Dancing the Hemispheres
Dancing the Hemispheres!
Folks from the Flight Blog, Cap’n Aux checking in with you…
HAPPY 2022!!!
It’s been an interesting start to the year, I must say. And, a very interesting few weeks since I finally got checked out on the 777.
Why?
Dancing the Hemispheres
The "C" Word—& I Don't Mean Christmas!
For starters, at a family Christmas party, I got hit with the dreaded Covid!
So, Bunny and I were promptly grounded and locked down for two weeks. Fortunately, I most likely got the latest variant, the Omicron.
Basically, for about 24 hours, I had a mild fever, and for several days, simple cold-like symptoms. Frankly, I was shocked when I tested positive—it didn’t feel anything like what you read about in the hyped-up headlines! Fortunately, Bunny tested negative through the whole ordeal, and the several family members stricken by our “super-spreader event” all reported mild symptoms and quick recoveries.
Curiously, those who were unvaxed walked away C-negative—go figure! By the way, Bunny and I are both vaxed, and highly recommend anyone who is of the vulnerable population do so as well.
Timing was rather auspicious, however, as I was not scheduled to fly until the second week in January. So, all told, Bunny and I got to repeat our beloved “Covid Staycation Honeymoon” that kicked off after our wedding in February, 2020!
Dancing the Hemispheres
Smash and Grab
To celebrate our emergence from self-imposed quarantine, Bunny and I ate at a wonderful new restaurant for dinner. Sadly, however, when we left the restaurant, we found that a window of our SUV had been smashed, and several items stolen! Bunny had been “sitting reserve” as a flight attendant (waiting to be called in to replace a missing crew member), so she had all of her stuff packed for a potential trip. Most of her travel wear—bags, clothes, and IDs, including her passport—were stolen!
Worst of all, her precious Tiffany charm bracelet, given to her by her sons, was stolen as well. This, from a locked, alarmed car parked near the restaurant, in a well-lit area, and a “nice neighborhood!”
Lesson learned: “Smash and Grab” has become all the rage in the US, and NOTHING is safe in your car. The policeman taking our report even told us that they will break a window just to grab the small change in your cup holder.
So, word to the wise, leave not so much as a dime visible in your parked car!
Dancing the Hemispheres
Our Hero: Good Always Trumps Evil!
Our tale has a somewhat happy ending, however.
Several hours after the incident, we received a call from an astute security guard, Mr. Eric P. He had observed a suspicious vehicle “offloading” several items into a mall dumpster. Upon investigating, our hero guard spotted several of our items, along with other bags. It turns that out the slimeball perp had hit no fewer than four cars in the area that night! Finding a bag with Bunny’s phone number on it, he called us. We recovered nearly all of her items—except, sadly, for the bracelet.
On a somewhat sadly ironic note, the next day was Bunny’s birthday—and we got to spend it “dumpster diving” to recover as much of her stuff as we could find!
While Bunny is understandably distraught over the loss of her sentimental charm bracelet, we are also grateful, to God and to Eric P., for the miracle recovery of the other items!
Dancing the Hemispheres
Hemisphere Dancing
Several days later, I finally got to fly my first trip “off the leash.”
This one was a 10-hour flight, from Dallas to GRU (São Paolo, Brazil.) Both ways, we flew a -200; my first time flying the “smaller” version of the 777. I had a great crew: First Officer Anselm, and “FB” (the 2nd First Officer) Brandon. (The FB, and in a 4-pilot crew, the FC, are “relief pilots.” They fly during cruise, while the Captain and/or FO take their inflight rest—more on that below.) Both pilots had several years on the plane, so I was happy have their experienced help. I was also very much open to any tips and tricks they had to share.
Not having flown to GRU before, I gave the outbound leg to First Officer Anselm, who had been there several times. This way, I could work the radios and observe “the big picture,” taking in the nuances of flying into this airport, while he did the dirty work.
Except for a slight delay getting started, the trip down to GRU went without a hitch.
The route was somewhat simple as well, a fairly straight line “Great Circle Route” down, which kept us relatively close to shore over the Gulf. Therefore, we didn’t need to do any special ETOPS (“Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards”) procedures, like we do flying over “The Pond” to Europe.
The flight back was similar, with even more of the route overland—over South America, then Central America, and brushing by CUN (Cancun, Mexico) as well.
Don't Miss "The Last Bush Pilots" and other Cap'n Aux books—Check 'em out Now!
All books available in print, eBook, and Audiobook. And, don’t miss the brand new release of The Last Bush Pilots in Hardcover!
Dancing the Hemispheres
Hemisphere Hopping
Anyone who’s ever experienced jet lag during world travel knows what a challenge it is to get the proper sleep.
For long haul pilots, crew rest is both art and science.
Most pilots have their own schools of thought on the subject, and plan their trips and rest accordingly. Some like to stay on home base time, others adapt to the location, and still others simply say, “sleep when you’re tired.” Each philosophy has its advantages and disadvantages, and the trick is to find the sleep pattern that best fits both you and the particular trip you’re on.
Personally, I’ve always operated under the philosophy of “Wherever you are, that’s what time it is,” and, “sleep as much as you can, when you can.”
Taking this philosophy to the long haul, however, takes a little more planning and finesse.
