I figured I would try and get some life in this forum by telling a little story. While it's not an unusual story for some of you, it was a strange day for myself:
It was a lovely Sunday afternoon in South Florida, the temps were finally cooling off, no more hurricanes, life is good. As I was about to crack open a nice cold one to accompany the dogs on the grill, my cell phone starts singing it's song of stress. I picked up to greet a frantic dispatcher on the other end, "get to the airport ASAP, fly to ORL get a liver and take it to the GA center at MIA". I could barely fit in a response before the phone was slammed in my ear.
This being my first cargo flight that involved more than my own life, I immediately dropped what I was doing and drove to the airport with the same urgency that I had experienced from the dispatcher. A quick preflight, a phone call to dispatch and a runup later I was airborne enroute to ORL. The only problem I had on the flight up there was starting the right engine. At our nickel and dime operation the starter had been reported as weak for several weeks.... it had to fail before it was fixed. While it wasn't really a problem on cold starts, beating the vapor lock was a little tricky with this starter on hot starts.
One hour later I arrived in ORL at Showalter FBO. I must have looked like an idiot running around the way I was looking for the ambulance that was supposed to be waiting. Infact I was a little rude to the ramp agent who was asking me if I needed fuel, he mentioned something about ramp fees and I pretty much ignored him. I had a life to save!
Well.... about two hours and a half pack of smokes later the guy finally showed up. Ha! so much for urgency!! It wasn't even an ambulance! All my hopes for a glamorous meeting with the emt folks were dashed at the sight of an old GMC van and four inconspicuous looking boxes. The man stepped out of the van, briefly verified that I was the right person, looked me in the eye and said "Man, these are fresh!" With that eery comment I was off to MIA.
Thankfully the two hour wait was long enough for the engine to cool... no problems starting at all, and with "lifegaurd" preceding my call sign I was out in no time. Thanks to the Comair 172 that had to go around! I had a very nice tail wind and with the trusty Baron cruising at just over 210kts ground speed I made MIA in 1 hour of block time. I met a MIami-Dade transplant fellow and had to deal with his son's diappointment that I wasn't flying a lear... gave him the organs and that was it. It seemed too easy but I was glad that the weight was off my shoulders and I could finally go home.
A quick call to dispatch and I was on my way home. YEAH RIGHT!!! "Hey I have another trip for you" with my response being
"tonight?? " Yeah just taxi over to the....
Ah yes, the endless days/nights as a freight dawg!!
It was a lovely Sunday afternoon in South Florida, the temps were finally cooling off, no more hurricanes, life is good. As I was about to crack open a nice cold one to accompany the dogs on the grill, my cell phone starts singing it's song of stress. I picked up to greet a frantic dispatcher on the other end, "get to the airport ASAP, fly to ORL get a liver and take it to the GA center at MIA". I could barely fit in a response before the phone was slammed in my ear.
This being my first cargo flight that involved more than my own life, I immediately dropped what I was doing and drove to the airport with the same urgency that I had experienced from the dispatcher. A quick preflight, a phone call to dispatch and a runup later I was airborne enroute to ORL. The only problem I had on the flight up there was starting the right engine. At our nickel and dime operation the starter had been reported as weak for several weeks.... it had to fail before it was fixed. While it wasn't really a problem on cold starts, beating the vapor lock was a little tricky with this starter on hot starts.
One hour later I arrived in ORL at Showalter FBO. I must have looked like an idiot running around the way I was looking for the ambulance that was supposed to be waiting. Infact I was a little rude to the ramp agent who was asking me if I needed fuel, he mentioned something about ramp fees and I pretty much ignored him. I had a life to save!
Well.... about two hours and a half pack of smokes later the guy finally showed up. Ha! so much for urgency!! It wasn't even an ambulance! All my hopes for a glamorous meeting with the emt folks were dashed at the sight of an old GMC van and four inconspicuous looking boxes. The man stepped out of the van, briefly verified that I was the right person, looked me in the eye and said "Man, these are fresh!" With that eery comment I was off to MIA.
Thankfully the two hour wait was long enough for the engine to cool... no problems starting at all, and with "lifegaurd" preceding my call sign I was out in no time. Thanks to the Comair 172 that had to go around! I had a very nice tail wind and with the trusty Baron cruising at just over 210kts ground speed I made MIA in 1 hour of block time. I met a MIami-Dade transplant fellow and had to deal with his son's diappointment that I wasn't flying a lear... gave him the organs and that was it. It seemed too easy but I was glad that the weight was off my shoulders and I could finally go home.
A quick call to dispatch and I was on my way home. YEAH RIGHT!!! "Hey I have another trip for you" with my response being
"tonight?? " Yeah just taxi over to the....
Ah yes, the endless days/nights as a freight dawg!!
