Fueling and flying

October 24, 2006

It's 2:08pm and I woke up 1.5 hours ago. The cloudy skies which I left in Indianapolis this morning have followed me home and the gray and drizzly autumn scene.

Wednesday evening October 25 arrives and I meet the Fed Ex workers and airplane. The preflight is nearly routine: untie the wing straps, remove engine opening plugs and propeller restraint, kick out the tire chocks, unlock the cockpit and cargo doors. The cargo door is supposed to be open one hour before departure, by company policy. This gives the ramp workers early opportunity to begin loading. In actuality they begin about :45 minutes. It is a small operation and the Fed Ex people handle their tasks well.

Not all is correct during the preflight and a burned out landing light is discovered. I check the time and see how long until departure. A comfortable margin of just under an hour exists. The choices are to contact maintenance and fix or defer. I begin by checking the airplane's Minimum Equipment List. This document details what components are required for flight and what, if any, may be deferred. The chapter 33-6 covers landing lights. It reads:

Two available. One may be inoperative for nighttime, provided one taxi light is (also ) available.

This sounds encouraging. I verify the taxi light is working. It is. I check the landing light circuit breaker - again. This was covered on another preflight task but the in operative light makes for another opportunity to check. The circuit breaker is seated normally. I reset it Out/In and try the landing light again. No change. At least I know what it is not.

A call to maintenance brings a speedy decision to defer the repair until Indianapolis. This makes for a comfortable time margin of four hours on the ground at the destination. The local mechanics seem eager to do something and this will give them just the opportunity. I complete the flight log entry to report the burned out light and defer the maintenance, then continue with the preflight.

Fueling the airplane is accomplished by placing a sheet in the airplane window after the previous trip. The fueling operator comes about :45 minutes before departure, notes the window and requested gallons, fuels the plane, and leave the fueling slip in the cargo pod. This works very well.

Often I meet the fueler man during preflight and exchange greetings. The previous evening's conversation with Tim, a senior operator, was a chance to share a fueling story from the previous Friday. I began telling Tim that a young man had arrived and fueled the plane, but then he departed and left his step ladder behind. It was positioned under the right wing. I discovered it during a walk-around, made a mental note and formed a plan to have it removed prior to engine start. I might ask the local ramp person to take it inside if I can't contact the fueling company.

Then I called the fueling company and spoke with another man and stated, "I just had one of your fuelers to a fine job of filling me up." This brought about a reply of, "Huh?". I surmised that the reply was because we didn't know each other, or perhaps he was not used to receiving a compliment. I decided to try again and replied, "One of your fuelers just did a fine job of fueling the airplane.". This time the operator got it and muttered, "Ok.". Continuing, I got to the heart of my message. "Would you ask him to come back and get his ladder? It will make the next fueling job so much easier!". By this time the operator was beginning to get the phone conversation and I could sense a smile coming from the other end. I concluded with, "Let's let him think it is his idea.". The operator agreed and we concluded this light-hearted conversation.

I was trying to find a polite way of exposing the fueler's goofup. At the same time I made a mental note to myself to be aware that I too could make a mix up and to carefully follow procedures to avoid such a case.

This story was conveyed to Tim a few days later. When I got to the part of the story about how I checked the plane after fueling and discovered that something was not quite right, Tim's expression went to puzzlement. After just a moment of reflection Tim declared, "He forgot the ladder!". I continued the story, telling him, "Let's let him think that it was his idea." Tim offered the rest of the story from the fueling company's end.

Apparently the fuel dispatcher radioed the fueler after my conversation. An aside, the fueling station is located on the other side of the airport and the fueler requires a security car escort to get to the plane. This is due to a major airport construction project which has displaced the service road. In short, retrieving the ladder will be a more difficult task for the fueler then if they had checked the inventory prior to leaving.

"It's easier to let the cat out of the bag then to put it back in".

Radioing the fueler, the dispatcher asked, "Do you have everything?" The reply was a grunted, "Yes". Then the dispatcher radioed, "How many ladders to you have?". At this point the obvious mistake was discovered by the driver and the ladder retrieved before flight. The story concludes.

On this night, I met up with the young fueler man. He looked like the person from the previous Friday's event. I tried to greet him but got a confused look back. The man was wearing hearing protection. I tried to greet him again and waved. This brought little reply. I just finally offered a hello, departed and let him continue. He began by fueling the other pilot's airplane.

When I returned he was still fueling the other plane. But the Fed Ex loaders were nearly complete with my plane's loading. I was irked. The other plane is scheduled out :25 minutes later. I wondered why didn't he fuel my plane first? What is the benefit of having and early loading completed if the plane has to wait for fueling?

But as it turned out the fueler man was complete just before the final Fed Ex loaders pulled the equipment out of the way. I paused an had a short comment to the fueling man, stating that my plane leaves first and the other one leaves 25 minutes later. I was

inviting him to consider fueling mine first if he is delayed. He seemed to understand An early departure was made by ten minutes.

An arrival in Indianapolis was at 11:48 and just :49 minutes for the 119NM mile flight. A short taxi to the ramp for :03 minutes and the plane was parked. I beat out the ramp loaders and company maintenance men. Completing the post-flight tie down for ten minutes and the first maintenance team arrived. I got in the van and rode to the break room. We discussed the burned out taxi light and their plan to replace it on the layover.

I hit the lounge chairs and dozed for 2.5 hours. The alternative is to play video games with the other pilots. I prefer to sleep.

Returning to the plane three hours later, I met up with Enid, the Fed Ex ramp loading supervisor. Enid is 54 and a pleasure to work with. His team had the packed plane loaded early and I departed a full :29 minutes ahead of schedule.

Maintenance was unable to complete the landing light repair and the work was deferred to the South Bend facility.

Flying out of the terminal area, I encountered clouds at 4,200 MSL (3,400 above the ground). A clearance from the controllers to 7,000 brought a cruise arrival just :10 minutes later. The controller was soliciting cloud bases and tops from a Fed Ex jetliner who was on a descent into Indianapolis. I took advantage of a break in the transmissions to report the bases. This brought a "Thank you." from the radar controller. I was on top at 7,000 and shortly afterward was handed off to the next radar facility, Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center.

Cruising northward, I encountered higher cloud tops and and request 9,000. A short climb through the clouds puts me on top again. A clear starry sky, temperature of 0 degrees Centigrade (32 F), and a light tailwind meet the cruise. I look northward and see an airplane high above. A call is made to the Center and a question asked, "Who is the traffic at 11:00, high. Northbound. Eastbound?". The controller pauses for several moments and then replies, "Ah, I see him now. He's on another sector's controll. It's a B737 at 37,000 (FL 370) eastbound to Newark.".

There are 300 MM Americans, per the latest census report. It is 4:40AM and only two of us in the starry sky, myself and the B737. One lone controller in Aurora Illinois keeps me company. I view the night sky, note the Big Dipper and my course which goes straight to Polaris. It is a wonderous moment.

Arriving at the South Bend terminal area, I have winds reports from the east at 3 mph. I elect to take the runway landing east. A rollout and the plane stops in a record setting run time. The ground crew is ready and greets me. Unloading is accomplished in under :15 minutes. I tie down the plane, close out the flight with company dispatch and drive home.

Scott