Flyin' Brian

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…
Yesterday Santa Barbara, tomorrow the WORLD (or Fresno)

Time wise, we are looking at an entire month between my last training session and now. Accordingly, to stay fresh, or at least make myself feel better by doing something during the day, I headed up to Santa Barbara. I struck up conversation with the flight attendant, who cringed a bit when I told him…
Playing Cricket in San Antonio

As I met Nicole at the Culver City Which-Wich during her lunch break on Friday, the people around us must have been confused. “Well we can get to San José, but we can’t get back.” “Phoenix is a no go. Overbooked.” “Everyone’s going to Las Vegas this weekend, so that’s out.” “Hotels in Monterey are…
Hollywood Nights

Although Los Angeles is my home base and I don’t technically travel to get there, I felt it was unfair to leave it out because much can be learned. After all, movies and reality tv perpetuate numerous myths about this town such as 1) LA is hot year round. 2) Celebrity sightings happen all the…
Houston: Attempting to befriend a 3 year old.

When your entire family is spread across three different time zones, getting everyone together in the same spot can prove difficult. An opportunity presented itself this week, so on a whim, I hopped a plane to Houston to see my parents and my sister at the same time. As a package deal with my sister, I…
San Diego

The estimated time between my checkride and my IOE (when I actually start flying the plane) is three weeks. By my best guess, I figure I won’t start for another week or so. That being said, I’ve been out of the simulator for over a week and since I don’t really have anything to do…
Kauai continued . . .

Most people we encountered seemed to fit into one of two categories: time-share owning retirees and younger couples on their honeymoon. There did not seem to be a strong contingent of 30 hour turnaround visitors. And that’s for good reason. If you are paying for a trip to Hawaii, you probably want to take your…
30 hours in Kauai

Each time an airline pilot is given a new domicile, they are guaranteed four “moving days” to relocate to their new base city. This is really just a ruse. First, who is actually capable of uprooting their lives and getting established in a new city in four days? Second, these moving days are flexible, so…
Salt Lake City

It took me about two months to complete all my initial jet training as I bounced between Salt Lake City and Atlanta. From now on, I will find myself in Salt Lake once a year until I retire or change airlines. Airline pilots are continually evaluated each year and can be terminated at any time…
Out and Back to SFO

At the completion of my simulator training in Atlanta, I wanted to go somewhere that was close, easy, and free. San Francisco is far enough away to make flying for an hour much more advantageous over sitting in traffic for 6 hours one way. I had not been there since the infamous San Francisco marathon…