AAV Homecoming and Hub Tour 2009

[Norberto Rivera]

After spending a year overseas I was pretty eager to come back to AAV and pick up where I had left off. I had to settle for a flight home on <cough> Delta <cough> since AA doesn't have non-stop service from Dubai to Atlanta, but business class made up for it.
I took about a week or so to unwind and then I caught a jump seater back to PSP, where I ran into Mr. Blakely who was overseeing some service on a trusty Super 80...


I quickly volunteered to haul some passengers back to Chicago. Jeff had no idea I was on my way...


As luck would have it, my FO for the day was none other than Mr. Joseph "Heavy Metal" Crankshaw. I had to confiscate his cell phone so he couldn't warn the rest of ORD that I was on the way...


I have to admit that I was still quite rusty, but after a few minutes the climb checklist was a breeze...


The Super 80 was just the aircraft to get back in the saddle with...


Somewhere over New Mexico I started getting ACARS messages from an excited Tim Grupp telling me how he took care of my 767 like it was his own while I was gone. It'll be interesting to see the maintenance log there. I quickly got the idea that once I hit ORD I should start a hub tour to get back in touch with everyone. As night fell I began putting together my upcoming flight request..


The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, aside from the incredible case of gas I got from the mexican food. Thanks a lot Mr. Blakely!

I don't know what gave JC the impression that he was going to get any flying in on this leg, but he handled it well. It was a beautiful approach into Chicago...


The landing was far from my best, but still good nonetheless...



No damage to the brand new struts Mike!

Stay tuned! More to follow....

[Norberto Rivera]

My arrival into ORD was....how shall I say this....quite unexpected.... First of all: there was NO FRIGGEN COFFEE!!!!! I saw pilots with their feet kicked up on the furniture in the pilot's lounge... a lot of new faces....a lot of familiar faces.... there was one pilot, who shall remain nameless, straddling the hitch on a tug and imitating Jeff Rowl's voice from the cockpit requesting a pushback... .... Needless to say some changes had to be made. Some of you may be familiar with Triple T, the office linebacker. I had to contract his services for a couple of weeks and everything went back to normal.

For my next trip I am visiting the Dallas crew for some good "goat's milk" with my good friends Harold and Wayne. For this flight I have an absolutely stunning Boeing 777-223...


This is one of my all-time favorite aircraft. Those RR Trent's just sing to me...


The money line at O'Hare was particularly long today, but I pulled some strings and we got an express departure on a recently-opened departure runway


I was sad to leave the hub again, but I was even more excited to see everyone once again. TTT had the situation well at hand during my absence though. "Positive rate of climb, gear up."...




and did I mention that the money line was LOOOOONG at O'Hare that day?????????


Few aircraft wear this logo with more pride...


I made absolutely sure that there was NO mexican food onboard before we departed. Today we're having some meat-type substance with steamed veggies... I really need to start eating the First Class food....


The METAR nor the TAF really showed it, but it was going to be a bumpy ride into DFW today. No big deal, I'll hand-fly the whole descent and approach ...


A truly stunning early Texas afternoon...


The approach was flawless and I was right on the money at the localizer beam. For some reason I didn't take any shots of the landing but it really doesn't take much skill to land a T7 LOL


My buddy Jose had some good BBQ on the grill when I got to Dallas. Harold broke out a couple of bottles of "goat''s milk" and we told tall tales of flying aero-planes and chasing women until the sun went down... A good time was had by all.

Stay tuned...even MORE to follow! LOL ....

[Norberto Rivera]

After recovering from an overload of "goat's milk" and BBQ brisquet it was time to keep on truckin'. Next stop: Sunny Los Angeles. For this leg Mr. Martin made sure I got a recently polished 757...



As usual, DFW was buzzing with activity everywhere, but I got scurried off to the hold-short line expeditiously...


The 757 is not my Level-D, but they do share the same cockpit so it's "almost" like being back home. She does fly like a dream though...


Climbing with impunity. Powered by Rolls Royce. (I should charge RR a royalty for coming up with their new marketing slogan. LOL)


It got a little bumpy and I started regretting all the "goat's milk from the previous evening"...


Cruise was pretty smooth with the usual heavy headwind, but the 7-5 handled it like nobody's business...


Ladies and gentlemen the captain has illuminated the fasten seatbelt sign, indicating that we have begun our descent into the LA basin. Please ensure that your seatbacks and tray tables are in their fully upright and locked positions and your seatbelt is fastened. Any electronic devices don't really interfere with the aircraft's navigation system, but the FAA wants to remind you of who's in charge and mandates that they be turned off until the aircraft has landed....


A little soupy on the way down today...


Landing was smooth as a baby's butt...


Just the way I taught Zac Armstrong to do it ...


The best part about coming to L.A.??? I'm greeted at the gate with a venti Vanilla Latte with 3 splenda's and a bit of cinnamon...just the way I like it



That's it for tonight. I still have a ton more shots to post later on this week.

[Omar Campanalunga]

Very nice shots

[Michael Blakely]

I quickly got the idea that once I hit ORD I should start a hub tour to get back in touch with everyone. As night fell I began putting together my upcoming flight request..

Bert! Where you using your laptop in the cockpit! Didn't your learn from those Northwest pilots?

[Rey Ramon]

I miss these stories.