The picture attached to the profile section on the right (“About Me”) was taken by my First Officer on the night of September 24, 2006, just prior to my last flight as an ATA Airlines Boeing 757 captain. The flight was from McCord Air Base, Tacoma, Washington to Bangor, Maine, the first leg of a multi leg charter for the Air Mobility Command, a “Reach” call sign flight, one that would eventually take the passengers, US Army ordinance specialists, to Kuwait City International Airport. From there they would transfer to Air Force tactical aircraft for the final leg into
It takes several crews to complete a long troop movement like this, and my job was to take them as far as
My last approach and landing couldn't have turned out better. It was early morning by the time we arrived, the sun was just up, the air was perfectly clear and smooth. Bangor Approach cleared me for a visual landing, handed me over to the tower who cleared me to land, and the actual landing was one of my better ones. I taxied in, set the parking brake, called for the parking checklist, filled out the log book, and then reached over and shook my copilot's hand. I said, "That's it. It's over. Thanks for your help. It couldn’t have been a better last flight."
2 comments:
I'm a 727 pilot considering jumping to the 757. I noticed you had flown both. Was the transition from the 72 to the 57 difficult?
"Difficult" is a big word: the training for any new airplane is difficult at times. The 727 and the 757 are both Boeings, but that's about where the similarity stops. The 757 is a completely different kind of airplane from the three man, three engine, round dial 727. It is quite easy to fly, the only really challenging maneuver being the single engine go around, but the Flight Management Computer (FMC) is very complex and it takes a lot of time to get comfortable with it. The check pilot will want to see that you can fly the airplane using the FMC; if you have to revert to manual procedures, you won't pass. So part of the transition is easy and part is difficult. Good luck.
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