A Good Day in My Book

Goooooooooooooood morning world. That's a nice JFTC greeting for ya. I've been having a lot of field training flashbacks. A month is a long time. It's weird. A lot of nights I go to bed missing it. I'm glad I got through it.

So put on some Owl City, this post is all about flying. Monday night, while Karen was over, I decided it'd be nice to flip through my flight sim logbook. I don't think I've ever blogged about my sim logbook. It's a document about as important to me as this blog. I understand it's not something everyone has or cherishes, it's quite strange to the average person  to find out that I keep a huge part of my life in a fake logbook.

It all started when I was in 7th grade. It was right around the time of my first real flights and real hours, so for my birthday my Aunt Lisa gave me a nice hardback journal as a way for me to write down my flying experiences. It's honestly not best gift for a little 13 year old guy, but after letting it collect dust for a few months I found a use for it as a way to keep track and log the silly flights I did on flight simulator. At first I remember it being more of a courtesy to my family ("look Aunt Lisa I'm using your gift!"), but somehow the habit of ending every single simulator flight with a logbook entry stuck. After each flight I'd write down the departure and arrival airport, times, dates, aircraft, all pertinent information; then I'd scribble down a few generic comments about the flight. I then formed the tradition that to the right side of each entry I'd right "SIM" in capital letters. The hope was that when I grew too old for flight sim, I'd be able to write down my real life airline pilot adventures in the same book; while signing "REAL" instead.

What I love most about this story, is that even seven years later my flight sim adventure journal is still just as alive as the dream of it becoming real. But one thing I didn't realize as I spent summer days and nights logging two or three flights at a time, is that the two lines of comments I wrote perfectly captured my life at the time. The flights before a big vacation would have comments about my excitement for the upcoming trip. A simflight from Miami to Los Angeles might have a blip like, "Going to LAX in just 84 hours, I just HAD to pull a 767 simflight there." Flights during snowdays and three day weekends included comments about my appreciation for flying the virtual skies rather than sitting in school. On the contrary, it's easy to tell flights I did on a day after a high school girlfriend dumped me. Most comments have just enough written for me to remember a good story about the flight. For example I'm reminded of flights where I'd get to cruising alt and immediately minimize FS to chat online with Alex K. about girls. Going through the logbook I remember friends I made through virtual airlines, things happening in my life like getting my wisdom teeth removed, or just that I had a really good landing that flight.

My enthusiasm for learning new things about my profession and perfecting the art of the airways is completely immersed throughout the pages and pages I filled. The comments I'd write grew more and more technical and complex as I gained experience. Starting out the comments clearly projected my simplistic understanding of everything. Then over time it evolved to the point I'm at now, where comments often include details such as "I forgot about the the AC bus tie delay which switching from external power to the APU generator, leading to my NAV data being erased right before taxi. How embarrasing!" It's heartwarming to look back at young middle-school-Decker flying a transatlantic flight, using nothing but direct GPS navigation, with as much passion as I still have today.

Of course, the most motivating aspect is that the dream is still alive. The thought that one day that gray notebook will be in my flight bag as I walk up three flights of stairs to a C-5 flight deck is what gets me out of bed in the morning. I can't wait for the day that my sim logbook is filled to the brim with adventures that capture my stories throughout life. I'm sure someday that gray notebook will be put up in clear view on a shelf in my house, right next to my prop and plaque of my license. It will be one of the relics I treasure, just like the wings on my chest. And someday when I'm old and retired I can open the book and read a few two-line comments and be taken back to the time I took a flight simulator checklist as seriously as I did in N2866W. My hope is that the logbook, just like the dream of flight, stays alive forever. Fortunately, I think it's looking promising.

But back to Monday night with Karen....

So I'm casually flipping through the logbook, reminiscing and enjoying my naive comments from seven years ago, and Karen notices a flight I logged that was 23 hours long. I ended up happily telling the story of the time Connor O'Leary and I flew the Kangaroo Route.

The Kangaroo Route is a historical route that links the United Kingdom with Australia, the significance being the extreme distance between London and Sydney.Well, one fine winter weekend when I was in 8th grade Connor O'Leary and I landed on the thought of doing the route on flight sim....online...without time acceleration. This would mean that one of us would have to be sitting at the computer (cockpit) communicating with online ATC for the entire 23 hours. If we'd start at 7pm on Friday, we'd be going until 6pm Saturday. That's a long ass flight.

We had shifts made up, granting the legal amount of rest per crew member. We had in flight food and entertainment stocked up in the room we were in. We had a detailed preflight, flight plan, fuel plan, checklist, etc. We had everything completely prepared for this flight, and then Friday came along and we really did do the flight. Unfortunately however, we had to call it short for a few reasons and we had to time accel the last few hours.

Now telling this to a normal girlfriend would result in her saying something like "that sounds awful, why do I date you?" But I keep forgetting that Karen is not most girlfriends. Instead of the expected response, Karen's eyes lit up like Time's Square as she begged me "Can we do that together!? That'd be such a fun date!" After a few moments of me questioning her unexpected enthusiasm, I obliged. So that's what Karen and I are doing this weekend.... The Kangaroo Route....on flight simulator...without time accel...for 23 hours.

But after I thought about if for a little bit I realized where her excitement came from. There's a feeling of security I get with being stuck on a plane with my best friends. It's a sense of euphoria caused by the act of going somewhere fused with the time you're forced to relax and enjoy yourself with the people around you. The longer the flight the better. I'd take a four month flight to Mars if it were possible. Granted that one of the longest flights in history is from London to Sydney, I can't help but feel that it doesn't get any better than that.

