For some, life couldn't be any more perfect than if they were paid to travel. I've run across three airline crew members who have discovered ways to keep their jobs fresh and exciting by embracing what is for them the biggest benefit that comes with working for an airline: ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Kent Wien is a Boston-based co-pilot for a major airline with nearly twenty years experience both as a domestic and international pilot.
Kent is part of a family that includes three generations of airline pilot brothers starting with his grandfather who started an airline in 1924. Originally from Alaska, he enjoys writing about specific flights while using video and photography to capture a glimpse of life behind a cockpit door.
He currently writes both the Cockpit Chronicles and Plane Answers features for Gadling and covers the airline and aviation industry in between.
You can reach him through his personal site at kentwien.com
The Cockpit Chronicles
Cockpit Chronicles: Getting More Out Of Layovers
For some, life couldn't be any more perfect than if they were paid to travel. I've run across three airline crew members who have discovered ways to keep their jobs fresh and exciting by embracing what is for them the biggest benefit that comes with working for an airline: ...Cockpit Chronicles: Ten tips for the new co-pilot
Despite the fact that our airline is parking older and less efficient airplanes, senior co-pilots have been upgrading to captain at a pretty good clip. I thought the recent events would have put a stop to all that, but I was ecstatic to learn that I had finally reached the ...Cockpit Chronicles: Captain on the MD-80? Why?
Captain on the MD-80? Are you crazy?
I received a comment from a reader recently to that effect. What was I thinking, bidding to an airplane that my company was rapidly retiring and choosing to go back on reserve, ready to fly at a moment's notice to places like Kansas ...Cockpit Chronicles: What's not to like about the 757? I'll show you. (Video)
Powerful engines providing stellar performance and short field capabilities are just some of the features that set the Boeing 757 apart from the rest. But there has to be something that pilots dislike on the airplane, right?
Well, there are two features in particular that ...Cockpit Chronicles: Captain Steve Jobs
How a pilot handles the controls, or their 'stick and rudder' skills so to speak, is a small part of what makes a great aviator. Recently, on a flight from New York to Zurich, I watched some decision making that typifies the traits of a great captain.
As Captain Bredow ...Cockpit Chronicles: Fly Rio!
Occasionally the airline will offer pilots the chance to fly for a month out of another base when they're short a few pilots at that city. I remember flying with one of these temporary duty (TDY) pilots who came up to Boston from Miami. I asked him what trips he usually flew ...Cockpit Chronicles: Video—Food in the cockpit. How it's prepared and what is served
"I'm getting kind of tired of these chicken Caesar salads."
I said those words just a few months into my career at American. The statement resonated loudly after I was furloughed and flying for a freight airline with barely a bottle of water on board, so I vowed that I ...Cockpit Chronicles: Boeing vs Boeing. Pilots weigh in on the flight qualities of each type
We talked last week about identifying the various Boeing airplanes from their external characteristics. But to Boeing pilots who have been fortunate to fly most of them, each airplane has its own personality. I thought I'd share some different opinions of a few pilots who ...Cockpit Chronicles: Know your Boeings
One of the first things any aviation enthusiast or pilot learns is how to tell one airplane from another. Usually, those of us aviation obsessed types pick this up as kids.
But a few frequent fliers, airline employees and maybe even some pilots may not be able to catch ...Cockpit Chronicles: A captain's line check
Once every two years a captain is required to be observed by a check airman. And captains over sixty must be checked every six months.
I touched on the line check in the last Cockpit Chronicles, and I've had yet another trip with a check airman performing a line check, ...Cockpit Chronicles: A 'new' pilot's first trip on the line
To say it's been a long time since we've seen any newly hired pilots at our airline is an understatement. Up until now, the junior most pilots have been here for more than ten years.
As I was riding in to work on the JFK Airtrain a few weeks ago, I looked up the crew list ...Cockpit Chronicles: One long date with Hurricane Irene
Plunk, plunk, plunk, went the water as it dripped from the ceiling into a trash can behind me.
"I'd just as soon call it quits here and go to a hotel." the captain said, looking at the latest weather report for Santo Domingo and the radar picture of hurricane Irene which ...Cockpit Chronicles: There's more behind the Air France 447 crash than pilot error
Recently a couple of pilots found themselves in a situation that was foreign and perplexing to them; a scenario the designers of the airplane hadn't fully expected. They fought their way for 3 minutes and 30 seconds while trying to understand what was happening after a ...Cockpit Chronicles: Eight ways to slow a jet
One of my first posts on Cockpit Chronicles was an explanation on how to park a 757. At the risk of catering only to people who have recently acquired their own Boeing jets, I'd like to continue with another lesson.
The eight ways to slow a jet
When you're driving your ...Cockpit Chronicles: Hitching a ride to Kentucky in Concorde
Occasionally, when pilots are together, the subject eventually will come around to airplanes. Specifically, just what airplane we'd most like to fly.
While I have a rather long list that includes the Ford Tri-Motor and the Spitfire, solidly at the top of the heap lies ...Cockpit Chronicles: Landing an airline pilot job just got harder, but here's one way to do it.
Last year H.R. 5900 was signed into law requiring the FAA to set a new 1,500 hour minimum flight time requirement for any new airline pilots including small companies hiring co-pilots for their 19-seat airplanes.
The law is mandated to take effect by August of 2013 and ...Cockpit Chronicles: A farewell to Boston
April was my last month flying from Boston. It was also the month that our company chose to eliminate the last remaining non-stop flights from Santo Domingo and San Juan to New England. These were markets where we'd flown for decades.
Fittingly, on the 2nd and 4th of ...Cockpit Chronicles: Flying with my brother (Part II)
Continued from Part I
We were both tired after arriving at the airport hotel in LA, so we didn't meet up for dinner, as it was too late anyway. Instead we parted to our separate hotel rooms on the same floor and vowed to meet up at 7 a.m. the next morning.
After ...Cockpit Chronicles: So what's it like when your brother is also your captain?
The temperature was fifteen degrees in Anchorage and it was getting dark. But we didn't care, we just wanted to fly.
My older brother Kurt and I were inside rushing through the final steps to build our styrofoam rubber-band powered Citabrias. Once finished, we still had ...Cockpit Chronicles: Is it time for pilots to ditch the hat?
Call it civil disobedience. Or, for some, it's a way to express displeasure at management. Maybe the hat just doesn't work well with their haircut. Whatever the reason, pilots have been ditching their hats lately at airlines across the country.
Some companies have heard ...
