I Had An Unexpected Surprise Yesterday

oldman

oldman

Well-known Member
Location
PA
I went to the airport in Baltimore early yesterday morning to pick up a friend of my wife’s who flew in from Italy. She flew into New York and then connected to fly into Baltimore (BWI). The plane she was on was a Boeing 787 or what’s called The Dreamliner. At first, I thought that was weird to fly that big plane a few hundred miles, but then I checked the schedule and saw that the plane was scheduled to fly to Chicago and then onto Tokyo.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the Captain was a female pilot that I had trained to fly the the B-757. She saw me and came over and gave me a big hug. I’m not too old to admit, it brought a tear or two to my eyes. After we spoke for a few minutes, she invited me to sit in the cockpit. I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity. It felt so good to sit in that seat.

I sat there for a good 5 minutes and I could see myself going down the runway and putting that bird in the air. It was a beautiful plane. Did you ever daydream about anything? When I left there, I felt like I was 35 again.

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911 said:
Hey oldman—-What do you use the iPads for that I see under the left and right window? You pilots don’t play games on the internet while flying I hope. (Just kidding.)
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The iPads have diagrams of all of the runways of each airport United flies into. It shows the pilots the length of the runways, visual ranges, lighting, etc., along with the runway ID Number like, 5R (or 5 Right). Some planes require a longer runway than other planes. If I were flying a 737, It would depend on the weather and wind conditions as to what the length would be needed for takeoff and landing, but it would be less than a 767, 777, or a 787. Also included is additional information that the FAA requires the pilots to carry with them.

If you ever look at a runway ID sign, it may read 5R at one end and 23L at the other end. It's too complicated for me to explain how the numbers came about. but it has to do with a compass reading, or as pilots would say "magnetic heading." Here is a website that explains how runways are numbered. It is actually pretty interesting and doesn't take a lot of time to read it.
Runway Markers
 
oldman said:
Unbelievable! What more can I say to describe how I felt sitting in the Captain’s seat. The female that I trained was Danielle. She said she could see the euphoria in my eyes. She was right. I was riding a high.
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She probably also saw her future in your eyes... I bet she will never forget it...
 
Eupher said:
Wow, that cockpit looks like something out of Star Wars. Impressive! And expensive!
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Yeah, I too was amazed at how much room there was. In the planes I flew, two pilots in the cockpit and we were cramped.
 
hollydolly said:
She probably also saw her future in your eyes... I bet she will never forget it...
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I never thought of that, but you are probably right. She was a pleasure to train, although she flew in the Air Force, so she had a lot of experience. She had a very positive attitude.
 

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