A CALMING PHOTO

A know a lot of Continental employees are in a state of disbelief that our company was effectively "swept away" over the past few days. I decided to post a photo that I felt was a bit moving as we see our history "set" in front of us......but rest assured, it went away beautifully! Here's to CONTINENTAL!!! THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

WOMAN BUS DRIVER????

So I took this photo of a bunch of school buses and noticed that only ONE was parked backwards. From logic and deductive reasoning, I came to the conclusion that it had to be a woman driver. Just a man's intuition.......................LOL Want to bet I was right, or ever better than that, you want to bet she didn't even notice????? ;-)

LAST FLIGHT FOR CAL

Well, yesterday was "officially" my last flight as a pilot for CAL. It was a sad day for me. After 12 years of flying with a great company, we're being "merged" on the 1st of October. I'm on vacation till the 4th of October, so I'll miss the transition day. Oh well, I'd rather be on the beach anyway..........;-) Here's a shot of me in Las Vegas before my last flight.

THE RUSSIANS IN MEXICO

While in Mexico City two weeks ago, I noticed a few Russian aircraft that are used by the Mexican Navy. Seems interesting that they would use such outdated, LOUD, and unreliable aircraft in their fleet. We used to be briefed on the Hip helicopter when I was in the USAF by our security teams. My how times have changed.................

BERMUDA..........SHORTS

Last week while on my quick turn to Bermuda ((BDA).........and pre-hurricane), I snapped this quick shot of the airport terminal. I found it kind of funny that they put a pink pair of "Bermuda Shorts" above the name of the terminal. The folks are so nice there, but talk about expensive......I go broke just looking at that place.......;-)

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..................

9/11 SUPPORT AIRCRAFT

Finally home for a few days................so I'll post some of the things I've encountered over the past few weeks. On 9-12, I was departing Newark (EWR), and noticed a few F-16's on standby in case anything "fishy" was spotted flying around NYC on 9-11. At least we're paying attention to the threat for a change. I think it'd take a minute or so for these bad boys to get to NYC from Newark. At least it's nice to see our military protecting us in THIS country instead of 10,000 miles away over a desert. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

INTERESTING CLOUD FORMATION

Last week while flying to Bermuda, I noticed a "strange" looking cloud. This single cloud literally spanned hundreds of miles, but looked like a rope from our altitude. It extended as far as you could see on both sides of the plane. This shot was taken the day after hurricane Earl passed along the eastern seaboard. Interesting cloud to say the least. Been out flying the past week and heading out again today after one day of R and R. Vacation next week, so I'll post when I get back.

THUNDERSTORM OVER CUBA

Well, I've been flying a lot lately and haven't had time to update my blog. Home for one day, and then back up to Newark again for a few more days, so here's an update for you. My last trip was to Panama City, Panama (PTY). On the way back to Newark, we flew over Cuba and saw some incredible thunderstorms. Here's a shot of one that has a downpour in progress. It's not often we see thunderstorms this intense, but when we do, I try to have my camera ready.