Category Archives: 2013 – 2014

June 20, 2011

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Well, Day one is complete!

I don’t have a lot of exciting news to report since I spent most of my time in orientation today. The day started off early, arriving on base at 0715. (I have to get used to using military time now!) New employee orientation lasted a solid 3 hours. We went through a lot of paperwork and briefings on safety, ethics and proper etiquette while on base. From there, I was released to my department. I met the department secretary who had more paperwork for me to fill out. My former classmate, who works at this company full time now, was downstairs in the Human Performance Lab. I was able to meet up with her and see where she is conducting her thesis research. We were able to get lunch together and walk around the office so that I could meet all of my co-workers. I have my very own cubicle, which is a step up in the world since I heard last year’s interns had to share a cube.

The Navy is going green! Each person has their own trash and recycling can at their desk. Then, I had more training to complete online. It was a very in-depth training on how to keep your personal and work information safe from others. I learned that I need to make my own personal passwords stronger! By the time I was finished with that training, it was already after 1700 and the day was over.

I’m excited to begin working on real projects soon. Everyone there was very nice. There seem to be a lot of fun things to do on base as well. I have already scoped out the fitness center, there is a chapel, bowling alley and a movie theater! I think it is going to be a very fun summer.

June 17, 2011

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Hey everyone,

Just checking back in with you all … hope your summers are going well. June has been a pretty busy month so far, a few trips and other fun events and we are only halfway through. I flew out to Ohio for a day to spend some time with friends and spend time. We had a chance to see a 1908/09 SEARS Roadster. The name might sound a little familiar; the Sears Department store sold pretty much everything from their catalog. You could buy anything from average household items to entire homes themselves from what I was told looking over the car.

Last night, Wednesday June 16, I went down town to watch the Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals game with a few friends… in the front row! The Nats continued their winning streak with the sweep of the Cardinal series. Since we were sitting in the front row we were shown on MASN during the TV coverage to that was pretty cool! Nice to see the Nationals winning games after a bit of a rocky start to the franchise.

This Saturday is the big Fly-In at the Smithsonian – Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center where we are expected to have 50+ aircraft on display for the day. I will be helping out in the Education Department with several activities that the “Discovery Stations” put on to educate the visitors. As of right now it looks like I will be running the Simulators, giving guest the chance to land aircraft at Washington Dulles.

To see photos of the Fly In and the trips from this summer, check out my Flickr Page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdingell/

James

June 17, 2011

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The past two weeks have been quite hectic but at the same time very interesting and proved to be quite a great learning experience. My fourth week at American Airlines commenced with the preparation for the Annual LGA Safety Fair, which I had to assist the Flight Department with. I was in charge of doing research and creating posters for the American Airlines Flight Department booth. My knowledge from Flight Physiology came in quite handy as I was able to create posters emphasizing the importance of good hydration in flight as it may lead to kidney stones, stress and stress management, vision and hearing for pilots, as well as emphasizing the importance of the advanced avionics which includes the Electronic Flight Bag. The EFB would reduce the large, heavy kit bags thereby reducing the lifting aspects for pilots, maintenance personal and flight attendants. .

The rest of the week was spent learning about the operations of American Airlines and managing the Flight Office. I was able to accompany the Chief Pilots on some meetings and it is quite extraordinary how much work they have to do and still fly the line. This experience has enlightened me on what I want to pursue in the future…. Maybe Chief Pilot of AA!

Within that week also I was given two projects to work on. The first was to create a presentation about EMAS- Engineered Material Arresting System for the Chief Pilot so that he may present to the Vice-President at a meeting in Manhattan. Hopefully I shall be attending this meeting. The presentation was made in order to convince the city of New York of the importance of EMAS and thus lead to its implementation at LGA.

The second project is the larger of the two and I will be heading this up over the summer. AA is looking at the APU usage of their aircraft on the ground and monitoring its inappropriate use. We are trying to reduce the ground operation of the APU, thus allowing a savings of almost 10 million dollars annually on fuel. My job is to input and analyze the data, determine trends and come up with solutions/recommendations for the problem. It is quite a tedious project but proves to be very beneficial and a great learning experience. I also have the opportunity to turn off the APUs on some 757, 767 and 777 aircraft. I couldn’t be happier!

The weekend led me to Los Angeles. It is a beautiful city with a bustling metropolis. I toured a bit, walking down Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, visiting Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and meeting up with friends. The picture to the left was form that excursion.

