AVweb Classics

This month, once again, I find myself firmly ensconced in a seat at the back of a Holiday Inn bar. Unfortunately, drinking more than one or two beers tonight isn’t an option. Since I am facing my equipment oral in two short days, I have to limit myself to only a few frothy brews.Others are […]

Another layover, another motel restaurant, another inane discussion about whatever with the co-pilot “du jour.” With the end of the year looming and tomorrow night’s New Years Eve – a Jackson, Mississippi, layover – on the horizon, it seems time to reflect back on the past and project myself into the future. “My plan,” said […]

This December I find myself beached, grounded, laid-up. In the life of an airline pilot, you have to expect that some time or other you’ll find yourself out of the game for a month or two as you nurse yourself back to health from whatever malady you are bound to suffer from. Many pilots have […]

This seems to be the month that I’m destined to “ride the rails” as a jumpseat squatter. First, I had to sit on the rather small jumpseat of a rather small airliner, and now I find myself ensconced on a 767 jumpseat, traveling back from Hawaii to the real world. My two cockpit buddies for […]

My lukewarm Diet Coke had lost all its bubbles, and my folding chair was getting to feel a little hard as I sat at East State Junior College and Aviation Academy. It was their career day and I was invited as an “expert witness” about airline careers. They had no idea what they were getting […]

“My God, read this!” I said, brandishing a page of USA Today to my co-pilot, Jim. USAir is going bankrupt and United says they won’t be far behind. “That newspaper is a week and a half old,” said Jim. “Here is one that is more recent and has a story about the latest Delta-Northwest-Continental link […]

I was with a woman who wasn’t my wife. I had my shoes off, my belt off, and my pants undone, and she was rubbing my tummy just above my “daddy parts.” Was I flirting with divorce court? Hell no … I was simply going through security at Columbus Ohio International. Friendly enough as security […]

I don’t always fly airliners. Based on years of seniority and the fact that people don’t think we fly much anyway, it isn’t surprising that I was enjoying a day off and was spending it at the local tennis club. I have always said that if rejection and loss bothered me, I wouldn’t still be […]

The ILS approach was in heavy rain and came at the end of a long day. One of those days that was a never-ending five-leg load of crappy weather, surly passengers, a lethargic ATC system, and air-conditioning packs that just never seem to catch up. My co-pilot for this four-day “hostage crisis,” Scott, summed it […]

It’s another normal day in the life of an airline aviator. Four legs, three gate holds, two crew meals in boxes, and one layover in Little Rock awaiting us at the end of our day. This week’s version of a co-pilot, Karl, has settled into his seat after doing a walk-around in the rain and […]