I forgot to tell my story of my Manchester layover!
So we get into Manchester, NH last night and it's -18C outside, AND WINDY.
Usually when we park the jet overnight at a non-maintenance station, the FO will do a walk around of the jet before shutting it down. Basically, you're doing an abbreviated pre-flight looking for blown tires, obvious signs of manfulction, etc so you can give HQ a 'heads up' and they can arrange contract maintenance of the aircraft.
So, like a dummy, I forget to bring my overcoat so I'm walking outside in arctic-esque temperatures with just my coat and I even wore my hat to keep a little warmth around the noggig as I'm walking around.
Little do I realize but almost the entire tarmac is a sheet of ice so I slip and my hat goes flying towards the United ramp. I'm able to retrieve my hat and shake the ice off.
But it was so cold that I'm litterally convulsing as I'm walking around in the wind. BRR! The OPS guys unloading the jet got a kick out watching this.
Anyway, we eventually get to the hotel and I discover my room key doesn't work.
I walk back up to the front desk and there's one of our flight attendants with another room problem, but her key works but it's got a nasty smell of fresh paint.
The lady at the front desk is in shock because they're hosting some convention at the hotel and they're absolutely out of rooms.
"Well, we have a problem" the flight attendant said and I offered to take a wiff of the room and if it's not absolutely disgusting, I'll trade her rooms.
I've got 'boy nose' so I could almost step in dog poo and wouldn't smell it.
The room wasn't so bad, just a fresh paint smell so I traded her rooms and the front desk recoded my original non-working key.
I get to the room and the heater is barely working because it's pretty darned cold outside and what can one expect with a wall unit heater?
Of course I've got to log in and see what's up on the website but the best connection I was able to get was about 24.0 kbps. Ouch, especially when I'm used to 3500+ kbps at home and at least 56kps on the road with my modem.
Anyway, the next morning, I wake up and the room is absolutely FREEZING. I go to turn the heater up and it's already maxed out but doing absolutely nothing.
I decide to start the shower and use some nice hot steam to warm the room before I do the morning ritual of showering, making sure I put my epaulets on the right shoulder and stuffing 800 square feet of junk back into my rollaboard bag.
About 15 minutes later, I figure the shower should be nice and toasty, but it smells like a freeze. "WTFO?" I thought.
To my suprise...
No hot water.
It's not freezing, but extraodinarily lukewarm -- almost toward the temperature of a poorly chilled soft drink.
This sucks because I'm a scorching hot shower-type person.
Ok, ok, I'll make it real quick so I don't completely become an ice cube.
The toilet won't flush.
Ok, I've had enough. I'll just bone up on some fresh hot airplane coffee in one of those warmed ceramic cups from first class once I get to the airport.
We arrive at the jet and the "Potable Water System" is inoperative.
In cold environments, the ground crew will drain the water tank (tanks? I dunno, I'm just a pilot) so it doesn't form a big iceberg in the belly of the aircraft overnight. Unfortunately, the potable water tank heater was inoperative so they weren't able to refill the tank without risking a big icy mess.
No coffee for a two-hour flight to Cincinnati.
So here I sit, wondering if laying over in PHX on this trip is worth braving the subarctic temperatures and exceptional quality of the Manchester, NH Wayfarer Inn for the rest of the month?
Just a note from the road!
So we get into Manchester, NH last night and it's -18C outside, AND WINDY.
Usually when we park the jet overnight at a non-maintenance station, the FO will do a walk around of the jet before shutting it down. Basically, you're doing an abbreviated pre-flight looking for blown tires, obvious signs of manfulction, etc so you can give HQ a 'heads up' and they can arrange contract maintenance of the aircraft.
So, like a dummy, I forget to bring my overcoat so I'm walking outside in arctic-esque temperatures with just my coat and I even wore my hat to keep a little warmth around the noggig as I'm walking around.
Little do I realize but almost the entire tarmac is a sheet of ice so I slip and my hat goes flying towards the United ramp. I'm able to retrieve my hat and shake the ice off.
But it was so cold that I'm litterally convulsing as I'm walking around in the wind. BRR! The OPS guys unloading the jet got a kick out watching this.
Anyway, we eventually get to the hotel and I discover my room key doesn't work.
I walk back up to the front desk and there's one of our flight attendants with another room problem, but her key works but it's got a nasty smell of fresh paint.
The lady at the front desk is in shock because they're hosting some convention at the hotel and they're absolutely out of rooms.
"Well, we have a problem" the flight attendant said and I offered to take a wiff of the room and if it's not absolutely disgusting, I'll trade her rooms.
I've got 'boy nose' so I could almost step in dog poo and wouldn't smell it.
The room wasn't so bad, just a fresh paint smell so I traded her rooms and the front desk recoded my original non-working key.
I get to the room and the heater is barely working because it's pretty darned cold outside and what can one expect with a wall unit heater?
Of course I've got to log in and see what's up on the website but the best connection I was able to get was about 24.0 kbps. Ouch, especially when I'm used to 3500+ kbps at home and at least 56kps on the road with my modem.
Anyway, the next morning, I wake up and the room is absolutely FREEZING. I go to turn the heater up and it's already maxed out but doing absolutely nothing.
I decide to start the shower and use some nice hot steam to warm the room before I do the morning ritual of showering, making sure I put my epaulets on the right shoulder and stuffing 800 square feet of junk back into my rollaboard bag.
About 15 minutes later, I figure the shower should be nice and toasty, but it smells like a freeze. "WTFO?" I thought.
To my suprise...
No hot water.
It's not freezing, but extraodinarily lukewarm -- almost toward the temperature of a poorly chilled soft drink.
This sucks because I'm a scorching hot shower-type person.
Ok, ok, I'll make it real quick so I don't completely become an ice cube.
The toilet won't flush.
Ok, I've had enough. I'll just bone up on some fresh hot airplane coffee in one of those warmed ceramic cups from first class once I get to the airport.
We arrive at the jet and the "Potable Water System" is inoperative.
In cold environments, the ground crew will drain the water tank (tanks? I dunno, I'm just a pilot) so it doesn't form a big iceberg in the belly of the aircraft overnight. Unfortunately, the potable water tank heater was inoperative so they weren't able to refill the tank without risking a big icy mess.
No coffee for a two-hour flight to Cincinnati.
So here I sit, wondering if laying over in PHX on this trip is worth braving the subarctic temperatures and exceptional quality of the Manchester, NH Wayfarer Inn for the rest of the month?
Just a note from the road!
I miss winter. There's only so much 70 degree WX I can take. 
