A Day In The Life...

[Teeg]

Alarm goes off. Im kind of groggy, it is a saturday after all. Without even sitting up, I call dispatch. "Hey, is my student there?" "Yep, youre on NKX," "See ya in a bit." Thank god its not a no show today. Even at this stage in a students training, I still call dispatch to make sure THEY havent slept through the lesson. In an hours time, Chen and I are going to be practising holds over the local VOR.

Put on my epaulettes, and freshing pressed shirt, (someday Ill be doing the same, except getting in a jumbo) and start the 8min commute to Timmies and onwards to the field. This student is ok, though, Chen is the last in his group. In other words, Im being pressured to get him through quickly. I figure, if he's gonna be pushed through, he may as well learn something, and hopefully reflect what I taught him.

Through the hangar door, and Chen gives me a big smile, "hello sir!" "Chen, did you sleep ok?" "I studied all night sir..." "Great"
In briefing room #1 we review the flight for today. Departure, V303 eastboud, hold, followed by an approach on the vor, vectored ILS, "any questions Chen?"

There never is.

Thirty minutes later, with the Janitrol pumping out sweet, sweet heat, we turn away from the rising sun, and start back towards the VOR. "Center, NKX request a hold at the VOR, east IB on the 090 radial, at 4000..." Its approved. It almost always is at this time of day. Chen has impressed me so far this morning. He washed (no smell) and more importantly he's coherent and staying ahead of the plane. We enter the hold with a direct entry, start the time, and levels out on a 090 hdg. "center, novemba, kiwo, xway entering hold" "roger." The wind is out of the north this morning, about 25 kts. I give Chen a full one minute to try and figure out a wind correction. By the time we turn IB, weve intercepted the IB radial halfway through our turn. "Chen, why is the needle centered? Were still OB" "ohhhhhhh, I have to coewect fo wind!" So around in the loop we go again. He gets it this time. Almost perfectly. He may be the slowest in the class, but he's still smart.... just.... slow. I write that exact comment in his syllabus, give him a 2, citing "chen needs to be prompted." This extra time in the hold was worth it, but now the lesson, is overtime... just one approach today.

Itll be a full procedure ILS today. Ive done this transition from vor to the ils' fix, the ndb, so many times. "I wonder if in real jobs they do full procedures?" I think to myself. Anyway... should be an S turn, and with that northbound wind itll be tricky. Chen nails it. We turn IB on the approach, we intercept the Glideslope, but no response from Chen. "Were doin an ILS right Chen...?" "ok ok ok" At about 3/4 scale deflection, the light bulb goes on, and he does his landing checks, and reacts to his GS dot. I havent helped him out, and again Chen is behind the 8 ball, "runway in sight 12 oclock, go visual Chen." I get hit by the foggles.

As we pull up to the fuel bowser, my next student is all ready for the walkaround, while I debrief Chen. When I make my schedule, I try as best as possible to have a "good" student follow my "challenging" students at all times,... really, to keep my sanity. Steve's flight today is going to be his simulated multi ride. He aced his groundwork last night, well, except how the heater is turned on. Ill make sure he turns it on this morning, instead of me.

Steve is ready to go, and I give him a hand pulling the plane to the flight line. I ask him a couple of questions; wheres the squat swith, what will be your single engine approach speed today, why... etc. etc. Steve is under the syllabus suggested time. Just means he'll be able to save a couple of bucks or do a longer IFR XC later on. Im anticpating him passing the sim today. My briefing for the sim flt test goes the same way everytime, "this is a sim flight test, so im not going to to or say anything, unless its for a safe reason, however, I just want to see how you handle yourself." I give him the rundown of how I want the air exercises to be laid out. "oh, and do you want the circuit at the beginning on the end of the flight, totally your choice."

In the air we go. Circuit will be first with a spot landing on the thousand foot markers. 3. We depart, outbound to the area. Slow flight. 3. Stall. 4. Steep turn. 4. Engine Failure in Cruise. 4. Engine Failure in the overshoot. 3. Very good. This is what I was expecting. "well, lets head'er on back, which runway did you want to land on?" Im guessing he'll take 29. He does... which allows me to plan the "intentional engine shutdown exercise." About 20miles out, over Sumspot lake, I tell Steve in my best, pretend shaking voice "wh-why-why is is is the plane shak-shaking?" Its lame, but he gets it. He goes through the checks, mixture, carb heat, primers, fuel selector etc. Still shaking. "well lets shut down the engine" throttle idle, prop feather, mix cut off. Good. I give Steve the simulated power setting for a feathered prop, and off to rwy 29 we go.

We approach the control zone, and with the sun up, the single engines have taken the circuit by storm. "Uh Tower, NKX, were simulated single engine, full stop." Were already faster than the singles, and we approach single engine faster, just a heads up to the tower guys. "Roger, NKX, youre #3, traffic youre following is in the downwind." About 7 out, I pick up the traffic. You get to know YOUR airport so well, you know exactly where the traffic is SUPPOSED to be. Steve still doesnt have him in sight. In fact, he's just flying the numbers staring straight ahead. Ok. I remind him its "his" plane, and its up to him to work the radios too.

