Flyin' Brian

Brian’s Long Journey to Jimmy John’s.

First there was Amerigo Vespucci, then Lewis & Clark, and finally 20th century contemporaries such as Amelia Earhart, Tenzing Norgay, and Neil Armstrong. But as far as I know, none of them have embarked on the adventure I undertook this afternoon. We touched down in Redmond, Oregon before noon and would not depart until the following morning.…
SLC’s A-Squad

Last week, thanks to a faulty FMS and ACARS (fancy words for our computer calculations for navigation and performance), I had to face the daunting task of doing math in the morning (a pilot’s worst nightmare). This experience was stressful, so I have some perspective on the stresses doled out by Salt Lake City’s controllers today. For starters, there…
Same Time Next Year?

Perhaps I previously mentioned, my March schedule is not ideal. I have been spending far more nights in Best Westerns and Hiltons than I have in my own bed. Every once in a while, I’m at least in one place for a decent amount of time. Today we flew four legs and ultimately arrived in…
Santa Barbarians

For the second time in as many months, I had double Santa Barbara overnights. The previous time, I was here, it was grey, cold, wet, and rainy, so it wasn’t terribly enjoyable. This time, however, it was sunny and warm. The first day I went for a run, logging 8 miles from the hotel to…
Cincinnati: At Least it’s Not Dayton

We landed at CVG (Cincinnati’s airport) after 10pm. From the beginning of the day, we had crossed three time zones and were now in eastern time zone. Much like the rest of Ohio, Cincinnati’s airport is a sad shell of what once was (or perhaps never was). I had a previous post from last year complaining…
Short, But Sweet

I believe we are all familiar with the popular idiom, “Better to have loved and lost than to spend 24 hours in North Dakota.” Don’t know that one? Oh well, we can burn that bridge when we get to it. Point being, I was none too happy last week being stranded (on an off day mind you!)…
Why Not Minot?

Yes, I’ve waited years to post that as a blog title. But why not Minot? I’ll tell you why. In a convoluted change of events, my flight from Idaho Falls to Denver was canceled due to high winds in Denver. While enroute from Idaho Falls to Minot on a ferry flight, we picked up the…
I Dunno About Idaho Falls

I’m back to holding a line after bidding reserve last month in hopes of having some time off. This backfired when I had a whopping two full days of not being called. To start the month off, I had my first overnight in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It’s a place. Our hotel is in the middle…
Back in the "City"

For what would be my longest amount of time off for the entire month of March, I double-legged it from Seattle over to Newark by way of Minneapolis, my old stomping grounds. Doing it that way allowed me to arrive at a reasonable hour instead of 6am after a red-eye. Thanks in part to loud…
Sleepless in Seattle

After the museum yesterday, I was thinking about taking the train downtown to explore as well. It was then that I was called to fly to Boise, and it’s probably for the best. When I reached the airport, it began to snow pretty heavily. There were also lightning strikes in the area — thundersnow if…