Twenty Grand!

Brother Hogan and I crossed paths while changing airplanes in Detroit early this morning.  He was on his way to West Palm Beach, Florida; the second leg of a three day adventure.  I was waiting on the inbound MD-88 that First Officer Dave Barber, and I, were scheduled to fly back to LaGuardia---the end of a four day, thirteen leg rotation.  As we were parting, Mark said:  "One point one to go."  I was confused.  It takes longer than one point one (hours) to fly from Detroit to West Palm Beach.  I said:  "One point one to where?"  With a hint of a smile, Mark said:  "One point one to hit the twenty thousand hours mark!"

Like me, Brother Hogan has a resume full of bankrupt airlines.  Mall Airways, America West Airlines, Midway (III) Airlines, and Maxjet are just a few of the uniforms that Mark has worn prior to Big D.  He has time in Beech 99's, Boeing 737's, 767's, and the latest versions of the Douglas DC-9, the MD-88 & 90.  (He also has time in a 1947 Luscombe 8A.)  As you can see his workload started out easy---and then got progressively easier!  That pattern changed when he arrived on the MD-88.  Whereas on Boeing airplanes, one switch operates three different systems; on the MD-88, it takes three different switches to operate one system!  And then there's the stress associated with babysitting guys like me. . .

According to the Air Crew Record & Flight Time Logbook Authorities:  For each actual hour of Airbus operation, an airman must subtract three hours from his/her total flight time.  An additional five hours must be subtracted for each crew meal consumed during Airbus operation.  (Imagine shooting a NDB Approach when you don't have to balance your crew meal tray on just one leg!)  Twenty thousand hours is a major milestone!  And there are no sissy French airplane hours in Brother Hogan's logbook. . .

Congratulations Mark!

 

After reading this post Brother Hogan sent the following:

 

"OMG!  Where did you locate that Mall Airways logo?  1982-84.

 

Time to reminisce!  Three PA-31's:  N66891, N37490, N74923.  Three B-99's:  N851SA, N205TC, N7899R.  Thirty years later and I can still recall every tail number without referring to a log. . .

 

Ah, the good old days:  A propeller going into reverse on gear retraction.  One attempted hijacking.  A runaway stab trim on takeoff.  A 200 and 1/4 approach into BDL with winds 060 @ 60 gusting to 75.  Plus numerous other daily adventures. . .  Beating the ice off the wing leading edge so you could take off, then letting it build up enough in flight so you could pop the boots without blowing a patch off. . .  A whole career of catastrophes crammed into 20 months, all for $150 gross a week.  But they gave many a newbie pilot a start."

 

He also said I should go easy on the Airbus guys:

 

"One should go easy on the Francois Flyer.  Typing and connoisseur qualifications are probably going to be necessary in all our futures. . ."

 

He's probably right.  One of my fears is getting displaced to the A320.  I've been giving the EG (and now Brother Baker) so much grief---for so long---about flying a sissy French airliner. . .  They can't wait to return the favor.  It won't be pretty.

 

 

Brother Hogan's official 20K pre departure picture.  "Set against outmoded Jepp charts to emphasize one's age."