Me and My Flight Times

November 22, 2022
Blog Post
No Comments
airline, aviation, captain, flight deck, pilot

Me and My Flight Times

(With a respectful nod to Captain Patrick Smith!)

I recently came across a fun article entitled, Me and My Sharpie, by Ask the Pilot author, Captain Patrick Smith (https://askthepilot.com/me-and-my-sharpie/)

He talked about his ever-present doodle notepad that accompanies him on all flights. With it, he scribbles down—with a red Sharpie—the numbers and such that help keep him flying straight…

Well, I can tell you, we ALL do that, to some varying degree.

Some simply write down the Flight Number and are done with it.

Others, eh,…elaborate.

Oh, I’m quite definitely in the “Elaborate” column!

Let’s take a look at the madness to my method…

But First,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

May all your turkeys be fat, your gravy be saucy, your potatoes be fluffy, and your elections be properly counted in a timely fashion!

And Now,

Me and My Flight Times

A Doodle Pad is Born

I suppose that, compared to Cap’n Smith’s crude scribbles, I have, over the decades, elevated said Doodle Pad to an art form of extraordinary magnitude—or, perhaps, it’s more like Cap’n Smith’s “OCD” on steroids!

In any case, ever since the early days of my major airline flying, I’ve developed my own personal notepad to use for each flight. The one I made up for domestic flying served me perfectly for 30 years.

The Original (Domestic) "FLT TMS"

From the beginning, I’ve been a loyal Apple-Mac “technophile.” In fact, I started writing The Last Bush Pilots on an Apple IIe, with no hard drive—only floppy disks!

Just after I was hired by my major airline, Apple started making their first MacBook laptops. So, it was fun to use my new portable toy to make elaborate doodle pads to use on the road.

For some reason, early on, I abbreviated the title of my word processing page from “Flight Times” to FLT TMS. I suppose it’s become a “tradition” ever since.

After a few dozen flights’ tinkering, I came up with the framework that went virtually unchanged for nearly 3 decades in the sky. Here it is.

Above are the templates for 2 flights. Let’s say I was doing a “turn,” flying PHX-LAX-PHX. These two boxes would get me there and back. In fact, I could print 8 of these suckers on 1 page, and 16 if I printed them double sided.

You can’t believe how fast I would go through these, even with 16 boxes!

Below is a pretend flight I made up, and the doodles I might have used.

I’ve found that the simple action of looking up, and then writing down, critical numbers help to familiarize myself with the Dispatch Release, and the flight itself.

Most notes are probably self-explanatory, but in a nutshell, I write down: Flight Number, Destination, scheduled flight times, ETE (:56), planned Flight Level (310), Alternates (ONT), planned/minimum/actual fuel in thousands of pounds (ex: 33.8)

In the left corner is MELs (“Minimum Equipment List”—i.e., inop items; in this example, the APU).

Then, throughout the flight, I’d use the blank area to scribble active notes, such as a new frequency, or the arrival gate.

Holiday Blowout Sale!!!

ALL Books Start at 99¢! ("The Last Bush Pilots" starts at $1.99!)

Starting Black Friday!

Black Friday through Cyber Monday:

Kindle Countdown Sale!

***The sooner you buy, the cheaper the price!***

The Last Bush Pilots—Starting at $1.99!
There I Wuz! Adventures From 3 Decades in the Sky, Volumes 1-4—Starting at $0.99!
Code Name: Dodger Spy/Fly Series—Missions 1-4: Starting at $0.99!

The PERFECT stocking stuffers for your resident aviation buff!

Me and My Flight Times

Me and My Preflight Checklist

To me, by far the most critical bit of information is my own personal “Preflight Checklist.”

With it, I would check off each item as it was accounted for. This, more than anything, kept me safe, legal, and out of trouble before the flight even began.

Starting with the “#” (below the “Pax”), which means, “Hey, Dummy! Verify that the tail number of the plane you’re sitting in is the one you’re actually scheduled to fly!”

You can’t believe how easy it is to grab the wrong plane—many a pilot have been busted for this!!

Next is “Sts“—Status. Checking that the plane is current to fly; along with this is MEL, Logbook signed, signature on flight plan-brief FA (Flight Attendants)—Acpt (Accept), electronically, the flight plan.

“Below the Line”, we have “Rls/Wx/Fs-rte-brf-Cklist-PA.”

That is: Review the Release (Flight Plan), check the weather, Fuel Slip on board, route verified, Pilot Flying briefing completed, Checklist done. Now comes the Capn’s PA to the passengers.

"Jet ENDS"—Don't Leave the Gate Without 'em!

And, finally, we have the Jet ENDS”—a little acronym I developed along the way:

- JETway—Pulled!
- External Power—Pulled! (After you turn on the APU!!!)
- Nosewheel Steering—Disconnected (so Ground Crew Can push plane out)!
- Doors—Closed!
- Slides—Armed!

Personal Checklist—Complete!

Finally, note on the right side my little “cheat sheet” describing what to do in an emergency “TEST Briefing” to the flight attendants: “Time (to Landing); type (of Emergency)-Signal (for Evacuation)—Take specific Instructions.”

This Checklist served me flawlessly for 3 decades of Domestic flying!

Me and My Flight Times

International FLT TMS

When I moved over to the 777 International side of things, I quickly realized that my beloved FLT TMS needed an “extreme makeover.” It had to not only “evolve,” but get completely revamped for the task at hand.

So much more stuff to take into account!

We’ll explore it in our next post!

Me and My Flight Times

Hemisphere Dancing Report

Bouncin’ ’round the Hemispheres!

Grass hasn’t been growing under my feet!

First, as mentioned in the previous post, I hitched a ride to Maui along with Bunny on her work trip. Working in Paradise!

After that, it was off to jumpseat into my home base (DFW) to fly my trip to EZE (Buenos Aires.) It turned out that my “Chauffeur,” Captain Pia, was in command for the flight.

I flew with Pia in the Airbus back in the Day, and she has always been one of the best pilots I’ve ever flown with.

Fully deserving of her Cap’nship!!

The jumpseat back home from my flight? Eh…not quite as enjoyable!

(Pleasant company, just a tad cramped!!)

Next came what may be my last DEL (Delhi, India) flights for some time. The trip is changing to another base, and my precious trip is flying away. Here’s a sneak preview of my trip over—including an amazing view of Mt. Ararat!

In our next post, I’ll be sharing a very special “Hemisphere Dancing Report”: I finally took that long-awaited excursion to the Taj Mahal!

Amazing!!

Me and My Flight Times

Bonus: Congratulations!

Congratulations to Team Aux’s Producer Bunny Auxier, on her 2nd place win in the USA Bikini Masters, at the NPC National Bodybuilding Championships! As always, competition was fierce (and this judge personally thinks she got ripped off!)