Jeffrey is a captain at a regional airline and flies the CRJ200, CRJ700, and the CRJ900. He has over 4000 hrs of flying experience in many different airplanes and is a Gold Seal flight instructor to his credit. He has recently written “The CRJ200 Quicknote Study Guide” that simplifies the systems of the CRJ200 into an easy-to-follow, downloadable eBook. Click here to get your copy today!
If you are an airline pilot, you always get a funny response when you tell someone you ”commute” to work. This is because when you say “commute,” you really mean that you drive to the airport, request the jumpseat, and fly from one city (your home most likely) to another city (your base), to go to work, all along hoping and praying that you won’t be bumped out of the jumpseat, that the airplane won’t break, or that weather won’t cancel the flight. It is by no means a “normal” commute, i.e., driving.
The reason I’m talking about this is because the other day I was notified that I was awarded ORD (Chicago O’hare)…AGAIN…which means I will start commuting…AGAIN! The reason I say “again” is because for the first three years of my career at SkyWest, I commuted either from ATL to SLC or I commuted from ATL to ORD.
Now many pilots “commute” to work. I don’t know the exact percentage, but it seems like a lot of pilots do. Being an airline pilot allows you the opportunity to live where you want to live and work from where you want to work even if you have to fly there. It’s a strange combination and a strange way of living…believe me. But there are things you can do to make it more enjoyable and less stressful, but I will get to that in a minute.
I got out of “commuting mode” when I transferred to COS back in April of 2007. It gave me a chance to spend more time with my family and not have to worry about “getting” to work.
But, being based in COS has had its ups and downs. It has been a struggle since the flight schedules have been so inconsistent. One month I was getting 100 hours credit and the next month I’m not even breaking guarantee. What I mean when I say “not breaking guarantee,” I mean that I wasn’t even flying 75 hours a month, hence I didn’t get paid per Diem which translate into less dollars in the paycheck. Since I have been in COS, occasionally I hold a “line” but most the time I don’t. So to help get some “stability” back in my flying career, I put in for ORD where I will most definitely hold a line because I will be number 62 out of about 220 pilots. That is much better than being 40 out of 52 pilots in COS.
What I Have Learned About Commuting
Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about commuting that I want to share with you:
Check the weather at least two days before you commute. A free and very useful website is provided by NOAA called the Aviation Weather Center, Aviation Digitall Data Service (ADDS). This will give you an idea about how early you need to leave to make sure you get to your base. Don’t be like some of these pilots that throw all caution to the wind and take the flight that gets you in 20 minutes before your show time. It’s not the responsible thing to do. At least give yourself two flights to get there if you can. You can use the free Executive Travel SkyGuide (www.eskyguide.com/search) to get a good list of all the flights available for that day.
Be extremely, even painfully, polite to the gate agent. This usually disgruntled person holds the proverbial key to whether or not you get on the airplane.
Have something to read. The Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device is all you will EVER need to keep you busy during those long commutes. You can download newspapers, books, files, and audio. The link above explains it all. It is awesome!
Pack good, healthy, energy food in your eBags Crew Cooler.(Right now eBags is offering 20% off this item through the above link.) I pack an assortment of stuff like oatmeal, tuna packets, rice, apples, bananas, and protein bars, to name a few. Get creative and you will save money and never go hungry.
Find your happy place! Commuting is really a state of mind. In reality it is not very fun but you can make it into something productive if you set your mind to it. If you make it into a horrible experience, that is exactly what it will become, but if you look for the positive side of it, it will be a much more enjoyable experience.
So I hope this helps. If you have any other ideas about commuting and how to make it a better experience, I would really like to hear about them.
I’ll let you know how my commute goes because I am sure I will have some interesting experiences again over the next couple months that I will be able to share with you.
Till next time…fly safe!
Here are some other useful articles that I have written you might be interested in:
The other day could have been a mess! During pushback we started the engines and when the electrical system switched power from the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to the Main Engine Generators there was a hiccup. Ding! A single-chime Master Caution and the associated caution message appeared on PFD1.
Other than canceling the alarm, what do you think was one of the first things that I did? If you guessed that I communicated with my first officer, talked to the passengers and the flight attendant, and then set to work fixing the problem, you would be right.
Communicating was my highest priority in a situation like that. All in all, it took about 20 minutes to sort the problem out and then we were on our way. In that time I made two announcements; one to tell my passengers explaining what the problem was and another to tell them we had sorted out the situation and update them our arrival time would be in LAX. Everyone was happy…happy enough anyway!
On another occasion, we pushed back from the gate in Cincinnati (CVG) and we were issued an EDCT time to Chicago (ORD). We parked the airplane on a taxiway and then waited…and waited…and waited. THEN, about the time we were going to start up our engines for departure, we were notified by ATC that our EDCT time was pushed back even further, so we decided to head back to the gate so that passengers could make other arrangements if they needed to. During this whole time, even when nothing had changed, I talked to my crew and the passengers often.
Again, although everyone was frustrated by the delay, they were appreciative for being kept informed.
