Yet another eventful day
I was supposed to go home yesterday (the 3rd), but there was apparently a sick call at work and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse to take the trip. It was from Dover, DE to Leipzig. I wanted to make it home for fireworks (which it appears I will .. I'm almost to Manchester now). They agreed to have me work the trip to Leipzig, which was originally scheduled to arrive at 5:45 a.m. on the 4th (today), and then ASAP commercial home. I made them promise to get me home as soon as possible. They booked me on an 8:50 a.m. commercial back home, getting in at 6:30 p.m. Just in time.
Of course, in keeping with the spirit of this trip, it couldn't possibly have been easy. We all arrived at the airplane on time in Dover. During the course of the preflight, I discovered my attitude indicator had a warning indication that wasn't functioning properly. We wound up delayed about 20 minutes due to having to replace the attitude indicator.
Then, on the taxi out, a light came on. A dreaded light. It was for one of our yaw damper systems. We worked the problem and weren't able to fix it. In this particular case, we couldn't take off with it the way it was so we had to go back to the gate.
The return to the gate meant we had to get more fuel. The problem could be deferred but we couldn't do it ourselves (if we could, we would have just taken off). It took an hour to get the fuel we needed, do the paperwork, and get back going again. At that point, we were over two hours late.
Then, on takeoff, we had a not-serious problem with one of the engines. Without going into details, it ran fine but didn't do exactly what it was supposed to do under the conditions. So upon arrival in Leipzig, two hours late (with less than an hour to make my flight), I had to explain the problem yet again to the outbound crew and to maintenance. We told them about it on the way over but they seemed surprised for some reason. I felt bad about the situation because it likely grounded the airplane. But I'm not sure what the outcome was because I had to hustle to catch my flight.
I spent something like 49 minutes in Leipzig before heading home. I rode Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Delta from there to Cincinnati. After all the bad luck, I was happy to have the good fortune of getting a business class upgrade. And now on this flight, I am sitting next to what I think is the only open seat on the airplane. While I always appreciate the extra space, it's even more appreciated on a 28+ hour duty day with all sorts of complications.
Maybe my next few days off at home will go better...
V-
Of course, in keeping with the spirit of this trip, it couldn't possibly have been easy. We all arrived at the airplane on time in Dover. During the course of the preflight, I discovered my attitude indicator had a warning indication that wasn't functioning properly. We wound up delayed about 20 minutes due to having to replace the attitude indicator.
Then, on the taxi out, a light came on. A dreaded light. It was for one of our yaw damper systems. We worked the problem and weren't able to fix it. In this particular case, we couldn't take off with it the way it was so we had to go back to the gate.
The return to the gate meant we had to get more fuel. The problem could be deferred but we couldn't do it ourselves (if we could, we would have just taken off). It took an hour to get the fuel we needed, do the paperwork, and get back going again. At that point, we were over two hours late.
Then, on takeoff, we had a not-serious problem with one of the engines. Without going into details, it ran fine but didn't do exactly what it was supposed to do under the conditions. So upon arrival in Leipzig, two hours late (with less than an hour to make my flight), I had to explain the problem yet again to the outbound crew and to maintenance. We told them about it on the way over but they seemed surprised for some reason. I felt bad about the situation because it likely grounded the airplane. But I'm not sure what the outcome was because I had to hustle to catch my flight.
I spent something like 49 minutes in Leipzig before heading home. I rode Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Delta from there to Cincinnati. After all the bad luck, I was happy to have the good fortune of getting a business class upgrade. And now on this flight, I am sitting next to what I think is the only open seat on the airplane. While I always appreciate the extra space, it's even more appreciated on a 28+ hour duty day with all sorts of complications.
Maybe my next few days off at home will go better...
V-