Taking off with zero weight to spare, a slow climbout, and eventually leveling off at cruising altitude where I can sit back in my chair with a smile knowing that there's another 22 and a half hours left is a feeling I crave, simulated or not. Then there's almost a day of being cut off from the world, something no one in society finds relaxing anymore. The first five minutes of each hour would be spent going through checklists to ensure the security of the flight, and the following 55 would be blissful downtime enjoying the qualities of having nothing to do. It's a therapeutic Lost at Sea mindset I have to go through to relieve some anxiety; add the miracle of flight, stretch it out over a day and call it a great weekend.

But just like my logbook, the true gravity of flying the virtual Kangaroo Route is primarily due to the dream that it one day might be real. Whether it be in the cargo hold of a C-17, in first class on a 747, or at my computer, Karen and I will always be making an effort to spend as much time in the air as practical. While today we navigate the dense simulated airways above virtual Heathrow, one day Captain Loyd will be walking around a Boeing parked at the international terminal of LAX. One day Karen and I will be non-revving on an adventure into the unknown. And even sooner, one day Karen and I will be clinking our plastic Delta cups together as we blast off into the comfort of the sky.

And that will be a good day in my book.

The Seat to My Right

What's up world? Happy Friday. I'm going to take another shot at blogging since I kinda didn't do so well last post. Once I get out of the habit it's hard to get back in.

So the PMDG 777 came out a few days ago. What is the PMDG 777 you ask? It's like the most realistic airliner simulator available to the public to date, and it's like a hundred fucking dollars. Needless to say, I want it so bad; but I don't really want to pay for it. So we'll see how that plays out but I have a feeling that I'll be flying that bad boy by Christmas.

Part of the reason I want it so much, is due in part to how I spent my summer this year. Of course I had field training, and then took a three week road trip to Charleston, Miami, and Pittsburgh with Karen. But after all that it was still early July and I decided to put my efforts to flight simulator like I do summer after summer. I had a copy of the PMDG 747 (the second most realistic airliner simulator) and generally knew how to fly it.

However, this summer was a bit different because I had Karen; and after three weeks of vacationing with her she developed the idea that she could be my copilot in 7-4 to accompany me on all those 15 hour longhauls. I know right? Best girlfriend ever. So we spent many kratom filled nights working out standard operating procedures and checklists to maximize efficiency in the 747 virtual cockpit. With in a few nights we had 10 page checklists, preflight and route and fuel plan docs, ground navigation and taxi procedures; I mean we had each and every base covered. Despite my copilot being my girlfriend, it was literally the most realistic and educational way I could possibly play flight sim. And it was by far the most fun.

I'd taxi the giant as she read the airport diagram telling me how many taxiways before my turnoff on November-7. Each necessary button would be pressed at the exact time it was needed all the way up until takeoff. Cute little Karen was able to takeoff the queen of the skies at 100lbs under MTOW. I was quite proud. This shit was by the book and it was awesome. Then came the climbout and sooner or later the virtual seatbelt signs came off as we step-climbed to thinner air.

With auto-pilot on and the fuel system programmed, Karen and I would the flick on the T.V. for some Wormhole Wednesday or Airport 24/7 Miami (YEAH I KNOW THAT AWESOME SHOW STILL ISN'T CANCELED). Then after about 8 to 14 time-accelerated hours, we settle back into the cockpit for descent and arrival procedures. Karen the copilot is with me every step of the way as she gives me altitude reminders and checklist call-outs. If the weather's good enough she'll even take the yoke on approach, set up autoland, and get the plane down as I assume position of pilot #2. When the plane's stopped on the runway and we receive our taxi-in clearance, the captain steers while the copilot navigates just like in every cockpit in the world up to the point when we reach the gate. Then it's fuel control: off, beacon lights:off, ground power: connected, gate time: recorded, flight: complete, and that's what we do on a Saturday night instead of going to a party.

But there's a reason for that! Part of the reason playing Microsoft's Flight Simulator is so much fun on a date, I think is because of how much fun Karen and I consistently have when traveling in real life. On the occasion that Karen and I are seated next to each other on a flight to God-knows-where, life simply couldn't be better. Whether we're making drinks from the bar we sneaked through security in our carry-on, making friends, or teaching Karen about the approach procedures into Atlanta; hours fly by and there's no place in the world I'd rather be.

For example, I hope when Karen and I fly to SLC this winter we can get a pretty good flight and enjoy the day as much as possible. We're trying to work it out with my parents to get on a longer-layover (better) flight while my parents fly as nonstop as possible. That way we can bar-hop in the mile-long McNamara terminal or perhaps spend a few hours on the international side of  Hartsfield-Jackson. I think I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more excited about flying with my fun little copilot than skiing one of the best mountains in the world.

I feel like I blog about this a lot. Until I was 19, nothing in the world made me happier than being in the window seat of a plane. I now realize that the only thing that really could top it is Karen in the seat to my right. Now a flight to LAX is pointless in my eyes if Karen isn't next to me day-drinking, sharing my ipod, and asking "what plane is that?" An extra requirement was added to my favorite thing in the world.

Unfortunately Karen and I aren't rich enough to buy a plane ticket to cross the pond every time we feel like it. Sooner or later, made possible in part by non-rev and space-a adventures, we will be able to. But in the mean time the closest I can come to replicating the exciting sensation of traveling with my best friend is with flight simulator. Even if it's not 100% real, I still have the most important reagent which is Karen in the seat to my right.

For someone who's logged 2,500 hours since he started sailing the virtual skies in 7th grade, this past summer was just too much fun. So to tell me that PMDG came out with a 777 is to tell me that there's a new checklist to customize, a new fuel system to learn, new longhaul routes to master, and more relaxing nights blissfully spent with my copilot.

K I gotta go to class. Until next time.