUTS, our oceanic entry point.

As we check up on things halfway across the Pacific, we realize that the winds are a LOT stronger than reported/forecasted. We report then to San Francisco radio that we will be a little lower on fuel than we normally like to be. At this point, there is no other choice other than to continue on to San Francisco. Our fuel exhaustion point is only going to be about 30 minutes beyond SFO. We kept a very constant watch on fuel consumption, and were able to eventually land in SFO with about 55 minutes of fuel left on board.

Thank you for joining me on my first Hawaiian journey. Stay tuned, as I have a brand new 757 that I look forward to sharing with you all!!

Thanks for visiting,

Joe

Riding with a Virgin America Crew

First of all, I apologize for not updating the blog lately. I have been quite busy. When I was in San Francisco for a four day layover prior to my Honolulu trip, I decided to head back to Seattle on Virgin America, a relatively new airline. Virgin America is part of the "Virgin" clan with Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue (in Australia), and more. They are based in San Francisco, so i figured it would be a perfect opportunity to ride with them and visit one of my favorite destinations again, Seattle. Virgin America flies only the A320 series aircraft. The trip up to Seattle was at night, but here are some shots of the return. Before boarding, I was able to get onto the ramp and snap a shot.


We boarded fairly quickly and I opted for the exit row seat that was available, over the jumpseat. I jumpseated up and got to chat with the crew. They were very friendly, and seemed very happy with Virgin. Here we are taxiing out with a United B757-200 that has vacated 16C in Seattle.

Here is another shot as an Alaska 737 rolls for takeoff on 16L.

Here is the United B777-200 beginning its takeoff roll on 16L, bound for Tokyo. We were shaking when he was rolling. I love the rumble as we taxi by departing aircraft.

Here we are crossing 16L, to takeoff on 16C. The new 16R/34L at Seattle allows the option to use the two easterly runways for departures or arrivals depending on traffic. This is very convenient in the winter, and helps expedite the flow for flight crews.

Virgin America 755 is now climbing out of Seattle on the HAROB SID. My only complaint with the A320 is that it seems like it is under-powered like its older sister the A321.

Here are two shots of us climbing out of Seattle after making our southerly turn.

Here we are now on the scenic Golden Gate 5 STAR from the north into the the Bay Area. As you can see in the left background of the picture the Golden Gate Bridge is clearly visible.

We are now just above the cloud cover about to cross over the airport, and head southeast then back to the northeast then west to land on 28L.

I ventured back onto the ramp for a few exterior shots. There was a British Airways parked on the far side of the concourse from us.

I know I enjoyed flying with the "Redwood" crew of Virgin America. I see good things in the future for Virgin America. There are some airlines like Skybus and others I knew when they opened, they wouldn't last. I certainly don't see or hope for that fate with Virgin. Stay tuned for my pictures on my first Hawaiian trip!

Joe

A Side-Visit to Seattle

Last weekend I took a trip with the Delta codeshare partner Alaska Airlines. I enjoyed flying the 737-700 for a change. I will have to admit, the landing was less than perfect, but I guess that comes with being used to the 757 series aircraft. We boarding Alaska flight 311 (ASA311) to Seattle. I always enjoy laying over in Seattle, with all of its sites.


We boarded, and pushed off of the gate in San Francisco. The winds were coming out of the south fairly strong which closed the parallel runways 1/19 Left and Right. Here we are pulling out of the ramp on Hotel.

Ground then cleared us to taxi immediately across 1Left and Right, towards 28L for departure. On this shot we are parallel to 1R and taxiing abeam a British Airways 747-400 west of 1L. They are taxiing out, bound for London's Heathrow Airport.

As soon as we reached 28L we were cleared to position and hold, and promptly after cleared for takeoff. We lift off at 134 knots and rocket past the north side of the terminal.

We have been cleared along the San Francisco 8 departure via the Red Bull transition (SFO8.RBL). Here we are climbing in between cloud layers for NORMM intersection. There are numerous thunderstorms out here today, that we will have to dodge on climbout. The cruise today will be at flight level 400 (40,000 feet), keeping us well clear of the weather at cruise.

At this point NORCAL departure clears us to a radar vector of 010 to avoid thunderstorms on route before NORMM intersection.

We have finally climbed past, and dodged the thunderstorms in the Bay Area. Oakland Center now clears us on course for Red Bull VOR.

After a beautiful flight, we are beginning our descent into a cloudy Seattle. We are using the Olympia 6 arrival, and landing on 16L.

Here is a shot from the flight deck on our descent again. We are just about to head into the first cloud layer.

Alaska 311 is now on our downwind leg for runway 16L to Sea-Tac Airport.

Seattle Final Approach just cleared us down to 4,000 feet and turned us on our base leg well north of the city.

Seattle Final turned us through the Localizer for 16L due to some spacing issues, but here we are re-aligned for the left side. The Space Needle is in view on the right side of this photo. The area in its immediate vicinity is called Seattle Center, and is a beautiful area to stay in Seattle. The Puget Sound is a large part of Seattle's business. There are hundreds of piers in the harbor, and hundreds of fishing and crabbing vessels based in Seattle.

Here we are turning into the ramp after arrival.

ASA311 has now arrived. We are parked at the north satellite. This is my first visit to this side of the airport. Northwest uses the South Satellite which is very easy to get around.

The next day I was scheduled to fly ASA312, but the flight was cancelled, so my first officer and I caught a Virgin America A320 back to San Francisco. Stay tuned for that story!

Keeping Current With US Airways Virtual

I am required to fly once a month for US Airways Virtual Airlines, and I was sick last weekend which was my planned trip with them. I was able to head up to Charlottesville, Virginia (CHO) from Charlotte on Thursday. This morning I am flying the Dash 8-300 to Philly. I have never flown the Dash 8 before, so I was looking forward to a new airframe for a flight.

Here were are walking out to the aircraft on the ramp in Charlottesville. Charlottesville owes it's airline service to it's college, and largely to US Airways Express' service from New York, Charlotte, and Philadelphia.

Click on pictures for a larger view.

We took off on runway 23 out of CHO with a quick right turn to due east. The Dash 8 climbed like a rocket with the minimal 4000lbs of fuel onboard.

Here is the wingview as we bank left and climb. I really like the view out the passenger window with the high-wing.



We are now leveled off at 13,000 feet, and this is the view out my window looking up the Patomac River towards Washington D.C.


Here we are turning over the Patuxent VOR (PXT), heading now to the northeast, with the Chesapeake Bay out the window.

We are now starting our slow descent into Philly. We were in the clouds for probably 15 minutes while Philadelphia Approach vectored us for the visual to 35.

He we are turning to line up for the approach to 35 from the Cedar Lake (VCN) VOR.

We are now on final approach and just about to approach the river on our way in.

We are now parked at gate F23 in Philly after a very smooth touchdown. The great thing about many props is it gives the passengers the older feel of walking out onto a ramp!

Today I will leave you with some pictures of leaving Seattle a couple months ago, with Mt. Rainer in view.

Here we have a great overall view of our 757-200 and Mt. Rainer while climbing out of Seattle to Minneapolis.

Here is an edited wingview shot, again, with Mt. Rainier in view.


Until next time, keep the blue skies up!