Up Scope

Well as we pick up the story from where we left off, the big FAA audit that was supposed to happen in January didn't. We had everything ready, were all sitting in the conference room, I wore a nice shirt and tie (shocking isn't it...) and I had all of my "cats" not only corralled, but sitting straight and pretty with all the books and documents laid out for the inspectors. 20 minutes after when they were supposed to be there, instead of a team of 8, we see 3 inspectors come in and join us. They sit down and tell us the inspection is off for now as the regional guy got sick. A good summation of this event would be that we were not the only unhappy people since there had only been 2 weeks notice on something that is normally given a minimum of 1 month notice. At any rate, the local office FAA has been working closely with us since then going over things and identifying areas where we can make improvements to better comply with the nebulous "Operational Control" issues that are out there.

The "big audit" has been rescheduled for May (sometime) and our Director of Ops has brought in our former principal inspector, who left the FAA, as a consultant and he is helping make things better all around.

In the end, the goal is not necessarily to have no findings (but I'd love that), but to ensure that we have processes in place to keep us in compliance and safe. Everybody wins. Making a mistake is ok, just don't make the same one.

As for my flying at work, I'm tired of waiting for the powers that be there to open a path for me. In life, it is true. The only person that will look out for you... is YOU. Therefore, I have decided to blaze my own path. I wanted to use dynamite, but thats not so socially acceptable these days. :P

I have, for quite some time, been cultivating a relationship with our BBJ people and have eagerly expressed a desire to come to work for them. Earlier this year it came to a head...fish or cut bait. I had a decision to make. I had an opportunity to go to work for them but it required me to get my 737 rating on my own. I shopped around and found a place to do it, but I was quite concerned about the cost. Fortunately, I have an awesome bride who, while not wild about the idea, still supported me in my efforts to get the rating and found a way to fund it. Fortunately my training costs will be repaid to her quickly by my work on the BBJ.

On last Sunday, April 6th, I completed my training and FAA checkride to earn my Boeing 737 type rating. That rating means I'm qualified to be Captain on one of those lovely planes. In fact I have a standing job offer on a private one that I plan on moving too, hence the rating. Me thinks the powers at work are now nervous...

As some of you are aware, the political situation at my work has had me in a state of flux where apparently I'm good enough to fly all of the owners of the planes we manage around in Learjets and also crew on Gulfstream II and III aircraft for high profile people, but not as a full time line Captain on the charter side of things. I decided that they have had enough time to make something more permanent happen for me and that I was going to not wait on them any more, thus I went and got the 737 rating.

So imagine my amusement as I'm driving around San Francisco with my co-pilot (yeah, we were up here flying some owners around) last night and the phone rings just before 10pm and its my fleet lead who calls to tell me that "after a chat he had with the owner earlier that evening, the owner finally decided to release me as a full line Captain". Hmmm upgrade by phone...how special.

Now don't get me wrong, I AM happy that they have finally gotten off dead center, but that joy is tempered by their 4+ years of inconsistency, empty promises, lack of movement on the subject, and the fact that in our fleet, several pilots have recently quit or are about to quit. Guess their resources are drying up and they are getting nervous.

I explained to my fleet manager that I was thankful but when he tried to assert that a Lear trip would take precedence over a BBJ trip, I politely (with minimum laughter - be proud) told him no, that as far as I was concerned the BBJ had precedence and that I was working on transitioning to it full time. I understand where he is coming from and the various "powers" just need to sit down and come to some agreement on my utilization, with the understanding that I am going to be moving into the BBJ in what could be as soon as 3-6 months. It's not that hard as we have had several other people fly one airplane and then contract fly another.

I will most likely still do the other things I do for the company like teach, manage the website, help put together and run our safety and security program, and other operations related things cause I enjoy helping out and have the background to do it. Plus I won't argue with the extra pay for doing so. But something that my fleet manager and the other powers need to understand, I'm not going to be a "lifer" in the Lears and your pilots do grow up and move to other opportunities.

I wonder if they have figured out that for the first time in 10+ years, a company asset has been hired onto one of these large planes that traditionally only involved a select few people, not associated with our company? Perhaps they should take pride in the fact that one of their own has been selected but, oh wait, I think they are too caught up in a Learjet Las Vegas trip...

*sigh*

My training in Shinkendo is going well. After the whole rented brain thing, I was able to reboot mine and press on with my training. I truly am having a lot of fun with it and enjoy the workout and destress aspects of it, not to mention that I get to train with some wonderful people who can easily become lifelong friends. In March, I tested and along with Anne and we promoted to the rank of Jiho (Shinkendo's 2nd rank). The journey continues.

Speaking of continuing journeys, March also marked the 5 year anniversary of Mashuu Dojo. Matthew Sensei hosted a WONDERFUL party at his house where I got to meet many other longtime students and friends of his, plus the rest of his family. I have pictures up in the gallery and a good summation for the party would be: "MMMmmm, Lemon Blop". I will have to get the recipe and make those at upcoming summer parties...

So in closing for now, yes Kevin, you can now finally fully tease me with: "CAPTAIN John Ferdon: Pilot, Hero, Leader of Men!"