Were barrelling into the singles territory, and by this point Im pretty sure Steve hasnt seen the traffic ahead..."NKX, youre traffic is 12 o clock 2 miles, gotem in sight?" uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. "MFI, pull up go around, re join the right downwind BREAK NKX winds 280-3 cleared to land 29" "NKX cleared to land." Saved by Tower.

It was a text book landing. As an instructor, you now have to turn this into a teaching moment... "So Steve, how do you think your flight went..." How do you tell the guy, that up until that 15 sec of not paying attention, that it was a pretty darn perfect flight?

Following Steves flight, its time for a quick bite to eat, and a rant, in the office. Time is money. However without the rants, how are you supposed to make it throughout the day?

"Hello sir" "Wang, how ya doin today, tell me about what makes a prop move to the coarse position!"

and the day continues....

[bagbat]

Perhaps somewhat dated now, but you may enjoy these:

http://www.canaero.ca/subpages/Article% ... page1.html

http://www.canaero.ca/subpages/Article% ... page1.html

[FlowPack]

Hot coffee in my hand and feeling pretty good. Everything is better after a good nights sleep.

We climb easily through the flight levels Eastbound this morning. The air is cool and we have 50 knots on the tail. The sun is just becoming visible above the solid undercast as it begins blazing its daily trail across the Canadian sky.
We reach 27,000 feet and the autopilot levels us off. I ask for cruise power and plan to settle in for the 2 hour flight which our flight plan shows will take us around one military munitions testing area, and between two others. I forgot to mention our left fuel gauge is MEL'd so I have to do a significant amount of extra calculations derived from flight time during specific phases of flight and indicated fuel flow. We know that if the right fuel gauge is working and the fuel flows to both engines are nearly identical, it makes sense that there should be the same quantity of fuel remaining in both tanks, right? Well, it's the aviation way - if in doubt, do more paperwork....
Our speed is a decent 325 knots over the ground which is not bad for this tired old airplane. We thread the needle between the last two military zones and then proceed direct to destination for a straight in visual landing. My work for the day is done, the Copilot will take us home.
6 hours later..
The copilot asks for cruise power which I set. I make sure the all the engine parameters are set within company limits (not manufacturer limits which are less restrictive) and pull out the logbook to record an engine trend. As I'm doing that I hear something.
Now, you know when something on your car is broken and you call your mechanic and you discuss the issue.. you will offer your amateur diagnosis using terms you heard on Monster Garage foolishly thinking he buys your BravoSierra (because its embarassing to be a man and call a major automotive component a 'thingy'), but at some point you will resort to making sounds with your mouth: humming or scraping or grinding/chugging noises. It's simply the best way.
So the props are going waahhhhhhhhhhh waaahh waahh wah wah wah waaahh wahhhh waahhhhhhhhhhh. Thats right. Just what I said. Every few minutes. I did some troubleshooting and could not identify the source of problem. Prop synch didn't help. Power changes didn't help. Prop RPM changes didn't help. Boy that's annoying. So I end up writing down everything the engine gauges are showing me so I have something to help the guys figure it out when we get back (AKA something to back me up when they sideways glance at each other with a smirk that says 'probably just operator error...').
I tune the ATIS for our arrival back to base. Oh my, RVR 2800 feet. Moderate snow. Light icing. Light to moderate turbulence. Glad I'm not doing the flying. That sounds like work. We get the usual vectors for the ILS, number 6 on the approach. On the descent on downwind we sail by the Towering Cumulus - which is right over the airport giving the aforementioned weather.
A couple of turns and cleared to land. The airplane is configured and my eyes are mostly outside looking for the runway. 500 feet above. 200 feet above. 100 hundred above.....and runway lights, 12 o'clock. The copilot transitions from instruments to visual cues for landing. We're looking at the rabbit lights, the extended centreline lights, then threshold lights. Then a flock of birds. I squeeze out an 'uhhhh' and the copilot mumbles 'eeeeehh'. We instinctively tense up and wait for the thump of a birdstrike report... but nothing. We continue because there is really not much you can do, and even if you tried, you couldn't actually move the airplane quickly enough to evade birds 50 feet in front of you at that speed. The copilot has already begun to flare and the mains touchdown nicely.
After looking over the plane on the company ramp, seems like we slipped through the flock harmlessly.

Lucky us.

Lucky them...

[YYZSaabGuy]

Nicely done, all! Really enjoying these...........keep 'em coming, please.

[iflyforpie]

Alarm goes off at 7:45. Wake up, get the kids up, get them fed and dressed (and me as well) and drop them off at school/daycare/camp. Roll into work at 9, make coffee, check email, pull planes out and make sure they are fueled, then wait and wait and wait. Exhaust lame book and fail blog, YouTube and avcanada for interesting stuff then shut er down at two and go home.

0.0 flight hours. 5 hour duty day.

Alarm goes off at 6:30. Get up, get dressed, get food, roll in at 7:30. Quickly change my camera mounts back to telemetry antennas, install them on the 206, make a logbook entry, fuel up and take off for Kootenay National Park looking for deer. 1.0.

Remove the telemetry antennas, make the appropriate log entry, turn them back into camera mounts, and take my first set of tourists up to Jumbo Mountain at 10:00. 0.7.

