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Showtime! Part Four By Tony Vallillo (14 January 2008) Many of the layover hotels, especially in the international division, are really good properties - the kind of place you would book if you were on vacation. This is not entirely a matter of altruism on the part of the company. The unions (pilot and flight attendant) have a considerable input as well, and working together the company and the unions usually come up with some outstanding digs! St. Maarten is no exception. The hotel is a many-star resort property, and as I swipe the computer key in my door, I almost expect Robin Leach to greet me! But there is no time to waste enjoying the various luxuries of the room - I have a date with a few low flying airplanes! So it's off with the suit of lights and on with the shorts and T-shirt, and away I go to Maho beach. Busman's holiday - the view from my window! Warnings are prominently posted Maho is all of a few hundred feet from the front door of the hotel, and I immediately join the 50 or so tourists/paparazzi scanning the skies, eager for another big jet to strut its stuff on stage. Alas, the next few arrivals are merely small commuter planes, the ones that flit to and fro among the islands like dragonflies. Still, the difference in perspective from an hour ago is interesting, to say the least! Earlier, we went whizzing past this beach at the speed of heat, whereas now I'm down here watching the show, both in the air and on the sand! No, they don't run them this close! I pick a spot over by the Sunset Bar, grab a diet Coke, and start to pay some attention to the beach scenery, since the airside attractions are few at the moment! Sure enough, there are a number of beauties adorning the strand, and it looks like at least two of them have neglected to equip themselves with the northern portions of their bikinis! Just as I make this observation, however, I am interrupted by a set of landing lights in the distance - a jet! Now comes the choice - the lady or the airplane. As an aviator, I really have no choice - the airplane! As it approaches, it turns out to be a Boeing Business Jet, a 737-700 with one of the blandest paint jobs imaginable but sporting, no doubt, a multi-million dollar interior. It flashes over the beach at about 60 feet, giving the tourists a thrill. I, perched on a stool at the Sunset, am in position for a decent shot of him from the side. After this tall cool one I will stroll on over to the middle of the beach, the better to await a haircut from a 747. The view beachside is better than the airside view, at least at the moment! The choice! Boeing Business Jet These, sadly, are paying customers! Meanwhile, I amuse myself by observing my surroundings at the bar. There is a large surfboard, stabbed vertically into the sand, which serves both as the sign for the Sunset Bar and the arrivals board! Chalked on this surfboard are the ETA's for the airline arrivals today, ours among them. There is also a notice at the bottom of the board - topless women apparently drink free here! Sadly, at least at the moment, all of the customers at the bar appear to have paid for their beers! Soon another jet drops in - one of our own, a 757, and this one must be the JFK flight. He screams by at an appropriate height, not so low as to scare anyone! I manage to get a decent shot of him just before he goes feet dry. Finishing my beverage, I decide to take in the spectacle from closer up. So I meander over to the middle of the beach, right below the approach course, to await something really big! Alas, it is not to be. Several more of the small turboprops fly over - nothing really to bother airliners.net about! By now it is becoming apparent that our own arrival, a few hours ago, was right in the middle of the "rush hour", and it is quite unlikely that we will see any more big ones go floating over our heads today! However, several are about to leave, and leading the pack is the KLM 747 that brought in a large number of the Dutch tourists a few hours ago, a few of whom are already on the beach watching their chariot depart! This guy is thinking the same thing I am - where are the heavies!? A Dutch salute! These guys bid farewell to the bird they came in on After receiving his clearances from the tower, the KLM Captain trundles the big magilla onto the runway and gives the bird the gun. Knowledgeable as I am about the effects of jet blast over distance, I keep well to the side, away from the runway centerline. It is good that I do so, for the jet blast kicks up a veritable haboob of sand from the beach, launching it on its way out to sea and no doubt sandblasting anyone foolish enough to be standing in its path! Fortunately no one is, although there are a few foolhardy souls who stand by the airport fence on the other side of the roadway. At least there is no sand there, just the full force of what must be at 100 mph winds. I guess it gets the wrinkles out of your shorts, at any rate! Cleared for takeoff and away to Aruba A departing 757 sends some of the Maho sand out to sea! Dinner at sunset After waiting around a while longer, to see if any 747's might just happen to be late inbound, or diverting from some other island, I decide to abandon the vigil, and seek other entertainment. When I was younger and single "entertainment" had an entirely different meaning for me than it does today. Since I am now neither of the above, a decent meal is about the liveliest entertainment I seek! Fortunately, on an island like St. Maarten, excellent eateries abound, and several lie within the precincts of our own hotel. The convenience of this arrangement, coupled with the avoidance of cab fares (ever an enticement to an airline pilot, especially a Captain!) leads me back to our resort, where I spend another half hour perusing the menus at the several culinary establishments therein! Fish lover that I am, I end up in the seafood emporium, where the F/O eventually joins me for dinner. The flight attendants are not with us - on this last leg the cabin crew was Miami based; they were doing a turn-around, and are no doubt on their way to hearth and home at this point in time. So we pilots feast on seafood and occupy ourselves with the usual stuff of pilot conversation - schedules, the union contract and the potential for improvements to it, the general relationship with the company, news of the world, and, occasionally, family anecdotes. Not the stuff, perhaps, of masters of the universe, but ours is a simpler world. Indeed, the masters often envy us our lot in life!! To say nothing of the corner office view we enjoy! Thinking of such things, we watch the sun set into the Caribbean. No green flash tonight, though. Maybe next time! Breakfast by the sea One our ours goes feet dry The morrow brings more beautiful weather and a delightful breakfast on the terrace overlooking the runway. This is surely a busman's holiday! Again the traffic at this hour is mostly the small stuff, with one of our early 757's thrown in as a teaser. There is no real point in returning to Maho, since we will be on our way to the airport again by the time the rush hour begins. So instead, I enjoy a pleasant morning and lunch by the pool. About the time that our inbound airplane is starting his descent, we are back in uniform awaiting the taxicab for the short run over to the terminal. As we arrive, so does our steed, and soon the hordes of new tourists are pouring forth from within the beast. At this old terminal there is still an operations office and it is there that I go to summon up and pore over the flight plan. The route is a bit different from that of yesterday. The actual route is: N0454F340 dct PJM B520 DDP dct BQN A636 ALBEE T159 JUNUR FOWEE5 (Note: This was the route of our actual flight that day. Nowadays, the route is a bit different - on the day this was written, this flight used the following route: N0454F380 DCT PJM B520 DDP A555 GRADI/N0447F400 A555 ZQA FLIPR1) The weather is beautiful at both ends and everywhere in between. All in all, this will be a simple trip, with just one item of interest - the departure. Because there is a sizeable mountain not that far from the departure end of runway 09, special plans must be in place to ensure a safe takeoff under all circumstances. Although we could, with both engines running, out-climb even the terrain straight ahead, it is always unwise to plan takeoffs on the assumption that both engines will be running! Therefore, our