From the Flight Deck

I've been getting lots of links to this WAR (World Air Route) "Just planes" video on Air Canada's A320 fleet.

So why wasn't I in this video....is the question asked???? Just because I write for enRoute, have a book, (sold two last night at FL 380), give presentations and talks on behalf of AC, answer to the PR department, teach weather to the new hires, and command their A320 on average 75 to 85 hours a month....I am NOT management nor a supervisor.

I'm just seniority number 1171 bidding 194 out of 382 Toronto based A320 captains. A nobody with a blog. :(((

But keep in mind these guys and one girl did a GREAT JOB!!!! Really!!! And yes all of them are supervisors and management (except maybe the female F/O) who are all junior to me. No I am not sore. Again, I approached this production company, but they stipulated the fleet manager picks the pilots. That's fair.

Everyone loves talking about their job and this unequivocally pertains to pilots. There would have been a line up to do that video. And besides, these guys were better looking and articulated very well! lol

Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do. Tomorrow I will be teaching a class of new hires weather for five hours on a holiday! (I had to bid the day off) No one else is teaching except for me. I am not really impressed, especially when I am host to visiting relatives.

As a lark, I checked the schedules of these junior supervisors. Either they are on vacation or have the long weekend off.

My Toronto bound flight is scheduled in near Midnight meaning I walk in the door at 1:00 a.m and my course starts 9: 00 a.m. But wait, crew sked just called me here in San Francisco and my flight is now 45 minutes delayed. That's 45 airline minutes. Translation...I won't be waking up my visiting relatives until 2:30 a.m or so.

Yes, sometimes I wonder why I do what I do. And "number one" repetitively asks the same question. Big time! LOL

Lots of tourists on the go.....in San Fran...

Getting ready to head back on a "red eye." We touch down in Toronto at 5:30 a.m. But wait a minute, isn't there a curfew until 6:30 a.m? Yes there is, but there are about four flights exempt. I've been on approach where it showed 6:29 a.m. What do you do? Well luckily the flight made the curfew restriction but for others it meant a "go-around." Yes, the curfew is for noise abatement, but what does a jet sound like when at full power in a go-around? The games we play.

Only in California

Was that for us? 

I had to admire this guy's initiative and sense of humour. Captain "Softie" gave him a buck for the pic.

It reminded me of an old aviation joke.

Before I tell it...here's some background. Sometimes the odd transmission goes unnoticed by pilots so we tend to look at each other and ask, "was that for us?"

Well...

A guy walks into the bar... but prior to entering he noticed a guy sprawled out on the ground in a drunken stupor. The guy asks the bar tender what the scoop was with the drunkard.

The bartender said, "I think he is a retired pilot, because now and again he jumps to full attention, wide eyed and blurts out....was that for us?"

I thought it was cute.

Gone flying.

Captain Red Eye

"My" Airbus A321 at the Calgary airport. Pic compliments of ramp attendant "Kelly."

Yesterday, Toronto Pearson set a new all time temperature record at a whopping 37.9 Celsius  (100 Fahrenheit) !!!!

I kept reminding my family this is what living in Dubai would be like. I had that interview with United Emirates six years ago. But then again, the "sand boxers" don't see pictures like this. Gawd, what a reality check. So enjoy the heat people. Suck it up because this above scenario is just around the corner. Gross!

Last night I attended the Flyertalk dinner at a swanky downtown Toronto bar. These people are elite and super elite flyers with many of them doing it as a hobby. There are two ways of making this exclusive ranking, either by "mileage" or "segments." Here's Margarita girl's  next adventure (I hope I can remember this correctly). Instead of going from Toronto to Edmonton direct she will fly to Montreal, then to Florida, then to Edmonton via another city I forget (had a few Stellas by then) saving her $80 on the fare. Sure she has to get a hotel in Florida but it's not an issue...she even has deals for hotels too.

Interesting night!