Grab a break, get my work orders, check sheets, and tools ready for the 50 hour inspection on the 337 this evening, then take a walk-in couple to the Bugaboos in the 172 at 12:00. 1.0.

Grab some lunch, fuel up the plane, then take off at 14:00 for fire patrol. 3.7.

Land at 18:30. Finish up log books and paperwork. Grab some of the pizza bought for the maintenance tonight, then get into the hangar to find the oil already drained and spark plugs out. Pull the screens; clean, gap, and test 24 spark plugs; then wave the flashlight around to do the rest of the 'See' check Cessna wants us to do. Plugs in, screens in, oil in, run up and paperwork done. Home at 20:00.

6.4 hours, 12.5 hour duty day.

[lilfssister]

We had a similar thread in the Ladies forum a few years ago so I thought I would just copy and paste

I met some new neighbors recently. Did the trading of pleasantries and basic information. He is an accountant. She is a school teacher. I was able to ask somewhat intelligent questions about where they work, and where they went to school, all the while having some idea of what they do for a living.

Then it was my turn.

I don’t know about the other FSS who frequent this site, but sometimes, if someone was to ask me what the hardest thing about being an FSS was, I would say: “Explaining to people what I do for a living.” I guess if you’re in a real small place, in an easily accessible to the public FSS, then people MAY have seen you in action. In a medium sized place, inaccessible to the public, it’s not so easy to explain. You get the “Oh, I thought it was all done by remote control from a room in (insert name of city where ACC is located here).” Or, “Oh, so you’re an air traffic controller?”

Invariably, after a long drawn out attempt to explain the differences between air traffic control and flight service, you get the “Well, it’s not like you work in Toronto or something, you probably spend lots of time with your feet on the desk, reading the newspaper. (“There’s only X number of flights per day out of here” may be included if they travel a bit)”.

Not whining or complaining here, but just for chuckles I thought I would do some stats on a typical, moderately busy day. There is likely a small margin of error, because I got a bit busy at some points, and forgot to keep track, so there’s a few assumptions in the numbers.

9 hour shift=540 minutes (single stand operation, just me, no breaks)
44 combined arrivals/departures (no touch and goes, people really coming and going)= an arrival or departure every 12.3 minutes
30 were IFR
IFR arrivals= at least 2 sometimes 3 calls with ACC
IFR Departures= at least 2 phone calls with ACC
Some of those calls are really short, if there’s a complex clearance they can be around a minute for ACC to invent the clearance, and me to read it back.
Sometimes the info on two or more aircraft is combined in one phone call, sometimes there’s an extra call for a variety of reasons. We’ll say half were arrivals, half were departures.
So, let’s say for a nice round number: 60 calls to or from the ACC=1 call every 9 minutes
For every arrival or departure, minimum of two calls on the radio per aircraft, but in most cases three or more. Again, nice round number: 100= one radio transmission (each way) every 5.4 minutes (or every 2.7 if you count mine and yours separately)
For every arrival or departure I have to input the info in NCAMS (the evil computer system that sends info to billing office). So 44 of those or one every 12.3 minutes.
For VFR on a flight plan, I have to send an arrival or departure message to the FIC. This day was mostly local flights so let’s say I sent or received a message from the FIC every 135 minutes (4 messages)
Weather observations: every hour, plus had a few specials due showers starting and stopping (well, really, I do weather obs 60 minutes per hour, but write them down and input them once per hour plus specials. I did 5 SPECI=one transmitted ob every 38.6 minutes.
It was a light day for vehicle control as well. Worked out to one contact with a vehicle every 23.5 minutes (23 times a vehicle was on or crossed a runway or taxiway).
Outside phone line 12 calls give or take (some 30 seconds, some too freakin’ long)=1 every 45 minutes
The boss was upstairs 3 times for between 10-20 minutes, talking about this and that
Twice for periods of 20+ minutes technicians were working on stuff at the operating position, in my way (and talking too loud), and answering cell phone calls.

Anyway…that was my day in the life the other day (recycling an old thread, I know…trying to stay awake so I can sleep in for a couple nite shifts coming up).

[cptn2016]

iflyforpie, do you mind me asking what kind of an outfit you work for? Telemetry, deer patrol, tourists on photo flights, ferrying people to the bugaboos, wherever that is...it just sounds like you get a lot of variety in your flying.

As usual these are all awesome stories, please keep them coming!

[Nark]

I wake up about 3:30 as my girlfriend rolls out of bed. She has to sit hot reserve at 4:30.
I roll over, can’t back to sleep because I’m getting up at 4:15 for a 5:15 show myself.
Shave, shower put on my spiffy shirt and tie. Grab my rollaboard, brain bag and cooler bag full of sodium infused nutrition. Four days of airport and hotel food… I’m not rich like my Canadian counter parts flying the same bird, and two I refuse to get a sweet-sweet belly like most of the mainline guys I see.
Arrive in time to the crewroom to check in/print the paring detail and meet the crew for the upcoming trip. One of the FA’s is brand new, second trip after graduating an intense, just-don’t-fall-asleep Flight Attendant class.
I try to say goodbye to the girlfriend, but she’s passed out in the “hot room.” No lovin for another 4 days.