first plan is to turn right very shortly after takeoff, and fly a southerly heading over much lower terrain until we are clear of the island. If we should happen to have an engine fail prior to going feet wet, we still make the right turn, only this time to a slightly more southeasterly heading, and, if necessary, fly between two of the smaller hills that lie in that direction. This would allow for a considerably lesser climb gradient and still clear the terrain. Since our ramp weight is only 208,000 lb, a fairly light weight in a 757, we will still be able to exceed minimum climb gradients with an engine out by a large margin...the only way to fly! Of that 208,000 pounds, 35,300 of it is fuel. Since the weather in Miami is as good as it is here, no alternate airport is required and none is listed. In lieu of an alternate, we carry 35 minutes of holding fuel, which works out to be around 4000 lb. We should arrive in the MIA area with around 10,000 lb, of fuel, enough for around 1:15 of continued flying, should the need for that arise. The flight plan does indicate the possibility of turbulence at our planned altitude of FL340, over a considerable portion of the route. This is something we must inquire about after we get airborne - forecasts are just sophisticated guesses, and we will do well to get some actual pilot reports as soon as possible, for it may be that the lower altitudes are smoother, as they often are. There is also a significant headwind component forecast for FL340 - nearly 60 knots. The flight plan has a section with winds at major waypoints at several altitudes, and the lower altitudes appear to feature a considerably lower headwind component. This we must also consider carefully, since the lower headwind component just might cancel out the increased fuel burn at the lower altitudes, making for a more economical flight. In this day and age, every gallon and every dollar counts, and there are not enough of either in the world to justify profligacy. After signing the flight plan I proceed to the airplane, which the FO has just finished inspecting. All is in order, and after a quick briefing with the MIA based cabin crew, during which we get some useful intel on the quality of the ride coming down, it is time to load the flight plan and be off for home. After pushback and the lighting of the fires, we are cleared to taxi over to runway 09 for the second act of our SXM command performance! A340 center stage! The Maho plane-watchers are just as fascinated with the departures as they are with the arrivals. They often line the perimeter fence as we taxi into position, waving an enthusiastic farewell as though they wished it were a permanent, and not a temporary good bye. Alas, within a week or two, they will be here with us, casting a last longing glance at Maho Beach from the cabin of some jetliner, carrying fond memories of a time spent in paradise! Some of them will, of course, return - such is the benefit of cheap air travel. But for a good many of them, this stint in the tropics will be the trip of a lifetime, something to be savored in memory and pictures for years. It is always humbling to consider the small and anonymous part I have played in so many of these adventures, as this profession I have chosen has shrunk the world, and brought so many people to so many places like this. The waving beachcombers bring my attention back to the tasks at hand. We always wave back, and occasionally flash the lights at them, to acknowledge their benediction. Today we must wait while an A340, inbound from who-knows-where, does his act over the beach and taxis back to the terminal. SXM is such a small airport that there is little room for taxiways, and the hold-short line is a bit farther from the threshold than is usually the case, to ensure that wingtips do not encroach on the runway. Thus situated, we get a good look at his flare and touchdown, and would be in a good position to render judgment upon it if this were a contest. I have occasionally contemplated how interesting it would be if there were little remote input devices in places like the Sunset Bar or the various Aero Squadron restaurants located at the ends of runways, devices with which patrons could grade the landings, like Olympic judges! There could even be a sign at the taxiway indicating the average score! 9.2, 9.3, and a 7.8 from the Bulgarian judge!! Perhaps the daily winning crew could collect a free drink at the Sunset each evening! If our landings were graded by the spectators! Rotate! Now it is our turn. Taking a last look at final to ensure that no one is sneaking up on us, I taxi the bird past the waving beachcombers and around into position on the runway. The 340 is just clearing the runway and soon enough we have only the mountains ahead of us! Clearance received, checklist complete, the F/O calls for autothrottle and EPR and away we go. Up and away! Clear right Turning now toward the lower terrain to the south As the hills grow bigger in the windshield, we reach V1 and then rotation speed. The F/O brings the nose up and in another second we are airborne and climbing. At a weight of just 208,000 lbs, the climb attitude is fairly steep, and very quickly the mountains are out of sight below the glare shield. We aren't above them just yet; we simply cannot see them without leaning way forward in the seat and looking over the nose. At 400 feet the F/O begins his right turn and we arc around toward the low point of the hills. No matter now, for by the time we cross them we will be way above them! Even in a 25 degree bank turn, the 757 climbs like a raped ape! As we roll out of the turn, we clean up and accelerate. Soon departure control has us headed west and we once again get clearance to blow by the 250 knot limit. Outside the USA, where the air traffic tends to be less dense, this has its advantages. You can gain several minutes or more by climbing and descending fast like this, and, when we are trying to make up time, climb and descent may be the best opportunities to do so. Once in cruise, it is often harder to make up time unless the winds are especially favorable. San Juan center clears us direct from STT to UTAHS, then to JUNUR. This keeps us well out of the SJU terminal area. Since this is one of the earlier model FMC's, we are busy for a minute or two creating abeam waypoints for some of the many flight plan waypoints that we are no longer flying over. The newer model FMC, known at the airline as the Pegasus model, can automatically create abeam waypoints whenever a direct clearance is entered. The Pegasus has other advantages as well - principal among them the inclusion of GPS inputs into the navigation system. With IRU and GPS feeding the FMC, these Pegasus units are astonishingly accurate, and map shifts have become pretty much a thing of the past. We need those abeam times and fuels because there is a requirement to keep the company informed of that information at certain intervals. This is an FAA requirement and it is satisfied by using the FMC to send a position report - manually on the older units and almost automatically on the newer ones. Actually, in certain areas the position reporting is automatic, a labor saving feature that we are already becoming addicted to! Before long oceanic position reports by voice radio, HF or VHF, will be a thing of the past. Actually, so will regular voice contacts with Air Traffic Control in general. In 5-10 years, datalink will completely replace voice communications for all but local tower and ground control communications, at least in Europe and North America, and probably just about everywhere else too. Too bad, because the voice calls bring variety and even occasional humor to a flight, especially in the USA, where a lost pilot can often tell where he is just by the accent of the controller! We know we're getting close to home when approach control answers in the vernacular of deepest Flatbush!! As we climb, I am already investigating the rides and winds aloft. This requires only a request to center, for there are literally dozens of airplanes around here at just about every altitude. Sure enough, the rides up higher are not good - complaints abound. Interestingly enough, the winds are much more favorable down low as well, adding to the benefits of a smooth ride. No doubt about it - FL 280 is what we want! And it is what we get. Now we start to really get ahead on time, because the wind is a full 50 knots less than higher up--50 knots