Thanks to Captain Baker for taking this photo. It's the cockpit of a Boeing 737-700 on the ground.
by Steven Flesch
Thanks to Captain Baker for taking this photo. It's the cockpit of a Boeing 737-700 on the ground.
This journal is meant to keep a photographic record of my experiences and travels during my internship at Continental Airlines during the Fall of 2005. Before I dive into explaining my first two weeks, let me give you a background of how I got here.
I am a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in my senior year. During the summer of 2005, following an email announcement that Continental Airlines would be hiring interns for the Fall of 2005, I decided to put in an application and see what happened. I had a previous flight instructor who had completed the internship a few years prior, and he had recommended the program with much enthusiasm.
I was one of about 20 students who were given a 30-minute interview with Continental’s intern program coordinator and the Manager of Flight Standards and Training. My interview lasted a little longer than most others, and to give you an idea of what it was like…
The day after my interview, I received a call from my Career Services counselor telling me I’d been selected for the internship! A total of nine Embry-Riddle students had been selected for the Fall of 2005. After that, I completed a lot of paperwork. It seemed that every day I’d spend my lunch break emailing forms, and filling out new ones. On top of that, I had to secure housing with the help of a few other interns I’d be working and rooming with.
To help me prepare for the job I’d be performing in the Fall, the current interns in my position flew myself and my cohort (there are two positions) out to the Continental Flight Standards and Training facility in Houston, TX. We met our boss (he was one of the interviewers), and were given a tour as well as a ride in a 737-800 FTD. After that, we performed a full day of work shadowing the current interns. After we finished a full workday, it was back to Daytona to finish the summer semester and complete my Multi-engine rating.
Coming to Houston in the fall, I am a Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument (CFII), and have my Commercial Multi-engine Land – Instrument license. This is pretty standard for what most interns have, except most have yet to get their CFI. Having the CFII helped I think, because the simulator flying here is very instrument-intensive.
I’ve got lots more to write, and photos to come, but I have to pack for the weekend. Keep coming back for more news!
-Steve
In my first three weeks of working at the Flight Standards & Training building in Houston, TX, I really haven’t been at my desk all that much. I was one of the first interns to be paired up and sent to simulator class and training on the MD-80, and I’ve also been able to partake in a few classes. Although I’ve been very busy, I haven’t seen my supervisor a whole lot – much to the annoyance of my coworker, who has been left to shoulder the load of two interns. I’ve been trying to help as much as possible though.
One of the opportunities I’ve had the past week was sitting in on a day of a two-day Standards meeting for the Boeing 757/767 fleet. It was really neat to see how the Standards & Training departments interact with the pilots and instructors for a particular fleet. The meeting addressed issues on saving money through interaction with international ATC on European flights, aircraft model-specific maintanence issues and their upcoming fixes by an engineer at Boeing, and a presentation on safety issues for the fleet.
Another incredible opportunity I was given was participating in a Crew Resource Management (CRM) class for two days. My coworker and I sat in with a class of 14 new hires during their CRM course for basic indoctrination. The pilots around us had at least 10 times the experience we had, but nevertheless, we not only learned a lot, but we actively participated. We discussed the unique issues modern pilots face – in creating an effective and safe team with people they have just met for the first time. Continental’s CRM course puts a lot of emphasis on Threat & Error Management (TEM) – studying scenarios and accident reports identifying some of the threats pilots were faced with and errors they made. Then as a class we discussed in great length how we could recognize and avoid these, and what we would have done in that situation.
I still haven’t taken any pictures of jumpseating yet – I’ll try again next week. This weekend I visited family in Chicago again, and caught an early flight home so I could get TV installed in my apartment. I plan on making it up to Kansas City next week to meet extended family. I continue simulator training Wednesday through Friday of this week, and Tuesday through Friday of next week. When it’s all done, I’ll be sad and relieved at the same time. I am still struggling to finish Computer Based Training (CBT) for the MD-80 before Wednesday. I am spending most nights back at the Training Center to do just that. So long!
-Steve
I’m writing from Newark, NJ (KEWR) and what a week it has been. Hurricane Rita really screwed up everything! Let me rewind to Wednesday, September 21. I was scheduled for a simulator session at 10:15 am that would take up most of my day. Accordingly, I was allowed the morning to study. My roommate, who had gone in at 8am, gave me a call at 10am. He said my instructor had evacuated! This was news to me, as I had been only vaguely watching the track of Rita. The hurricane had taken a turn for Texas and was now predicted to be the worst storm to ever hit the US mainland. It would turn out later that the hurricane lost much strength shortly before hitting shore, and would spare Houston a direct hit. Nevertheless, I knew it would be a long day.