The next week commenced with me attending the daily debrief meeting at JFK. This is a meeting where all the heads of departments meet up in the morning to go over problems that arose the day prior. Discussions involved delays, AA Operations and reducing passenger inconveniences. We even discussed CAT I accuracy of some of the aircraft. I was able to learn so much about the operations of AA. This meeting also allowed me the opportunity to meet Miss Universe 1970, 1993, 2001 and 2006, all from Puerto Rico. American Airlines invited them to attend the Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC.

The next couple of days I found myself in Dallas at Headquarters doing ground school. It was the international ground school and it lasted for 2 days. I was in a class with two captains and two other interns. This proved to be very informative and a great learning experience. ERAU classes are so in-depth that the classes taught at AA were just a refresher for me. Topics that we covered included Mach Technique, Strategic Lateral Offset Procedures, Weather Deviation, International Altimeter Reset Procedures, Fuel Planning, Volcanic Activity, Cold Temperature Operations, ETOPS Training, Foreign Airport Operations, Mountain Terrain Clearance Program, and Depressurization Planning. The picture to the right is from class. There was a lot of information that we covered. This class covered the topics that we would have studied in Flight Technique Analysis and Airline Operations.

The classes even dealt with Regional Differences between the Atlantic, Far East, Central Pacific, Latin America and India. Focus was on weather, terrain and operations. This proved quite interesting as I had previous knowledge of the topic from Weather for Aircrew class at ERAU. That class at ERAU was very in depth and detailed so the information presented in International Ground School became quite easy and more so of a refreshers. Once again, our education at ERAU is above average and this is why we are the best Aviation School in the world.

In class we also went through plotting Atlantic, Pacific, Polar and Latin American routes, with emphasis on North Atlantic and Latin America. Seems like International and Domestic Navigation came in handy.

While I was in Dallas, I also went to System and Operational Control (SOC), which hosts all the dispatchers and crew scheduling persons. There I chatted with some dispatcher to further understand their jobs as I had completed dispatcher training at Riddle also. It was so amazing to see how the training goes into practice. The pictures below are from SOC. The first one is an overview of the department and the second one is with the north Atlantic dispatchers and myself.

The picture to the right is from the JFK Ramp Control Tower. The view is amazing, especially when you have 747s and A380s passing by. Operations here are quite different from that at LGA. As such, I will be given the opportunity to work the night shifts at the Ramp Control Tower so as to learn about these differences, especially with working with bigger airplanes such as the 777, 767 and A330 for Air Berlin and Finnair. The wonderful thing about the JFK American Terminal is that there is no need for Air Marshals. The gates are all equipped with DGS- Digital Guidance System, which allows the pilots to follow a guidance system into the gate. You may even send messages to the pilots via this system. I was able to see it in full action as a 767 came into the gate and I sent the pilot a message reminding him to turn off the APU after the GPU was connected. Amazing huh!

This weekend I’m heading off the Charlotte to see a friend. Here is hope for it being a great weekend. I’ll be back on Monday for work with more exciting experiences. Never underestimate the wealth of knowledge you gain at Riddle. You are getting the best education possible.

Seems like we are one our final descent into Charlotte. Do stay tuned for my next update! Maybe I’ll be writing it on my flight into a city near you…

June 6, 2011

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These past two weeks have been really exciting and amazing. There was so much I saw, did and learned. This Internship has opened my eyes to the world of the airlines. Many of the things we learn in school I am seeing in full practice. Just this past week I attended a meeting on behalf of the American Airlines Flight Department with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The safety culture here at AA is very unique and strong. Terms and practices learned in Human Factors and Safety classes are being implemented right in my field of view. As I kept saying, the education at ERAU is unmatched and has prepared me very well for the future in this industry. The OSHA meeting focused on electricity safety and safety audits.

Other meetings that I attended were the LGA JTL (Joint Team Leadership) Meeting where Customer Loyalty as it relates to revenue was emphasized, and the Safety Contact meeting, which once again supports the extraordinary safety culture of AA through safety recommendations.

The really fun parts of the internship are still ahead but over the past two weeks I was given the opportunity to preflight the 737-800 and MD-80 aircraft. It was quite a thrill! Two very different aircraft in terms of design, performance and handling characteristics but quite similar in operations. The pictures to the right and below are from the preflights. There was so much to learn and see with these two airplanes and the pilots were very knowledgeable and willing to teach me. As I write this journal right now, I am on my way to Chicago in a MD-80 that I preflighted and programmed the FMS for. Amazing!

The picture to the left is from the AA ramp control at LGA, where I began my Ramp Operations Training. It really brings to light the importance of CRM and the training that Riddle has instilled into me. On that day, I was giving an American 757 clearance to push back for its flight to MIA while talking to Flight Ops. The amount of people and work that goes into a flight from one gate to another gate is remarkable and each one of them must be appreciated.

