It's been a Saturday full of aviation, cool people, and lack of sleep. Odd
mix.
On Thursday at the end of a meeting, one of the guys who had
been brought on the team as a subject matter expert said, "Hey, anyone want to go
fly a [local airline's] A320 this weekend? The only catch is that I have the
simulator from 2 to 6 Saturday morning."
Background, part one: This
is a man of a type you occasionally run into when you work in aerospace. He's
toward the end of a career that's brought him an incredible level of knowledge
about flying and about one area of it in particular, along with deep respect from
the part of the aviation community that knows about his area, and he wants to
share some of what he knows. (Also, he needs to log some hours and this is a
pleasant and entertaining way to do it.)
Background, part two: I
spent the first seven years of my career working on military and space simulators,
the real ones NASA and the USAF, Navy, and Marines use to train their pilots. I
have flown the A-10, the F-16, the C-130, and the Space Shuttle Fixed and Motion
Base Simulators. "Flown" is the correct word; because of their level of
verisimilitude, these are considered by the FAA to be
aircraft.
Background, part three: Rudder and I pride ourselves on
picking up on opportunities when offered, and making opportunities when possible,
and have gotten to do some very cool things as a result. I've known of people who
missed free chances to do everything from riding in a helicopter (not due to fear
of flying) to working at CERN, the physics lab in Switzerland, and they baffle
me.
All of which explains why the correct answer to a question like
that, and the one I gave, is "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir." Then I asked if I could
bring Rudder. The man demurred, because he doesn't work for our company. A minute
later, he said, "But then again, you're a lady, and it's 2 in the morning, and I
don't want to be in a compromising position. Just have him bring his driver's
license, and bring your badge." First time excessive reastion to harassment
training has ever worked in my, or rather, Rudder's favor.
So at 1:30
AM, there we were at the airline's training building. Over the next few hours, I
flew from DC to Philly, Rudder got to shoot instrument approaches, and another
ride-along got to check out some details he was about to be working on. I can
report that as long as someone else does the initial setup, the A320 is so
automated that it's far easier to fly cross-country than, say, a Cessna 172.
Rudder reports the same of ILS landings in it. Even better, we got to enter the
time in our pilot logbooks, and because it's considered an aircraft, it's logged
as real time, not simulator time. And my company will count this as training for
me; certainly getting to see some of our products in their intended use, more or
less, can only help me do my job better.
Afterward, we caught us a
couple of naps (I don't nap well, but have an easier time falling asleep at 6AM)
then met my old friend the Rhino and some other friends of his at the Champlin
Fighter Museum. It's about to move from Mesa to Seattle to join the Flight Museum
there, so Rhino had suggested visiting one last time before they leave. It was a
bit better than I remembered or maybe I was just in the right mood despite the
lack of sleep. Somehow all the signed photos of young WWII aviators (and some from
WWI) were fascinating and comparing the jaunty US photos with the serious self-
conscious ones from Russia and Germany was revealing. My favorite part, though,
was the tiny aircraft miniatures mounted on wires to illustrate particular battles
or maneuvers.
We spent two hours there and then another hour or two
at the local airport restaurant sharing good Italian food (it's called Anzio
Landing after the battles there) and good conversation.
And now I'm
off to finish up my leftover pasta. Planned for tomorrow morning: Rudder has been
duly informed that I will be staying in bed with a stack of books as long as I
goldurn well feel like it. I haven't had enough time to read latly and I get
crotchety when I don't. (Don't worry, I spent some time paying attention to him
this afternoon. Wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.)