I came into work at 10:30. I immediately began helping my roommate who had called me – he was working in the Training Scheduling department this week. I quickly learned how to book positive space tickets for pilots fleeing the storm. We used an old terminal-style prompt to enter text codes for booking flights. I must have made 100 iteneraries for pilots. We had to call a different department for every overbooked flight to lift overbooking restrictions. Since most of Houston was evacuating, almost every flight was overbooked. It turned out to be a lot of quick typing and making phone calls for most of the day. All the while, we were waiting for word from superiors as to what the interns were to do.
Around 2pm, we received an email that we should evacuate on the earliest possible flight on Wednesday. My roommates and I went out to lunch around that time, packed up for six days, and returned to the airport. We booked more pilot tickets, and left about an hour later for the airport. My roommate were trying to find somewhere where we could split hotel room and save money. After trying for an Alaska flight, we ran over to a flight to Las Vegas. We got the two jumpseats on the 757 and were off.
The 757 is pretty cool! It has an amazing climb rate. It is a very spacious cockpit compared to the 737 and has a very modern layout. I’ll have pictures later. Las Vegas was pretty fun – I’ll have to return when I’m old enough to gamble! We went out to dinner after arriving, and after touring a little bit of the strip, went to bed as we were quite tired.
The next morning, we hopped a shuttle ($5) to the airport and flew to Newark. My roommate was staying with family, and I stayed with a friend at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. It was a good time, and I had fun seeing my friend again.
I’m now waiting to board my flight to Chicago O’Hare, which I’ll then switch to a Houston flight to return for work. Hopefully I’ll get a jumpseat! A lot of pilots will be returning to work. We’re officially not needed at work until Tuesday, but I’m going to try and return early. Either way, if I get stranded here or Chicago, I’ve got somewhere to stay. It pays to think ahead! See you next week. I’ve taken a few pictures of Newark Airport, which I’ll post soon.
-Steve
I’m writing from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport today. I just spent a full weekend with my grandparents, and had a great time. I got the opportunity to sleep in both mornings, which helped me recharge from an exhausting last month. As I was telling my grandparents, in the last month, between CBT and simulator sessions, ground school, and work, I’ve spent more time at Continental’s training center than I have at my apartment in Houston.
I’m having a great time, so I don’t mind it much. My flight into Phoenix was interesting, it’s just a two hour hop but because Phoenix doesn’t observe daylight savings time I lost two hours. I think Monday morning I might be a little tired! The first officer on my flight here bounced our 737 on landing, which, while embarrising, was a good learning experience for me. The approach was a slam-dunk parallel approach. That left no room for S-turns, and the engines needed to stay spooled for a stable approach according to Continental policy. I think that if the flaps had been brought down a little earlier (we were within extension speed) and we had played a little bit with throttle movement, we could have made a good landing. I also think I might be out of my league, since I don’t fly 737’s, but oh well.
I’ll continue to write about my work here at CAL. This past week I did all of the following: helped find hotel rooms for pilots since there aren’t many left, updated Jeppesen charts, worked on the document database, and helped the other interns find their ground school. This week promises to be interesting as we finally try to return to a normal training schedule, after losing those four days in the hurricane! See you next week.
-Steve
A lot has happened in the past month, and I’ve got a lot of pictures (finally) to share too. To start off – today, I finished an Extended Twin Engine Operations (ETOPS) class that taught the various requirements and procedures for flying airplanes over Oceanic routes. I learned a lot, and learned that I’ve still got lots more to learn afterwards. Much of the material was over my head, but it was cool to see the theories put into practice and start plotting routes using actual flight plans.
Two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to visit Alaska! It was awesome! The weather was very poor – overcast, rain, sleet and snow the entire time, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. The pictures below don’t do justice. My two roommates and I left Friday afternoon, in two different airplanes, to travel to Seattle and then catch the flight to Alaska. After a good dinner in Seattle, we flew North to Alaska and arrived shortly after 11pm local time. By the time we were asleep in our hotel room, it was 2am. We woke up at 8am, had breakfast, and started towards “Exit Glacier” in our rental car.
The glacier itself is a short hike – about 3 miles total, from the visitor center and parking lot. During our walk up the cliff, it began snowing. It was coming down pretty hard, and I wasn’t too prepared. Next time I’ll bring a hat and a thicker jacket. It was well worth it, as you can see below. Note the ice in the actual glacier is a bright blue – cool!
A view of mountains on the drive down to the glacier.
A small mountain stream we found on the drive down.
The welcome center sign to Exit Glacier.
