Showtime! Part Three

By Tony Vallillo (30 September 2007)

They say there is nothing, midway through the morning, like a decent cup of coffee. I'll have to take that on faith, since my coffee intake is prompted not by appreciation for a fine blend, but by sheer necessity! Oh, I suppose there is always NoDoz or some other caffeine concentrate, to say nothing of Mountain Dew, but these I prefer even less than java, so it's off to the kiosk in the concourse's food court for a stimulating infusion of alertness! In case you wonder why I would need a boost so early in the trip, remember that it is now 11 AM, and I've been up and at 'em since O'dark-thirty. And the day, as they say, is still young!

Back in the cockpit, the F/O and I check the route to SXM in the FMC. Quite often, these days, the route loads automatically via ACARS and all we need do is check it carefully against the filed flight plan to ensure accuracy. Such is the case today. The route for the second flight of the day is: DCT SKIPS T137 ROBLE DCT DDP B520 PJM DCT TNCM. The so-called "T" routes are something fairly new. In prior times the route would have been from overhead Nassau via Amber 555 to SJU, then via STT to SXM. But these newer T routes are all RNAV waypoint based, and do not rely on the existence of ground based navaids. As a result they are a bit straighter, although T-137 does actually cross GTK, just as A555 does. We still get the A555 route from time to time - it seems to depend on the day!

Almost all buttoned up and ready.

T-137 goes right down the delightful Bahamas chain of islands, so the route, on a gorgeous day like today, promises an abundance of sightseeing, especially for us! Let's hope at least of few of the passengers join us in gawking! As we will see shortly, the azure waters of the shallows in this area are something to behold, and can be best appreciated only from the air.

As departure time approaches, there is the usual flurry of activity. Last minute passengers, and there always seem to be a number of them, come rushing up to the gate after their marathon jaunts from other regions of the airport, often panting considerably from their exertions! I have always thought that connecting air travel represents an excellent way to prepare oneself for a 5 or 10K run - probably much more effective than running on a track! For one thing, the hurdles in an airport are dynamic - they often move right into your way!

The T routes are on a special chart.

Departures from a hub airport like MIA often involve more coordination than a departure from JFK. Some of the connecting passengers may be on airplanes that have not yet arrived at the gate, and decisions must be made as to whether or not our flight will be delayed to await them. If this is the last flight of the day in a particular market, the flight will often be delayed, but if there are later options a delay is less likely. Although I have an input into these decisions, and indeed could, if I wished, put my foot down and insist on a particular course of action, I usually leave the decision to the passenger services people. They have much more information at hand than I do about things like alternate flights, overnight accommodations, and so on, and are usually in a position to make the best informed decision. Only when it seems that they are being driven solely by a fear-induced desire to get the "on-time" departure do I sometimes step in and assert the authority of the suit-of-lights!

Engines running and ready to taxi. The other side of the north runway complex used to be known as "Cockroach Corner". In the late '70's this was an elephant's graveyard of old golden-age recips - DC-6's, -7's, Convairs, Connies, and even a Stratocruiser or two, most of which flew freight every night into the Caribbean.

Regardless of the oft-held public perception that airlines are oblivious to passenger desires for timely departures and arrivals, delays are an absolute anathema at any airline. Daily meetings are held at each station to account for each delay, however minute, and, depending upon the corporate culture at the airline in question, to either fix the problem or fix the blame. Blame, of course, is always easier to fix than problems, especially difficult multi-dimensional problems such as those that cause delays in the airline world. So it is often the blame that is fixed, a process that usually starts a downhill flow of a substance that is neither colorless, odorless nor, presumably, tasteless!

At the manager-or-higher level, an excess of delays can be detrimental to a career, at least in some corporate cultures. But that downhill flow of things ensures that even the front line soldiers are not immune from unpleasant effects when delays are encountered. This can sometimes result in an almost paranoid unwillingness to "take" any delay at all, even when it seems reasonable to do so in the pursuit of overall passenger service. Sadly, it also occasionally results in an almost comical frenzy of laying off the blame on another department, a free-for-all that I sometimes had to deal with during my days as a chief pilot, since that office is the de-facto representative of the flight department at the local level. Those are memories best left undisturbed in the dusts of time!

