Uninvited Guests
What does a loss of seniority matter in a socialized bidding system?
A Post Delayed.
Just came across this post and while doing a short review decided I should get it out there. I have much more news, and I’ll try and sneak that out sometime this weekend while the remaining Telford’s rest.
Mathematics, yes that’s why we call it maths and not math, is the answer.
I’m not here to spar with disgruntled colleagues—they can do the maths themselves. When the final numbers land, I’ll happily join the debate. But let’s be clear: moving from training captain down to a reserve block-holding line captain (a junior position) isn’t just a line on a spreadsheet. It’s a major lifestyle shift. That’s a whole different reality than sliding thirty-seven spots from the top twenty percent of a 2,400-name list. So GFY, if you catch my drift.
Rant, off.
Training
Training continues at its well-designed relentless pace. Five months in and an annual renewal has been both educational and both sides of enjoyable. Of note, yesterday’s ground school was easily the most engaging and interesting of my entire career. Bravo Jeremy. Hopefully the birdstrike photos help emphasize the dangers of operating without windshield heat.
The story of the captain breathing in shards of glass after the large bird impacted the window is a sobering reminder of the dangers inherent in the job. That’s right, they found glass in his lungs. Fun fact, the reason the windshields of airliners are heated is not just for anti-fogging and de-icing, it’s to strengthen the glass in order to survive a birdstrike. Keeps the glass in a pliable state to prevent the shattering that can occur at very cold temperatures. In this case, the windshield heat had failed off and the crew elected to take the aircraft (under the safety net of the MEL system) anyway. Bad luck for this crew who did a great job to land the aircraft safely.
Hot Lap
I had a hot moment in the simulator that hasn’t happened in some time. I liken the experience to Lando Norris racing a McLaren at Spa. After so many resets and engine failures and rejected takeoffs, the brain saturates. Cortisol creeps in. And a “you called the wrong checklist” from the peanut gallery lead to a heated exchange and I mean a FULL LUCIEN RESPONSE. It was severe damage. And it’s the same checklist. Imagine yelling. Anger. Swearing. Confident that I was right.
I was wrong. Somewhat.
But my FO corrected me and called the correct QRC. We pass as a crew we fail as a crew. Yesterday we passed. Thank you KF. Couldn’t have done it without you.
The Last Mile
Back to maths. Did you know that in Canada there are RESP’s, a tax haven to save for your children’s schooling. My simulator instructor said he paid $100 a month into these RESP’s and they grew to $130,000 over the course of twenty years. So that’s happening today.
Back to Reality
Ope, there goes gravity.
The boy has become a perfect mimic, repeating everything he hears, including dinosaur roars. And this is where I came across this unfinished post. The boy remains cute, his mother seems ready to evict her tenant, and life is settled somewhat. A calm before the storm, but more on that later.