On The Air With Cap'n Meryl
FROM CAP’N MERYL
Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2005-03-28-ask-the-captain_x.htm
“On The Air With Cap’n Meryl”
That almost looks like a typo, but I was “On The
Air” this past week as co-host of a very popular
syndicated talk show called “Let’s Talk Travel”
with Sandra Fenton. I do lots of radio
interviews, but they’re usually relatively short,
from ten minutes to a half hour at a time, and
rarely in person.
Sandra, however, like me, wanted me there in
person and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, so
off I flew to Harrisburg, PA to do a taping for an
hour-long radio show which aired on Sunday. A
Special Announcement was sent out as this show
covers a wide area in the northeast part of the
country and I thought maybe some of my readers
might want to catch it.
You can see a picture of Sandra and me just before
the taping by going to the Photo Gallery on my
site, in the Album called “Speaking Events” or
just click here.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=2
You must admit---we’re awfully cute!
Getting to and from Harrisburg from Denver was a
little bit of an ordeal. I flew from Denver to
Chicago and then connected to get to Harrisburg.
To get back to Denver I flew on a United Express
Regional Jet operated by Chautaqua Airlines to
Dulles, and then made my connection to a B-777 for
the flight to Denver.
The United Express flight was completely full, so
I got permission to ride in the cockpit. The
entire crew, Captain Luke Wielgot, First Officer
Jim Deitchman and Flight Attendant Amanda Dowty
were all so nice, I just had to take some
pictures.
Click here:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/index.php?cat=0
and find the United States Album on the left side
of the page. Pictures from this recent trip are
mixed with other, older pictures from other trips
in this Album, but if you look you’ll see pictures
of takeoff from Harrisburg, including a little
peek at the nuclear stacks on Three-Mile Island,
both pilots, the airplane—inside and out, etc.
Don’t overlook the fact that there is a second
page (look for page numbers in the lower
right-hand corner when you get there).
During the radio show taping, one of the questions
Sandra asked, and which I often get asked, is
whether a flight on a Regional Jet is less safe
than flying on a mainstream commercial airliner.
My answer is that these pilots are at LEAST as
proficient as major airline pilots as they fly far
more frequently into the same complex
environments. When I fly a trip, it’s one very
long leg a day—almost always—and then I’m done.
These pilots were to fly six legs the day I flew
in their cockpit. This is where the majors get a
great many of their pilots and if it weren’t for
the financial hardships in the majors, both pilots
would almost certainly have been hired by one
already.
I don’t think anyone will argue with me that a
B-777 or B-747 is a more comfortable ride, but I
would, and often have, ridden on “RJ’s” (Regional
Jets) with complete confidence. You’ll see by the
pictures how highly sophisticated their cockpits
are.
As for Amanda, or “Mandy,” the two pilots tipped
me off that she was flying one of her last trips
as a Flight Attendant. She’s finishing up some
pilot training and wants to go on to a career as
an airline pilot. I bet she’ll do great. I
recognized “THE LOOK”—the same one I had when I
KNEW what I wanted to do with my life.
As I’m writing this, I’ve just been assigned my
next trip: I’ll be commuting to Chicago tomorrow,
Friday (March 26th) for starters, where I’ll spend
the night, then fly to Tokyo and lay over for a
day there, then on to Singapore for a layover
there, then back to Tokyo for another layover,
then back to Chicago where I’ll catch a flight
back home to Denver. I’ll be gone a full seven
days this time around, including the overnight
stay in Chicago. I’m not opposed to commuting in
the same day, but the trip leaves too early in the
day to commute the same day.
I’ll have three copilots—one “flying pilot” and
two relief pilots on the Chicago-Narita
(Tokyo)-Chicago flights, but it’ll be just two of
us in the cockpit between Tokyo and Singapore and
back to Tokyo. Those are long flights, but less
than eight hours. Over eight hours requires one
extra pilot, and over 12 hours two extra pilots.
The last time I flew that route it was with Al,
the Web Guy, in the late eighties. He was a DC-10
captain then and I was a DC-10 copilot. We flew
all over the Orient together.
That’s how we met, as a matter of fact, flying as
a crew on the DC-10. The day I met him, I was
still a flight engineer and he was head of the
DC-10 check pilots—-giving another check pilot a
check ride.
I’m sure it sounds a little confusing, but every
pilot in every position gets periodic check rides
from other pilots and also from the FAA. Check
pilots get their check rides from other check
pilots and also from the FAA. It’s not unusual to
receive a check ride from a check pilot who
himself is receiving a check ride from yet another
check pilot or from the FAA or both. Confused?
You should be! That’s a whole lotta checking
going on.
Now I’m a captain and Al, the Web Guy, is retired,
but he works harder for me than I think he ever
did flying to Sydney his last several years on the
job. He is, after all the Senior Executive Vice
President of Absolutely Everything Around Here.
Fish’n Chips’n Australian Beer was the name of the
game for the last several years of Al’s airline
career. Does he miss it? The Flying? The Fish?
The Chips? The Beer? Especially--The Beer?
Probably, but he never says so unless you ask him,
do don’t ask him.