More of the 737's are getting the winglet treatment.

Today, though, the careers of all concerned are secure - we button up right on time and are cleared for pushback. We are still in the "alley", of course, and we have to wait while at least one airplane taxies to its gate before getting fully underway. Once we do get going, we are cleared to the numbered spot at the head of the alley, there to contact ground control for actual taxi clearance. Things are not too hectic at MIA at this hour, and clearance is immediately received. This was not always the case here; indeed, only a few years ago things were much busier. Partly this is the result of schedule reductions in the wake of the events of 2001, and partly because of a new approach to operating a hub like MIA.

The rest of the lineup for runway 08R

For all practical purposes, the modern hub-and-spoke concept in the airline industry was invented at Atlanta by Delta Airlines in the 1960's. Delta probably started operating that way in order to offer service in city pairs which they lacked authority to serve directly. For example, although they may not have had authority to fly from Charleston, South Carolina to Washington DC, they could, via a connection in Atlanta, offer a passenger service between those two cities on Delta, and often more frequently than the airline that held direct authority in the original market. Whatever the reason, by the mid 1970's Delta had it down to a fine art, thus originating the old saw about dying in the south and having to connect in ATL for either heaven or hell!

By the dawn of deregulation, the number crunchers had developed new theories of market share and synergy in the concept of the hub and spoke. Now free to serve whatever markets they chose, the other major airlines wasted no time in emulating Delta's Atlanta operation. Or, in the words of the great Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevski: "Plagiarize - let no one else's work evade your eyes!" (With apologies to Tom Lehrer!) Soon enough just about every major city in the US had been transformed into somebody's hub - DFW, BNA, RDU and ORD for American, CVG and SLC for Delta ( in addition to ATL of course!) PIT and eventually PHL for USAir, PHX for America West, DEN, ORD and IAD for United, and the list goes on!

Feet wet and on our way to stardom!

These hubs all originally operated in much the same way - run a whole bunch of flights from everywhere into the hub at the same time, shuffle the people and bags in the shortest possible time, and then run a whole bunch of flights out of the hub to everywhere, again all at once! Some hubs, like DFW and ORD tended to run directionally - that is, flights from the east come in, shuffle and depart to the west, followed immediately by a rush of other flights from the west, which shuffled and departed east. Others, like ATL originally, were omnidirectional. Either way, the goal was to shorten the overall elapsed time from origination to ultimate destination. The shortest times, as it happened, garnered the top position on travel agents' computer screens, and were the most likely to be sold. This, of course, led to incredible congestion and hectic, even frantic, races between gates to meet the often unrealistically short connect times. And, of course, this often affected crewmembers as well!

Shallow waters on Andros Island.

Eventually, after 2001, it began to dawn on some folks within the industry that since price was now king, not elapsed time, it might be more efficient and thus cheaper to spread out the arrivals and departures. Thus was born the concept of the "rolling hub", where instead of gaggles of inbound and outbound flights compressed into a very short period, the arrivals and departures were spread out somewhat more evenly through the day. This proved to be "berry berry good", at least for our airline, and resulted, among other things, in more leisurely connections that are feasible for mere humans, in addition to Olympic sprint runners! To say nothing of reduced congestion on the runways and taxiways.

We are cleared to taxi to 08R, via November. This is an interesting spot on the airport, since runways 08R and 12 both originate here. Quite often we get a last minute change of runways, say from 08R to 12, and long experience has taught us to check and pre-brief both possibilities to preclude a frantic scramble at the last minute as the FMC and navaids need to be updated to the new departure! Today, though, the original plan holds, and we are cleared for takeoff on 08R. This leg, the "star turn", is mine and thus it is I who push the throttles forward and command "Auto throttle arm - engage EPR. At a weight of around 215000 lb, the 757 accelerates rapidly, and after a brief tour of the runway it is time to pull back on the yoke. Sure enough, another nose-heavy bird. No matter - the nose comes up and we are off and climbing!