On a long haul trip, the flight deck will consist of 3-4 pilots (an “augmented crew”). Any flight over about 9 hours will have at least 3 pilots, and anything over around 12 will have 4. The number of pilots, and the length of the flight, will determine rest breaks. For example, with our 3-pilot, 10-hour GRU flight, each of us got around 3 hours of crew rest. For a longer haul flight, each pilot may get a second rest break as well.
Typically, the FB will take the first break, followed by the PF (Pilot Flying), and finally the PM (Pilot Monitoring). The FB will fill in the seat for whichever pilot is on rest break, so that the flight will always have two active pilots.
This rotation aims to maximize the alertness of the final flight crew (Captain and First Officer) who will be doing the landing.
Dancing the Hemispheres
Hemisphere Sleeping
In addition to planning your sleep around this schedule, you must also take into consideration the nature of your trip: is it a redeye to the destination, followed by another redeye back (such as our GRU trip)? When is your “window of circadian low”, and how can you catch your best sleep, at the right time, in order to be ready for that flight back?
In general, what I’ve found is that, when you fly out to a destination, regardless of arrival time, you’ll need to sleep at least 2-3 hours. After that, you’ll probably need to force yourself to wake up.
This, to me, is the toughest part of the trip! You’re tempted to oversleep, because you’ve been snoring heavily—believe me!—and won’t want to get up. But, for sleep planning, you need to get up and get with the local time zone for awhile—go out to dinner with the crew, for example—in order to be sleepy enough to catch the next sleep cycle.
Oh, and don’t forget to get out and get some exercise. Hit the hotel gym at least, or even better, rent a bike at that park across the street and see some scenery.
As you can see, sleep planning on a long haul trip is complicated at best!
I’m still adapting to this new way of life, and training my body to be happy with these 2-3 hour cat naps, all geared toward being fully alert for all flight shifts, and especially for landing. It’ll take some more training, some more tweaking, and some more practice. But, with each trip, I seem to be adapting more to the long haul scene, which is certainly necessary for safety—and sanity!
By the way, I’m super duper happy to report that my very first landing in the -200 was every bit the “greaser” of my very first in the -300…
I love this plane!!!
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m overdue for my crew rest break!
Till the next blog post,
This is Cap'n Aux
Dancing Off!
Note: the title of this blog post is inspired by Jimmy Buffett’s famous Grumman Albatross seaplane, the Hemisphere Dancer.
Info: https://buffettworld.com/aviation/albatross/
We love ya, Jimmy!
Related Posts
- Maiden Voyage of the Boeing 777 https://capnaux.com/maiden-voyage-of-the-boeing-777/
- Getting Certified on the Boeing 777 https://capnaux.com/whats-it-like-to-get-certified-on-one-of-the-worlds-largest-airliners-the-boeing-777-type-rating/
- Drinking From a Firehose Part 1 https://capnaux.com/drinking-from-a-firehose-part-1/
- Fifi’s Final Flight! https://capnaux.com/fifis-final-flight/
- Cap’n Aux Books https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Auxier/e/B00971H8VW
- Cap’n Aux’s First Solo https://capnaux.com/blogging-in-formation-solo/
- End of an Aviation Era https://capnaux.com/end-of-an-aviation-era/
- A Tale of Two Upgrades https://capnaux.com/a-tale-of-two-upgrades/
- As the Turbine Turns https://capnaux.com/as-the-turbine-turns/
- The Bid Life of an Airline Pilot https://capnaux.com/the-bid-life-of-an-airline-pilot/
- An Airline Pilot Retires https://capnaux.com/an-airline-pilot-retires/
- Cap’n Aux Vimeo Page https://vimeo.com/capnaux/
- All Word on the Ramp Videos https://vimeo.com/manage/showcases/3162370/info
- Best of Videos https://vimeo.com/manage/showcases/3162373/info
- Pilots of the Caribbean https://capnaux.com/there-i-wuz-pilot-of-the-caribbean/
- Part 2: Stranded in Paradise https://capnaux.com/pilot-of-the-caribbean-part-2/
- The Airline Cockpit in 7 Steps https://capnaux.com/airline-cockpit-7-steps-updated/
- Top 10 Downers of an Airline Pilot Career https://capnaux.com/top-10-downers-of-an-airline-career/
- Top 10 Things to Never Say to a Pilot https://capnaux.com/top-things-never-to-say-to-a-pilot/
- Pilots Protest Covid Mandates https://capnaux.com/pilots-protest-covid-mandates/
- The Post-Covid Future of US Aviation https://capnaux.com/the-post-covid-future-of-u-s-aviation/
- Flying in the Age of Covid https://capnaux.com/flying-during-covid/
- Life of a Test Pilot https://capnaux.com/the-occasionally-exciting-life-of-a-test-pilot/
- WOTR Video: It’s What Pilots Do! https://capnaux.com/word-on-the-ramp-video-its-what-pilots-do/
- Confessions of a Former Airline Pilot https://capnaux.com/confessions-of-a-former-airline-pilot/
- The Making of a European Pilot https://capnaux.com/the-making-of-a-european-airline-pilot/
- Lessons From the Miracle on the Hudson https://capnaux.com/forced-landings-pilot-lessons-from-the-miracle-on-the-hudson-part-1/
