Twaat did you say?

I'll admit, twitter has never really interested me all that much. I don't really care to hear about every completely and totally trivial event in everyone's lives. "Hey, I just took a shit and it looked like Long Island!" "Going to get my genital warts removed." "Picked my nose and my boog was orange!" However, I've developed a lack of care in posting here with various stories from the line. Mostly, because my job has tended to be filled only with crappy ass things. The search is still on for another place of employment. I'm currently working a few avenues, but nothing is set yet. Time shall tell.

Anyways, one of the more annoying and sometimes humorous sides of my current job is to hear what passengers have to say. Sometimes they say really nice things and show a level of understanding and appreciation. Other times, even the flight is smooth, landing is great, and we're at the gate early, people just piss and moan to the hilt.

So, I signed up for a twitter site. No, I won't be keeping anyone informed of my trips to the lav or the socially awkward dried toothpaste smear on my pants. Nope, this is just going to be a collection of things I hear from passengers, be it on one of my flights, a commute flight, sitting around the terminal, or whatever. Just a little live feed of the things I hear at work.

Facing the music

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. `I'm starting to face the reality that this "flying for a living" dream just isn't working out. It's a painful pill to swallow for sure, but one that seems looming. Worst part is, the decision isn't being made for me like it is for others that might be deemed less fortunate. Three and four time furloughees don't have much choice in the matter. Most of them accept the fact and then move on to something else.

This decision is left to me. I do have a job, but it's not one I'd like to keep for an extended period. This isn't a decision I'm making because I'm not any good at my job. I'm one of the best. I don't walk around bragging about it, but I work VERY damn hard at what I do. I take flying very seriously. I have taken great pride in my ability to be a great pilot. However, in the airline industry, no matter how good or bad you are, it has nearly zero affect on how your career progresses. EVERYTHING rides on your seniority number. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

It's become quite obvious that my company doesn't give two shits about me. I might have $100,000 worth of training to be able to do this job, and I'm being told that in this new world of CRM that I have much more authority and responsibility, but I'm still paid less than the guy on the fry machine at McDonalds. They might say they want FOs who stand up for themselves and for what's right, what's SOP, and what's safe for the aircraft and it's passengers. However, when the penny drops, my company has not done A SINGLE THING to actually show in any way, that they themselves buy that load of shit. Then, there are those Captains that I get to fly with sometimes. The ones who who are nothing but 20+ year cry babies telling me how tough it used to be for them and, "We've all paid our dues..." Ask most of those assclowns how long THEY spent in the right seat. Many of them hired in as "Street Captains," meaning they never sat in the right seat. Others spent no more than a few months in the right seat. Yeah, cry me a fucking river on just how many dues you've paid. All you do is bitch while I do all the real work and you're always right. Not to mention you're paid 5 times more than I. I work harder, study harder, I know more about the plane than you and I fly it better than you. Those are the facts.

For me, I've been caught in the middle too long. The middle of the seniority list. And, I've not moved in years. Stuck in the right seat, still not even making $30k/year, and routinely flying with some major league jackoffs. They miss calls, they forget about speed and/or crossing restrictions, they load the FMS wrong, they can't taxi the damn plane without getting lost, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I make plenty of mistakes, too. I said I was a great, not perfect. When I screw up, I'm happy when the other guy catches it. That's why I thought there were two of us up there. I'm sick of the Captain who is all high and mighty, treating me like a second rate human being who makes at least 17 mistakes to any 1 of mine. And, when there has been an issue between myself and a Captain, airline management just tells me I'm a pissant FO and the Captain is always right. I'm caught between the training department telling me how much responsibility I have, that it's my job to step up and be part of the flight deck team, and airline management never once backing me in any way no matter how incredulous a Captain's actions were.

So, I've set a date. If, by this date, I'm not in another flying job or at least the left seat of some 121 aircraft, then I'm calling it quits. Consider the towel thrown in. Of course, there is the small question of, "Would I go back to flying on my own, as a GA pilot?" For now, the answer is no. I'm just ready to walk away from it all at this point. While it is true that I was miserable in my previous career which had me at a desk all day, looking at myself now, I'd hardly refer to this as, "loving life." At least I'd be able to get my head back above water in a financial sense.

So, to the handful of readers I have out there, thanks for reading. I don't expect to make any future posts here. I've said what I needed to say, and I'll just leave it at that.

Biting my lip

Yesterday, I was walking along in the terminal heading to the gate for my first leg of the day. It was morning. Early morning. There were plenty of people around, but it was mostly quiet as everyone was looking "not quite awake" as they wandered from security to the coffee shop and then off to their gates. All was very pleasant. Then, behind me, the unmistakable sound of some all too important, self-absorbed loud ass blabbing away on a cell phone. Some people just have the type of voice that shouldn't be allowed in public. At least at certain hours of the morning. You could actually feel all the other passengers hate this woman as we all walked along with minimal noise, then there was her, flapping her gums as full volume.

Then, out of her pie hole comes, "Argh... my feet are just KILLING me!!!!" At that, I glanced over my shoulder at this person who has been ruining the morning's peace. She was at least 250 lbs, and no more than 5 foot tall. I managed to bite my lip, but there was a serious desire to say to her, "I know why!!!"

Commuting

I've had tough commutes in the past. I still commute, however, it's gotten a lot better and shorter. All in all, I can't really complain all that much. Especially when I see something like this. While this is a short commute, when talking about time and distance, it's very very different. This is one hell of a commute.

I'm all for adventure and being "out there." However, I'm not certain if I could actually do a job like this. Seriously. Perhaps it would take me a long time to build up confidence, but shit. To think about me actually doing this today makes my nuts quiver. This is a POV video, which porn fans will immediately identify as "Point of View." It covers climbing the last 200ft of a 1768ft transmission tower. (Best when viewed in full-screen mode.)

Disclaimer: More than a few people have reported not being able to watch the whole video due to feeling queezy.



(Video link repaired)

You're dangerous!

I have to admit, I never caught this when it aired on SNL with Val Kilmer. Can you believe that Val Kilmer is 50 now? Man, I guess I'm not young anymore either. Anyways, I'll add this to the "must see" list of web clips.


SNL -Top Gun 727,-Will Ferrell & Val Kilmer - MyVideo

My thoughts exactly

From SMBC Comics.

Trip Grub

As we have covered before, it's not easy to eat right when on the road. There are ways, and it can be done. The most reliable way is to pack your food and bring it with you. Not always convenient, but it does work.

There are times, however, when you just don't have any food to pack, and you end up having to eat what you can get when on a trip. When only limited to fast food, I typically make the choice of Wendy's. Why? First off, on your burger you get actual leaves of lettuce and a slice of tomato rather than what remains when you put lettuce and a tomato through a paper shredder. And, the story of Dave Thomas and the formation of the Wendy's empire is a really cool one.

However, this is still typical fast food when talking burgers. So, today I decided to go for something new. A Wendy's salad. I chose the BLT cobb salad. I wasn't expecting more than a little bowl filled with burger accessories. I was wrong. Quite wrong, in fact. What I had was simply magnificent! Honest! It was easily as good as any cobb salad I have had in a traditional restaurant. It really was very very good. Blew me away.

I also feel the need to admit that while this salad was quite good, that "full" feeling didn't last very long. :( Maybe I need another?