Norman's Cay, southest of Nassau. This would be a great place to visit in small plane!

When we flew this trip, departures from runway 08R were often instructed to maintain runway heading. This path takes us directly over Biscayne Bay, and past the Dodge Island cruise ship terminal, which is teeming with vessels that look, for all the world, like barges with condominium complexes built on top of them! By the time we get the flaps up we are flying over Miami Beach itself, albeit a bit too high to peruse the beauties on South Beach. Just as well, for our attention must be directed elsewhere. The TCAS is alive with traffic - airline traffic, of course, and also the brisk commerce in towed banners now far below along the shoreline. It is best to keep a sharp lookout in these skies.

The water is so shallow here that you can see the sandy bottom!

Nowadays, about a year later, departures for Skips might fly the Skips RNAV departure, which involves a right turn to VKZ (Virginia Key VOR, a replacement navaid for a VOR [ Biscayne Bay] that was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew a number of years ago), and then on to Skips via several intermediate waypoints. RNAV departures are a recent innovation, made possible by the ubiquity of accurate RNAV equipment on aircraft these days, mainly GPS equipment. Using RNAV, very precise flight paths can be achieved, with a much smaller dispersion of tracks, at least when everybody is paying close attention! This is desirable for a variety of reasons, including noise abatement and increased ATC flexibility and flow rates. In this day and age, with the number of flights increasing at an alarming rate, maximum utilization of the airspace and runway capacity at major airports is an important goal.

New Providence Island, and the town of Nassau.

Of course the actual achievement of this goal depends upon some very precise navigating and flying. In the days of headings and VOR radials, it was not unusual for successive aircraft flying supposedly identical radials to be making tracks a half mile or more apart over the ground. Headings, of course, depend on the winds aloft to produce a ground track, and there will usually be some variance in this situation. But to have tracks differ by more than a few hundred meters on a VOR radial implies at least a bit of casual flying! (Not always, though. Many things can influence VOR reception - even things in the cabin, like FM radios and other electronic gadgets! On several occasions, in the B-727, I would notice the VOR indicator wandering back and forth even more than might be attributable to my normal flying technique! A quick check in the cabin invariably revealed a passenger operating a forbidden device, usually something like a Walkman that had a built-in FM radio receiver. FM receivers, for some reason, often interfered with VOR reception. In each case, when the offending device was turned off, the course needle snapped to center and stayed there! This is why you can't use electronic devices during departure and arrival, nor FM radios at all.)

Departure control clears us direct to Skips just after we go feet wet over Miami Beach. This being a 757, it takes just a bit more than fingertip pressure on the yoke to roll gently into a right turn. Once steady on course to Skips, I engage the LNAV and summon Otto to the actual task of flying the ship. Although I usually hand fly at least up to the low 20 thousands, it is important to keep the autoflight skills sharp too, and so for now I will practice my button pushing! This also frees me up to enjoy the marvelous scenery of the Bahamas.

After Skips, T-137 takes us past Bimini, the first dry land east of South Beach. This would be a likely place for a first stop in a small single engine plane, but only garners a passing glance from us. From there we pass just north of Andros Island, the largest island in the chain, beyond which lies New Providence Island, and Nassau. We can see Nassau off to the left, with Paradise Island and a harbor full of cruise ships. This is perhaps the most popular port-of-call in all of cruising, and nearly every Caribbean cruise I have taken has spent a night here.

Shallows off Great Exuma Island.

From Nassau all the way down to Grand Turk we will be flying over some of the most beautiful waters on the planet. Much of the sea in the Bahamas is quite shallow, and the various depths produce a myriad of colors, from the sapphire blue of the deeper waters, through the marvelous turquoise of the shallows, to the tans and buffs of the sandbars and shoals, some of which are actually above water level at low tide.