Head to the front of the already long TSA line. Whoever chooses to travel this early in the morning needs to be punched in the mouth.
Arrive at the gate, only to find a giant empty spot beyond the window. I guess it’s still at the hanger, mechanics, trying to roll the slide back up into the door.
First leg is delayed an hour, which means by the time we get to Chicago our gate is occupied. Penalty box we go! Listening to both ramp and ops freq, Gates finally open! Sweet! Trying to get a word in edgewise to Ground to get out of the box takes another 20 minutes.

Arrive at the gate, late of course, and because it’s Chicago, time to swap tails too. Park in the B gates, hustle to the C gates. Who am I kidding, there’s no hustle in the 65 year old Flight Attendant teaching the new one “how it really goes” game.
Load up the sheeple, and shut the door. Make sure we have the GenDec for the Canadian Customs.
“No new guy, we don’t have 79 people, the plane only holds 76…”
Count again.
“But! But there are 79 people: 70 adults, 6 kids and 3 infants… 79!”
“No new guy, infants aren’t people yet, they don’t get counted in the count.”
Pushed back, only 15 minutes late. Sorry guys in the penalty box waiting for this gate...
“Ramp Merc 5443 Ready to taxi!” “contact metering”
“Metering Merc 5443 Ready to taxi!!!” “Monitor ground”
“United345-32lefttango10DeltarightZuluVictornorthBravofollowcompanycontactrampSpirit248-alphaaplhpa4doublebackfollowunitedcolorRJAmerican948-hoteluniformalpabridgealpha17zuluvictor22leftMercury5443followspitirairbuslefttoright22left.”
“uhhh...”

Once airborne, we call back to the “gals” and ask for leftover snack boxes. Nothing, I guess the 9 people in business class are getting their monies worth on this flight…
Cross over Detroit and get handed off to Toronto center.
“Kilo’s current at Pearson”
“Roger”
“Roger”
“ahh Roger?!?!”
“Roger”
Look at the Jepp plates, make sure the fifteen million crossing restrictions are in the FMS. Of course none of them are.
“VERKO at or above 6000’ 200 knots at MAROD between 4500 and 3100’ DEKNI at 3000’and 200”
“so if I vnav at verko, and vertical speed at marod, and then manual speed at dekni I can…”, capt looks at me like I’m retarded. He’s not really that far off.

Whoever came up with this arrival needs to be punched in the mouth, along with the person who plans 5:15am departures.
I arrived in my once former homeland, like Thor’s hammer announcing his presence! Slam on the brakes and try like mad to make the highspeed. Capt calls out “80 knots!” Nope, we’ll try the next one.
“Merc 5443 next available please traffic short final!” We oblige, and navigate to our special area.
Pull into the Ramp, errr Apron and park next to an Air Canada E175. Looks a lot like my bird, sadly that’s where the similarities end…
I head down the jetbridge to start my post flight walk around. Gate agent yells at me waving her hands with a giant ball of florescent. “wear this” as she hands me a vest.
I suddenly feel European.
Head outside, say hello to the rampers, ask them if the Leafs did this year, They say something about how Kaberle has improved on his short game, but his putting needs a bit of work.
Hop back in, load back up, head back to the windy city with 76 more fully satisfied passengers.
Thankfully we are done for the day. Collect my things, grab a bottle of water, and wait for the hotel van.
Wait a little longer.
Just when all the other hotel vans make their third pass; ours finally arrives.
Load up, head to the hotel.

Slam.
Click.

[flying4dollars]

I wake up at my own leisure around 930am. Once I come around, I make my way to the kitchen and whip up my daily protein shake. Great breakfast. I grab my hockey bag and favorite hoodie and I'm out the door, into the car and off to the rink for a brisk game of hockey. After a great skate, it's time to hit the shower. Feeling fresh, back home I go. I gather my crew bag and uniform and give crew sched a call 1 hour before my show time to check in. She tells me who I'm flying with, what the loads are, and that the aircraft is at the gate. Throw on the uniform and its back into the car. Make my routine stop at McDonalds for a large one and one. Off to CYYC I go. I find a parking spot in my usual spot and take a walk in the sun to the terminal.

Make my way to concourse A and I punch in the code to get into the crew room. Ah, there's my FO. A quick handshake and a weather brief, and we sit down and relax over a coffee and talk about each others last few days. A peak at the clock and we nod our heads; time to make our way through security and its off to the gate. We meet the gate agents with a quick hello as they hand us our load sheet. I quickly scan it, then we make our way down to the airplane. Air conditioner is plugged in, so its fresh and cool when we walk in. my copilot and I find a home for our crew bags in the crew closet and I take my seat and fire on the electrical system. The radios roar to life and the chatter of clearances and ops calls perk me up. The FO hands me the flight plan as I scan the journey log. Not much to look at in terms of snags, so a signature and crew info get permanently inked into the journey log. I fill out the flight plan, and calculate a fuel order. I check the ATIS, aircraft performance numbers and get the clearance. Speeds are bugged, power settings are briefed and its time to call for boarding. Passengers make their way down to the gate and into the aircraft. We are ahead of schedule. Ground agents hand me the load sheet and a quick weight and balance calculation is made. I sign the flight plan and hand a copy to the agent and he seals up the doors and makes his way to his marshaling spot. Up come the wands. The before start checklist is complete and its time to give the signal. Engine 2 clear, starting 2. After the engines are started and the after start checklist is complete, we call up apron for taxi. Spot 12 it is.

