Holy cow batman

Its dark as we are holding short of the runway. We are running through our last minute checklists prior to takeoff. Tower instructs us to hold short of the runway for release. I grab another look at the approach book which contains our SID for departure and double check my navigation setup vs. the book. All checks well. My concentration is broken with a call from tower clearing us to position and hold. The engineer goes below the line on the checklists and brings our landing lights on/strobes as well as a variety of last minute items such as our radar/ ETCAS. My A/C lines the aircraft up on the runway and transfers control of the aircraft to me. I hold the Diesel's brakes waiting for takeoff clearance.

For a few moments I hold looking into the dark night and tower finally clears us for takeoff. I ease my left hand forward on the 3 throttles and the familiar roar of the GE's come to life. This is my favorite part.. It starts out as a low rumble and turns into a grinding vacuum roar as our takeoff power is set. We are rapidly plowing through 80kts and our takeoff power is set and announced by the engineer. V1 comes rapidly and now we are committed for the takeoff. Seconds later we will be rotating into the night. My A/C calls for Rotation...and at that moment the left engine gives loose and rips a shudder felt through the fuselage. Committed to flying the diesel continues strong on the remaining two engines as I concentrate on keeping the aircraft nose tracking up and flying straight. The DC-10 can fly fine on just one engine alone, and even better with two!

We are airborne and the gear is now coming up after I call for it. At 400 feet the pilot not flying and engineer are already accomplishing the Engine Loss/Severe Damage boldface. ATC coordination ensues and we are given priority to climb out straight ahead up to 4,000ft. At this point we are reaching our pressure height for acceleration where I start concentrating on getting the aircraft cleaned up on schedule. This is all methodical. The flaps are coming up and shortly after the slats are retracted. Clean wing now..phew...we now start the second climb phase up to 4000 feet. Finally with altitude aural annunciation sounding, I level off the beast at 4,000.

Quick check of trim and I get it flying nice and smooth, I call out for Autopilot 2 engaged and let out a sigh of relief. Now we get into the checklist to cleanup items and formulate a game plan. The motion now stops and we are paused. The observer lets us know that we have accomplished this situation fine. We are now going to setup for the next scenario.

Just another day in the sim....thankfully!









I'm back. Its been a long stretch of time. My grandfather passed away who I was very close to. He would come to my blog religiously and ever since his passing, its been hard to write on here. He would always comment on my posts or drop me an email concerning them. He was a WW2 pilot, back when pilots were true pilots. Not what I do...which monitor systems from my fully automated, comfortable airliner while sipping coffee. Sure I've served in the war zone and seen the blasts below from in the air. It sure has changed from what my grandfather has seen and went through. I have a great admiration for all those that served during this time! A generation that will never be forgotten. Anyhow, I digress.. I'm sure one day Ill have more thoughts on all of this but for now Ill forge on.

What to say

I've been trying to find out what to write on here the next couple weeks concerning my deployment. Due to the nature of what we do and the sensitivity I may not be posting much. I just need to be more creative and find other topics to talk about concerning the desert flying that is non mission specific. With anybody able to read this blog online all the time..the last thing I want to do is create an OPSEC (operations security ) concern. So please stand by! I will start posting some more material soon. Its been a rather slow month. I had a death in the family and took some well needed vacation time so that has kept me out of the cockpit. Im starting to shake off the rust of flying back at home station and all the nuances that go on with that. Its totally different flying versus what I was doing overseas. All varieties are good though!

I'm back

Some of you have probably been wondering where on Earth Ive been! Needless to say I'm alive! I just recently got back from deployment to the Middle East and am back to civilization. Its nice to be back to the real world and have full internet access again! (that is why there were no posts for so long..darn USAF blocks most sites)

Ill be posting pictures on here soon and some thoughts on deployment and life in the desert.

Day in the life

Here is a video I made showing some of the aspects of the job.