The Bahamas have played a significant role in the history of the western hemisphere, no less so than the day, in 1492, when Columbus stepped ashore on what many scholars believe to be San Salvador island, which lies only about 40 miles north of T-137 and is visible today, off to the left. But perhaps the most interesting and romanticized period of Bahamas history is the era of the pirates of the Spanish Main, many of whom used the shallow waters and hundreds of small islands of the chain to their advantage as operating bases and routes of escape. Some of the most famous names in nautical lore frequented these azure waters below, brigands like Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, and the swashbuckling Calico Jack, whose crew included two female pirates said to be as fearsome as any of the men in the crew! Other slightly more legitimate privateers like Henry Morgan and Francis Drake also knew these waters well. In our own time stories of modern day pirates still circulate, and for a while some of the out islands became of interest to drug smugglers, although a good deal of that activity has now been eliminated by international law enforcement efforts.

We are also at pains to notice that our route skirts the bottom boundary of the so-called Bermuda Triangle. This region, bounded roughly by South Florida, San Juan and Bermuda has become notorious as the location of many allegedly unexplained disappearances of ships and, since the beginning of WWII, also airplanes. Although many of the incidents have turned out to be either fabricated or grossly exaggerated, there are still a few that are genuinely puzzling, such as the flight of four Navy fighters on a training flight in the 1940's. It is, of course, reassuring to recall that many, if not most, of the incidents took place during a time when navigation and communications were a far cry from what they have become in recent years. Since we know our position to within a few meters, and can communicate more or less instantly across a wide area, extraterrestrials would have to be very quick indeed to spirit us away before we could at least leave a forwarding address!

Binnacle Hill on Aikins Island. to the right is the Bight of Aikins.

Geographically a part of the same island chain as the Bahamas, but politically separate, the Turks and Caicos Islands are the next link in the panorama unfolding beneath us. Providenciales is a popular family resort these days, and we often have direct flights from JFK to Provo, as we call it. Sometimes we even have a layover there, although the last one that I had was rather short - just the late afternoon and evening, with an early morning departure that left no time for sun and surf. After passing Provo and the four Caicos islands, we come to the one point shared by T-137 and A-555 - GTK, or Grand Turk Island. Grand Turk was and still is a major communications and tracking station for the Eastern Test Range, the region used by the Air Force and NASA for missile testing and space launches. On several occasions during my Air Force career, I flew into GTK in C-141's to resupply the ground station. No doubt the C-17's continue that tradition today.

By now we are in contact with San Juan center and, perhaps to avoid cluttering up their radar scope in the vicinity of the airport itself, they clear us direct to St. Thomas. San Juan, St. Thomas, and many of the other islands in the Caribbean have figured in my flying career from 'way back when. In my Air Force days I occasionally flew in and out of the British island of Antigua, which was also an Eastern Test Range relay station. When I started flying the 707, several months after I was hired at the airline, many of the flights were to places like SJU, SXM, BGI, AUA, and CUR. These routes were the heritage of an earlier merger with Trans Caribbean Airlines, a colorful outfit that brought a number of real "characters" to our previously somewhat staid and conservative pilot ranks. Skillful husbandry of these routes, along with, unfortunately, the demise of the principal competition (Eastern and Pan Am) has resulted in our current strong presence throughout the entire Caribbean and Latin American region, and some great trips and layovers!

But now it is getting to be time for the "close-up"! Putting aside thoughts of the history of our presence in these skies, I prepare for the "take". An examination of the approach, followed by the usual briefing, will have to replace a visit to the makeup chair. No problem, really, since none of the paparazzi will be able to see me anyway! Even so, I straighten my tie and attempt, with wetted hand, to rein in a few unruly locks. Just in case!

The big sky! Another 757 passes us northwest-bound to Miami.

The airport at St. Maarten sits on a narrow strip of land that forms one boundary of a large lagoon, a strip reminiscent of, albeit larger than, the dikes of the mother country. Portions of this isthmus are barely wide enough for the runway and a parallel taxiway. There is a small hill just to the left of the runway threshold which could manufacture some tricky wind currents were the wind ever to be out of the north. Fortunately, it rarely is - almost all the time it is straight out of the east, right down the runway. The runway itself is 7152 feet long according to the Jepps - long enough for big jets, but just barely enough for the really long flights. The 747's that KLM flies in and out of here may arrive from Europe, but they don't depart direct for the motherland. They apparently head first for one of the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean - Aruba or Curacao.