less headwind, that is! Satisfied that we have done all we can for both passengers and company, the F/O and I await lunch! Acklins Island in the Bahamas Exuma Island Eventually, lunch finds its way to our laps, and we once again partake of fine dining in the sky, with the best view in the house. The original route would have brought us up the southern edge of the Bahamas chain, but this direct route puts us right up the middle of the islands, so we will have an hour or so of superb sightseeing. There is little in the world to compare with the view of these islands and shallows from this height. As beautiful as the Bahamas are at sea level, they are even more beautiful viewed from the air. By the time we get to ALBEE, the rides have improved up above, and the wind up there is now about what it is here - around 50 knots out of the west. Armed with this knowledge, we decide to climb higher to take advantage of the better fuel economy that now obtains at FL 360. Clearance is not long in coming, and up we go. We're now about 8 minutes ahead of the flight plan estimates, so the time at 280 was time well spent! Now we can get ahead on fuel as well, since the fuel burn will be significantly less up here. The Fowee 5 arrival into MIA As we approach JUNUR, it is time to prepare for the arrival. ATIS is the first requirement, and ACARS brings it to us without the need to listen to a recording. Information Tango: 150/08g14kt 10sm bkn065 24/15 a3005 ILS 08R, ILS09, ILS12. From DHP we will probably land on runway 09, the south runway. We brief the arrival and approach, and set up the radios. Since we are going direct to JUNUR, we set up the VNAV to cross JUNUR at 250 knots and 16,000 feet, as per the FOWEE 5 arrival. Usually we will get a clearance to descend at pilot's discretion to cross JUNUR at those numbers. If so (and we do get that today) we can set 16,000 in the altitude window when the clearance is received, and as long as we are in VNAV, Otto will start us down at the precise moment to hit JUNUR right on the numbers. Of course Otto only knows what he is told, and we have to keep an eye on him, lest he stray from the path, a possibility usually brought about by a variance between what he has been told the winds are on the descent path, and what they actually are. This can be prevented by manually (on this older FMC, via ACARS on the Pegasii) loading the forecast winds at several lower altitudes, a chore that most of us forgo, unless the vertical profile is a complicated one, such as the arrivals into KLAX. By this time the sun is sinking slowly into the Gulf of Mexico, beyond the Florida peninsula. Sunshades must be fetched from their storage slots under the side windows, since without them it would be difficult to spot the traffic that is all over the TCAS. The fish-finder has provided another level of protection, but it is still de-rigueur to see and avoid whenever possible. If nothing else, the TCAS makes it easier to spot the traffic, since we at least know where to start looking! As the sun sinks slowly into the west... Approaching Miami We cross JUNUR and head for DHP, the Dolphin VOR. From here, we are turned west on vectors for downwind. This arrival takes us just south of downtown Miami, right across the area hardest hit by hurricane Andrew some years ago. All has been repaired long since, but I well recall the thousands of houses with blue tarps on the roofs in the immediate aftermath of that disaster. The sight of Tamiami airport, now called Kendall-Tamiami, passing off to the left reminds me that among the casualties of Andrew was the Weeks Air Museum, which suffered serious damage to the hangar and many of the airplanes. Sunset at KMIA Unlike yesterday's flight, when we were number one for the runway and treated to a relatively short final, today we have a good many airplanes ahead of us, and base leg looks to be around 14 miles from the airport. This takes us beyond the developed area and into the Everglades. Farther west lies a curious lone runway, complete with parallel taxiway and very little else. This is now called Dade-Collier airport, but it was once the first phase of a new Miami International Airport. Since it lies a full 43 miles from the center of town, one has to wonder just what the planners had been smoking when they decided to locate an airport this far from civilization. Eventually the plan was abandoned, no doubt when surveys showed conclusively that alligators do very little travelling by air, and the single runway was left as an aeronautical white elephant, serving only as a training facility for those airlines that had flight academies in the Miami area. Since both of those (Pan Am and Eastern) are no longer with us, I doubt that much of anything goes on out there now. Soon enough we are vectored to final. The F/O is making the landing of course - unfortunately for him he gets both of the MIA landings. We could split things differently, of course, but I thought he might enjoy the takeoff from SXM. In any event, he should nail this one, since he had a chance to practice, albeit on the other runway, just yesterday! When we check in with tower, we are cleared to land on 09, hold short of 12. Land-and-hold-short clearances came into being shortly after I upgraded to Captain. In essence, they allow ATC to use two intersecting runways relatively independently, provided that the intersection is way down the landing runway. Here at MIA, the 09/12 intersection is nearly 11,000 feet down 09, which is enough even for me! We can refuse a LAHSO clearance, as they are called, but if we accept it we must abide by it--no excuses. The intersection may be full of airplane when we get to it! Three down and one to go The F/O squeaks it on just past the Aero Squadron restaurant (off to our right on the south side of the runway) and we turn off with nearly a mile to spare. But we must still be on our toes, since the trek to the terminal involves crossing runway 12, and this is a prime location for a runway incursion. As it turns out, tower clears us across immediately, and we trundle down to our terminal area. Ramp control clears us in after a 737, and moments later we are tied up at the dock again. Three down, one to go. After seeing our guests off, we retrieve the flight plan from the computer at the gate, perusing it right there alongside the agent. This is always a bit dicey, since many passengers apparently do not comprehend the significance of the 4 stripes on shoulder and sleeve, often confusing us with station personnel who might be knowledgeable about minutia such as schedules, the whereabouts of various facilities, and so on. To appear in uniform at any gate is to invite a barrage of questions, the answers to which we rarely have available. Strange as it may seem, most of us are relatively unfamiliar with the landside layout of any but our most frequently visited airports. I, for example, know little of MIA save for the way to and from the hotel bus pickup point, and the location of the Cuban restaurant at the head of the "D" concourse. This place, called "La Caretta", offers the best fried plantains I have ever eaten, and it is a short stop indeed when I don't run over there and grab some eats! Taxiing out, a 737 hustles in ahead of us But tonight's stop is short, and I must forgo the plantains. By the time the F/O has completed the walk-around, I have the flight plan in hand and am back on board loading it up. For some reason we are using the shoreline route tonight, passing up over Orlando west of the Cape Kennedy area, and thence to Charleston and Wilmington before joining the other route at Norfolk. I'm not aware of any space activity at the Cape, but there might possibly be something going on. We'll have to keep an eye out to the east! With all passengers aboard and accounted for, we fire up again. Takeoff will be from runway 08R, just as it was yesterday. And yes, the nose is heavy on rotation - c'est la vie! This time though, we get a left turn, and head northwest toward Orlando. By the time we get there, we can just make out the fireworks at EPCOT, which look miniscule compared to the spectacle they afford from the ground! Fireworks are almost always a disappointment from higher altitudes - they actually go off only a few hundred feet or so in the air, although it looks much higher viewed from the ground. From any altitude above a few thousand feet, they are barely visible. Opposite direction traffic ahead, and reflected in the TCAS EPCOT has the