On the right is a picture of the ORD crew that I was chatting with one day. I just went to their cockpit, introduced myself and chatted a bit. Sometimes you never know who you might find, and that day, the Captain was a Riddle Grad., and the FO is a Union Rep. Looks like I’ll be chilling with the pilots at the Jets game in July just from stopping by and saying ‘Hi, I’m the intern Ryan….’

Last week I completed my SIDA Training and will be the first AA intern who has ramp access at both LGA and JFK. Also, I was very fortunate to get a tour of the LGA FAA Control Tower. There I saw many practices that I have studied while doing my minor in ATC. It was so amazing to see the training in full practice.

The picture on the right is from the tower. As you can see the queues are quite long at LGA for take-off as it is on of the busiest airports in the country. Today, I was 15th in line for take-off but it looks that we’ll be landing in ORD on time.

The picture on the left is from my office at JFK. You have to love your job when you come to work with a view like this everyday. When I have lunch the view is a queue for take-off with 747s, A380, A340s and 777s. I just can’t wait to be actually flying one of them.

In two weeks I will be beginning my flight training so I’ll be heading up to DFW. I begin with the International Ground School, which lasts for a couple of days then onto 737 Ground School and Sims.

The best part of the Internship is the travel benefits. There are so many places to go, so much to see, do and learn. These two weeks I have been to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and now Chicago. On my way to FLL I met a FedEx MD-11 FO who gave me some good advice and information about Cargo Flying and flying the MD-11. The picture to the left was from my first non-rev flight.

You never know where I’ll be next week so stay tuned for more updates and I might be in a city near you…

Safe Flying!

June 6, 2011

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Hi everyone,

My internship has not yet begun. I left Daytona last Wednesday and drove up to Virginia with everything I could pack in my car. I decided to leave the majority of my belongings in a storage unit in Daytona since I will be back in the fall to finish my degree. You never realize how much ‘stuff’ you have until you have to move! The packing seemed to never end. I stopped in Savannah, GA on the way so that I didn’t have to do the 12 hour drive all in one day. Two of my classmates are doing an internship with Gulfstream this summer in Savannah. They seem to like it so far. I finally made it to my destination on Thursday evening.

I have three friends that have been recently hired to work at the same company full time. We spent the past few days driving around town getting to know the area. Luckily, I don’t start work until June 20th so I was able to fly home to Illinois and spend quality time with my family.

I can’t wait to start working and am excited for this opportunity! The best advice I can give is to not give up if you have made a connection with a company. I had originally been told that I was unable to get hired by this company for the summer. Fortunately, I stayed in contact with them and when the opportunity opened back up I jumped on it. My next entry should be after my first day of work!

Wish me luck.

June 6, 2011

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Hello Again,

Like I promised, I wanted to check back in with you all to share the day’s events. Today, June 6, 2011, was a special day at Washington Dulles International Airport. The first was the Top Off Party at Dulles Jet Center, the hangars that I work out. The party was to celebrate the completion of raising steel on the new hangars… opening day is getting closer. I have worked at DJC since I was 15 years old and have grown up in the Corporate Aviation world because of the opportunities that came with working there.

The second milestone to happen at the airport involved Air France and their newest A380-800 Super Jumbo Jet. June 6 marked the first day of commercial air service for the A380 at Dulles Airport. At around 2PM the 380 touched down on runway 1R … I was able to be standing on the DJC ramp at the end of the runway. Back in 2007, I was standing in the same place to see the first ever arrival of the A380 at Dulles when it came during its United States Tour. On that visit I was able to tour the aircraft, which was being shown by Lufthansa. Like all new things, today’s events didn’t go without a glitch… the jetway to reach the top deck on the Super Jumbo was about 1 foot short so they had to work on it during the quickturn.

Well, it’s going to be an early night for me… heading to New York at 6 in the morning for a day trip.

June 6, 2011

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Hey Everyone,

I hope your summers or last month in school are going well. Since I last checked in with you guys I have been on a few trips and have been working a little. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I work in the education department at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center – National Air and Space Museum. During the summer months I’m there every 2nd Saturday for the “Super Science” event that brings in the youth as well as the parents in to the museum to explain and get younger children involved in aerospace and science. I helped with the Cessna 152 activity that gives guests a chance to sit in and manipulate the controls of an aircraft. During a single 6 hour shift I was able to get roughly 1,000 visitors through that cockpit – if you think about it … that would be like all first-year students at Embry-Riddle inside a single airplane in 6hrs.

