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.