only fireworks tonight - there is nothing from the Cape. Too bad - now there are some fireworks that are spectacular from any altitude! Any space launch at night is a real thrill, even the relatively small Delta rockets that launch many of the lesser satellites. The Space Shuttle is said to be amazing, and lucky are those pilots who get to see a night launch! After passing the Magic Kingdom we turn northeast to parallel the coast. Soon we look down upon one of my old alma maters, Charleston AFB, South Carolina. Someday, perhaps, I will regale you with tales of flying the C-141 all over the world from there, back in the 1970's. Suffice to say that the City-by-the-Sea was a great place to live and fly, and probably still is today! Too bad I never bought any ocean front property back then, when it was affordable! North of Charleston, clouds cut off our view of the ground, and only the radar return of the shoreline marks the boundary of land and sea. In summertime, the radar might well be alive with huge thunderstorms; indeed, on one occasion I had to divert over 100 miles west to get around an enormous line of buildups that topped 37,000 feet. That line, which we encountered around Norfolk, ended more or less at the shoreline, but our friends in Naval Air were cavorting in the restricted areas off shore. Clearance was thus denied for an easterly deviation of a few miles. Going through it was, of course, out of the question, as was trying to get over it - that was an A300-600 trip, and the Airbus is notorious for being unable to get much above FL350 with any load at all. When I acquainted the center controller with the magnitude of a potential westerly deviation, there was a long silence on the radio, during which time I could imagine his eyes rolling back in disbelief! His initial response was along the lines of "not only no but...." I then pointed out that, since we were definitely not continuing on our original flight plan over ORF, he might as well find a place for us to hold. After satisfying himself that we were serious, he cleared us to hold at Tar River, TYI. Oddly enough, immediately thereafter every other flight behind us decided that they, too, would rather hold than penetrate that line of storms! After a bunch of other requests for holding instructions, the controller cleared us all to deviate west as necessary! Necessary, as I said before, turned out to be over 100 miles west, and by the time we got around the line we ended up going to New York via Harrisburg! Approaching the Big Apple North of Norfolk the skies clear out underfoot, and we are treated to a parade of lights all the way up the eastern seaboard, starting with Washington. Unfortunately, night time photography from a fast moving airplane is difficult at best, especially to the side. The time-exposures involved tend to blur the lights, which is unfortunate, since the east coast is one of the country's best nocturnal panoramas. Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, and Philadelphia - they all stand out at night, limned in sodium orange, the urban outlines clearly visible. Ahead is the biggest outline of all, at least on the right coast - the Big Apple. ATIS tells us that EWR is landing to the north tonight, so we will be spared the additional 20 minutes or so of low altitude meandering around northern New Jersey that a south operation would entail. Even so, the passengers, at least on the right side of the airplane, will get a great view of New York in the final stages of the approach. At EWR, as it is at most airports with close parallel runways, landing is done on the outer runway, 4R in this case. In times of little takeoff traffic it is occasionally possible to land on 4L, but tonight it will be the right side for us. Briefed and set up, I allow Otto to handle the vectors to final, taking over when we are established on the localizer. The approach follows the New Jersey Turnpike up past Staten Island to the giant Bayway Exxon refinery. We slide down the glideslope past Elizabeth and swoop low over the employee parking lot as we start our flare. Hold a little back pressure to arrest the descent, and we are down. The automatic spoilers plunk us down on the struts and it's just a matter of getting the thing stopped before we get to the other employee parking lot on the north end of the runway! This we do, of course, and we exit left, careful to avoid entering upon 4L until cleared to do so. Shut down to external power, I bid the bird good night It takes but a few minutes to taxi to the gate, and when the brakes are parked and the checklist complete the job is done - until next week, at any rate. The F/O and several of the flight attendants are commuters, and they head out to their going-home flights immediately. I remain to complete the logbook and shut the beast down, at least to external power. As I mentioned in a previous article, these things rarely ever get shut down to cold and dark, at least while I'm around! Then it's down to the employee bus and back to the Honda for the drive home. Thus endeth another chapter of Captain V's Excellent Adventure! Only one question remains in your minds, no doubt - did we, in fact, make airliners.net? Sadly, at least as of now, the answer is no. Surely there were many pictures taken of us as we swooped over Maho beach, but apparently none of them made it past airliners.net's incredibly picky editors. As of this moment there are no known pictures of yours truly over Maho. That may change someday in the future, since there will always be other SXM trips to fly. Then again, I have never actually searched airliners.net with logbook in hand to see if any pictures from previous trips have made it into the big time. That will be a project for after retirement! Nevertheless, it is something of a thrill to be able to perform on such an openly public and well known aeronautical stage. As they say - that's show biz! Happy Landings! 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!

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!

Showtime! Part Two By Tony Vallillo (20 August 2007) Departures from Newark, especially to the south, feature spectacular views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. All of this is lost on us, though, because things happen very quickly on a Newark departure - too quickly to allow me the luxury of gawking! Newark is one of the few places where we start the turn after takeoff at 100 feet AGL, which, for all practical purposes, means right away. The procedure involves an immediate turn to the left, to a heading of 190 degrees. Even before we roll out of this turn, we must contact departure control, all the while remembering to turn right to 220 degrees at 2.5 DME. This can be tricky, because the DME we use for this second turn is not from a VOR, but rather the ILS DME for 22L. Since there are three other ILS's with DME at EWR, it is all too easy to dial in the wrong frequency, which might result in a long or short turn, and some possibly indelicate words from ATC! We had briefed and checked this before we left the gate, of course, and all is well as we roll back to a 220 heading. In this direction, we can climb to 5000 feet, although that is all the altitude we will get until somewhat later in the departure. Departures from the 04's, on the other hand, have to level off at a mere 2500 feet - great for the passengers to sightsee, but lousy for fuel economy. As I mentioned in the previous installment, EWR, although the senior New York commercial airport, is the poor stepchild when it comes to airspace allotment! Apparently the other airports cornered the market on the higher altitudes of the New York Class B, and we will maintain 5000 feet until well south of Colts Neck VOR (COL). We thus have plenty of time to spend at a leisurely 250 knots, which we attain after retracting the flaps. Ironically, the 250 knots below 10,000 feet speed limit is a legacy of an accident that took place only a few miles north of COL, back around Christmas of 1960. A DC-8 inbound for JFK had just passed COL when it collided with a Constellation that was inbound to LGA and talking, of course, to a different controller. This was in the days of barber-pole speeds to the outer marker, and it was determined that speeds in excess of 250 knots were just too much for both the primitive ATC radars and the restrictions of the airspace itself. By the time we climb above 10,000 feet, central New Jersey is passing below us. We depart the New York