Sunrise from the Cockpit

And some other photos

It was a return trip from Moscow, DME (Domodedovo - my Home Base) to Kemerovo, KEJ. Not an ordinary flight - it was schedulled just before midnight when all normal people are going to their beds, but not the crazy pilots.


It takes about 4 hrs to get to Kemerovo. And another 5 to get back after an hour stop. 

Yes, it is in Siberia. Russia is a big country, you know :) If you want then to fly to another (eastern) end of Russia, it will take another 6 hours to get to Anadyr.

I didn't mention it earlier? I'm a siberian guy, too. I was born in Barnaul...Hey, be honest, living in Europe or Americas, everywhere - have you previously heard about that city of more than 650,000 citizens? :) 

Lots of people in Moscow still think that it is somewhere in Kazakhstan or near the Arсtic (lol!) 

But lets return to our cockpit.

--==(o)==--

This flight was in April. I wasn't going to fly there, because I planned to visit Ulan-Ude, one of my favorite destinations (if I found the time, I would create a story about it). But crew planning had own view on my wishes, and we went to KEJ.

Routine flight task without any training duty. First Officer, Nail (na-'eel), is one of the guys I enjoy to fly with. He uses to say he is my pupil, and I want to believe I was a good teacher - so I try to plan flights with him just to check the progress.

...Flying at the night as a passenger (I'm sure!) most of you (and me as well!) would try to shorten the trip in a common manner. SLEEPING! :)

But that is not a good solution for a pilots, who are driving that bird even when Mr.Autopilot thinks he is the Master.

Cruise flights are not very interesting - most of the job is done during departure and arrivals. Moreover, when you are flying long night routes over Siberia, you rarely hear voices from outside - the sky isn't very busy.

So, meeting the sunrise is always a Big Event in such flights. It makes the cruise not so boring as usual :) And this happened to us while that flight to KEJ. Just look on the paintings below and have a fun like we had.

And finally, we started our descent through the clouds.



Say "Bye!"





I even coud not remember when I was here fior the last time. I started flying that route 10 years ago - as DME first officer, on Tupolev-154. It was easier to carry this route on Tupolev, a vintage Soviet bird, because there were 4 men in the cockpit - 2 Pilots, 1 Navigator and 1 Fligjt Engineer. So, the Pilot always had a chance to see some dreams in cruise, while Navi flew that plane together with another Pilot.

But not a B737, who has only 2 men in the cockpit. Yes, of course - if you want to sleep, than sleep. Just 10 minutes - and you will feel much better than if you are fighting with your lids. 20 minutes - you are alive.. 30 minutes - you're fresh. But another Pilot wants to sleep either and history knows lots of facts all over the world when both guys fall asleep and Mr.Autopilot ruled that airplane but not so well as a human does.

Even more fun - there were cases when 3 guys fall asleep in the same time - 2 in the cockpit and the Controller on the ground.

Some countries allow operators to establish special procedures for having a rest on the workplace. Russia also gives such possibility and I believe we could sometime do it officially - for example, one of the Pilots may have a rest in cruise, in his (her) seatin the aft position, with a Fligt Attendant in the cockpit (just to check that another Pilot isn't sleeping)







The weather wasn't very happy to see us. There was a cold wind, as I 
remember, making our approach "more interesting and less boring than usual". I use this joke for my young students (really, here in Russia, we have lots of cadett pilots, who are 21-22 y.o.).



...and rain. 

--==(о)==--

Just photoes form different flights

Maintenance works



And this is Ulan-Ude. Winter morning. Technicians are trying to warm our aiplane by that tubes which provide a hot air must provide a hot air from a special vehicle... but they arrived so late, that really didn't achieve any noticable effect. Sorry, passengers!




And this is a photo taken on a winter day in DME. Little bit snowy? Not a big problem for us, but let's imagine such snowfalls in JFK... Hm. 





We are going to Simferopol. Opposite traffic below.



Photos from category:"The way I see it". 







Another flight to Simferopol. Another weather.





Was our flight interesting? Should I continue or job is useless?

Nevertheless:

FLY SAFE!