[adrianspeeder]

Trip 281: Load up for a ball buster of a long trip to Paris, Iraq, and California. First stop ran into an ole Jersey friend.



Love a short first day with a 20 minute flight, and then put the jet to bed for wild Virginia night.



Rally up early next morning for a full load of fuel.



Stackin’ banks while drainin’ tanks!



“Hey Cap’n! Where are we?” “I have no idea.”



New copilot signed off on escape rope use. Q1.



Crusin’ in over the beaches of Normandy.



Weathered in. No drop. D-Day Delayed.



Second time seeing the Eiffel Tower. First time from the air.





“50”. Landing crew. Paris–Le Bourget Airport



I think we are parking over there.



Hero shot.



These boys work fast.



Better shot.



Both are technical achievements, but only one is cool.



Tag team haulin’.



“So, you want me to squawk 7500?” “Uhhh... Yeah.”



Frenchy controller let his buddy take off first.



Fluffy grounds crew.



Heading out of France, we didn’t get to stay.



Late night landing in Germany. These suck for a few reasons. Don’t have enough time to get in trouble downtown, don’t have anywhere on base to go, so it’s just drink in the room.



Words of wisdom from a wise loadsmasher.



Next thing that sucks after trying to sleep through the day, is an 2200 alert to take off the next night. Chilly smoky startup!



Headin’ into Iraq. This combat entry checklist calls for combat cake!



No problems in and out of Iraq, so we are forever chasing the sun for another evening in Germany.



German twilight.



Team Dover all over the world!



Flyin’ Crew Chief emergency supplies.



Made it to a Maineiac morning for a Bangor gas stop.



Stackin’ banks while drainin’ tanks!



Holding for this guy to get his checklists together. In the thickest Maineiac accent, “We need a minute.” Check your rearview mirror bud!



Southwest 737 makin’ money.



Are we there yet?



Can’t recall if I’ve seen the golden gate bridge before.



Pretty like a picture.



Spending the night in the land of Google.





Fill ‘er up Friday.



“Chief you got those fuels balanced perfect.” “Hell yeah brother!”



If you’re lost, they’ll come find you.



You want maximum rate time to climb? You got it!







My camera is squawking 7500!



On to the next one...

Adrianspeeder

[adrianspeeder]

Quick trip to the Pacific with a new guy that we screwed with his luggage.











Adrianspeeder

[adrianspeeder]

Trip 243, Winter 2019, Bagram

131 – Didn’t know it at the time, but this would be my last trip to Afghanistan. First night stopped in New Hampshire, but when we tried to get snacks for the next day’s trip, the boss wanted Trader Joe’s. Where is all the junk food?!?



132 – Bit of snow fell, and that always drags out the launch sequence.



133/135 – Fill ‘er up Friday: Stackin’ banks while drainin’ tanks!






136/140 – Deice ops going smoothly until the extended reach deicer died while above the T tail so we couldn’t lower him manually.
“The mechanic is an hour away.”
“We ain’t got time for that, bring me that tug and we’ll pull the airplane away.”
“I don’t have a C-17 tow bar.”
“Can you tow those 767’s over there?”
“Yeah.”
“Bring me that tug and we’ll pull the airplane away.”











141 – Lets ride! Dude was still stuck up in the bucket as we were taking off.



142 – Good morning Turkey.



143 – Brought another first time’er dollar ride mechanic on this trip to show him how things are done. Preflight minion deploy!



144 – Last ride to Afghanistan.



145 – Loaded up with junk in the trunk no problems. Time for a nap.



146 – 4 AM Turkish pizza while hammered.



147 – Slept all day and ready to ride!



148 – Nighttime ocean crossing with cabin pressurization workin’ on point.



149/150 – Snowy touchdown at DAFB. One more done, with only a few trips to go.

[adrianspeeder]

Trip 244, Winter 2019, Cuba

151 – Let’s take some Navy junk down to Cuba. Leaving a cold Delaware day.



152 – Best job I ever had!



153 - A cold sunny Virginia day.



154 – Tasty.



155 - Fancy hotel. Let’s hit the bar!