We give the thumbs up, see ya boys, we are marshalled off. The FO makes a call to ops with our out time and makes his way back to ground frequency. Departure is off runway 16 today. Off we go on our first leg. Cruising at 160 over the rockies, we pause convo to admire the view. And just as quick, it's time to make our way back to Earth. Early departure means early arrival. Crystal clear at our destination. We offload our passengers as I say thanks and bye to every one of them. We get the aircraft groomed, and I pull out our next flight plan. We relax for a while and converse with the ground crew. A peak at the watch and it's time to call for boarding again. On come the fresh batch of passengers and it's time to re-light the fire and burn some tires. Back to Calgary we go. We get the 'shortgate' onto runway 10 and it puts us at the gate early again. Great start so far. My FO sets the plane up on final and puts her down gently. Well done. Pull up to the gate, offload, call ops for the next outbound load, give the fuel order for the next flight, tidy up the plane, then we head into the terminal for a pleasant hour and 20 break. A cold fruit smoothie goes down real good on a hot day. 1 more turn and it's off to the east for our over night. We go land, go to the hotel, freshen up and it's off to the restaraunt for dinner. Back to the room, throw the TV on, and it's time to fade off to sleep. Wake up at 10am for breakfast, and it's time to do it all over again. 5 legs on day 1, 3 legs on day 2. My kind of 2 day pairing.

[cj555]

Wow very interesting stories!

[jspitfire]

Wake up at my leisure, usually around 1000. Take my time having breakfast and a shower. Send a text to a couple of my coworkers, see who's not flying today and wants to go for a coffee at timmies for an hour. Throw my flying gear in the back of the car and cell phone in my pocket for whenever the medevac comes. Sit around and drink coffee and talk about work. Usually see at least a couple other coworkers randomly stop in for a coffee. Head back home, look for something good on TV, even though there's never anything good on in the daytime. Finally settle on an episode of Family Feud. Have some lunch, maybe find a movie to watch. By this time someone else might be off work and we go for a (walk/golf/beach) or whatever else I can do within cell phone range. Then back home to have some dinner. It's wing night at the bar but it's just not the same when you can't have a beer.

Finally the phone rings at 2100. Grab my stuff and I'm out the door, and at the airport 10 minutes later. The plane is just being towed in to its parking spot and the fuel truck is already waiting. Jump in the plane and start the pre-flight checks, make sure the oxygen in the stretcher bed is full. Jump out and do a walk-around and grab a few snacks from the hangar for the flight. Just as I finish, the medics show up and start loading their gear. I run in and grab the captain, who's just finished the flight planning. We all jump in, start up, and get under way. Before you know it we're at FL250, settled in for the two-hour flight to a small community on the arctic coast. Looking back, one medic is already asleep, and the other is playing on his i-something-or-other. We switch to true tracks pretty quick, and take bearings off the ADF every 20 minutes or so to correct the precession of the HSI.

Within range we radio the CARS guy at the airport, who was called back to work just for our arrival. The weather is good enough and the fuel man has been called. We plan for the RNAV approach. We call center for descent, and they clear us to descend "in the vicinity" of the airport. Through FL230 we call them clear of controlled airspace, and we're cleared to enroute frequencies. We descend to the 100 mile safe, and pick up the airport about 30 miles back. It's still broad daylight at midnight, and we do a visual approach to the runway. We taxi in and shut down next to the pumps. Too bad we can't park on the concrete pad because the fuel hose won't reach.

An old battered suburban meets us, and the medics jump out with their gear and catch a ride in to town. The bugs are bad tonight, so we get fueled up and take refuge in the terminal. I try to nap, but these 30 year old plastic seats in the terminal really aren't comfortable. After a while I decide that the airplane would be more comfortable, and quickly fall asleep in there. I wake up to the sound of the suburban pulling up, and we get the patient on board. It was a pretty standard wait time on the ground, about an hour and a half. We take off again and head for home, and ask the CARS guy to open our flightplan. The medics have asked for a lower cabin altitude on the way back, so we're down at FL200. This means we don't talk to center until we're about half an hour back from home. The daylight helps keep me awake, and I only have a short nap on the way home.

We land again, and thankfully the ambulance is waiting. We offload the patient and the medic's gear. It doesn't take too long to put the plane to bed, and before you know it I'm driving home. I colapse in to bed around 5am. Now the other crew is on call, and I can get some sleep, and have a little more freedom until they get called out. Then it's right back on call, and wait for the phone to ring.

[Instructor_Mike]

Great stories, thanks to all.

Any flight instructors?

Any oil patch charter guys?

Instructor here.