All of this snow fell on the trail during the course of an hour!
A warning to visiting interns.
My roommates and I with Exit Glacier in the background. See the blue ice?
Me, with the valley the glacier is slowly moving through in the background.
I also visited my grandparents in Arizona the next weekend and got to spend a weekend with them. We don’t get to see each other often, and I’ll be spending another weekend out there with them soon. I’m incredibly thankful for this internship!
This weekend I will travel to Kansas City to see my Aunt, Uncle, cousins, and Grandmother. After that is Thanksgiving weekend at home, and the weekend after – I’m going to London! The internship ends shortly after that, and I can’t believe there’s not that much time left! It feels like I just got started!
All of the interns also had the opportunity to take a maintanence tour of a Boeing 777-200 undergoing routine maintanence. The airplane is massive. We were given detailed explanations of airplane systems and maintenance procedures. It was an excellent opportunity for photos and an incredible learning experience.
The view of the 777 towering over us as we walked into the hangar.
You can see how I needed to jump to even touch the lowest part of the airplane.
The group pauses to hear about different systems.
Getting a close up view of what really makes jets GO!
WOW! You can bet I was thankful the engine wasn't turning.
B777 Coach Seats.
Me, indulging in the automatic recling Business First seats.
Me, further enjoying the crew bunks for a much needed nap!
All of the interns are involved in a project downtown now. We are recording flight plan information for a project intended to save the airline money by cutting down on fuel costs. I’m not 100% on the details, but I think that is the gist of it.
Well, that’s all for now. I have finished all my MD-80 training, been in the 757 and 777 simulators (which were awesome), and will try to get in the other simulators if I can. See you soon!
The MD-80 Simulator from the outside.
Smiling after the finish of training - now a skilled operator!
-Steve
Thanks to Sach and Eric for the pictures.
Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to jumpseat an ETOPS (Extended Twin-Engine Operations) flight to London for a 4-day weekend. ETOPS flights require a lot of extra planning to ensure the flight can be safely completed if something should malfunction, as the airplane can go be up to 3 hours away from land at any point during the flight. I flew over on a Boeing 777, which has some of the latest in digital communications gear that allows crews to communicate with ATC right through their FMC and avoid radio clutter. It was very cool to observe, and the crew was very knowledgable and helpful.
London was a fun town, but it is expensive! I went with one of my roommates, and walked around and enjoyed the sights for two days before returning. We took in some of the culture, tasted British food (it has a bad reputation for a reason), visited some tourist sites, and took the opportunity to laugh at a select few British accents. Some of the photos I took are below.
Warming up in an English Pub - it was cold and wet the entire trip.
Big Ben!
The British Airways London Eye - a giant ferris wheel with enclosed cars for sightseeing.
One of the London Eye cars.
View of downtown London.
A closeup of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
View of downtown London.
Travelling the London Underground, or the "Tube" was easy!
London-Gatwick Airport.
Aerial view of downtown London.
Today, I jumpseated on a flight to Tegucigalpa, Honduras in a Boeing 737. I didn't stay - I was there to observe the approach! It's a very exciting and challenging approach. The approach into Tegucigalpa has you fly a traffic pattern that weaves in between mountains and peaks of hills. At one point, we were about 5 seconds from touching down, and I looked to my left... and I saw the inside of a one-story house through a window about 200 feet away and at my eye level. WOW! I have to say, the professionalism I saw by the crew on my flight was one of the best examples of Continental's pilots. I'm glad I've had the opportunity to be part of such an awesome company and culture - let's hope I return soon to fly their! An explanation of the approach and photos are below.
Approach Depection to Runway 02
Our flight began by entering the valley in the opposite direction we intended to land, followed by a circling maneuver to land.
There are two distinct landmarks used to judge altitude, position, and speed while on approach. The final approach had us very close
to two house-topped hills and literally FEET above terrain and houses.
View of the Tegucigalpa valley. Notice the very tall mountain range ringing the valley.
The view of the valley shows the airport in the upper-right hand corner here.
Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa - The airport has a very short (6000') runway with a plateau at the end.
The landing end of the runway (very left) has to be maneuvered to by circling around and in between the two peaks at the top of this picture.
One of the landmarks used by pilots while circling to land.
Viewing some of the obstacles at the end of the runway after landing.
The Toncontin terminal building.
This is my last entry in this journal. My last day of the internship is this Friday. It's been an incredible opportunity and I'm truly thankful to everyone that helped make it possible. The things I learned, experience I gained, people I met, and places I visited were something I'll keep with me the rest of my life. Thanks again, and so long!
Sincerely,
-Steve