156 – Coors Light time.



157 – Cold raining preflight.



158 – Somehow my rain pants are no longer in my bag. Gonna be a wet fill up.



159 – Double pumpin’ fill ‘er up Friday stacking banks while drainin’ tanks. In the rain.



160 – Hang up the flight suit to dry for this next leg of the journey.



161/162/163/164 – Club Gitmo!









165 - Killer jelly fishes.



166/167/168 – Nice beach.






169 – First time I’ve been here in the daytime.



170 – Ended up having a drag race with another Dover jet on approach. We beat them on the landing, turned onto the parallel taxiway, but they landed long, and beat us to parking by rolling down the runway faster. ATC was not amused.

[Owen]

Great pics as always!

[LesterWong]

Go around!











Landing take two...












Frequent flyer miles work because they encourage you to consistently use one airline

[adrianspeeder]

Trip 245, Winter 2019, South America

171/172/173 – Interesting trip that took some extra planning ahead of time. Going to be lots of training mixed with a stop that we CAN NOT fail at. Pilot calls me and says, “I’ve requested you for this mission. Make sure we do not get stuck.” Well, I brought a ISU 90 of all the parts that are single point failures.







174 – Plane crackers. No flavor.



175 – Let’s ride!



176 – Good safety RACM, SEND IT!



177/178/179/180 – Mile high mountains.









181/185 – Time to dive down into Eagle County Regional Airport for low approaches and a few touch and gos.










186 - Nice view.



187 – Full send.



188 – Hang on LT, we gotta go!



189/190 – You bring us in nice and pretty and we’ll have a kick ass night in Denver.

[adrianspeeder]

191 – Stop in Denver for a splash of gas.



192 – Fill ‘er up Friday mile high style.



193 – HA! Karma’s a bitch when a pilot changes the game mid mission for who’s buyin’ first round. He played himself!



194 – Puerto Rico.



195 – Pilot called me up to the front after smelling magic smoke. Well, when you pull 360+ amps, 400hZ, 3phase, through stainless steel 2/0 cable for years and years, things get toasty. The book limits 10 mins of max loading when running on a single source of power. Otherwise, no time limit with the load split between the onboard auxiliary power unit and a ground power unit or running engines with integrated drive generators on line. I cut off all four of the 60 amp hydraulic pumps, and we pressed on by not running the hydraulic preflight test until after engines were running turning the gear driven pumps.



196 – Morning comes, and with a ground power cart to assist, we are ready to ride.



197 – Next stop the odds were against me to “win” buying the round, but this isn’t where we are crew resting. Suck it! Off to the next stop.



198/200 – Starin’ into the sun for Central America.





200 – Lizards chillin’ by the runway at Tocumen International Airport.



201/206 – Costa Rica low level.













207 – A shadow somewhere on a beach.



208 – Go buzz the boat!



209/210 - Costa Rica low level.

[adrianspeeder]

211/214 – Costa Rica gas stop.









215 – Pucker factor 10 of ten. “ALL STOP ALL STOP ALL STOP, REACH 232T GO AROUND!” “On the go. Reach 232.” Positive rate, gear up…. Some yahoo was moving unauthorized. P&W power and a sharp controller saves the day.



216 – Leaving Costa Rica.



217 – Somewhere on a beach.



218 – Quick hop across the Gulf.



219/220 – For all the times going to Panama, I’ve always hauled ass as fast as possible through customs to get on with the fun outside the airport. Only fitting that on the trip before my fini flight, one of the last minute crew additions didn’t make the visa paperwork correctly and ground everything to a halt. Worst case, I’d take her back out to the jet and she’d spend the night pretending to be a Raven. A few embassy calls she was good to go, and I killed time with the camera to remember something from my top five crew rest locations.





221/222 – Upper wing inspection good to go.





223 – Wise words.



224 – Good safety and send it. Last time being in Panama.



225 – Full stop at Dover AFB. Only one more mission known as the fini flight up next.

[Boots]

Thanks for all the pictures over the years! Looking forward to pics from the fini flight, and later perhaps some pics related to your current assignment.