day 12 of the four day trip...

[Guest]

Hey folks,Yep, we FINALLY finished the four day trip yesterday. Funny, but as often happens in aviation, what looks to be the easiest day, turns out to be the toughest. We had flown in from Milwaukee, and just had to do "a Pheonix turn" to finish up (MSP-PHX-MSP).As we prepared for our flight to PHX, I casually commented to Greg just how nicely the trip had gone so far. In fact, I think my exact words were, "I really don't want to jinx us, but this thing hasn't gotten pear shaped at all...it's been a really low-key trip so far." He said something to the effect of "jeesh, now we're hosed"...LOLAs fate would have it, a "weather anomoly" was blowing through the Twin Cities yesterday, and I do mean BLOWING. The surface winds were 210 degrees at 35 gusting to 47 knots! Now we all know the 757 is an "uberplane", but not even it will do a 47 knot crosswind. At MSP we have two parrellel runways (30 L/R) and one crosswind runway (22), which just happens to be under construction for about the first 1000' or so.This brought our 11:30 "hub cyle" to a standstill. We pushed out of the gate, and promptly became about number 40 in line to depart the airport! Since they were using only rwy 22 for both departures and arrivals, it was gonna be awhile before we got to go for an airplane ride (we taxiied and sat for roughly an hour and a half :D)...here are some pics of our little taxiing adventure, etc..: http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...2342_inline.jpgThis was the view as we left gate G4.http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...894524_Fkkr.jpgOne of the "shiny airplanes" giving it a go in the winds...."hold on to her...she's smells the barn!"http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...95_final757.jpgAn NWA "stud jet" going to show us how it's done.http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...2_final757a.jpgHe (or she) obviously got a gust here...we don't NORMALLY come across the numbers in such a flat attitude. BTW, the DC-10 in the background was bound for Honolulu, and was having a bad day. They were getting very close on fuel, and we doing some SERIOUS negotiating with the ATC folks to try and get airbourne before they had to go back to the gate and get more JetA....not a good way to start the day. He eventually pleaded his case successfully, and got to go flying soon after.http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...408_ual7474.jpgWe finally got into the air (Greg did a masterful job with the take-off), and were treated to this beautiful sight. We were at FL350 and he crossed us NE bound (headed for Europe I would guess).We got to PHX, turned the jet around quickly (well, if you can call an hour quick...actually it is for something like this), and headed home. We blocked in 15 mins late (missed the DOT cut-off for being "on time" by one lousy minute), and I headed home to "Schloss-Ball". It was a great trip, and it was fun bringing you folks with me.and finally.....a serious question.Who looks to be the TRUE "steely-eyed" aviator?http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...6645_Image1.jpg#1?http://images.andale.com/f2/109/127/632235...97896892_bb.jpgor #2?yeah, that's what I thought...number 1.:Dlater folks...off to Anchorage tomorrow.BBall----------------------Capt. William "BBall" BallBoeing 757, Northwest AirlinesSenior Editorwww.frugalsworld.com

[Guest jase439]

Great pics, Capt.! Fortunately, I'm glad you were the one taking them! I don't know if my sanity could hold together that long without being airborne.BTW, what are the regs on jumpseats these days? I was under the impression it was darn near impossible to get anywhere near a cockpit these days. You mentioned in a previous thread that you had a jumpseater with you - was this a colleague or a passenger?JPS. Have fun in AK. Make sure to take pictures of the Caribou ;-)

[Guest]

That "shiny one" looks like he's ready to make a 3 point landing, if not nose first. I'll always remember the video of the UPS dc-8 trying to land at ONT during Santa Ana winds. off to Anchorage tomorrow....man, all I get to do is clean out the garage, eat burnt stouffers meatloaf, and take out the garbage :-lol Life is good. :'(Thoroughly enjoying these posts though Capt. Ball, thank you!

[Guest KenG]

Fantastic shots, as always. These are recent threads of your have been some of the most enjoyable I've encountered in recent memory (no offense to other thread-starters intended).Have fun in Anchorage. Don't get harpooned or anything.

[Guest united777]

man I am soo jealous that you are pilot, I can't my PPL till I move to chicago at the end of this school year( it costs WAY to much in Europe, no offence ;-)) but can u tell me how you did to become a Commericial pilot?"... AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"[b/]

[Guest]

Currently authorized airline employees and the FAA are the only ones allowed in the cockpit. Such people would be other NWA pilots, instructors, and the FAA. I know because I used to be an instructor, and I miss my jumpseat card very much :( . Pilots from others airlines used to be able to ride in the jumpseats, but not any more.

[Guest]

Hmmm, I knew the Airbus side of "NW-Atlas" was messed up, but now I understand how we end up with a day 12 of a four day.Was looking at the "shiny shot", good to see American pulling the F-100 out of the barn, I thought they grounded that fleet following the down-turn.Nice pics, captures the adventures of the line.....T

[Guest HeavyFan]

Great Pics there William,I really Enjo0y your real Life shots!!i Live in HNL and wondered why that NW DC-10 Was late to my home airport of HNL Intl!! Wow i wonder how you keep calm with a waiting time of an 1hr and Half wait time on the taxi-way, Just wasting fuel!! I give you guy's credit for stying calm most of the time! LOL, Well I hope you keep sharing your piloting pics with us!! Keep it up i really enjoy these rel life Pilot Cockpit shots! MIKE-:)

[NWATech]

Capt. Ball, Small world. I have turned your flight on a few occasions in MSP. Little did I know that you were a FS addict also. Enjoy your editorial collum at frugal. Keep those airborne shots coming.:-waveSee ya,Jay- - - -

[Guest]

Jay,It truly is a small world (but I wouldn't want to paint it :D).I guess most of us that work at the airport are all airplane addicts in one way or another, aren't we? I'm actually a veritble newby to the FS world (mil flight sims are my lineage), and each day is a learning experience. I'm the C/O of a LAN virtural squardron in the Twin Cities that fields a rather eclectic group (a couple of us NWA crazies, a few business "heavies", a doctor, a civil engineer, a few I.T. guys, a gentleman that won the Silver Star in Vietnam....great goup of "joes"). We meet about once a month and fly Falcon 4, IL-2, Jane's F/A-18, etc....tons of fun, and it keeps us out of the bars. Our next LAN is the 26th of this month, and if you'd like to drop by and see what's up, we'd love to have you (and anyone else in and around the MSP area)...drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll give you the details.Thanks for the kind words re the pics and articles.In ANC now, gotta run.Later,BBall-----------------------Capt. William "BBall" BallBoeing 757, Northwest AirlinesSenior Editorwww.frugalsworld.com

[Guest gremel]

Just interested in what your thoughts are concerning Falcon 4..I also fly Falcon 4 along with PS1.3a and PIC 767. Do you know if the Falcon 4 has realistic flight dynamics?? Just curious..Regards and keep sending those great pictures.

[jagabom]

BBall, thanks for sharing your reality with our dream. We appreciate it more then you imagine.JimCYWG

[Guest flightpro08]

Amazing shots as always William. Thanks for sharing. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com|Taxiwaysigns.com] Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 30.30 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click [link:ftp.avsim.com/library/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=Ryan+Fretwell&CatID=Root]Here to Download my New American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

[Guest tallpilot]

Cap'n Bill you old dog you.You don't look a day older than when we flew those trips together in the Diesel 10. :-)I flew my last trip before retirement in the 757. A red eye from LAX to DTW. (Made Dick and the roller come out at 6:00am to give me my going away present :-lol ) Had my son on the jump seat and my wife in the back.Got your e-mail address and will keep in touch.Cheers,Ed Weber a.k.a tallpilot