Class B just north of COL, and mindful of the potential for VFR traffic on this brilliantly clear morning, I keep a sharp lookout both out the window and on the TCAS. COL is just a bit south of Sandy Hook, an aptly named spit of land at the northern end of the New Jersey shore. This area is often rife with small airplane traffic, even at altitudes higher than our current 5000 feet. Any airplane coming up from the southern reaches of Jersey has two choices to transit the NY area VFR - either fly the Hudson Corridor below the Class B, or fly over the Class B, above its top of 7000 feet. I once did this myself, in the SkySkooter, at 7,500 feet. You don't have to talk to anyone as long as you have a working Mode C. I'm not sure I'd do it again, though, since the spectacle of airliners whizzing by 500 feet overhead gives one a certain pause! Just north of White intersection, we finally get clearance to climb. No shortcuts, though. Only after White does our course begin to approximate a good heading for points south. As we pass the City of Brotherly Love on the right, we can see USAir rousing itself for another day of flying. Allegheny Airlines, as USAir was once known, has a long history of operations into Philadelphia. We, on the other hand, are relative interlopers on the NY/EWR - MIA run. Prior to deregulation, NY-MIA was the bailiwick of Eastern Airlines. Philadelphia awakens. South Florida was not extensively developed until the early years of the 20th century, but once development started, it grew quickly. Railroads offered service first, of course, but airmail routes involving Miami were among the first to be awarded, in the mid to late 1920's. It was not, however, until the early 1930's that Eastern Air Transport, which had evolved from Pitcairn Aviation (a pioneer mail hauler), stitched together two routes - MIA-ATL and ATL-NY to form an airmail route from New York to Miami. Through passenger service began in 1933, using Curtis Condor sleepers on a 12-hour schedule with a number of stops. Eastern developed this route aggressively over the years, introducing newer, faster and longer range equipment as soon as it became available. Before long, the route became known as the Golden Route, and was probably the biggest moneymaker in the US until the jet age. As late as the 1950's, south Florida was more popular than California, and Eastern's deluxe "Golden Falcon" service set a high standard of luxury. By this time, of course, Eastern no longer had a monopoly on the Golden Route, having been faced with competition first from National Airlines in 1944 and then from Northeast Airlines in the mid '50's. The southern end of Chesapeake Bay. Eastern and National kept the newest and best equipment on the Golden Route. Four engine aircraft were the norm after WWII, first the demobilized DC-4 and then the Lockheed Constellation. The Connies brought non-stop service to the market, and were matched shortly thereafter by the Douglas DC-6. Eastern and National utilized the DC-7 when that became available in the mid-1950's, but Eastern beat Ted Baker (the feisty, take-no-prisoners president of National Airlines) to the Lockheed Electra. Baker, never one to be caught napping, trumped everyone by leasing a new 707 from Pan American and capturing the honor of the first pure jet domestic airline service in the USA. Of course, this first flight was on the Golden Route. But deregulation brought an end to all airline monopolies, and even tri-opolies! South Florida's fortunes had also begun to decline by the late '60's, and the Golden Route was no longer so golden. Eastern's fortunes declined in lockstep. Unable to react fast enough to the new forces of competition unleashed by deregulation, Eastern would eventually fold, followed later by both of its Golden rivals, by now mostly united under the Delta logo by a convoluted series of acquisitions and bankruptcies. One of our Super 80's is also heading south this morning. But routes to Florida from the Northeast, while perhaps not Golden anymore, have still played an important role in the airline landscape post deregulation. Service from NY to Florida has been the fodder of a number of new entrant airlines, including People Express and its latter day imitator Jet Blue. Long gone, though, and probably never to return, is the luxury of the Golden Falcon. I often think about the fortunes of my own career, in more pensive moments like this. My logbook now bears many notations of flights like this one, to places that, at the dawn of my employment, I had no expectation of ever seeing as a crewmember - places like ATL, MIA, SEA, HNL, to say nothing of anywhere in Europe and South America. At the same time, many of my old friends have had their careers cut short. I'm no better a pilot than any of them, so I guess I'm just lucky. Who knew, back in 1977, what a great role luck would play in an airline career, or that I would be working for the one airline that, at this point at least, is still more or less intact. Nothing but water to the east! All of this historical reminiscing has brought us nearly to Norfolk. Now I can look down, from this lofty perch, on an airport that I used to frequent long years ago. Norfolk Naval Air Station, KNGU, was the onload point for many of the C-141A flights I made as an Air Force pilot in the early and mid 1970's. NGU was an interesting place, if for no other reason than that it taxed severely the outstanding performance of the original short version C-141A. Short runways in those days (since lengthened) and a forest of ship's masts and other close-in obstructions made for load limited takeoffs on nearly every outbound trip. The flight engineers had their work cut out for them, since they had to manually perform the calculations for the takeoff data and load limits. Fortunately, our F/E's were experienced sergeants, old hands at that sort of thing. Never even had a close call out of NGU, thanks to those guys! South of Norfolk, there are two general routes to get to Florida. If one is flying a non-overwater airplane, there is the coastal route, which is somewhat longer and thus less desirable unless mandated by equipment or weather. The other route strikes out from Dixon NDB, near Wilmington North Carolina, directly over the water, eventually paralleling the Florida coast until just offshore of Miami Beach. This will be our route today, along one of the so-called Atlantic Routes, or AR routes. About this time, breakfast is served. Nowadays, breakfast is cereal and yogurt on all but the really long international flights, which may still feature an omelet of sorts. Still, it is sustenance, although at 2 1/2 hours this flight does not constitute a gastronomical survival situation! And of course we are still better fed than the coach passengers, who, unless they have had the foresight to fend for themselves, are privy to nothing more than a cup of coffee or a glass of juice! No matter, for the savvy road warrior has long since figured out how to attend to his own larder on flights long and short. The smarter of them are probably eating better right now, back there, than I am up here -- courtesy of their own ingenuity! A playful self portrait in the sunshade! Except for breakfast, nothing of interest is going on, which is just as we like it! It is amusing to contemplate how much more must have been involved flying a DC-7 or a Constellation on this same route years ago. The really busy person would have been the flight engineer, what with keeping the logs, tending to the fuel system, and keeping track of oil consumption. The turbo-compound engines consumed oil almost as fast as they consumed fuel, and many a transcontinental "non-stop" flight had to make an unscheduled landing enroute not for fuel, but for oil! That would have been less of a problem on a shorter run such as this, but still cause for close monitoring. The pilots of those old recips would not have been completely idle, though. Navigation would have involved considerable checking of VOR cross radials and/or NDB cross bearings, to determine the intersections for position reporting. If LORAN was involved the copilot (unless a navigator was aboard, which was unlikely) would have had his head buried in the "Chinese Television" for much of the time, matching sine wave lines on the scope to determine just where on the unbelievably complex and cluttered LORAN chart the airplane was. Not a chore for the neophyte or the faint of heart, to be sure. Southwest is everywhere - even