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airpseed!
Cap’n Meryl
Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2005-03-28-ask-the-captain_x.htm
“On The Air With Cap’n Meryl”
That almost looks like a typo, but I was “On The
Air” this past week as co-host of a very popular
syndicated talk show called “Let’s Talk Travel”
with Sandra Fenton. I do lots of radio
interviews, but they’re usually relatively short,
from ten minutes to a half hour at a time, and
rarely in person.
Sandra, however, like me, wanted me there in
person and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, so
off I flew to Harrisburg, PA to do a taping for an
hour-long radio show which aired on Sunday. A
Special Announcement was sent out as this show
covers a wide area in the northeast part of the
country and I thought maybe some of my readers
might want to catch it.
You can see a picture of Sandra and me just before
the taping by going to the Photo Gallery on my
site, in the Album called “Speaking Events” or
just click here.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=2
You must admit---we’re awfully cute!
Getting to and from Harrisburg from Denver was a
little bit of an ordeal. I flew from Denver to
Chicago and then connected to get to Harrisburg.
To get back to Denver I flew on a United Express
Regional Jet operated by Chautaqua Airlines to
Dulles, and then made my connection to a B-777 for
the flight to Denver.
The United Express flight was completely full, so
I got permission to ride in the cockpit. The
entire crew, Captain Luke Wielgot, First Officer
Jim Deitchman and Flight Attendant Amanda Dowty
were all so nice, I just had to take some
pictures.
Click here:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/index.php?cat=0
and find the United States Album on the left side
of the page. Pictures from this recent trip are
mixed with other, older pictures from other trips
in this Album, but if you look you’ll see pictures
of takeoff from Harrisburg, including a little
peek at the nuclear stacks on Three-Mile Island,
both pilots, the airplane—inside and out, etc.
Don’t overlook the fact that there is a second
page (look for page numbers in the lower
right-hand corner when you get there).
During the radio show taping, one of the questions
Sandra asked, and which I often get asked, is
whether a flight on a Regional Jet is less safe
than flying on a mainstream commercial airliner.
My answer is that these pilots are at LEAST as
proficient as major airline pilots as they fly far
more frequently into the same complex
environments. When I fly a trip, it’s one very
long leg a day—almost always—and then I’m done.
These pilots were to fly six legs the day I flew
in their cockpit. This is where the majors get a
great many of their pilots and if it weren’t for
the financial hardships in the majors, both pilots
would almost certainly have been hired by one
already.
I don’t think anyone will argue with me that a
B-777 or B-747 is a more comfortable ride, but I
would, and often have, ridden on “RJ’s” (Regional
Jets) with complete confidence. You’ll see by the
pictures how highly sophisticated their cockpits
are.
As for Amanda, or “Mandy,” the two pilots tipped
me off that she was flying one of her last trips
as a Flight Attendant. She’s finishing up some
pilot training and wants to go on to a career as
an airline pilot. I bet she’ll do great. I
recognized “THE LOOK”—the same one I had when I
KNEW what I wanted to do with my life.
As I’m writing this, I’ve just been assigned my
next trip: I’ll be commuting to Chicago tomorrow,
Friday (March 26th) for starters, where I’ll spend
the night, then fly to Tokyo and lay over for a
day there, then on to Singapore for a layover
there, then back to Tokyo for another layover,
then back to Chicago where I’ll catch a flight
back home to Denver. I’ll be gone a full seven
days this time around, including the overnight
stay in Chicago. I’m not opposed to commuting in
the same day, but the trip leaves too early in the
day to commute the same day.
I’ll have three copilots—one “flying pilot” and
two relief pilots on the Chicago-Narita
(Tokyo)-Chicago flights, but it’ll be just two of
us in the cockpit between Tokyo and Singapore and
back to Tokyo. Those are long flights, but less
than eight hours. Over eight hours requires one
extra pilot, and over 12 hours two extra pilots.
The last time I flew that route it was with Al,
the Web Guy, in the late eighties. He was a DC-10
captain then and I was a DC-10 copilot. We flew
all over the Orient together.
That’s how we met, as a matter of fact, flying as
a crew on the DC-10. The day I met him, I was
still a flight engineer and he was head of the
DC-10 check pilots—-giving another check pilot a
check ride.
I’m sure it sounds a little confusing, but every
pilot in every position gets periodic check rides
from other pilots and also from the FAA. Check
pilots get their check rides from other check
pilots and also from the FAA. It’s not unusual to
receive a check ride from a check pilot who
himself is receiving a check ride from yet another
check pilot or from the FAA or both. Confused?
You should be! That’s a whole lotta checking
going on.
Now I’m a captain and Al, the Web Guy, is retired,
but he works harder for me than I think he ever
did flying to Sydney his last several years on the
job. He is, after all the Senior Executive Vice
President of Absolutely Everything Around Here.
Fish’n Chips’n Australian Beer was the name of the
game for the last several years of Al’s airline
career. Does he miss it? The Flying? The Fish?
The Chips? The Beer? Especially--The Beer?
Probably, but he never says so unless you ask him,
do don’t ask him.
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airpseed!
Cap’n Meryl
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