More Flying...More Pictures

This picture was taken this morning flying between Canouwan Island (TVSC) and Castries, St. Lucia (TLPC). It was around 8am and the sun was glistening off of the water. A major storm system went through during the night and between St. Lucia and San Juan, we went through lots of rain and clouds. It is the end of June in the Caribbean and we got lots of icing on our airplane...it didn't help either that our icing equipment failed as soon as we turned it on...it is not used much down here in San Juan. This is why I love flying...escaping from the earth and seeing how beautiful the world really is.

This is a picture of the Arecibo Observatory. On the way home yesterday from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic we flew right over the top of the observatory.

There are so many beautiful sights to see flying over the countryside of Puerto Rico. I'll never get tired of flying here.

Three people in a two person raft!

I'm really just wasting time before I start to study tons, but today my roommate Gary, Keyra, and myself did an experiment. I wish that I had pictures for this one. I own a boat...well, actually a two person raft. Today we all got on the boat and tried to make it to the Dominican Republic. We got out about 50 feet into the ocean when we started to sink. It was great though because we never did totally sink. A little boy back at the beach told me that we were gonna nead lifeguards and we showed him that he really doesn't know anything about boating! I estimate that we had 600 pounds in a 370 pound max raft. It was fun!

I was a father for a day!

Ok, this post requires some background explaination to make sense. When I met Keyra, it was because I was walking Jeremy's (my old roommate) dog Chocko on the beach. When I lived with Chocko, he was my best friend and I was never lonely because he was always there to hang out with and go to the beach with me. Since I met Keyra I have mentioned how much I miss having a dog to spend time with...this is because I no longer live in our old place with 5 roommates. I also mentioned that I like Labradors. Look at the pictures below and I will explain what happened to me last night...











Yesterday was a horrible day at work. When I landed at the airport about two hours later than planned I called Keyra to say hello and that I was back. She said that she was at the airport waiting for me. After I cleared customs and immigration I went outside to say hi and opened to door to her car to this little guy with a bow on his neck! Not only was I shocked then, but I am still in shock now! I have never had someone suprise me with a puppy before especially at the airport! After the initial shock I fell in love with the little guy who had no name. After I fell in love, I started to think "how in the world am I going to take care of him!" Keyra made sure that when she bought the puppy it could be returned if it didn't work out.

This puppy is the most wonderful dog ever. It is already potty trained (it already knew that the floor of my room was it's personal bathroom). He was calm and very friendly and loving...the perfect dog for me. He has a little white stripe down his front too. I fell in love with this puppy and it was horrible. Today we went to the beach and drove in my car. He loves driving and sitting in my lap.

Most of you who read this are probably thinking, Luke is going to raise that dog...how! Well, that was the problem. After tons of thinking and heartache I knew inside that I could not raise him in the right way now, and me keeping him would not be fair to the puppy. So a few hours ago we returned him to the owner. It was very sad, but also funny because I've never had a girl be so kind to buy me a dog. I was given the opportunity to be a father for a day and a night. Here is what I know about being a father now...

1) You have to not mind poop on the floor, the cute little eyes looking at you make it ok.
2) You have to remember that water on the floor might not be water anymore.
3) You have to fight to keep your kid because if your kid is cute people want to steal it.
4) Kids have too much energy especially late at night when you are trying to sleep!
5) Kids need a yard to play in.

The whole experience was a learning experience and I know forsure now that I will own a dog as soon as I can take care of one and teach it well. I also know that cats are stupider than dogs, reversing what I have thought my whole life. This is probably since the last cat that I have been with is very boring. Yes, I'm talking about Sapphire...

At the end of the experience I am just thankful that I met a girl who is thoughtful enough to go out and find me a wonderful little puppy, put a bow on its neck, drive to the airport to meet me, and surprise me more than ever!

San Juan Night

I am about to go to sleep after a great night here in San Juan. Since tonight we all had to have a beach party and do 7 jumps backwards into the ocean at midnight I am all wet. It was so much fun and so neat to see the beach packed full of people all night. At midnight my roommate Randall and Keyra and I ran from the pool to the beach for the backflips. I wish I had my camera, but I probably would have gotten it wet and destroyed it so it is probably good that I didn't bring it.

I will write more about this experience sometime but it was really cool. There were fireworks and a huge police presence due to the craziness that goes on here. I have never seen so many police. Well...off to bed so I can fly to Canouwan Island tomorrow. I am so fortunate that I moved to Puerto Rico, met Keyra, and have friends to share these things with. Now the chair is all wet here at the table since I am still in my swimsuit.

The Beauty of the Caribbean Sea...

This is Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. It is in the extreme Northwest portion of that country. I really love this airport and flying there. I go every Friday afternoon. This picture was taken this past Friday from about 2,000 feet on the visual approach. The mountain in the distance is unique because you can still see the remnants of a very large airline crash about 20 years ago I believe...in bad weather the poor crew hit the side of the hill just about 50 feet from clearing the top.



This picture is of the "Pitons" of the Island of St. Lucia. I am able to see this picture every Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning on the way to/from Canouwan Island. I really love this sight and always look forward to seeing it. This picture was taken this morning.

I'm in Canouwan!

I am using a computer at the hotel in Canouwan Island (just south of St. Vincent in the Grenadines) for this post. We had a horrible flight today! Left late (1 hr) because of scared dispatchers, the weather was bad but we made the call to go...they were going to cancel the flight which would have been dumb. And then some really stupid ramper loaded the wrong bags into our airplane and lost the real bags that we needed. So now we are hiding out on an extrememely SMALL island from 63 really mad people! What a horrible day! And what the wrong island for this to happen to. We are the only people that fly here and only have one flight per day. I need to watch my back tonight so I don't die...they even lost some carry-on bags with personal effects!

