Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2015 5:34:47 GMT -5
Well, training got off to an early start. After my junket around the Yukon Valley in Alaska in the 404, staying up late studying manuals, I was told to report to Fairbanks on my trip back. Awaiting me there was one of our company's brand new Boeing 777 Freighters along with one "regulation-type" check pilot. I was to take the flight from Fairbanks to Vancouver that afternoon.
And so it went. The flight was good for a first real attempt in a new machine. A little rough around the edges but I didn't bend or break anything. The flight was 3.8 hours in the air. I had to get used things like data uplinks for wx and atc and whatnot, but that came fairly easily. It did make me stop and think about how things have sure changed over the years. We used to get clearances that would tie up ground for 5 minutes while the controller would read a string a mile long to you and you'd read it back, word for word. Not so now. Now it all comes over the air and gets printed out for you, and it's not all that long because with GPS you can do direct much of the time (although on this flight we were on J502 for almost the entire flight). Anyway, a far cry from the Cherokee and 404 I had been flying, but loads of fun in another way. It satisfied the avionics person in me, that's for sure.
Fairbanks. This airplane is only slightly smaller in size than the Boeing 747.
On the roll
Some enroute shots for you
On approach from over Vancouver Island
We were hauling for UPS that day, so we parked at their (slightly cramped for this airplane) loading bays at the northeast end of the airport.
Nice flight. I was glad of the good weather all the way on this trip.
And so it went. The flight was good for a first real attempt in a new machine. A little rough around the edges but I didn't bend or break anything. The flight was 3.8 hours in the air. I had to get used things like data uplinks for wx and atc and whatnot, but that came fairly easily. It did make me stop and think about how things have sure changed over the years. We used to get clearances that would tie up ground for 5 minutes while the controller would read a string a mile long to you and you'd read it back, word for word. Not so now. Now it all comes over the air and gets printed out for you, and it's not all that long because with GPS you can do direct much of the time (although on this flight we were on J502 for almost the entire flight). Anyway, a far cry from the Cherokee and 404 I had been flying, but loads of fun in another way. It satisfied the avionics person in me, that's for sure.
Fairbanks. This airplane is only slightly smaller in size than the Boeing 747.
On the roll
Some enroute shots for you
On approach from over Vancouver Island
We were hauling for UPS that day, so we parked at their (slightly cramped for this airplane) loading bays at the northeast end of the airport.
Nice flight. I was glad of the good weather all the way on this trip.