Alarm goes off at 0700 as usual. First I check Weather then move on to Av Canada for a bit of light or not so light reading. I have some breakfast and semi-lazily lounge around until 8 when I go in to have my shower. First flight of the day at 0900 so I leave the trailer at 0844 and walk the 20 yards to the flight school. (Yep no commute, it's awesome). Unlock the school, lights on and turn on the computers, start the coffee and wait for my 0900 student. Of course this is a student that I know will never show up before booking but would much rather just do his dispatch sheet and walk around while eating into the booking time. I drink my coffee. Quick pre-flight briefing since it's a review flight to polish for flight test and off we go. 1.2 hours later and we are back at 1050 since I know my next student will already be waiting before his booking.

Quick juggle of student B does walkaround, student A and I debrief, then back to student B for prebrief of what he thinks will be another hour of circuits and 15 min later back in the air (this time it was 3 solo check circuits and first solo as we had completed the ground briefs and SPP a few days earlier). 0.4 hobbs time and I tell him to do a full stop. Student B of course being hopeful but worried that I'm stopping him after 3 circuits is anxiously awaiting what happens next. In the back track I take control, call clear the active with instructor drop off. Give the "you can do it" speech, reminding him about the performance changes we talked about a few days before, close the door and walk briskly to the school to start preparations. First grabing the handheld and listening to him taxi out, I run and grab the bucket in the hanger for just the occasion and start the tap. Back outside and onto the apron in time to watch them take off much quicker than they expected rocket into the sky with 220 lbs less in the airplane and around for a reasonably smooth first solo landing. On the hand held I tell him good job and taxi back to the hanger and shut down. Brisk walk until out of sight, then run to the bucket shut off the water and position the bucket just inside the hanger door but out of sight. Giving them a moment to compose himself, I tell him just to leave his headset and stuff in the plane for the moment and i'll be right back (with the bucket). Once the bucket is identified by the student, he empty his pockets (this one took it like a man) and splashing occurs followed by pictures. Inside the school and receiving the complementary solo t-shirt I fill out the sheets and PTR and another first solo is out the door.

It's now about 1200 and my last flight of the day is a disco flight at 1700. I run to town get lunch groceries back to the trailer for a movie and other kill time type activities until 1630 when I do my walk around and prep the bird for the discovery flight. I give the student a quick explanation of the dispatch form that I do, weight and balance, weather check etc but breeze through it quickly to not overwhelm them or take up too much time. I talk about the walk around but having already done it, it's more just a familiarization and then passenger brief while we get in. Since she had never been in an airplane before I made sure to double check for baggies before start up and on my third logged flight of the day it's my first chance to touch the controls. Take her up and quickly explain the idea of cruise attitude in relation to the horizon with a focus more on play time with the controls. Give her the controls and tell her to pull and push on the yoke then roll left and right to get a feel and point her in a general direction down the endless miles of highway in Southern MB for a few minutes before turning around to set up for long downwind (I have this part down to a science). I take control and do the downwind check make the radio call and follow the pattern for my first hands on landing in a few days. Touch down was smooth by most standards though I know it could always be better and 1730 rolls around with a new student signed up for ground school and excited by her newest experience.

1800 hours and I tally my log book for the day having only billed 2.1 flight time plus a little ground, I put the aircraft away lock up the school and check the morning schedule to see I don't fly until 1100 tomorrow. Then my 10 second walk home means I'm done for the day.

Note this was a Saturday (IIRC) so the CFI had the day off and so did our desk man (dispatcher, accountant, ops manager plus everything else he does).

--edit-- few minor errors i didn't catch in proof.

[Rebelle]

Must be neat to accompany new pilots into their first solos...

[darbel]

I wake up whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I just stay in bed all morning. Finally get up and make some coffee and have some cereal. Surf the Internet and the couch. Sometime in the afternoon I might go outside and enjoy the late fall air. I see a deer run through my yard. I feel like trash so maybe I'll make my way to the gym. Pick up some groceries on the way home. I'll make my way home and make a big supper, enjoy it with my wife. After supper I'll log on to EI and make my report. It's been a hard day of work today. Probably the same thing tomorrow.

[pilotman15]

A typical day of a 704 FO......

0623: The alarm goes off. The timing is down to a science so as to report precisely 30 min prior to scheduled departure. I hear the coffee brewing that I meticulously prepared the night prior and set to auto-brew. That's right, no screwing around. My hefty FO paycheque has allowed me the finer things in life like an automatic mode coffee maker. The misses wants me to come back and cuddle, but there will be none of that. I don't have these three bars for nothing.

Out of bed I get and start the standard triple S maneuver. A cup of coffee and cereal and just in time to catch the Sportscentre Honour Roll, Top 10, and HON. On goes the uniform, and the prestigious three bars. I find the little shitrat dog that was part of the deal when the misses moved in and out we go for a stroll. Nothing compares to the awed looks I get from the neighbours as I stroll down the road with my full uniform and the little white furball and elegantly fold the bag inside out, bend down and pick up his shit.

Back inside we go, kiss the misses goodbye, grab my gear and off for the short five minute drive to the airport. I park the truck, have a look at the watch and stroll through the gate for the short walk across the apron precisely on time. As I walk across the apron to the plane parked in front of the terminal I have a look up at the weather. Not a cloud in the sky. This one's going to be a hot one. I throw my gear in the plane, say hello to the man in charge and head in to grab a coffee and start the paperwork. By now the paperwork is a breeze as we do the same route everyday. The weather looks gorgeous everywhere, light loads all day and its off to the races.