What else does this month have in store for me? I am planning on a few day trips to the Midwest – Chicago, Columbus OH, Pennsylvania, and possibly Indianapolis. The trips are for various car shows scattered around the country. Next month brings the major event that we have been planning for: the Buick Club of America Nationals is being held in Danvers, MA, just north of Boston. I’ll be making the trip up there for a week and then back to VA for a week before headed to Oshkosh 2011!!!!

I will post another update later this week with a report from Dulles Airport. This coming Monday is a big day for the airport – the Airbus A380 is starting service with Air France. I will post pictures and a brief report on the big day…

Feel free to shoot me an email or add me on Facebook if you have any questions about Riddle or just want to talk.

Talk to you soon!
James

June 6, 2011

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Since I last wrote I’ve visited two foreign cities: Amsterdam, Netherlands and Stockholm, Sweden. I’ve been taking advantage of my travel privileges on the weekends (leave Friday, return Sunday). This usually gives you about 24 hrs in each city, so I try to see and do everything I possibly can during my stay. Along with that, I try to stick to a budget.

Amsterdam was so much fun and most of the tourists are young people, so I fit right in. The city is situated on a bunch of canals and is very small so everything is within walking distance. I visited the infamous ‘Red Light District’, the flower markets, parks and met many people from all over the world.

When I travelled to Amsterdam, I went with another intern and we spent our overnight in a hostel. Hostels aren’t as bad as some people make them out to be, plus they’re cheap. It’s generally a dormitory with a bunch of other college kids, and it’s not uncommon for them to be co-ed. Just make sure you keep your belongings in a locker! It also doesn’t hurt to make friends with the people you meet. I’ve actually toured each city I visited with the people I’ve met at hostels.

Stockholm was a different story because I visited with my parents. We stayed in a hotel, but everything else remained the same. We toured and walked all around the city, and as expected for Scandinavia, I visited a museum to see a 17th century boat called “The Vasa.” Everything was so clean, nice, and colorful! But that all comes at a price, as Sweden has very high taxes.

Aside from my travels, this is my last week working in the Chief Pilot Office until July, as I will be in Houston for training starting on Monday June 13th. I will be out of the office for a month, so it’ll be a quite a change of pace. I’ve been studying B737 systems and flows for a few weeks now, and I’m looking forward to applying that knowledge and building on my flying skills. This will be my first experience training at an airline, so I’ll be sure to write about how it goes in the coming weeks. I’m very excited for this opportunity and I’m certainly looking forward to it!

June 6, 2011

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Hey guys. I hope you’re all doing well. I am sure most of you are now on summer break from school and I hope that you all have a very happy and safe summer. I am doing well myself. I just got home from Florida two days ago and I am happy to be back in Connecticut. Seeing as I haven’t been here since January, I will say that it still feels weird to be here. But, it is nice to see everyone and my house nonetheless.

When I pulled in the driveway, my dog immediately saw me and he was ecstatic. I have to say that I missed him a lot being away. If you have pets, you will experience the same thing, but they are always thrilled to see you when you do come home and that makes coming even more exciting. I had seen my family several times in Florida, but it was nice to see them as well of course.

Before I left Daytona, I spent my time working at the Daytona Beach International Airport in the Operations department. This allowed for some good excitement and a great deal of valuable experiences. I will surely miss this job and my coworkers over the summer, and I will look forward to returning to the job in August.

My day of travel started early on June 3. One of my coworkers drove me to the airport for a 6:40am US Airways departure to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. When we landed here, I had about an hour and a half before my next flight to Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania. I was disappointed to learn that today the aircraft—normally a Boeing 767-200—had been swapped for a Boeing 757-200, but it was alright as I got a bit of a seat upgrade in the process. I then had 3 hours in Philadelphia before catching my last flight to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport in Connecticut. This was just enough time to allow me to explore the airport a bit and, of course, get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak for lunch.

When I arrived in New Haven—which, for those of you don’t know, is the airport I work at in Operations here in Connecticut—I was greeted by my good friend and co-worker. We caught up for a while and after I retrieved by bag from the baggage claim, I went to the administration building to catch up with them a bit. We got the paperwork rolling to get my ID badge re-issued and I will start work there again on Monday. I will have plenty of exciting stories from here to share with you throughout the summer.

