It’s going to be a busy few months of flying, and I can hardly wait! This overnight flight to Van Nuys was Day One of a sixteen-day trip. I will be home a whole two nights of those sixteen but working every day…so it’s a good thing that I have pictures of Hubby with me!
That way, I’ll recognize him when I finally get home for a few days on February 28th!
Like every single day in this incredible job of mine, this day was also perfect. I stocked the airplane with drinks and edible goodies, as well as a few warm, fuzzy blankets.
You never know when you’re going to need some gummy bears and a soft blanket. Am I right?
It was a gorgeous Wednesday morning, and the ramp guys were busy moving airplanes around. We had a 10:00 AM departure this morning, which put us landing around 10:00 AM in Van Nuys.
No, we aren’t quite that fast…but there is a one-hour time difference right now when we head to California!
This beautiful Caravan float plane came out of the hangar for some fuel.
And this pretty Citation Sovereign was moved out of the way to get some other airplanes staged for flights later this afternoon. Isn’t it pretty? It’s owned by a local ice cream company.
Soon, we were on our way. I love how prompt our passengers are. Some of them always arrive twenty minutes early! Others show up just a few minutes past our scheduled time.
This is so different from my previous job…we never knew when or where our next flight would take place! So we hung out near the airplane all day, even if it meant that we could have gotten a few more hours of much-needed sleep!
I am liking this present employment situation much better, in case you’re wondering.
The airport was a busy place this morning, but how could people avoid flying in such gorgeous weather?
As we held short of Runway 21, this little Piper came in for a landing.
Hi, little guy! Welcome back!
Now, get out of our way so we can take off.
A view of any city is always better from above. Isn’t this place gorgeous? I won’t be saying that in a few months when we are back into our lovely triple-digit temperatures.
For now, though, it’s pretty stinkin’ nice.
For some awful reason, we had a fifty-knot headwind on our way to California today. Bummer! Wind always slows us down when flying this direction, but it isn’t normally so bad when this close to the coast.
We flew to Van Nuys at Flight Level 340 this morning.
These shots always make me think that I’m in the outer atmosphere near space. But I don’t drink Red Bull, so we know that it would never work for me.
Yes, I wore purple pants to work. I felt awkward until the boss complimented me on my cute clothes. I was worried about it being too flashy. Or not professional.
Phew! I guess they are really serious when they say that we can wear anything that we want!
I always try to dress nicely to represent them. Purple pants are OK, apparently.
I am working on making a compact version of our checklist that can fit on the clipboard on my yoke. That way, this giant thing won’t have to be out all the time.
Here we are over Palmdale just before we turn south on the LYNNX8 Arrival into Van Nuys. Can you see the Palmdale runways below?
And here is the city of Palmdale. I always think that it looks like a nice place, but I’ve only ever seen it from 12,000 feet.
Maybe it’s better that way?
Then we descend over some pretty mountains and lakes on our way to Van Nuys.
It doesn’t take long for the trees and hills to be replaced by insane amounts of population!
Soon, we landed on Runway 16R and taxied back to the FBO. What a pretty day!
Lots of airplanes were parked on the ramp at the FBO, too. But that’s normal here.
The whole spectrum is here this morning…Gulfstreams, Citations, Cessnas, and TBMs. Pretty neat!
This picture was taken through the windscreen as we were coming in to park. It is a little fuzzy because the windshield heat from the flight is still cooling down. That is my only complaint with this airplane…out the front windscreen is always fuzzy because of that heat!
Heat is a good thing, though. It keeps the windscreen slightly pliable in case we hit a bird. And it always keeps ice off so we can see where we’re going. Always a good thing when flying…
But didn’t Embraer know that I would want to take pictures from that view?!
But this cockpit makes up for any complaints that I might have about anything else.
Please ignore the above complaining statement. It was unfounded and unnecessary.
I love you, Gladys.
We were parked on the ramp amid several other airplanes. This ramp is always so busy, but they always treat us so well. I hope we continue to come here, but they might be changing owners in the next month. And that could change where we park when we come to Van Nuys.
Only time will tell! Maybe that deal won’t go through? We’ve had bad luck with the potential owners, so we would probably go somewhere else if they actually bought this place.
wop wop
Ooooo, pretty! Another Socata TBM 700! They left shortly after we parked.
But I showered, so I know that it wasn’t because of me.
Not to be a crazy stalker or anything, but I’ve seen this Hawker at many different airports over the years. I didn’t approach them today to say hello. I don’t want them to know that I’ve seen them around!
That would be creepy.
Gladys is ready for a night on the town ramp. My bags are ready to be loaded into the hotel shuttle.
I only waited an hour for it this time…that’s half as long as last week!
I made my crew tags for my luggage. I love them. It starts lots of conversations in hotel elevators, too, when people see them. It’s so much fun.
You probably didn’t know that pilots love to talk about themselves airplanes as much as possible, huh?
Do you know how to tell when a date with a pilot is halfway over? It’s when he says, “Well, enough about me. Let’s talk about airplanes!”
True story.
Be good, Gladys. I’ll see you tomorrow for a quick flight home. I’ll be there long enough to do some laundry before leaving again the next morning for a three-day trip! And then an eleven-day trip immediately after that! It’s going to be a busy month!
I hope that you’re ready. We’re even going to some cool, new destinations. But these trips will be busy and fast, with flights every day. So I won’t have any time to explore each location, dang it.
But I’ll probably have a good time anyway…
: D
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