Keyra Enid Cabrera Caban & Luke Spencer Morgan Balzer

This picture is of Keyra while we are on the ferry to Culebra the other day. We were going to fly on Vieques Airlink (they fly Cessna Caravans), but we would have had to be in Fajardo at 530am for a 6am flight. I did not want to do that and neither did Keyra. So instead we took the ferry for $2 each way. The ferry was nice, but there were too many gringos.

I won't put up a picture of me, because I just had Denny's for dinner (pancakes, sausage, and eggs)...and I feel fat right now. That discourages me from putting pictures of myself up.


This dog is Chocko, the dog of my former roommate Jeremy. I still see Chocko sometimes and he is still the best dog ever. He is the reason that Keyra and I met...Jeremy has taught him well. Find pretty girls on the beach and act cute. It worked! Chocko was born in Alaska and is the son of a wandering and homeless dog who is famous for getting pregnant nice dogs that have homes and good lives. Tomorrow I start my September flying and go to Tortolla in the morning, Dominica in the afternoon, and then to St. Thomas for the overnight. In the morning on Saturday I fly right away to Punta Cana then return.

Recent Pictures

I have been going to lots of beaches, flying to lots of nice places, and having lots of fun in August. In September I have 20 days off and do two St. Thomas overnights, two Tortolla overnights, and two Grenada overnights. I will probably do some overtime flying since 20 days off is a bit much!

This is the island of Icacos and also Culebra from the dock where the ferry comes. I have been having a great time here exploring and seeing new things. This water is so nice and clear at the dock in Culebra. Keyra was even nice enough to push me off of it so I could experience being in the clear water up close! Icacos is wonderful. Great reefs and nice sand. On weekends there will be boats all over and a huge party on the island. It is great!

Being a regional airline pilot...

Well, it has been a while since I made a "real" post...so here it goes! Life is going great, tomorrow I am spending the day on the island of Culebra with Keyra, it will be a nice day on the beach. I have been on a three day trip and she works lots as well. Before it all is forced from my mind, I will try to inform those of you who are interested a little bit more about what my job is really like.

Lets review my last trip, which is what we call a "three day".

Day 1 - Saturday

Arrive at the airport at 715am to eat a Mallorca (actually two). Sign in for my sequence at 0755 for an 0840 departure. Print out the flight release, prepare the load manifest with all the information that is already known, head to the aircraft before the rest of the crew. Walk across a noisy ramp to aircraft N498AT, an ATR-72-212A made in the late 1990s. Get into the cockpit, activate the external power to the avoinics and cabin systems. Since it is the first flight of the day, also check all the emergency lights and equipment. By now the flight attendants have shown up and started thier main job...annoying me. After checking everything it is time to sit in the cockpit and get the ATC clearance to Santiago, Dominican Republic, about a two hour flight away. After the clearance it is time to start the normal fight to leave on time. Call operations on the radio and find out why no passengers are boarding yet. After telling them, "yes, the flight attendants are here, you can stop looking for them", it is time to finish the load manifest, make sure the aircraft is below the maximum weights and that the center of gravity is within limits for takeoff and landing. After all this the captain has arrived and it is time to run the Origination and Before start checklists. This checklists check about 40 or so items and confirm that we have each done out checks...these checks are mainly checking the fire detection systems, navigation systems, and avionics.

By now the passengers are boarded, the external air is disconnected, we are buckled up and set up. Time to start the number 2 engine. I start the engine and there is no rise in ITT...aborted start! Time to get out one of four large manuals next to me in my flight kit..."Aborted start checklist...crank, fuel shutoff, 30 seconds, restart". Good start! We can go without doing everything over again in a new aircraft.

Ok...time to get the taxi clearance. Great! We are number one for takeoff this morning and should be no delay. It is my leg to fly so my breifing, "ok this will be a takeoff on runway eight in San Juan, ATR72-212 Alpha, flaps 15 degrees, looking for a 90 percent torque and a max of 765 on the ITT, before V1 we will abort, after V1 we will continue and if needed return here to runway eight...conditions are marginal so we will use the ILS to eight 110.3 078 inbound, we have three MELs and none affect performance, we are cleared on Blue 520 to Borinquen, Antex, and then Santiago, five thousand initially, Puerto Plata is our alternate...any questions?" None..."taxi checks".

After taxi checks and before start checks we are ready to leave on time!!! Listen to the PA and make sure no flight attendant is talking before I make the prepare for takeoff PA. WHAT!!! She just started spanish! About a minute to go...now I am mad. "Eagle flight fifty twenty cleared for takeoff fly heading 075"..."Tower Eagle flight 5020 will need a few minutes sorry". Fuming. Getting more mad now. ok she stopped talking. "Flight attendants please prepare for takeoff". No response? Why so slow? (ding the flight attendants to call us) "ready for takeoff" ABOUT TIME. "San Juan tower EGF 5120 ready to go!" "Hold short for landing traffic" Now I'm mad.

