CONTINENTAL RETRO!!!!!

Since I was originally hired by Continental Airlines back in 1998, I'm pretty partial to them. Here's a shot I took a few weeks ago..................and shows what little remains of the original company. I've heard the Continental signage is coming down in a few weeks. At least my camera was able to preserve a bit of history!!!!

CONTINENTAL RETRO B-737!!!!!

Last night as I was waiting for my ride home, I noticed our "retro" painted CONTINENTAL  B-737 parked at my favorite photo op location in Ft. Lauderdale.  Of course I pulled out my trusty camera and started clicking away.......while my girlfriend Maria, sat watching me do this..........at MIDNIGHT.  Needless to say she wasn't a real happy camper, but you have to take the opportunity when it presents itself........LOL.   I think this is one of my favorite shots now.   

UGLY AIRPLANE PAINT JOB!

I'm probably not the first person to criticize an airplane's paint job, but this one is down right "weird".........  This airbus was parked in Ft. Lauderdale last week and garnered all sorts of comments over the radio frequencies.  What do YOU think??????  :-)

NEWARK AERIAL SHOT!

Here's a photo of my "home away from home", NEWARK airport!  Although it may look nice from the air, it certainly reminds me of why I live in Florida! I will say that it's a fun airport to fly into and out of, and the ATC controllers are really nice folks!  Some pilots say seeing Newark in their rear view mirror is the sign it's going to be a great day!  LOL

VEGAS SUNSET

Last week during our descent into Las Vegas (LAS), the sun gave the appearance that the horizon was on fire.  It was spectacular to say the least.  I never get tired of seeing sights like this.................   Boy, what an office I have!!!!!

NEWARK SUNSET DEPARTURE

Last night as we were departing Newark (EWR), the sunset made a wonderful photo opportunity for me.  Here's a shot of a B-737 getting ready to depart. The sun's glow was incredible as you can see...............

CONTINENTAL!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes you just can't beat the best.  I have to tell you, I REALLY miss my old airline!  Enough said.......................

RETRO IS BEAUTIFUL!

Here's a shot I took a while back of our ONLY B-737 with our 75th Anniversary paint scheme. I hope we keep this livery for a while, but it seems like the few planes that sport our "Continental" livery are disappearing very quickly. Soon, nothing will exist in the Continental livery. I'm glad I was able to fly this airplane, but more importantly for Continental!

THE VANISHING BREED..... CONTINENTAL

Every day fewer and fewer "CONTINENTAL" logo planes are flying. It's sad to see such an incredible airline literally vanish before our very eyes. Luckily, I've taken hundreds of photos of the planes from this great airline. It was quite an honor to fly CONTINENTAL planes for the past 13 years. This photo was taken last winter....hence all the "white" powder from snow removal efforts.

B-787 SIMULATOR

Just finished my annual simulator check ride in Houston (IAH), and was lucky enough to get a photo of our newest B-787 simulator. Continental will be the first US carrier to fly the B-787 starting mid 2012. It is indeed one GORGEOUS airplane. I might just have to fly as a first officer again just so I can go have fun in this simulator! Naaaaah...........I'm happy with what I've got! ;-)

THE TRANSITION IS HAPPENING

Well, finally home for ONE day, so here's my photo for you to either enjoy or not enjoy. As the company I work for is slowly merged into another one, the name on the side of our planes is changing. It's difficult to accept this since I've been with my old company for 13 years now. Going to be tough to see it completely vanish. At least the overnight in SXM was wonderful as usual!

OLD CONTINENTAL B737 in MEXICO

A week ago during my trip to Mexico City, (MEX), we noticed an old Continental B737 that had been apparently purchased by someone in Mexico. The paint job was horrible, and the plane just seemed to be wanting someone to care for it. It's sad to see a plane I used to fly looking like it did. Unfortunately, there' plenty more where that one came from. I've seen B-727's in Roswell, NM (my hometown!) that I used to fly all over Europe, being chopped up and sold as scrap. It leaves a sick feeling in my stomach to see these reliable planes put down. But life goes on..................

HOUSTON INTERCONTINENTAL from the AIR

Airports just seem to keep getting bigger and bigger. The amount of real estate they take up is immense. What seems to be incredible is that when we change planes on a 45 minute turn, we usually end up having to go (walk) from one end of the terminal to the other. You can see from this photo of Houston Intercontinental Airport, that we have a LONG walk ahead of us. What's even more incredible is the number of pilots we have that are out of shape in spite of these long brisk walks...........;-) Maybe they should call them "workout ports" since we do see a lot of crew members and passengers running to their gates............ (Can you spot the KLM B747 in the picture????) Click on the photo to enlarge it.