Your Responsibility During a Delay
It is vitally important that the passengers know what is going on and it’s YOUR responsibility as the captain to tell them. Certainly some passengers aren’t going to care but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell them. Passengers these days expect everything to go seamlessly and hate being kept out of the loop when things don’t go right. And like it or not, we are in a service industry and customer service plays a BIGGER part in commercial aviation now more than ever before. So smile, even when it hurts!
If you will, think about a personal experience when you went somewhere that required service, like a restaurant or department store. How was the customer service? Did the waiter talk to you? If your food was running a little slow, did the waiter let you know? How did you feel during this “waiting” period? If you weren’t being kept informed, you were probably getting agitated and you stopped enjoying yourself. On the other hand, if you were being kept informed, you probably felt much more relaxed.
It’s all part of customer service and it affects either the positive or negative image that that passengers has of that particular flight and of your airline.
In a flight delay situations, it’s not just the captain’s responsibility to keep the passengers informed. You have a crew and communication with them is essential as well. By briefing your crew regarding what you want them to do if a flight is delayed keeps your team informed and empowers them to do a good customer service job as well.
How Do You Make An Announcement
“Mic Fright” is one of the scariest things in the world for a lot of people. When you talk on the PA do you sound like loser, hemming and hawing, using ”uhs” and “ums” as you work your way through the announcement or do you display poise and confidence? Do you prepare your announcement before you start to speak? Right before I make my announcement, I turn of the flight deck speakers, take a deep breath and r-e-l-a-x. This allows me to focus on what I’m about to say. My goal is to come across in such a way that the passengers will listen to what I’m saying.
If you have to talk on the PA, first, do it quickly and decisively with a strong voice and the tone of authority. A wimpy sounding captain is like a wimpy handshake, no body likes them. Be succinct, precise, and empathetic when you make your announcements because it helps to calm your passengers. Now is not the time to sound exasperated by the situation, vent your frustrations, or put down the “system.”
And, if the opportunity presents itself, use the flight attendants PA and talk directly to the passengers. It’s amazing how responsive your passengers will be if you take this little extra step.
How Often Should You Make An Announcement
I believe PA announcements to passengers should be done about every 15 to 20 minutes, but obviously it depends on the situation. Sometimes I start out at 15 minutes, then my next announcement is at 20 minutes, and then my next announcement is at 25 minutes. I rarely stay on the taxiway for more than hour, so this works out fairly well. Too many announcements can be too much of a good thing.
Five Things to Consider
Here is my list of five things you can do if you experience a delay and need to make an announcement:
Communicate with your crew and passengers in a timely manner
Use an authoritative voice absent of frustration
Take a moment to mentally prepare your announcement in your head, then, take a deep breath right before you start
Be succinct, precise, and empathetic as you say your announcement remembering who your audience is and what they are going through
Cut out the the hemming and hawing and “uhs” and “ums,” they are very distracting
As always this is a my list and I’m sure you can add a few more important items. I would like to hear your suggestions.
One final thought. Remember, as the captain you are responsible for your airplane, crew, and passengers. This includes more than flying profile and conserving fuel, it includes making sure that your passengers have a good experience during their flight and one way to do that is to make sure you communicate with them in a timely manner if something doesn’t goes as planned.
As always, I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have on this or any of the topics. Till next time…
P.S. As always I like to include one book to help you become a better captain. This book, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High is easy to read and has some very useful ideas that you may not have thought about before when you are dealing with passengers. Pick it up today so you can start benefiting from the insights presented in this book.
The other night we were flying the CRJ700 into Chicago O’hare (KORD). It was a clear night with a beautiful view of downtown. About 30 miles from final approach, as we were gradually descending to intercept the final approach course, air traffic control advised us that we were 10 miles in trail of a Boeing 777.
“Oh…great!” was my comment.
The whole flight had been relatively smooth, so what was about to happen was going to be a big surprise to me, my crew, and my passengers.
This video shows how wingtip vortices generate. It is simple and to the point:
Now here is a little history about wingtip vortices. If you aren’t familiar with the wake turbulence of a Boeing 777, it generates more wake turbulance than almost all airplanes except for some military airplanes. It is a big, heavy airplane and therefore, generates a lot of lift.
But how is lift generated?
Think about a time when you were taking a shower in a tub with a shower curtain. Has the pesky shower curtain ever kept coming into your leg? You think, “what the heck, is the door open?”
Well that’s not the problem. The problem is that the “pressure” inside the shower curtain is actually lower than the pressure on the outside of the shower curtain. This happens because the water coming out of the showerhead accelerates the air thus decreasing the pressure in the tub. Therefore, it seems like there is something pushing on the shower curtain from the outside, when it is actually the higher pressure air.
In the 1700’s, Daniel Bernoulli formulated the equation that explains how this happens, but that goes way beyond this blog entry. If you would like to read more about the Bernoulli equation, click here.
But that’s only half the story. Have you ever watched water flowing down a stream with a big boulder in the way? If the boulder is perfectly round, the water “splits” when it hits the rock and some of the water goes to the left of the rock and some of the water goes to the right meeting up on the other side. What we don’t see is that the water accelerates for a few seconds as it goes around the rock because it has to meet up with it’s other half on the other side which also accelerated. And when the water accelerates, the pressure per se, decreases.