Now we get the clearance for takeoff. An uneventful takeoff headed out to sea and along the NW coast of PR to Dominican. A climb to flight level 200 (twenty thousand feet). One and a half hours reading "Caribbean Business" which I found in the airplane. Did you know that Tourism only grew 1.1% in July? The things you learn flying!

Time for the descent. More briefing, more checks, more setups for instrument approches. Field in sight....it will be a visual approach. A wonderfully beautiful approach to landing. High mountains on both sides, large storms a few miles away, dirt roads, fields, small houses, rivers, caves, and more green then ever seen before. In the middle a runway. Touchdown!!! Now the after landing checks, taxi to ramp, offload passengers, get clearance to engine start, and it all starts again for the return flight!

This is just one leg. Here is my normal schedule when I do work for the month of August. It is over now and I don't barely work in September, but that is not the point.

Saturday: San Juan-Santiago-San Juan-St. Croix-San Juan-Curacao overnight.
Sunday: Curacao-San Juan-St. Croix-San Juan-Punta Cana-San Juan-Tortolla overnight.
Monday: Tortolla-San Juan-St. Croix-San Juan-Tortolla-San Juan.

Just to let you know...after each international flight, we must walk about one mile, clear customs and immigration, leave and re-enter security, and do it all again.

The life of an American Eagle pilot.

So now when I say that I am off about 18 days per month, it sounds more fair hopefully.

Birds

It has been a long time for any posts on this blog so I figured that today's events warrant a small post. This morning I was flying out of St. Croix and a flock of birds decided to takeoff just as we were taking off as well...

To make a short story even shorter I had to fly for 40 minutes back to San Juan with feathers, blood, and other material all over the windshield in front of me. I believe that three birds decided to commit suicide this morning. Farewell my fine feathered friends!

Kayaking and Flying

This is Jedi after we had a "nice" kayak trip on the Patuxent River. He had a great idea to play "splash luke and see what happens". Well, what happens is that Luke responds by splashing back until you almost sink! Note Jedi's face, I think it says, "I wish I could get you wet again but I'm too scared of you."
Afterwards Moriah went flying with me and we had a great time...it was her first time flying an airplane during takeoff...she did a good job and I'm trying to convince her to get her license since Jedi told me when he was mad that he "hates stupid flying".

I no longer have a soccer jersey...

This used to be MY soccer jersey, I wore it during my freshman year at UND to all the games...by the way we lost them all.

Family Addictions/Problems

I've been home for one full day and here is what I have observed. I have a pool addiction, Jedi has an addiction to getting in my personal space, Moriah has a music problem, Isaac has a couch problem, my mom has a flower problem (but I took care of that by accidentally mowing over her flowers), my dad has a huge bike addiction, the cat has a sleeping problem, and my room has its own problem.

Maryland

This is the Morgan house in Maryland on Pine Ridge Court and one of the Cessna 150's that I learned to fly in. I flew it yesterday and had lots of fun buzzing my house and also bouncing on one landing...back out to mowing the grass now.

New Pictures Stolen from Family Computer

Why I love my life...

I am home this afternoon for a few hours!!! Today has been mass-chaos at the airport. Huge security lines, buckets full of toothpaste and hair gel at the security checkpoint, and lots of angry people.

So why am I so happy? Because I see all these crabby people at the airport coming home from vacation and again facing their reality of life...work, stress, and being in a hurry. When I see this, I realize that my life is the exact opposite, my work is doing what I love, I am home when I land in San Juan, and I always have a nice voicemail on phone from my Puertoriqueña novia when I return! Too bad that last night I was in Guadaloupe around annoying and stinky french island people who did not accept the US dollar, otherwise I would have had fun with my gringo and puertorican friends, I really missed out.

Today I heard the news that American Eagle has exercised thier options on 25 more CRJ-700 regional jets...this is great news! The company will expand and that will be less time for me to upgrade to captain which means that I can get my Harley Davidson sooner! (also a used Cessna someday hopefully!)

Back to work again for an overnight in Tortolla, BVI. After tomorrow I do not work until the 19th! No vacation used...regular schedule! I really am thankful that life is so good and that I am so privileged to be having so much fun while kind of being a responsible adult at the same time...kind of.

Going to work.

I am leaving for a Guadaloupe overnight in Pointe-a-Pitre. I will be surrounded by people who smell bad and don't use deodorant! The plane stinks when we land! Tomorrow I fly all day then overnight in Tortolla, BVI.

Let's just say that I'm mad at these islamic idiots in England for making me take out the "liquids" in my overnight bag. This would be shaving cream, hair gel, and toothpaste...should be fun to have hair going "poof" and teeth smelling!

I'm so sick of terrorism and these little punks who think that their god will reward them for killing people in the west. Today I have a wish to be in the cockpit of an U.S. Air Force A-10 blowing them up right in front of me with a huge gun. Go Israel!