Taking the train

Friday I flew to Hahn, Germany from Leipzig with Brian Adams. The flight was only 35 minutes long, but was a lot of work because there was only the two of us flying. I was the non-flying pilot so I did all the paper work, talking on the radio, and the checklists (I would much rather fly). As soon as we landed we took an hour and a half taxi ride to the train station in Frankfurt where we caught a train back to Leipzig.

The train ride took about 3 hours and was much more comfortable than going to the airport and taking a plane (it took about the same time overall).

The next morning I flew with Russell Novotny to Bangor, Maine with 355 military passengers going home. We flew north of the eastbound NAT tracks.

Denali

We had a good view of Mt. Mckinley or Denali on our climb out from Elmendorf AFB. The flight ended up being about 10 hours to Leipzig Germany. We had two captains on the flight and I was not the most senior, so I just did paper work on the flight (what we call the "scribe").

Its cold in Anchorage

I started my trip on Saturday, out of Boise to Houston. Sunday Theodore Walker and I flew an empty airplane to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage Alaska. Our route of flight took us right over Boise (this was the first time since I've worked for World that I have flown over our home), but the weather did not cooperate. I called Kris before we left Houston and told her what time I would be flying overhead. I imagined Benson running outside at the given time and pointing to my plane and saying, correctly, "Dad's plane". But the clouds got in the way.

The video isn't very good, but it's me taking off from Houston. Don't worry, the instrument screens don't really blink off and on like you see. It's just a strobe effect between the camera and the instruments (different refresh rates).

When we got to Elmendorf AFB, our maintenance rep, George, told us that earlier that day he run with the reindeer. He said it was like the running of the bulls in Spain, only colder. Too bad we missed it.