Now take a wing.
The bottom of a wing, for all practical purposes and for this discussion, we will say it is flat. The top of the wing will have a bend in it or a camber. As the wind hits the wingtip, some of the air goes over the top and some goes underneath. Since the air mass that was split has to meet at the back of the wing at the same time, the airflow over the top has to accelerate to meet up with the same air mass going under the wing. The accelerated air over the top, because it has been accelerated, has to give something up, and that would be pressure. The result is lower pressure over the top of the wing and higher pressure under the wing, hence lift. Ta Da!
Wingtip Vortices
Now this explanation is VERY general in nature. And you should get a good book on aviation that discusses all the aspects of wings and lift to have a thorough understanding of these principles.
OK, now back to wingtip vortices. In a perfect wing, the air flows from the front of the wing to the back of the wing. But we now know that there is low pressure air on top of the wing and high pressure air on the bottom. Well the high pressure air needs somewhere to go because it just can’t meet up with the low pressure air and go on it’s way. The high pressure air travels to where the low pressure air is and vice versa and thus creates the (wingtip) vortices.
So back to my flying story.
There were were, flying along minding our own business. The wind was calm and all of a sudden, a little shudder here, then a big upset there and before we knew it the airplane had lurched more than 20° noseup and banked 30° laterally. The autopilot kicked off and as fast as it came it was gone and once the airplane was stabilized we re-engaged the autopilot and I talked to the passengers and let them know what happened. THEN, five minutes later, IT HAPPENED AGAIN! Not my day! I ended up hand-flying the rest of the flight.
Note: One of the most fatal results on record of wake turbulence that resulted in a crash was American Airlines flight 587 on November 12, 2001. To read more about this accident, click on the NTSB report here. See if you can figure out what actually went wrong.
Now, when landing or departing, a similar thing can happen but worse. The airplane in front is slow, heavy, and at a large angle-of-attack and this is when an airplane generates its most lift. It is important to remember that in calm air, vortices tend to move outward from the aircraft. So if you are behind a departing aircraft, the vortex from the right wing will tend to move to the right and the vortex from the left wing will tend to move to the left.
If we have a crosswind, the wind will tend to influence the movement of the vortices. A crosswind of about 3 knots will hold the upwind vortex pretty much in place at the runway where it was created, while the downwind vortex will rapidly move away from the runway. Therefore, light crosswinds require the most caution during takeoff and landing.
Wingtip Vortices with Crosswind from the right
However, crosswinds greater than approximately 5 knots will tend to break up the vortices. So stronger crosswinds are a good thing, as far as vortices are concerned.
One Final Note
During landing behind a heavy airplane, a lot of pilots will fly abovethe glideslope in order to avoid any possible wake turbulence created by the preceding airplane. To me, there are two things wrong with this: 1) you may land long, which, in a Land and Hold Short (LAHSO) operation may cause you problems and 2) you are not flying your normal procedure and the possibility of a missed approach is possible. I’ve never seen pilots who fly above the glideslope not fair well during landing.
Consider this, wake turbulence falls typically about 500 feet per minute, so even in ORD on a no wind day with 2.5 miles separation, that wake turbulence is most likely already gone by the time you get to where that airplane was in front of you. Also, if you consider the wind for that day, the wake turbulence has probably blown clear of the runway as well. With that said, there is always the chance it is right along your path of flight.
But, it is your call. Just fly safe and use good judgement and consider all the variables.
Till next time…
Jeffrey
Jeffrey is a captain at a regional airline and flies the CRJ200, CRJ700, and the CRJ900. He has over 4000 hrs of flying experience in many different airplanes and is a Gold Seal flight instructor to his credit. He has recently written “The CRJ200 Quicknote Study Guide” that simplifies the systems of the CRJ200 into a downloadable eBook. Click here to get your copy today!
It is every pilot’s dream watch besides a Breitling, of course.
The Very Cool Torgoen T6 E6B and Zulu Watch
The Torgoen T6 E6B/Zulu Time Watch Is The Watch To Have!
When I first saw the Torgoen T6 E6B/Zulu Time Watch, I thought this is one cool watch! It is affordable, and it looks great too! I love the Orange Face, which, by the way, if you were concerned IS non-radioactive. (Yeah, I was concerned too.) It really jumps out of the norm without be being obnoxious.
And I guess, as microchips get smaller, it was only a matter of time when the endearing E6B was finally made smaller, too.
So do something nice for yourself. You know you’ve always wanted this watch, so get it!
Till next time…
P.S. If you are looking for tradition E6B computers, here are two that I recommend, the second one being my favorite and the one I used when I was a flight instructor.
is all you will EVER need to keep you busy during those long commutes. You can download newspapers, books, files, and audio. The link above explains it all. It is awesome!
is easy to read and has some very useful ideas that you may not have thought about before when you are dealing with passengers. Pick it up today so you can start benefiting from the insights presented in this book.
