greaper007
Well-Known Member
Well I'm superstitious and considering that the last two times I tried to upgrade the classes got cancelled I wanted to withhold this information until I was through. However, as of about noon I finished all the requirements to be a captain. The entire training was actually less stressful than I thought it would be. Initial was much harder than upgrade.
My Fed ride yesterday started off interestingly (I really wish Kyle would have been working our flight). We had the whole plane loaded up and were ready to push. Since there was a fed onboard I wanted to make sure we had good cockpit to ground communications with the rampers. Unfortunately, as is often the case in IAD we didn't. While attempting to establish comm's the tug driver asked me to release my brakes, presumably to pull the plane up on to the tug. At that point he decided to start pushing us back into the ally, without clearance from me or clearance from the ramp tower. He pushed us about 30 feet before I could get his attention to stop the push. At this point he decided to unhook his tug and drive off to push another plane, while we still had our tail halfway into the ally. The ramp crew let us sit unattended with an engine turning for about 10 mins while they pushed another plane. After that the flight went off without a hitch.
The fed was pretty amazed at how the push crew behaved in IAD. I was just glad he was on board to see how bad it is sometimes.
My Fed ride yesterday started off interestingly (I really wish Kyle would have been working our flight). We had the whole plane loaded up and were ready to push. Since there was a fed onboard I wanted to make sure we had good cockpit to ground communications with the rampers. Unfortunately, as is often the case in IAD we didn't. While attempting to establish comm's the tug driver asked me to release my brakes, presumably to pull the plane up on to the tug. At that point he decided to start pushing us back into the ally, without clearance from me or clearance from the ramp tower. He pushed us about 30 feet before I could get his attention to stop the push. At this point he decided to unhook his tug and drive off to push another plane, while we still had our tail halfway into the ally. The ramp crew let us sit unattended with an engine turning for about 10 mins while they pushed another plane. After that the flight went off without a hitch.
The fed was pretty amazed at how the push crew behaved in IAD. I was just glad he was on board to see how bad it is sometimes.