Well, I'm going to have some pizza now and then hide on the beach and in my room. Back to San Juan in the morning.

Crazy People

This is Keyra. Because of her I have seen and learned so much about Puerto Rico. As we were driving to Fajardo the other day she was helping me study for my checkride by quizzing me on the ATR limitations. Today I was talking to her on the phone between flights and mentioned that it was raining hard around Puerto Rico. She said "make sure you stay below 160 so the wipers don't come off!" I have to be careful what you tell her because her memory is about 10 x better than mine. The other evening she saw an airplane flying and knew that green lights are on the right wing....I had mentioned it like a month ago in a conversation with another pilot!

This is us being crazy...must have been a little bored. Well, I have been messing with this dumb website for awhile now trying to fix it and now I need to go to work and spend the night in Canouwan Island where I can kayak and sail until sunset. Adios!

Why after one year they make us do a checkride...

Don't do this in Puerto Rico to a guy...you will get killed.

- look no tie!

- by the way, i'm at 19,000 feet.

More flying...

Over the last four days I have been flying, flying, flying. I was in town for Friday night and that was fun, and yesterday I went to see X-men 3, but except for that I have been in the cockpit over the sea somewhere...going somewhere.

I just came back from a charter flight of Dominicans to Punta Cana. I was helping a friend out by doing his flight (this is my day off). He did me a favor a few weeks ago so I could go to the beach in Fajardo. I figured that it was no big deal to help him out since it is an easy one hour each way flight and a great operation in the Dominican Republic. I was wrong! The weather today is horrible with tons of convective cells and lots of traffic. I was the pilot flying on the return to San Juan and had to land in heavy rain. It was almost like a guessing game as to when I was going to touch down since I couldn't really see the runway through the rain.

I am going to get some food from the grocery store then rest up for a few fun days in San Juan! I also need to study since I am going to Dallas on July 7th for my Proficiecy check in the simulator and also an oral exam on limitations and emergency procedures. Lots of nervousness for this one!

Condo Coral Beach

Well, I finally just took some pictures off of my balcony. I still have to take some pictures of the building from the beach...I will do that soon. Tomorrow starts a hard time in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The water pumping facility will be down for heavy maintainance from Friday to Sunday. There will be no water in most places. This building has a cistern so we will only be without water on Friday. It doesn't really matter to me since I will be flying most of the day tomorrow. I am going to work in a few hours for a St. Croix turn then on to the overnight in La Romana, D.R.

Yesterday I spent five hours at a place getting my car fixed. The alternator belt was the wrong type and a few other small things were wrong too. I was lucky enough to be saved from absoluty boredom for an hour or so when Keyra and I went to lunch when she was on her way to work. When she dropped me off I took a walk, just about 15 minutes before a torrential downpour occured. That was wonderful and very refreshing. Took lots of the horrible ash out of the sky to make today a wonderful day.

I really got screwed this month with work. I picked up about 15 hours of overtime flying with the idea that I would make the "perfect schedule" by dropping all the late night flights and early morning show times. Well...since at the moment American Eagle is understaffed for First Officers, none of my "drop requests" have been approved by Dallas HQ. So I am flying way more than I would really like to this month. I really like to be at home when I can and do things here in Puerto Rico.

This picture is of the billfold that we found the other night during "galleria night" in old San Juan. It was an amazing experience and one that I won't forget. I am truly in love with Puerto Rico.

Today I found the most amazing bike trail...imagine riding your bike through dense swamp and then turning a corner and seeing a bright blue beach! I love it!

New Routine

I am starting a new routine that I haven't done since 2nd and 3rd year in college...swim at least a mile a morning. My new apartment, Coral Beach, has one of my favorite pools ever. It is right on the ocean and a full 25 yard pool. And the water is warm!

The pool was 90% of the reason that I wanted to live in this condo. I just came back from the pool and I feel great! Now I'm off to Plaza Las Americas to see a movie and do some shopping. Plaza Las Americas is the largest mall in Puerto Rico and is actually really amazing to see. It is about half an hour from Isla Verde where I live.

This picture was taken just about two weeks ago while I was having fun in Orlando. It was taken at Ripley's Believe it or not before my visit to SeaWorld Orlando.

Who says that I don't work?

Today I am finally off of work and able to relax. I'm about to take my mountain bike down the beach to ride on the boardwalk. I will really enjoy having days off until Thursday evening. For 8 of the past 9 days I have been flying 14-16 hour days. I was flying so much that the company had to remove me from a few flights to keep from violating the 30hrs/7 days rule.

The volcano has destroyed the SJU schedules once again. Two days ago on the way into Nevis, we descended through a cloud layer a few thousand feet thick...the only thing was that it was not 100% clouds! Around 6,000 feet the entire cabin smelled like sulphur and we were in ash...a quick reduction in power to save the engines and a descent into the clear and we were safe. Upon landing in Nevis we were delayed while the dispatchers found a way for us to come back home. We had to fly north to St. Maarten and then to a point NE of Puerto Rico then direct SJU.

Flying in the Caribbean is not losing its charm. I am still amazed every day that I am fortunate enough to be doing what I am doing. It is amazing to fly between volcanic mountains then shoot out over light blue water with coral everywhere. I know that I am in love with the island life. I only have one major fear in my life...having to leave the Caribbean before I am ready.