A little Senna story

As most of you reading this know, I'm an airline pilot.  My job requires that I work with a variety of different people from many different backgrounds.  Every now and then, I get to work with someone from the country of Brazil.  A handful of trips ago, I had such a person as one of my flight attendants. 

One night, we were all piled in a quiet and dark hotel van with our watches showing well past midnight.  Not much was said as it had been a particularly long day of bad weather and delays upon delays.  Without any lead in, I turned to our Brazilian flight attendant and asked, "So, you're from Brazil?"  With her eyes half open, she nodded and said, "Yes."  I then asked, "So, you would know of Ayrton Senna, right?"   Her face lit up.  Her eyes now wide open.  She looked as if someone just gave her a brand new car.  "Aye!  Sennaaaaa!" she said. 

Unlike me, she wasn't even a big racing a fan, but to her 'Senna' is one of those names...  One of those immortal names.  One that remains fresh and treasured in her memory, as he does in many of ours, regardless of our country of origin. 

We spent the rest of the ride to the hotel talking about Ayrton and how much he meant and still means to Brazil.  Of course we spoke of his superhuman driving, but we we also talked about the level of determination in everything he did.  We spoke of the millions of dollars he gave to help children, and how that mission is carried on today by the institute that bears his name.  We spoke of the recent movie and how he is credited with personally saving the life of racing driver, Eric Comas.  She recounted watching his funeral precession in person, with unrelenting detail.  

What had been a dark and quiet van ride to a hotel, late at night, somewhere in suburban American, had turned into an amazing and unexpected tribute to the man himself, nearly 20 years after his tragic death.

Top Ten PAs I wish I could make

In honor of my 2000th tweet, along with some encouragement from @AlisonRaffael, I present the Top Ten PAs I wish I could make:

10.) "Folks, we're level here at our cruising altitude, the air is smooth and I have turned off the seat belt sign, but really, who the hell cares?  No one pays any attention to it.  Most of you aren't even listening to me right now."  

9.)  "Hell, the book says its legal...  it must be safe, right!  Wait, is this thing on?"

8.)  "No, having your cellphone on won't crash the plane.  However, the rules are the rules, and those who refuse to get off their phones will be escorted onto the left wing for take-off, thanks." 

7.) "Yes, you bought a ticket.  That doesn't mean this is your personal aircraft." 

6.) "If our flight attendants inform you that your enormous damn bag won't fit in the overhead, they likely know what they are talking about.  They are on this aircraft everyday.  If you chose to ignore them and break the overhead by slamming it, I will personally give you a blue-juice swirly." 

5.) "Welcome aboard, sit back, relax and enjoy the flight knowing that the First Officer and myself got about 8 hours sleep last night.  Yep, 4 hours each."

4.) "Yes, I did everything in my power to make that landing as awful as possible.  Its what I do."

3.)  "You booked a flight through an airport rated as the worst in the country for on-time service, and you are yelling at me about your 20 min connection?  Let me guess, you're a mortgage loan officer, aren't you?"   

2.)  "Airline ticket prices have barely increased in 20 years.  Airline CEO salaries are in the millions.  What's left is used to lease the smallest/cheapest planes available and then the remain change from that, is my paycheck.  Welcome aboard." 

and...

1.) "You've only been sitting in an airport for the last 2 hours with 17 bathrooms around you.  Why oh why, must you ALL rush to use the tiny little bathroom we have on this plane?!?!?!" 

Packing Checklists

How many of you have taken a trip somewhere, gotten to your hotel room, and only then discovered that you did NOT pack ANY socks? I've personally had a 4 day trip where I forgot undies. Sometimes, a hotel is near a store where forgotten items can be picked up, but this isn't always the case. Cellphone charging cord, toothbrush, etc... all important things that can easily be forgotten especially if packing last minute.

For an airline pilot or flight attendant, packing and unpacking is a way of life. We do these things on a very regular basis. When pilots are flying an aircraft, checklists are exceedingly important. While we do a lot of the same things over and over and over, things can still be missed, especially when its a long list of items. It's great to have a quick reference to double check.

The similarities of flying and packing got me to thinking. And, from that, "the packing checklist" idea was born! It took a few iterations, but I finally have a pretty good packing checklist that I use whenever packing for a trip. It does sound a bit silly, but its nothing something used as a, "how to." Its simply a double check reference. And, I can report, instances of forgotten items has all but vanished.

My packing checklist is printed on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper, folded in half lengthwise. It's likely not a coincidence that this resembles many aircraft checklists. Alas, here's my list:

-Undies
-Undershirts
-White socks
-Dress socks
-T shirts
-Shorts
-Jeans
-Running shoes
-Running shorts
-Running shirt
-Jacket
-Spare uniform shirt
-Deodorant
-Toothbrush
-Toothpaste
-Nail clippers
-Razor
-Pen
-Watch
-Singles(for tips)
-Certificates and ID badge
-Medical
-Wallet
-Passport
-Cellphone
-Cell charging cord
-Vitamins
-Laptop
-Laptop charging cord
-Food/Snacks

Typically, I will pack my rollaboard for a trip as usual and then grab the checklist and account for each item. It takes perhaps 20-30 seconds. A very good investment when it avoids 4 days of having 1 pair of undies.

Where class warfare really comes from

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2012/04/09/where-class-warfare-really-comes-from

In a time when many families are struggling to get by and corporate execs are making more money than ever, there is only one way this will change: If all of us finally draw the line and hold CEOs and all their cronies (called VPs) accountable. CEOs have taken the country by the balls and we've let them do it. Little by little, we've allowed higher and higher salaries, more benefits, more bonuses and the infamous Golden Parachutes. After all, if the rest of us suck at our jobs, we get shown the door.

I just fear that we are too chicken shit to actually ban together and do something about it.

Starting to take notice

Looks like some people in high places might finally be starting to take notice of just how much horseshit regional airlines are full of. The following is a letter sent to the COO of Pinnacle Airlines:

Letter to COO John Spanjers

A tribute to the rest of us

Why its important to tie down your aircraft

Wait for it.......