Mayaguana - just about the last island of the Bahamas chain.

Unlike St. Thomas and many of the other island airports, Princess Juliana airport has no ILS approach. It has only a couple of VOR approaches and an NDB approach, called a Locator approach in the charts. The minimums for the VOR approach are 600' MDA and a visibility of nearly 3 miles (4500 meters)! Fortunately for the vacationers, it rarely ever stays below those numbers for long in paradise! The only situation that might result in a lengthy spell of lower ceilings and visibilities would be a hurricane, and we would have other reasons not to fly there if that happened!

All of the approaches are to runway 09. Landings on 27 are, at least for us, prohibited regardless of wind direction, due to the high terrain just a mile and a half east of the runway. Tailwind takeoffs on 09 are also prohibited for the same reason. It matters little, because in 30 years of flying down here, I have never seen the winds blow from any direction other than more or less east.

Google Earth view of St. Maarten

Juliana approach has radar, which is just as well, since most of the jet arrivals are concentrated into a roughly one hour window. Without radar, that would probably result in some holding, as each arrival might have to fly a complete approach. The complete approach in question starts at the VOR with a holding pattern -- required if you have come down from the north, as we do on the non-stops. In fact, the alignment maneuver, the holding pattern, would be required from any direction except approximately 30 degrees either side of the outbound course of 318 degrees. Once properly aligned, the initial approach lies along the 318 radial until reaching 7 DME, after which a left turn is made to intercept the 9 DME arc for the trip around to the 096 degree inbound course. All of this would take a good deal of time, and it is indeed fortunate that the controllers can see us on radar and vector us to the 096 course directly.

We, of course, are coming in from the west, so barring traffic we can expect a more or less straight in approach. We will maintain the last assigned altitude, usually around 2000 feet, until we reach the 7 DME fix on the final approach, after which we can commence a descent. These days, we no longer "dive and drive" on non-precision approaches such as VOR or NDB approaches. Although it is still legal to commence a screaming descent at 7 DME right down to 600 feet, this is frowned upon in jets. Far better to commence a close-to-normal rate of descent, which is conveniently displayed on the approach chart for this procedure. This afternoon, taking the wind into account, our ground speed on final will be around 135 knots. The chart shows that for 135 knots, a good rate of descent would be just under 700 feet per minute. This will be our target.

"Google Earth view of runway 09 at SXM, and Maho Beach. Significantly higher than a normal approach.

Although there is no radio vertical guidance, such as a glide slope, there is a PAPI on runway 09. This, and the vertical guidance offered by the FMC, to say nothing of the evidence of our own eyes, will keep us out of the drink and get us safely to at least the 1-wire! Actually, we want the 3-wire today, because of the paparazzi and the other sun-worshippers on Maho! We really don't want to be parting anyone's hair with the main gear!! So I'll be looking for nothing less than two reds and two whites on the PAPI. If this were a larger airplane, I'd be looking for three whites, just to be sure the main gear would get at least to the threshold!

Over the beach. Not us, unfortunately, but another of the brethren who happened along later.

One more thing we need to think about - a missed approach. From the normal Missed Approach Point (MAP), which is 2 miles from the VOR (just a tad less from the runway - maybe 1.9 miles), you simply turn right to a 160 heading and climb. But, if for some reason we had to make a go-around from very close in, say over the threshold, we would have to approximate the departure procedure, which involves a turn to fly between some hills to the southeast of the field. This would be no problem with both engines running, but if our luck was such that we had an engine failure at the time of the go-around (that would be a really bad hair day!!) we would have to do some precise flying. There is, as you might guess, a procedure for that as well. Missed approaches are rare at SXM but not unknown, because each arriving jet must turn around on the runway and taxi back to the terminal area. This takes time, and on occasion it is not done quickly enough to allow the next flight to land. Then and only then would you get two "takes" of your famous scene!

Arrival in paradise.

