Flyin' Brian

What time is it? No, wait . . . what day is it?

Today was the day of schedule changes . . . or was that yesterday? I was preparing to get on a plane from LA to Minneapolis when crew support gave me a call telling me to go to Chicago O’Hare for “ready reserve.” Instead of being the usual two hours out for reserve, I now…
Viva Las Henderson

It was a hectic day beginning in Santa Barbara at 5:00am. From there, we went to San Francisco and over to Salt Lake City. Once there, we learned that someone must have sneezed in San Francisco and the bay area was now covered in low clouds, delaying our departure from Salt Lake. The bigger problem…
Iran meets San Diego

Today marked the first day that I flew the CRJ-700, the larger, more airplane-like version of the CRJ-200 I had been flying for the previous couple weeks. I had heard much buildup about how it is more difficult to land etc etc, but after my first landing in the plane ever, the passengers commented on…
And the title of best bbq in Lindbergh Int’l Airport goes to . . .

No doubt at some point in your life, you have experienced a significant flight delay — most likely due to weather. After an early arrival from LAX to SAN, we were immediately notified of a ground delay in effect for our next leg from SAN to SFO. San Francisco has notoriously foggy weather and someone…
Manhattan & Hermosa

The stressful ordeal of yesterday’s driving made me appreciate my limited time (a whopping 24 hours) in Los Angeles that much more. Compared to Fresno, LA is like some kind of utopian paradise where people break into synchronized song and dance…almost. Being an outdoor kid, I had an itch to get out and enjoy the…
Santa Maria and taking the long way home

After deadheading to San Francisco to sit for four hours, we reported for duty to fly a tiny 20 minute leg from SFO to Santa Maria in California’s wine country. We overnighted there and I had some time in the morning to explore the surrounding area. Across the street was Waller Park, a vastly superior…
The 2nd highest rated thing in Fresno is . . .

I found myself in another situation where I had to check out of the hotel, but had to kill time until my report time of 4:15. I went on tripadvisor and looked up the sights and headed on my way to the #2 highest rated thing to do in Fresno. I drove up to Woodward…
Fall in Jersey

Two days off. Where should I go? Well, across the country of course. Nicole was keen to return to her motherland in order to shake hands and fist pump with a new arrival to her family, so I tagged along. My disdain for the garden state and the majority of its residents is rarely disguised,…
Eureka! (Or Arcata)

For those who don’t know, Eureka is a small town on northern California’s coastline. Believe it or not, it is not my first time to this area. Several years ago, I was passing through the area enroute to the Redwoods and a search for sasquatch. Back then, I made a stop at one of my…
There’s not much to do in Fresno

My report time in Fresno is 4:15 pm and of course one has to check out of the hotel before then, so it was a bit of a challenge trying to figure out what to do. I consulted tripadvisor, which said the #1 attraction in Fresno is the zoo. Alright, I’ll try it out. You…