in the southeast! Not until inertial navigation became commonplace, which was to say not until the widebody jet era, could the autopilot be engaged and expected to track a flight plan from start to finish. Today, of course, the FMC/autoflight combination can take over from just after takeoff until rollout, although human intervention would be required to couple all three autopilots for the landing and lower the gear and flaps. Absent human intervention, the FMC would take the autopilot right through the approach to the missed approach holding pattern, where the airplane would blithely circle until the fuel ran out, just like what happened over in Greece a few years ago. By now we can see the Florida coast, off to the right basking in the sun. There was obviously no space activity going on at the Cape this morning, for if there had been we would have been routed inland. It has never been my privilege to see a space shot go off from an airborne vantage point, but many have, and it is said to be spectacular, especially at night. The arrival into KMIA from this direction leads us to a point a few miles offshore of Fort Lauderdale. From here we usually get vectors, which if they are landing to the east as they are this morning, lead to a high downwind leg that runs between Hialeah race track and the Opa Locka airport. Departure routes necessitate keeping the arrivals high, usually around 8000 feet and often until abeam the airport itself. If the place is busy, this is no problem since the base leg may be located 15 or more miles from the 08L threshold. Today, though, we have apparently slipped into a lull in the arrivals, because approach asks if we can handle a short base leg. Yes, we can, although it will take a bit of getting down! The 757, even with speedbrakes deployed, is possessed of a rather leisurely rate of descent at 250 knots. But the landing gear can be extended at speeds much higher than 250 knots, and the combination of gear and speedbrakes yields a more respectable descent angle, one that will allow us to take advantage of the situation! These visual approaches are fun, and they represent what may well be the last opportunity to do some real seat-of-the-pants flying in the airline business. It is the seat of the F/O's pants, of course, that are providing the sensory inputs this morning, and since the airport lies off to the left, somewhat out of his line of sight, I give him updates on our progress. Few are needed. His long experience (many of today's F/O's were Captains, at least for a time) coupled with the excellent situational awareness provided by the Nav Display and the ILS result in a picture perfect roll out on final approach, just over 5 miles from the runway. By now the sun is high enough that it is not right in our eyes, so that excuse is off the table! Not to worry - he flies a perfect approach to a really good landing. So good, in fact, that I will be hard pressed to duplicate it later at SXM. The Gold Coast of Florida lies beneath the ever-present cumulus clusters. Here at MIA, just like EWR and a number of other places, we must wait to cross the takeoff runway (08R). After having a front row seat to watch several departures, we finally get clearance to cross, and trundle on over to our vast terminal. When we first started to fly out of MIA, just after deregulation in 1979, we were shoehorned into a single gate, way over on the south side of the terminal. What a difference today! Since the demise of Eastern, we have pretty much taken over MIA, at least on the north side. A brand new extension of terminal D has just come into service in the last year or so, and we now occupy the entire north side of the main terminal complex. Today we are headed for a gate on the inside of the D terminal, in the "alley" between terminal D and terminal E. There are three taxi lines into this alley, the outer two of which can only be used by 757 or smaller aircraft. Ramp control assigns us the northerly of these three lines, since there is a 737 outbound which can pass us on the southerly line. Gulfstream racetrack near Hollywood - the other one, in Florida! We're getting close now! The alley taxiway is alive with ground vehicles as well as airplanes. This part of the trip is perhaps the trickiest, since any lack of attention here could result in a wingtip hitting something. This, of course, is frowned upon, and although I might escape the rap if the nosewheel is right on the taxi line, it is still important to keep a close and wary eye on the vehicles, and to be prepared to stop on the proverbial dime. Fortunately, we make it to the lead-in line without mishap, and coast the final furlong or so to the point at which the guideman crosses his wands over his head. Brakes parked! One down, three to go! Our passengers waste no time deplaning, scurrying onto the jetbridge like suddenly released ants. They all have connections, of course, and some of their outbound flights may be a good distance away. Like many airports that were not designed from scratch in the last several decades as hubs, MIA is not always easy to get around in. And the ramp "alleys" between the terminals are sources of constant congestion for the airplanes as well, both inbound and outbound. The connection times here have to be a bit longer than other hubs, such as DFW, although longer connection times are becoming the norm everywhere. It has finally dawned on the powers that be that it does no good to attract a passenger to your flight if you lose him to a heart attack during the connection! Miami Beach and Biscayne Bay. Just about time to turn downwind. We, of course, have the luxury of keeping the same airplane. And even if we have to go from one gate to another in the course of a trip, we have a big advantage over even the most battle-hardened road warrior - the airplane isn't going anywhere until we get there! This is another aspect of flying that I'm really going to miss when I retire! We have just about an hour until we leave on the next leg. Time enough time to get the flight plan from the computer at the gate (I have no desire to walk the several hundred yards to operations here!) and even grab a more palatable cup of coffee at the concourse D food court. And time enough for you to grab a bite of something as well, because we will continue our journey in the next thrilling episode: 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!

Showtime! Part One By Tony Vallillo (22 July 2007) Flight simulation is by no means the only hobby spawned by aviation. A trip to any of the various "Airliners" style conventions held around the world each year will reveal a rich heritage of airplane spotting, photography, collection of just about every physical object associated with airplanes and airlines, scale model building, and numerous other avocations. One of the most fascinating of these ancillary pursuits, from the perspective of an airline pilot, is the hobby of airliner photography. Several outstanding web sites have arisen over the years to support and popularize this hobby, just as FlightSim.Com has done for the FS community. You probably already know some of the most popular of these aviation photography sites - sites such as www.Airliners.net and www.JetPhotos.net, to name just two. With upwards of a million pictures uploaded and on display on these and other sites, it is actually possible for a pilot like me to find that he has been on candid camera on occasion! Although nearly every airport in the airline world is represented in the databases of sites like Airliners.net, it quickly becomes apparent that certain airports attract a disproportionate share of the photographers. Perhaps this relates to the ease of gaining access to a favorable shooting location, or maybe the airport in question is simply close to an especially prolific photographer's home. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that flights into and out of ZRH, MAN, LHR, and to a slightly lesser degree LAX, JFK, and DFW are more likely to appear on the web. And there is one more place that seems to be very well represented, especially considering its location - SXM! Saint Maartin, of course, is a beautiful Caribbean paradise, popular with sun seekers from all over the world. Among aviation enthusiasts, however, it is most famous for that picture from a national magazine showing a Boeing 747 taking, as a Navy pilot would say, the "1" wire! A trip to airliners.net for a search on SXM will quickly reveal that this was not a one-time event! Although most of the arrivals there are considerably closer to a normal glide path, there are some pictures where the wheels seem to be only scant feet above the perimeter road! Maho beach is the local name for the small strip of sand just off the approach end of runway 09. In any other circumstances, this would probably be just a deserted mini-strand, but Maho has two especially appealing characteristics - it directly faces the setting sun, and it is literally a few yards from the end of the main (indeed the only) runway at an international airport! Each afternoon, as the big jets arrive from afar to disgorge hordes of sun worshipers, a crowd gathers at Maho for one of life's special thrills - the thrill of having an 800,000 lb airplane part your hair at nearly 200 miles per hour! Of course, this being the Antilles, there is usually a topless girl or two attending the spectacular; but, at least for a while, all eyes are on the skies as 747 follows 757 and 737, not to mention the odd Airbus or two! All in all, around 8-10 large jets arrive over the course of an hour or so. After refueling and reloading, they each depart in a sirocco of exhaust and sand, buffeting the occasional foolhardy souls who, in defiance of prominent signs, bravely hang onto the perimeter fence in an insane parody of the movie "Pushing Tin"! Ever since I stumbled, some years back, upon the first of my several known portraits on airliners.net, I have fallen victim to a mild sort of aeronautical Narcissus complex! And so, not too long ago, it seemed advantageous to put myself once again before the hoped for crowd of airline paparazzi - which is to say that I bid a St. Maartin layover! SXM can be experienced in two ways at the New York base at our airline. All year 'round we have at least one SXM turnaround per day. A "turnaround" is what we call a trip that lasts only a single duty period, usually within the span of a calendar day. The turnaround in question leaves JFK in the morning, arrives at SXM in the early afternoon, and departs an hour or two later for an early evening arrival back at JFK. This trip runs just over 8 flying hours these days, and so qualifies for the FB -- that is, the second F/O. That is a decent amount of flying to stuff into a single day, and a monthly schedule made up exclusively of this trip will entail around 9 such turns, with perhaps another short turn such as JFK-BDA-JFK thrown in to fill the monthly coffers. The bid line usually looks like 1 day on and two days off. Occasionally, though, we see a trip on the bidsheet that actually lays over at SXM. Such layovers in the Caribbean often turn out to be around 24 hours in length, which is certainly enough time to get some sun and a good meal or two, to say nothing of a round of golf, for those so inclined. I personally avoid golf, having convinced myself, after the one and only time I tried it, that I really didn't need to put several chiropractors' children through Harvard! But that still leaves sun, food, and, of course, the occasional review of the beachside chorus-line of feminine beauty that often exists in Paradise! This scrutiny must, of course, be carried out discretely, lest word of it reach the ears of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed! On this trip, however, I will forgo the beauty pageant. After having performed on the SXM stage during our approach and landing, I plan to turn the tables and take my place alongside the other Maho Beach tourist/photographers in an attempt to get a Life Magazine picture of my own! Unlike most trans-Atlantic flights, Caribbean flights usually begin in the morning, often in what I consider the wee hours. (These days, anything that signs in earlier than 10 am is the middle of the night to me!) The trip in question is no exception, originating at EWR at the wee hour of 07:10! This means a wake-up time of around 02:30, which should illustrate why so few of these articles have been about Caribbean trips! Furthermore, the drive to EWR crosses the Romulan Neutral Zone - the Hudson River! Pilots like me, from the east side of the Hudson, rarely cross over to fly EWR trips, doing so only when the convenience of the schedule or the delights of the layover outweigh the expense and frequent delays of crossing the George Washington or Tappan Zee bridges! Today, though, lured by the smell of the greasepaint, I stumble out of bed at the appointed hour and get "...ready for my close-up..."! Actually, the close-up will not take place for a while, because the flight does not go directly from EWR to SXM. The trip looks like this: SEQ 493 ORIG DAILY 49 687 EWR*0710 B MIA 1020 49 687 MIA 1125 L SXM*1512 layover 49 2160 SXM*1624 D MIA 1844 49 2160 MIA 2007 EWR*2300 This arcane jargon tells the initiated that the trip (sequence 493 on the bidsheet) flies from EWR to MIA as flight 687, using a 757 (equipment code 49), before proceeding with the same flight number from MIA to SXM. This is good, because the same flight number usually means keeping the same airplane, thus avoiding a potentially long sprint through the MIA terminal! And it does the same thing the next day going home. The drive to EWR is uneventful at 3 am, and after driving down the New Jersey Turnpike for a dozen or so miles, I come to the exit for the employee parking lot, which is hard to miss since it is also the exit for what may well be the world's largest IKEA store! The employee lot at EWR serves all of the airlines, and thus has busses leaving frequently for each of the three main terminals. Long experience keeps me from boarding the wrong bus, and soon I enter the operations office, a place familiar to me since it has been in the same spot for over 15 years. Newark is not our principal base of operations in the New York area, and our operations office here is much smaller than JFK's new ops area. However, it has everything we need including, sadly enough, the Jepp revisions. After once again paying an enforced homage to the adage that "The more things change the more they stay the same", it is time to retrieve the flight plan from the computer. The dispatcher, of course, has already examined the proposed flight from a perspective quite similar to mine, and his conclusions appear to be just what the doctor ordered! I didn't save this particular flight plan, but a typical route from EWR to MIA is: EWR..WHITE.J209.SBY..KEMPR..DIW.AR22.JORAY.HILEY2.MIA Our chariot awaits. This is a partly overwater route (AR22 goes from DIW out over the water east of the South Carolina and Georgia coastline), and almost a straight line from Norfolk to the MIA area. Thus our steed, a 757 as is typical of most Caribbean and domestic trips, is what we refer to as a "limited overwater" bird. This means that, while it is not an Extended Range (ER) airplane, nor completely equipped for long oceanic flights, it at least has a modicum of flotation gear aboard, such as life vests, and we would not have to rely upon the seat cushions alone if, God forbid, we had to go for a swim! So outfitted, we are allowed to venture beyond the 50 nm offshore limit that applies to purely overland airplanes, and utilize routes that lie as much as 162 nm from the beach. Since all 757's and 767's have the worldwide FMC/IRU navigation systems, keeping to course will not be a problem, even in the absence of ground based aids. After reviewing and approving the flight plan, the FO and I head out to the airplane. We are at some pains to get out there as early as possible, because without the third pilot (unlike the long turnaround, this flight has no FB) we must do the preflight ourselves! And since at this early hour it is likely to be the first flight of the day for the airplane, we have quite a bit of work to do. In principle, the preflight is the job of the FO. On an originating preflight, however, one person would be hard pressed to get everything done in the time available, and so it is generally accepted as good practice for the Captain to get his or her hands dirty with at least a bit of the inspection. Many Captains content themselves with doing the inside portion of the preflight, but I often take the outside walk-around, especially in good weather! Today the weather is great, albeit quite cold, and I bundle up for the stroll around the airplane, a rite I have been performing for 30 years! After a bracing constitutional, I return to the cabin to meet and greet the flight attendants. This first leg is purely domestic, and there is little