A Day To LA

I was at work yesterday. Worrying the entire time that I was going to break an eardrum, mind you. Luckily, all that happened was I couldn’t pop my right ear. Which just meant that I couldn’t hear out of it. Which made for a lovely evening, actually!

We picked the airplane up from maintenance at Williams-Gateway yesterday afternoon. Our airplane was on the ramp and ready to go.

Next to this. Every airplane manufacturer out there provides private versions of their airliners. This is an Embraer 190 converted for private use, called the Lineage 1000. And I want one. Isn’t it beautiful? That would totally fit in a stocking…

Once we finished some paperwork, we were on our way north to pick up some passengers. Then we were on our way to the Los Angeles area to land at Van Nuys Airport.

Luckily, because it was a short flight, we only went up to FL300. Which meant the cabin altitude pressure got all the way up to 3,500 feet. That isn’t so bad, but it was still really hard to keep ahead of my ears on descent. Prayers were answered in that it didn’t hurt…more of an annoyance to not be able to hear anything for a few hours.

Since I was still feeling a little puny, I decided to skip dinner and stay at the FBO. I helped the line guys fuel the airplane and visited with some colorful pilots in the pilot lounge.

If I had to declare one of my favorite places on earth, it would be a pilot lounge. Doesn’t that just sound cool? You know that you’re going to meet interesting people in there…and there is a pretty good chance that they will be obsessed with airplanes. Just like me!

Anyway, fueling went well. It is still a pretty new type airplane and rare, so not many people know how to fuel it properly. There are only about ninety-four Phenom 300s delivered to date, and not all of them stayed for residency in the States. So I always monitor fueling to show the line guys how to fill our single-point fuel tanks. They are so wonderful. I love single-point!

After I paid for fuel (always a good idea if you want to be welcomed back), I took it easy and rested. We were only here for a few hours tonight. After landing around 6:15 PM, we were back in the air again by 9:45 on our way home.

Again, the ears struggled to work properly. I guess I am still pretty sick and plan to take it easy again today to try to shake this gunk once and for all.

How long does it take for antibiotics to kick in, anyway?!

Pentastar Aviation is a wonderful FBO to visit. They people there are extraordinary. And pulling onto the ramp in a beautiful airplane that makes heads turn? Well, that isn’t so bad, either.

We always leave a puddle of water once I open the valve inside to drain our ice bucket. I make sure it’s closed before we enter a hangar, since no one wants Gladys to have an accident indoors. We were here for such a short time tonight that they just spun us around to face the right direction so we could exit the ramp easily.

This beauty was on the ramp. Fancy-pants show-offs with their automatic air stairs. It’s a Gulfstream 200 and is a very nice and pricey option in private aviation.

It also has an APU, or an extra small jet engine in the back that is used to operate the air conditioning and avionics when the engines aren’t yet started. The APU also helps the engines during start so the battery isn’t used excessively.

I think that I like this airplane a little better anyway…

It was a fun day at work and would have been even better enjoyed in perfect health. Like everything else, I don’t realize how wonderful it is to be healthy until it eludes me for a few days weeks.

I’m sure all of this resting will add up eventually, right? It kills me to be home and have a million things on my list to accomplish, yet the only thing I can muster the strength to do is drink hot chocolate and watch crazy birds out the window.

Oh, yes. It’s been that much fun around here lately…