Today I did ART (Annual Recurrent Training). It's classroom stuff where we went over weather radar, jet stream turbulence (needless to say Captain D added lots of his "two cents" worth...couldn't help it. In fact, the facilitator offered me the floor), then security issues, then a two hour group hug with about 17 flight attendants (yup we were out numbered) and a review of the FOM (Flight Ops Manual).

Plus we had to pre-study and answer questions on emergency equipment, high altitude training, surface contamination, CFIT (controlled flight into terrain), security, survival training (not sure if I need this for my Airbus), and then a dangerous goods exam re-qualifying me for another year.

Even though I have a physics degree I still can't fathom Einstein's E=M*C (squared) nor can I explain any better the coffin corner. I am not an aerospace engineer, but if you told me "a digging upper trough at 500 millibars and its associated positive vorticity advection may kick off some low level instability" then you got my attention.

Got a request from an avid aviation fan with a doozy of a question. Can anyone help him? I think he is getting confused on the yellow speed tape portion. The actual stall speed is near the bottom. You have to pass through Vls and alpha prot...

Heck, as an airline pilot I am paid to stay out of the red tape and the yellow tape (see below). If I do enter this envelope then I get really apprehensive, it sends mesaages to MCC (Maintenance Control Centre) and I have to answer for everything.

So all you Airbus experts out there....bring it on for this guy!



NOTE: PFD should read as PRIMARY Flight Display...late night for me. :))) Oopsie

I've got a question about the Coffin Corner. I read a post on your blog and have heard different explanations from different sources, I am trying to get it straight in my head. The intent of this question is not to prove you right or wrong, I'm just confused.

In your post you describe it as the altitude where Vs increases and your Vne decreases ( i know the terms in the airbus are a bit different) to create a small margin for error.

Your indicated stall speed would stay the same with an increase in altitude would it not?  The True stall speed would increase, but all things being equal indicated stall speed stays the same. On the PFD pic of Coffin Corner on your blog, it shows your Vs at around 250 KIAS, but if the previous fact is true that indicated stays the same with altitude, then that means that your Vs in clean configuration is 250 KIAS at Sea Level. Is that true? That speed seems high to me (I dont fly a jet so I could be very wrong or missing a huge piece of the puzzle)

Where I get confused is I have also read it is the altitude where the low speed buffet and high speed buffet meet.  

The other explanation I have heard is that low speed buffet is an angle of attack where the air over the wing is accelerated above the magic speed where you get a shockwave which separates the laminar flow with a decrease in lift and increase in drag (very similar to a stall).  And the high speed buffet is where your actual speed is that magical speed where the shockwave separates the flow causing you to lose lift.

Can you enlighten me?

Flight 538 Vancouver to Anchorage Alaska compliments of "getjets." My son had to retrieve the file from his PC because I still can't figure out to get it from my MAC. The map keeps shifting.

 "Customer surveys indicate a perception exists which establishes a relationship between a neat groomed appearance and a safe disciplined flight deck. Therefore it is important that the personal appearance of pilots should match this perception."




A captain wears four stripes on their tunic and epaulettes. The hat has more embroidery. The F/O's hat does not have the "scrambled eggs." The tunic must be buttoned at all times unlike our American counterparts. Hats are also becoming an option or non-existent. We still kept ours. The gold "wings" are found on the tunic and also on the shirt.

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Fifty years ago, Douglas Edward Morris was born in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and now resides in Toronto.

Many will  deem my video narcissistic, but heck anyone who hosts a blog could be labelled pompous, egotistic, vain, and an attention seeker. LOL

Always thought getting old would suck, but now I look at it as an accomplishment. (Oops, there is a self-centered comment)

My intent (really) was to say... max out your life!!!! Many people die in their thirties but live until their eighties. 

Captain Doug...fifty today

Received this from a young fan on one of my last flights. I mistook the 'control tower" to be a submarine. :)

From the same artist

From my last school talk. "Number one" says part of the pact will be no more "freebies." I think it's a gorgeous mug.