Turkey Day

Location: ETAR Ramstein AB, Germany
Time: 0600L
Destination: Home to McGuire AFB






Its cold when I wake up, but I jump out of bed enthusiastically as today we are headed home on Turkey day to cap off a nice long 2 week trip. We all meet outside of the on base hotel in time for the crew bus to pick us up. Its cold and misty..gotta love German winter weather. Luckily it appears that it didn't freeze overnight which will save us time with not having to de-ice.

First stop is the chow hall and we have a huge breakfast. Unfortunately..its a little to early for holiday food and we miss out.

Off to the jet we now. We drop off our bags and the Engineer/Boom to start the process of waking the jet up and preparing for departure. The boss and I head over to Ops and start looking over the flight plan and finding out if we have cargo and or passengers. Our boom was hoping for no cargo so that he can get home faster when we do land at McGuire. Luckily for him, there are no pallets (rare), but we do have a full load of passengers looking to get home for the holidays. I don't mind pax..its nice to be able to give folks a lift to where the are trying to get to. Most are very appreciate.

1 hour to launch and we are happy with the flight plan, so we walk out to the jet.
The ramp is already bustling. 747 cargo freighters are pulling in and out..a C-5 is also preparing to depart for McGuire although an hour after us. All around are C-17s parked. Its a huge hub for the usaf and I enjoy the activity. Its still misty, but the sun is up now. I look forward to my departure into the weather. I absolutely love IFR flying.

I make my way on to the warm jet and get to work in my seat doing my preflight scan. 20 minutes later we are preflight complete, checking over the flight plan in the box and our passengers start boarding on time. Most of them all look to be retired and headed to the states to join their families for the holiday. I go back and say hello and let them know about our flight time and route.

We get the airstairs away and call ground for engine start clearance. With that,we start cranking up. Starter engaged...15% N2...fuel lever on..10 seconds later we get light off and our CF-6 cranks to life. With 1 and 3 started we taxi out. On the taxi our engineer starts number 2.

I contact tower at the end of the runway wish them a happy thanksgiving and let them know we are ready for departure. We are quickly cleared for takeoff.

My AC lines the aircraft up, transfers control of the jet and now its my takeoff. I smoothly advance the throttles and a quick check shows 3 good engines..I call for takeoff power to be set and we quickly start hauling down the runway. Its cold, we are light and the Diesel is racing to get airborne. As we go down the runway, we hear the steady thumps of the nose wheel hitting the runway centerline lights. Quickly we approach V1 and rotate...I smoothly pull the yoke back and we launch off the runway and right into the weather.

We are soon at our clean up height..we bring the power outta takeoff setting and settle our climb to get the slats/flaps up. We are now getting vectored off our SID. A few minutes later and we are starting to pull out of the weather..I'm greeted by one of the most amazing views of the sunrise as we climb out of a solid cloud deck. The sensation of speed is evident as we zoom over the clouds and slowly climb out of them. The autopilot is engaged now and I'm trying to take in the sights.

Nothing but smooth sky ahead of us and 8 more hours of flight left! I'm headed home!

New Blog

I started a new blog if anyone wants to check it out. The subject will be investing/money matters.

http://mymoneyflies.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

3rd time is the charm...I think

Well tonight I will be getting all suited up to head out the door again in attempts to start my 2 week Coronet. This past weekend has had the east coast in some messy weather, and this has made our mission slip 2 days. Our Coronet is an A-10 drag starting from around Charleston heading all the way eventually to the Middle East. Along the way we will be making stops in the Azores, Italy before making our way to Qatar.

The good about this trip.
1.Only 2 pilots, giving me a great amount of flight time.
2.Tax free for the month due to flying in the AOR..always welcomed!
3.More flight time than normal due to A-10s cruise speed being so slow


The not so good..
1.long flight times..due to A-10s being so painfully slow ;)
2.Only 2 crew members = no crew rest..its going to be some 10 hours legs!
3.Being gone for a few weeks from the Wife (can be good or bad depending on what your outlook is ha)
4.Missing out on the holidays

I look forward to getting out over the Atlantic again. Should be some beautiful views of the sunrise which I'm always a sucker for. Never gets old!


Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!