We call the flight right on sched and away we go for leg one of 11. The captain normally flies the first leg which suits me just fine as I can enjoy my coffee. We begin our first visual approach right as I'm finishing the last gulp and I tighten up the belt. El Capitano plops er on, throws er into reverse as I give the standard "nice one, sir!" and we taxi up to the terminal. Out I go, grab the step, give some of the passengers their carry-on bags as they deplane and shoot the breeze with some of the regulars. The captain has found some cute little thang that has to be 30 years younger to assist & escort to the baggage carousel. I wander over to our counter and start the paperwork for the next leg. Back in the plane we go with 19 guys who just spent two weeks working in the bush and the cabin temp is already above 90F. I'll let you imagine the scent.

This process repeats for ten more legs and 13 hours later we are on our final approach into our base airport. I look out at the calm water and all the boats out fishing and wish I wasn't in the "office" right now. No need to be jealous though. We don't even work half of the month and there will be plenty time for walleye fishing and beer drinking. We shut down, deplane and grab our gear. The short walk back across the apron and the 5 minute drive home are uneventful (not so much fun when its -30). I walk in the door to a late dinner that she made, grab a cold one and spend a few hours relaxing.

Life is good. No overnights, fair pay, work less then half a month, good town with good friends. Couldn't ask for much more.

[jg24]

Great stories, thanks to the contributors. More people should share their adventures.

[iflyforpie]

iflyforpie, do you mind me asking what kind of an outfit you work for? Telemetry, deer patrol, tourists on photo flights, ferrying people to the bugaboos, wherever that is...it just sounds like you get a lot of variety in your flying.

Small 702/703 operator. I kind of have to be a jack-of-all-trades to make it work, but it sure is fun.

Today it was pushing the film crew back to 8:30 so I could drop off my kids at school, do some filming of ATVs up in the alpine, another flight to photo some weeds in a lake, another tourist flight checking out some climbers, and another fire patrol. 7.4 hours in the air today.

[Mr.Blonde]

I'm throwing this story to bump the thread to read more interesting pilot story..

A day in my life as a senior trader...! 16-months ago before my fam flight !

The sound of a 152 doing a circuit over my house wake me up at 8h47, I slowly open my eyes and stare at the ceiling, wink my eyes few times, they're so dry, it always happen when I slept 4h or less ! It's only been 2-months now that I completly renovated my house, 4-bedrooms, new kitchen, 2complete washrooms and a new garage, it took me 2hrs to choose the color of that ceiling, I should had take that cool white instead of this egg white ! I smell the parfum of a mid 20's girls, I look to my right, it's my new roomate, she moved in 3-weeks ago now, long legs, black straight hair, mid-back lenght, green eyes. She's teasing me since she moved, yesterday they had a girls night out and she end up in my Ikea Malm black king size bed, with a friend, 5'3'', blue eyes, blond curled hair, she wear those little brazilian underwear that cover the upper parts of the buttocks, the contrast of the pink and the light tone of her skin amaze me ! They both still sleep, I won't wake them up, otherwise I'll spend the whole day in bed playing with them !

Standing in front of my walk-in, I don't know which suit to choose, it's casual friday at the office, so I'll go with the jeans/t-shirt combo and I choose the T.W. Steel watch ! Walk in the kitchen, it's smell my Delonghi coffe maker, but it's been already 1-hrs that the coffee is ready...look outside, bright and sunny, like most of the morning in june, I'll found another way to wake me up than the left-over cocaine on my quartz counter-top.

Walk into my garage, she's there, sparkling without any dust, ready to go, my Kawasaki ZX-10 04, I added a few things, elka supsension, pazzo lever, stainless steel break line ! I put my gears, SIDI racing boots, Alpinestars jacket and gloves and my shoei helmets. Turn the key on, switch on, you only hear that particular injection system sound in the garage, the hit the starter, the 4-cylinder 175hp roar to life ! Drive slowly in the neighborhood, it's a school zone. Went out of the curves for the higway I'm at 100 already, raise the bikes, engage the 2sd speed, close the throttle, snap the clutch, open the throttle, release the clutch, up went the front wheels and that's my way to enter the highway. That commuter in his VUS look weird at me, he probably hate his life because his wife cheat him and he have to spend 4h a day in the traffic !

Back on 2-wheels, there's a 5kms stretch before my exit, I'm at 275km/h, close my eyes, smell the fresh cuted grass in the air, count slowly to 5, re-open my eyes...I like this adrenaline rush in the morning, maybe one day I'll open my eyes and there will be something that It will be imposible to avoid, but not today ! slowing down at 175, right hip, leg and knee outside the bike, bring the knee close to the asphalt, right arms perfectly aligned with the right handle, bring my head to the right, trying to reach the mirror, here's the apex, time to open the throttle, you can feel the rear tire sliding just a bit, same thing on the left side, I like that Sinatra song in my Ipod !

