LGA-PIT-SFO and MRY-PHX-JFK
sadly, all good things must come to an end. after 8 months i finaly managed to get myself some time off and ran away to the west coast to unwind, a lot!
LGA-PIT US155 A320
shame on me, don't remember the regs of the ships i flew on. i nonreved out on US throught PIT as it had the most open seats of any of the flights. after trying (very uncsucessfully) on thursday after my shift i took the first flight out to get out of NYC. i had seat 7D, and the camera bag was about 2 rows behind me in the overhead so no pix. had a lovely conversation with the ladies on either side of me, still waiting on the phone call for lunch though.
PIT-SFO US173 A320
sitting in 9D with my camera in the FA closet and carry-on bag in the overhead i resorted to passing out and sleeping the entire way out to SFO. i literally got THE LAST SEAT on this flight, but what the hell i was going for free.
MRY-PHX HP6438 CRJ900
the mesa crew in MRY have got the be the freindliest people i've ever encountered. not only did they let me use thier computers to access my carrier's online reservation system to book my flights but they gave me all the information i would ever need to fly HP again. huge thanks to all of you!
now, the flight. there were about 40 seats open on the plane meaning that even though i was supposed to be in 1C i moved back to row 19 and enjoyed the scenery.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/DSC_0003.jpg
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/DSC_0004.jpg
i will surely miss monterrey, i really didn't want to come home either.
the flight only lasted about 1.5 hours with a lot of vectoring to get us into PHX. the approach was definately non-standard and gave great views of my former stomping grounds.
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/DSC_0014.jpg
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/DSC_0017.jpg
welcome to phoenix, where the local time is now 1350 and the temperature 102*F. HOLY CRAP i though, glad i'm not staying here... (sorry josh!)
PHX-JFK HP16(US8002) A320
once again, i barely made this flight. there were 3 nonrevs that didn't who up but i still got a middle seat. even though the gate agents told me that 11B would not recline, i think they were thinking of 10B, it did and i actually managed to get some sleep early on into the flight. about halfway i woke up and wasn't able to go back to sleep, resorting to the few magazines i had brought i started reading and quickly realized that the overhead light didn't want me to. finally it flickered back on and stayed on so that i could finish the two magazines with almost identical articles about the TBM-850. who would have thought that the two leading GA magazines would write about exactly the same plane. at least the pictures were different.
all in all, it was a great trip. i was reminded about the beauty of the west coast and agonized once again when it was time to leave. monday afternoon i found myself back at SNS hanging out with sean tucker who had just come back from NYC and the jones beach airshow. i'll be back in september for the SNS airshow, and until the the memories will definately serve thier purpose...
sorry about the quality of the pictures. figures that on the one plane where i get a window seat they're all covered in dirt.