to discuss, since there is no forecast for turbulence and only a simple breakfast to serve. Indeed, it is likely that, barring some unforeseen need for coffee in large amounts, once the cockpit door is closed they will not see us until we get to Miami. Dawn patrol...sunrise at Newark. By now the sun is just creeping above the horizon across the river, silhouetting the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty in a brazen nimbus. The view of New York from here is certainly spectacular. Newark, by the way, is the senior of the three New York airports. It was the original commercial airport for New York, predating LGA by a good number of years. For a time, from the 1940's through the 60's, it was less busy than the kin across the Hudson, but deregulation, and more specifically a low cost airline called PeopleExpress, put it back on the map again. PeopleExpress was the Jet Blue of the 1980's, and when it eventually was hoist on its own petard, so to speak, it was absorbed into Continental Airlines, thus begetting a major hub. It would be difficult to find a large airport less suited to be an airline hub. With its two closely spaced parallel runways, and only a short third strip facing the often brisk westerly winds, it suffers from capacity constraints in all areas - arrival, departure, and real estate. Hemmed in on every side, it simply cannot be enlarged any further, although some modest extensions were recently added to the two longer runways, the better to accommodate Continental's increasing appetite for long international flights. All of the airline activity is on one side of the airport, which makes for extreme congestion as everybody gets in everybody's way both inbound and outbound! It is much to Continental's credit that they can operate with any sort of reliability in this environment, as indeed they do. EWR is also the poor stepchild in terms of airspace, with long and meandering arrival and departure paths at low altitudes, which does nothing for fuel efficiency. Today's flight will be no exception, with a low altitude level off until we are beyond the Amboys, and little chance for any kind of direct routing to smooth off the awkward corners of the route. Departure time comes, and we push out on time. EWR is somewhat unique in that we really need no clearance from anybody to start our push - ground control takes no notice of the doings on the ramp, and, at least at the terminal we operate from, there is no ramp control either. One last tiny bit of autonomy, a relic of the far distant past! Engine start on a 757 is much like that on a 767, except that on our birds, with the Rolls Royce engines, there are two extra engine instruments to monitor - EPR and N3. The fuel control switches on these airplanes have a third position, in addition to cutoff and run, a position called "rich". As much as we might like to leave them in this position to see if some wealth rubs off on us, the rich position is only for cold starts, like this morning. After ensuring that we have N3 rotation, as well as N2 rotation, N1 rotation, an EGT prior to fuel of less than 100 degrees (no problem today!) and oil pressure, we can move the fuel control switch to rich and wait for light off. After the engine accelerates to idle, we then move the switch to "run", confident that the engine will do precisely that! These things also smoke like demons when started in cold temperatures, such as we have this morning, and it is probably just as well that we cannot see, from the flight deck, the clouds of white smoke that belch forth from the tailpipes! Taxiing a 757 is also a bit different than driving the bigger bird around. For starters, with the RR engines it takes a goodly handful of thrust to get the beast moving, unless it is nearly empty. Apparently the ground idle thrust on the RR engines is less than it is on the Pratt & Whitney version, which is the engine on the former TWA airplanes that have found their way into the fleet. Those TWA airplanes really scoot on the ground, even at idle, but the Rolls version often takes large bursts of thrust every minute or so to keep it in motion! Another minor difference is the location of the nose wheel, which is behind my seat by around 10 feet or so. The 767 nose wheel is just about under my seat, and little or no over-steer is needed. On the 757, though, I must be mindful of the location of the nose wheel, and allow for that in turns, which generally means waiting a second or so longer before starting a turn, especially one of 90 degrees or more. Conga line! Lots of departures at this early hour. This is a view from the side window -- fortunately! Once beyond the confines of the ramp, we join the morning conga line of departures, which, at this hour, is considerable. Since Continental owns the major bragging rights to EWR, most of the aircraft belong to them. Judging from the number of blue globes on tails this morning, things are hopping over at CO! Continental has one of today's most diverse stables, and at least one of just about every type they fly (which means one of just about every type recently built!) is represented in this morning's gaggle. Someone left the aft lav service door open! Immediately ahead of us, however, is a UAL 757, and we slowly trundle along behind him as we make our way over to runway 22R. After the usual litany of checklist items has run its course, we are possessed of some "spare time"; and, thus freed of things that need attention within the cockpit, I notice an unusual protuberance below the tail cone of our UAL friend ahead. From this angle it is not clear just what it is, and neither I nor the F/O are certain enough to make note of it on the air. But regardless of tribe, the brethren do look out for one another and when a turn toward the runway places the 757 at a more favorable angle to us, we can clearly see that some groundling has forgotten to close what turns out to be (when we check it on our own airplane some time later) the aft lavatory service panel door. Now certain of what we see, we call Ground Control and advise them, and our friend ahead, of the discrepancy. He, of course, prudently chooses to return to the ramp for some additional attention, thanking us as he does so. Prego, signore! Some day, and that day may never come, you can do us a service! On occasion, a good deed brings its own reward, and now ours is that we move up one notch in the lineup. This is not, of course, why we performed this Good Samaritan act, but merely a serendipitous result! And so, in the fullness of time, we take position on runway 22R and hold for a few of the landings from the left side to cross over to the terminals. "Position and hold", or as it is known elsewhere in the aviation world "Lineup and Wait", is a useful arrow in the Air Traffic Control quiver. It allows us to be ready in position to start our takeoff roll the very second that it is possible for tower to clear us to do so. This saves the not inconsiderable time spent taxiing onto the runway, which can be done while the deck is fouled, to once again borrow from the language of the old salt! In some places, Europe for one, we can even be cleared to "Lineup after..." a landing or departing airplane, thus freeing the controller to issue our clearance somewhat earlier. Of course, this demands that we exercise considerable vigilance, especially when lining up after a landing airplane. The key word in that clearance is "after"! Any movement onto the runway sooner than that would be problematic, to say the least. When the landing gaggle is clear of 22R, we receive our takeoff clearance. Once again, into the breach! The 757 at these weights is a sprightly beast, and this one charges ahead like the proverbial bat out of Hell, reaching V1 only a few thousand feet down the runway. For some reason, which has not been fully explained to us mere crewmembers, the takeoff stab trim setting on 757's these days often results in a nose heavy airplane. This, in turn, means that it takes a not inconsiderable heave-ho on the control column to get the nose up! Forewarned is forearmed, and the FO (whose leg this first flight happens to be - so that I can do the "star turn" into SXM!) has already noted the lower than usual trim number. He thus inputs just the right amount of heave, and we rise smoothly from the pavement and point our nose skyward. Off to the races once again! Continued in "Showtime" Part Two - The Golden Route. 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!