Jumping back, though, for a minute to Florida, I had a nice experience on my last weekend there when I drove down to see my grandparents in the Stuart, FL area for Memorial Day. It was great to see them and catch up for a bit as I hadn’t spent much time with them for a while. They showed me around the area including Hutchinson Island, a beautiful resort-type area along the Atlantic Ocean there. We were even able to enjoy our cookout on Memorial Day at one of their friend’s condos right on the ocean. It was a great time and I look forward to visiting them again soon.

Packing up for home wasn’t that hard this year because I had my car with me in Florida. I was able to load it up with all of my clothing and items I wanted home before it got picked up by the transport company. This allowed me to drastically reduce what I had to carry in my suitcase. Even if you opt to drive your car home (if you decide to bring one), you can still load it up and save yourself from having to find storage for those items in Daytona. Having an apartment helped too, as I left many things there that I didn’t need over the summer.

The airport in Daytona recently acquired two busses from the county which will be used to transport passengers in the event of an emergency evacuation out on the airfield, as well as for tours around the airport. This has been fun for me as I have been able to learn the systems of the busses as well as how to operate them should the need arise. Experiences like these are what really make my job great. I think it is crucial to attempt to learn as much as you can from everything possible—it really pays off in the future.

Finally, a few weeks before I came home, my friend Kyle and I flew up to Jacksonville International Airport for lunch. As I have mentioned before, I really like flying into this airport for many reasons. For one thing, I enjoy being in the vicinity of a lot of commercial traffic. Secondly, the facilities—including the FBO (Sheltair) are in immaculate condition. Thirdly, there is a huge selection of places to eat right near the airport which makes it very convenient. I look forward to visiting many more times next semester.

Well, that’s all I have for you this time, guys. Stay tuned for stories as my summer here in Connecticut begins!

Talk to you soon and take care!
Pete

June 1, 2011

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Well, guys, I’m back! I had thought that my last entry would be my final entry, but the Admissions Department has asked me to continue writing for you all for the summer to tell you guys about what I am up to. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to continue sharing my experiences with you for a few more months.

For any new readers, welcome, and I hope that my experiences will help you in deciding which college and degree program suits your interests best. Please take a moment to review my previous journal entries from the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters as there may be information in those entries that will help you as well.

Since I wrote to you guys last, classes ended and the summer started! I ended the semester with a very high GPA and am happy that all my work throughout the semester paid off. Very shortly after classes ended, my friends went home to their respective states, so I was left here without much to do, or so I thought. Luckily, I found that many of my friends were actually staying to take some summer classes, so I really haven’t been all that bored to be honest.

Now, obviously, I am working full time and living in my apartment full time as well. It is pretty neat to have a place all to yourself as my roommate has gone home for the summer. It is actually pretty easy to maintain the apartment being here alone as I am a relatively clean person. I am really not at the apartment all that much anyways so this helps as well.

My time has been spent primarily working in the Operations Department at the Daytona Beach International Airport. It is a great opportunity for me because as many of you know, this is what I want to get into upon graduation from Embry-Riddle. Airport Operations is great because of all of the responsibility that is associated with the position. You are a representative of the airport management and it is your job to patrol the airport enforcing regulations and rules, coordinating emergency response or any other irregular things that may be going on at the airport, and ensuring everyone’s safety. I really have a blast with it. Contrary to what I thought initially, I have not found the summertime to be any less busy than the main school year in terms of flight traffic. This is good as it always translates to more excitement and things going on.

I have found ways to keep myself busy on the weekends and days off, as well. As you know if you read my journal before, I am obsessed with Disney World and go there often. This has only increased since I finished classes and I have been going at least once a week for the most part. It is really a blast and some of my friends still in the area love it just as much as I do so it has been a good way to pass time. Even some friends from home have come down to visit Disney World and I have met up with them there.

Some of my family that lives in southern Florida have also driven up to come and see me so I have had things to do during most of my free time. I went down to see them on Memorial Day. This is also my last weekend in Florida before I go home for the summer so I am busy for sure.

For those of you that don’t know, I am from Connecticut and work in Operations at an airport up there when I am home—Tweed New Haven Regional Airport. So, once I go home (actually this will be my last entry written from Florida), I will continue to provide you stories and insight from that airport and things I do up there.

I am definitely looking forward to going home as I haven’t been to Connecticut since January when I left to come back to Daytona for the spring semester. I have been able to see my family several times since then but I definitely miss my dog and am looking forward to seeing him.

In my next entry, I will tell you some of the stories and things that have happened at the airports during my shifts, but in the meantime, please read back to my older entries if you haven’t already. As always, I encourage you to email me at grecoj1@my.erau.edu with any questions you might have at all.

Talk to you guys soon!
Pete