Having discussed all of this, we are prepared to do the actual flying. Lights! Action!! Camera!! Around 130 miles from SXM we ask for and receive clearance to descend. The FMC will figure an accurate descent profile provided it has knowledge of the winds at various altitudes. But the old 3 for 1 rule works just fine also - three times the altitude loss. At 35,000 feet, that works out to 35 X 3 = 105 miles, no wind. We have very little wind at altitude, and I expect little on the way down, so I just add a few miles to slow down and configure for the approach, and voila - 130 miles!

As we descend, we can see the clouds atop St. Maarten, but not the island itself. This is typical in the tropics, and must have driven the early aviators crazy as they tried to decide under which cloud their island destination lurked! We, of course, don't need to rely on clouds to find SXM - not only the FMC pink line but also the radar and the EGPWS display it precisely!

Since we are not in the FAA world at the moment, we can ask for, and be granted a high speed descent - that is, a speed greater than 250 knots below 10,000 feet. This will save a few minutes, but we must be mindful of the TCAS down low. Although we left most of the island-hopping private pilots in the Bahamas, there are occasionally a few small planes flying at the lower altitudes down here. To say nothing of the small commuter airliners flitting from island to island. SXM is something of a hub for such as these.

Shutdown checklist complete.

Around 20 miles out, I begin to slow down. I'm aiming for flaps 20 and gear down by the 7 DME fix. You pretty much have to be level to slow down in a 757 - it is difficult to slow down and go down at the same time. It can be done with speed brakes and gear, but it is more pleasing to level off and just let the speed bleed off, lowering the flaps an increment at a time at just about the minimum speed for each notch. This is the hallmark of a good pilot - at least with passengers, who for the most part care little for the more aggressive styles of flying.

Now we can see the island ahead, and the runway and Maho beach. These last few miles will go by quickly. Gear down, final flaps, and the checklist is complete. I'm flying by hand, of course, partly because I'm on candid camera, and partly because the winds all over the Caribbean are usually such, especially around mountainous islands, as to create a decent amount of chop at the lowest altitudes.

The old termina and tower at SXM, now only a memory.

By 1000 feet we are in the "slot", and from here on down it is a matter of keeping my eyes on the runway and the instruments, and off the beach! Yes, I know that there are probably at least a few beautiful semi-clad women down there, but there will be time for that later, after we get to the hotel!

At 200 feet we are just offshore of Maho, and we can now make out the people down below, eagerly awaiting our arrival. Keep crosschecking the instruments!

Lower we go, and in the blink of an eye we sweep over Maho beach itself. No time for gawking, just keep the PAPI on two reds.

A second later we are over the runway and in the flare. Power to idle, just a bit of back pressure - not really a flare - and we are down. Not too bad.

The JFK non-stop departs as we deplane.

Now, of course, we have to stop! Full reversers, but leave the brakes for later - we have to roll to the end to reach the turn-around pad anyway. At the pad, we swing around to the right and reverse course back down the runway. No one is crowding us on final, so we can taxi at normal speed to our turnoff, taxiway Charlie. "Cut!" "Print it!" No second take today! Andy Warhol once said each of us would be famous for 15 minutes. A landing at SXM involves less than 15 seconds, and only about one second over the beach itself. Fame is fleeting!

On this day the old terminal at SXM was still in operation, and we park and shut down right in front of the tower. These days there is a beautiful new terminal at SXM, modern and air-conditioned. But the old one was neat and clean, and gave one the sense that one was in another world, an older world. Just right for paradise. It's all gone now - it was amazing how quickly it was torn down after the new terminal opened! That area is just part of the ramp now.

After saying goodbye to the passengers, we now get to join them in paradise. At least for 24 hours or so. As we head for the hotel, a ride of all of 3 minutes, I am for the millionth time astounded - they pay me for this!? Or in the immortal words of Yakov Smirnoff: "America! What a country!!"

Continued in Part 4 - Maho Madness!

Anthony Vallillo
avallillo@charter.net

Showtime Series

Showtime! Part One - Dawn Patrol

Showtime! Part Two - Golden Route

Showtime! Part Three - I'm Ready For My Close-up

Showtime! Part Four - Maho Madness!