UAL Open House 2010

I've added some links to the LiveATC audio for this flight. Thought it'd be fun to listen to.

It was 19 minutes from first calling ground to being cleared for takeoff.

Here's the video of the flight in. Sorry about the orientation. Helmet cams are hard to tell which way is up when you're not familiar with them.

Here's the ground controller when we were departing - kinda funny:

Blitz -

You're too kind! It was a lot of fun with a few "firsts" for me.

1. First formation landing as lead of any size formation.
2. First formation landing as lead of a three ship formation.
3. First formation takeoff as lead of any size formation.
4. First formation takeoff as lead of a three ship formation.
5. First takeoff from RWY 1 at SFO.
6. First time in a flight referred to as "three little piggies" by ATC.

There was comfort knowing my wingmen would always be where they were supposed to be. It wouldn't have went very well if they hadn't been!

I've annotated the pdf to show our taxi route and the hold points. I think I used more gas on the ground than in the air on the way home!

Dawn took a bunch of pictures. I'll get them uploaded to a website soon.

For now - here's a few:
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=294
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=293
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=310
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=311
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=312
http://photos.scitechsys.com/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=314

--
Kurt 'I.T.' Howerton
N923YK
http://cj6.scitechsys.com

Quoting Byron Fox:

> So, take a look at the attached PDF of SFO.
>
> Yesterday, Kurt, John Long and I, thanks to Kurt, were invited to attend
> United Airline's annual family day at UAL's massive maintenance facility at
> the extreme north side of the airport. To start the day at 0730, Kurt led
> the three-ship to a perfect formation landing on 28L, making sure that we
> touched down after the intersection of the crossing runways, as instructed.
> A follow-me truck met us, and we were parked about 200' from the Blue
> Angels, in town for Fleet Week. On static display, we got lots of attention
> from ± 15,000 UAL friends and family.
>
> At day's end, it's time go. Kurt calls Clearance Delivery and gets, as
> expected, routing via taxiway Charlie to Echo for an intersection takeoff on
> 28R. Pretty much a straight shot. No problemo! So we fire up, and Kurt calls
> Ground. "Roger, Yak Flight, taxi Runway One Left via Zulu, Bravo 1, Alpha,
> blah, blah, blah." OMG! My heart froze, and I was #3. Now imagine yourself
> in Kurt's position. He was the consummate pro, quickly stopping and
> confessing his brief false start on Charlie, and following with
> ,"Unfamiliar, progressive taxi, please." In the condescending tone used
> only by controllers, he came back with new instructions. Soon, however, the
> tone changed, as Kurt held short without instruction as an airliner came on
> to our taxiway. "Your doing great Yak Flight," while he continued chide and
> bark at other aircraft around the field. So, after taxing for what seemed
> forever, we launched. What a treat. Great, great job, Kurt!
>
> ...Blitz
>