¡Viva Mexico!

Last week I spent 3 days pressing my headset earcups to my head while listening intently for garbled ATIS transmissions read in Spanish and rapid-fire broken English. It's usually an exercise in futility, and only provides an unfamiliar pilot his first clue as to how Mexico flying is different from flying in the States.

Flying in the U.S. is tame. Every approach is a vector to an ILS. Every radio is clear, the controller is easy to understand, and every route has radar coverage. We operate with a large margin of safety that is often unmatched in other parts of the world. For the part of the flight we're in U.S. airspace, we're spoiled.

Mexico, on the other hand, is a completely different animal. The controllers speak Spanish to Mexican aircraft and English to everyone else. This often creates a distinct lack of situational awareness for those of us who don't speak the language, and can cause us a great deal of concern if we're unsure what another aircraft is supposed to be doing in relation to us. The radios are also generally very scratchy, and for lack of a better example, much like talking to the controller through two tin cans attached with a string. Added with a language barrier and somewhat different phraseology (i.e. "position and hold" is "line up and wait" in ICAO-talk), miscommunication is common. Mexico is also by and large a very mountainous country, and cities are often wedged into small valleys that wreak havoc with aircraft operating at jet speeds. Careful attention to minimum IFR altitudes is necessary, and ATC will often leave terrain clearance the responsibility of the crew (a company aircraft once misread an approach plate and missed a mountain top by 200 feet. They were saved only by the GPWS.). DME arcs, teardrops, and steep descent gradients are the norm on instrument approaches, and weather reporting has been known to be sketchy and unreliable.

But, even with all of those pitfalls, it's still by far the most fun flying we do. It's a throwback to the days where pilots weren't hand-held throughout a flight by ATC, and pilots had to actually watch out for themselves. You fly full approaches (vectors are rare), which is a return to the basics of instrument training. It's decidedly not boring, and it's outstanding flying for those of us who welcome a bit of risk and excitement to keep things interesting. The terrain is spectacular, with mountains dropping off straight into the ocean, and volcanoes towering to 18,000 feet.

It's an experience not to be missed.

Living the dream!

Did you know that a single armrest on a passenger seat could ground an entire 737, leaving 120 people stranded overnight? I just found that out tonight, after I found myself staring out the window from gate A18 in Houston for 3 hours, waiting for a contract maintenance truck to show up and sign a bit of paperwork so I could go home. But no, they never showed up, and the plane was subsequently ferried (empty) back to PHX, the only flaw being an armrest between a center and window seat that was, as the Captain described it, "flopping all over the place."

I'm not sure how America West handles maintenance issues, but here at my airline we can simply call maintenance control from an outstation and have them defer items over the phone. With the aircraft having more than 2 open seats to begin with, it would have been a very simple exercise to move those people elsewhere in the aircraft and post signs on the seats that read "Do Not Occupy." But, what do I know? That just seems, you know, logical and all.

Of course, the icing on the cake tonight was the later Mesa Airlines flight departing without me with empty seats, after the gate agent shut the door in my face without any concern for my commute home. Because of that, I'm stuck in Houston for my two off days instead of at home in my own bed. One of these days I'd like to chain one of these gate agent's rear axles to a light post to keep them from going home! Haha! Wait, probably too evil and illegal.

One can dream. One can dream.

On commuting

Being able to live where you want is one of the nice things about being an airline pilot, but it's also one of the biggest quality of life (QOL) hits you can take in your life. I currently commute from Prescott, AZ to Houston, TX for my job, and I do the trip typically twice per week. Luckily the trip for me is free of charge (another nice perk of the job), however, choosing to do such a commute often requires you to travel on days that are technically "off" from work in order to be at work on time early the next morning. This, of course, means less time at home.

Other troubles that commuters run into are the lack of "commutable" trips, particularly if you're a reserve pilot. Oftentimes crew scheduling will give you an assignment that ends late on your last day of work, requiring you to stay another night away from home before you can catch an early flight the next morning. Of course, on the other end, scheduling may give you an assignment that starts early on your first day, requiring you to commute to work the day prior. In this way, what seems like a long 3-day break can suddenly turn into 1 single day at home.

So, why do we do it? Well, there are lots of reasons. Some people have a family; a wife and kids, and don't feel as though a move would be best for everyone. Those like me, however, are much easier to please: we commute because we like where we live. I love stepping off the plane after a 20-hour day of flying/commuting to smell the mountain air in Arizona. I love being able to go out to the local brew pub with everyone whenever possible and try (unsuccessfully, of course) to not talk about airplanes. Also, Arizona to me is the one place I can forget everything related to airlines, airports, ground delays, and scheduling. Having 1000 miles between my personal and professional lives makes my personal life that much better.

But of course, I'm writing this from my crashpad in Houston, my home away from home for the next 4 days. It could be worse I'd imagine; I could live here!

It begins!

Well, I've been sitting on the idea of starting a blog for a good while now, but only recently found a spark of motivation/inspiration to do it. It's difficult to sit down and seriously write when you're on the road [what feels like] 24/7, cooped up in a hotel room in a random city with a family of 12 banging on the walls next door. But, being the hard worker that I am, I've found a bit of time this week between the watching of TV and reading message boards to sit down and make an honest effort at a real airline pilot blog. So, cheer me on, you minions of 1-2 people who might actually read this on a halfway regular basis! You're in for a real treat!

What am I going to write about? Well, you know, bloggy things. I'm not really sure what's supposed to go in these things, so I'll figure that out as I go along. No matter. You can expect everything from rants, raves, interesting overnight happenings, and of course everyone's favorite: where to get the best microbrew in town.

So feel free to sit back, relax, and enjoy the uhh...blog.