Arriving at work at 9h20, 1h20 late ! Say hello to everyone, specially the woman, and this girls at the RH department, she's wearing those little summer skirt and high-heels sandals. Read the usual stuff on wall street journal, bloomberg, avcanada,fcb ! 25 new email, my friend who work in real estate call me, talking about the usual stuff, girls, stock, wine, food, 1h later, time to call my director, it's been 3-time he try to call me, there's a rumor about a price increase, I better call him back and settle this things otherwise I'll be stuck with that on a friday afternoon. Send email to everyone, I just supervise, 1h later everythings all done, saved 200 000$ this morning ! Lunch time with a supplier, we hit the bar, and he talk me about his family and all the problem he have with his wife, it's going to kille me, it's only because I forgot my wallet and a lunch that I accepted his invitation, 2pm, time to see what's on my agenda, hair stylist and massage, busy afternoon, I left the office !

7pm, my friend Kris call me to see what's going on tonight, there's a new supper club that just open last week, will go to see the same girls, same crowd, wearing the same outfit, but in a different place. 9pm, I heard that loud sound particular to a gt500, Kris he's almost to my place to pick me up, he own a car dealer and my friend Frank own an advertising company. In couple of month, I shall buy this trading house from those guys, it's a nice company, they have an office in Shanghai, and my plan with the South America should fit perfectly. Frank join us in his black Nissan GTR. Talking with the guys about the usual stuff, girls, stock, wine, food and 1am, I left the bar, I have this Fam flight with this young 22-years old instructor...I wonder if I can be a pilot and finally do something that I will enjoy !

[I WAS Birddog]

Quoted from an earlier post..

Sure...

Usually the mornings are filled with the sounds of birds singing and the smells of fresh brewed coffee from my lake front property kitchen, followed by the crisp scent of bacon & eggs from my surrounding neighbors. There's nothing like the sound of water hitting the beach just 30 feet from where I sit on my deck where I enjoy my first cup of java....The bees buzzing, eagles soaring...a symphony of nature's finest.

After a hot shower...I enjoy a brisk walk through my 3 Ha of land...baby deer cautiously approach me under the watchful eye of the momma deer...

I start my Range Rover on the way back into my lake front home...I like my SUV icy cold with the a/c running for a few minutes while I gather my briefcase. Some days I take along a Cuban cigar for an afternoon snack…but not always.

Upon arrival at Pearson I greet, and am greeted by all the wonderful people HR has hired making my job that much easier. An honor to work with such outstanding professionals. Striding through Terminal 4, I venture toward the crew room. The Brazilian Rainforest hardwood floors were just polished this morning...they have a unique shine today...The continued scent of Costa Rican coffee embraces me as I walk into the building.

I open the flight plan.....ahhh, an easy jaunt over to Beijing with a seasoned F/O, lots of new eye-candy FA's and steak for dinner...how can things get any better? I take a break from that to have a few puffs of my cigar that I decided to fire up a little earlier that previously planned. I return to the desk and slide into my high back leather chair and finish off the weather - clear skies the whole way, and decent vis in Beijing - quite unusual. Over to the crew lounge by mid morning to greet the 'gang'. Everyone is chipper...everyone in a good mood...as usual. Jokes exchanged, stories of the last nights 'soirée' are told with great enthusiasm...good times...good times indeed.

By 11 am, marching orders are distributed and it looks like the aircraft will fly...no snags...engineers...way to do things right the first time around.

Over to the gate, and again, the aircraft is precisely parked, clean and tidy - the groomers and the caterers have done their jobs well. A quick scan of the loadsheet and fuel req shows that no last-minute adjustments are needed...doors close, pushback on time, everything goes as smoothly as usual, thanks to cooperative ATC and we're off and up to 36-0. A few hours later, and the paper work done up....time to eat...steaks for all except 'tofu' steaks for each of the 2 vegetarians (Everyone is taken into consideration) Wines are brought in by the FA's and it's almost a international festival with grapes of different citizenship, as well as the cheeses... A light nap rounds out the evening, and it's back to work in the Far East. The Chinese controllers seem to have been recruited in Hong Kong today, as none of the usual accent hassles mar our descent and approach, and I pull off the mythical 'greaser' - not bad for a guy who only works 10 days a month - even if I do say so myself. Waved through customs, we find the crew bus waiting in the assigned spot, and it's off to the finest hotel that the company's money can buy.

A few hours later, the crew meets at the hotel bar, and cigars and brandy are brought out...then slowly one by one people go up to their rooms to sleep. I luck out, and the saucy little FA number who's new on the crew, and has been making eyes at me all day, grabs my spare room key without anyone else noticing...I'm off to the horse races! Two gentle furlongs satisfy us both, and we drift off between silk sheets to peacefully slumber until the dawn.....


(with thanks to a well-known poster of the ellipsis)

JC,

It's not my original work at all. I cribbed it from something I am Birddog posted when he was still around, and re-worked it into a reply to a day in the life of a 777 pilot at Air Canada. I'm working on a tanker pilot's day...

North.

WOW!!! You really went deep into the archives to fetch this little prose I wrote years ago. I completely had forgotten about it...I like your tune up on it much better.
Bravo North Shore Sounds like you're very happy.

BTW....JOIN MY CULT MOFO'S!!! https://twitter.com/iwasbirddog