GOING GREEN

Continental was been selected to be one of the "guinea pigs" for testing "green fuel" or "bio fuel". This particular aircraft was flown using the oil from the jatropha bean. Apparently this will save us a lot of money, and burns much more efficiently than the jet fuel we currently use. However, since this type of plant and the testing of it's abilities is still in its infancy, we may be waiting for jet fuel from this plant for a long, long, time. At least it's a start.............and the green wingtips sure are an attention getter too!

LONG, SKINNY, and DISAPPEARING

Continental is one of the few airlines in the world flying the long, skinny, Boeing B757-300 series aircraft. Slowly we are adding winglets to them to make them more fuel efficient. This plane is so long, that when you're riding in the back and looking up front, whenever you hit a little bit of turbulence, you can actually see the tube bouncing up and down. It certainly gets your attention the first time you see it. The engineers that designed this plane must have been quite good at computing stress points since this plane MUST have a lot of them. A few months ago Continental had the first and ONLY B-757-300 with winglets in the world. Pretty neat, eh?

FLYING WITH SCOTT

Well, finally back home for three days before I head out again. Got a call from the training department a couple of days ago and they decided I needed to get qualified to fly to Eagle (EGE), Colorado......otherwise known to the rich and famous crowd as "Vail". I'd flown to Vail back in 1989 with my best friend Pat Mooney, when I worked for US Customs. We flew some "VIP support" in the Blackhawk helicopter for the Department of US Treasury. Anyway, I got the pleasure of flying my qualification ride with a guy I'd known back in 1983, in the US Air Force while stationed at Sembach, Germany, Scott Butcher (he's the one in the photo with just a little less hair than me....LOL). This was the first time we've ever flown together, but it's neat to know that after 27 years you can fly with someone you knew from a "previous life". Scott is a stand up guy, AF Academy graduate, F-16 pilot, and one of best check airmen at our airline. He's always one to help whenever help is needed. He has such a great personality and is so well liked by the station agents that they let him use their car, and set up anything he wants to do like skiing, sightseeing, etc. before he arrives. They even know his schedule of when he's arriving so they can all get together. Pretty neat! We all got together for a "sightseeing" trip in the Vail area, and then went out for a nice Italian dinner, and Scott bought dinner for everyone. Here's a couple of shots of my trip: arrival reflection, Scott and I, view from my hotel room, and Ada, Carol, the EGE station agents with Scott, and I. Thanks for a great trip Scott, it was a pleasure flying with you!

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

I know, it's a "cliche" saying, but sometimes when I'm taking photos, something catches my eye that appears "beautiful" to me. So...........here's a "beautiful" photo I took (at least to me), of one of Continental's new B-737-900ER engines. It seems so crisp and clean, and the symmetry is incredible. Hard to believe an "engine" can be so photogenic, doesn't it? ;-) Off to work for a few days, so I'll post more when I get back.

YOUR LUCKY DAY TO FLY!

Here's a shot I took a while back that has a bit of "magic" in it. I guess you could say that this was a "lucky" airplane......;-) It's always neat to get shots with rainbows in them. Sometimes they are so intense and colorful, other times, dull and bland. But......they are ALWAYS beautiful and help to make for some interesting shots.

AN INCREDIBLE SIMULATOR!!!

Well, I'm in Houston (IAH), and just finished my two days of annual simulator training. The first day we practiced engine failures, emergency procedures, low visibility approaches (CAT IIIa -- or literally such reduced visibility approaches with "auto land", that a human doesn't have time to react to land the plane, hence the airplane lands itself!!!), and instrument approaches with one engine out. The second day is a "LOFT", or line oriented flight training session (a real-time flight scenario, with an abnormal procedure thrown in to see how we handle the situation). It's definitely a "stressful" time of the year for pilots when they come to do their annual checkride. Our instructors were superb and made the experience a very enjoyable one for us. Here's some photos of Continental's newest simulator, which has only been operational for a couple of weeks. It was INCREDIBLE! The visuals, the "flying", and the realism of this machine was nothing less than IMPRESSIVE! Any person getting in this thing would think they were in a real airplane. Click on the photos to make them larger. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. At least I can breathe easy once again!

TOUCH OF SPAIN

My girlfriend Maria, always gets excited when anything to do with Spain pops up. So here's a shot of some visitors arriving from Spain! This Airbus was flying over South Beach in Miami, when I took the shot. It's always nice to be reminded of home, isn't it? Well, back to work for four days. See you then !