The local port authority has to approve a water cannon event. In Atlanta, no such authority will be given. Didn’t bother me, would have been nice, but didn’t bother me. In the last six months, over eighty senior captains have reached the magic number of 65 years and not one of us expected a water salute. Is nice to hear another captain did get a proper send off!

(Written on 07/29/2023)(Permalink)

Delta no longer does this at ATL and hasn’t for some time. After 31 years you get your letter, your retirement package and directions to the exit. No hard feelings though, just show me the money!

(Written on 07/29/2023)(Permalink)

Look more closely… the aircraft is in correct climb out configuration. The tail is at least 10’ above the runway. I’m thinking the angle of attack is deceiving due to the position of the camera.

(Written on 06/16/2023)(Permalink)

Not to worry. At the current rate of loss of pilots, mainly due to a Federal Aviation ruling that pilots have mandatory retirement at age 65, there may not be any pilots to fly any new airliners. So why does Boeing need to worry about new plane development? Sarcasm of course. But as an ATP that will be forced to retire in a few months, I can verify this one fact. There is now and will remain to be a pilot shortage in the airline industry. This year alone, it is estimated 6,800 ATPs will retire, mostly due to the age restriction. This as a side note: If these senior Boeing engineers are so gifted, then why all the “engineering” problems with the Boeing Max and Dreamliner? Just saying…

(Written on 12/16/2022)(Permalink)

As a former B777 pilot, I was always proud of that airliner. The triple seven was the first aircraft to be designed entirely by computer CAD and never had a mock-up made before production. Delta was on track to do away with its small fleet of 777s but began refurbishing the 400s in 2017. The refurbished models were great aircraft and had that right off of the assembly line smell when you entered the flight deck. But shortly after the pandemic hit and airlines stacking up planes anywhere they could find room, the Delta 777s were taken out of service never to return. The Max and the Dreamliner are appropriate aircraft to to take on the future of modern airliners. As an ATP, my days of flying will soon come to an end as I reach that day of the midnight of my 65th birthday. After 34 years of flying mostly Boeing aircraft, I’m glad to see Boeing moving ahead with such a tremendous order. I have nothing against Airbus but I have never liked the idea of a flight management system (computer

(Written on 12/16/2022)(Permalink)

There is indeed a method to the madness of flight numbers. For example, flights are usually numbered based on their direction of travel. An example, north and eastbound flights are assigned even numbers, while south and westbound flights are numbered odd. Also, once a flight number is assigned to a flight route, that flight number typically remains the same day after day regardless of the equipment assigned to that route. Often a route that is flown between to cities will be separated by one number, ie, flight DL-805 ATL to PDX will be flight DL-804 on its return to Atlanta.

(Written on 09/09/2022)(Permalink)

You are so right. My error! Should have said “737”. I was the flight engineer on the 727 when I started my flying career with PanAm. Watching tv and typing on my iPad. Not a good thing! The 727 has its own interesting history which includes the APU was an addition to the design when supposedly airlines requested it be made available. As you know, the engine configuration made the tail mounted APU a no-go. Boeing got creative and installed the rather small APU in the wheel well having to create an inlet located, if I remember correctly, in the right wing root(?) and exhausting in the opposite wing. The MD tri-engine had a similar problem. (I read this post carefully before selecting the post button!)

(Written on 08/13/2022)(Permalink)

The first commercial airliner to use a tail mounted APU was the Boeing 727. That was my first aircraft as an ATP. Those were manufactured by Honeywell and were rather crude in the beginning. By the time I was on the flight deck all of the original auxiliary units had been replaced but were still made by Honeywell. Training for the Boeing 787 I was surprised to learn the APU has only one job and that is to generate electrical power. This is a first in APU manufacturing as the 787 requires far more electrical power than previous models.

(Written on 08/12/2022)(Permalink)

This article is rather simplified and probably does not interest most GA pilots. But it might cause someone to want to delve deeper into the subject. In my day job, I rely heavily on the APU. When no ground source of air pressure is available, it is very vital to have the APU up and running. The starters on my GE engines uses high volume compressed air to turn the engines to the proper RPM before fuel and ignition occur. For those interested, once our main engine is spooling up, the bleed air from that engine is directed to the second startup and the APU bleed is shut down. The APU is just another component down line during the startup procedure.

(Written on 08/12/2022)(Permalink)

The incident you are referring to occurred on November 3, 1973 when a man aboard a National Airlines DC-10 flight had an engine blow up at forty thousand feet. However, in that incident, there was much more damage around the window allowing more room for the man, who was reported to be of average size, to be ejected from the plane. The man’s body was found as skeletal remains and did not show any indications of having struck the engine. By the way, this man was in his seat belt and according to witnesses he had eight to ten inches of slack in the belt.

(Written on 04/24/2018)(Permalink)