There is still life in the old girl yet, thanks be to God,and his bountiful jetstream that was planted so firmly on our butts that we made the jump to hyperspace, and all the way from Seattle to EWR, non-stop in 4.5 hours flat. Taxiing out at Boeing field,BFI, past row upon row of brand new 737NGs,(China Air,Royal Air Maroc,THY,to name a few),and an anonymous freightdog DC-3 that was fast asleep, while we finished,the checklists,took the runway, and blasted off into the pre-dawn ,a Boeing alumnus, saying good-bye for now to the alma mater,climbing so swiftly into those Seattle clouds, that the city lights were extinguished in a wink,an instant, and the next thing we knew we were breaking out on top somewhere over the Olympia range,in the mid -twenties heading for Fl350,the eastern horizon just starting to ignite with the light of the coming day,and the planet Venus,a silver sparkle,blazing madly away. level at FL350 we accelerated to around.82mach, I eased back the throttles,and the fuel flows to long range cruise, and we whipped over the continent with a groundspeed of 562 kts, finding the sun and daybreak over Montana. It was just my crew and I,53,000lbs of JetA, ship 675,and a sleeping mechanic,and customer rep in the back ,this was just a positioning flight, a ferry flight, so that some other crew ,and customers could fly out of Jersey later that day. The hours melted swiftly away, we even overflew mother Michigan, and I was able to barely discern my town,and neighborhood,from 35K,just a little bit before we started to descend,for Slate Run VOR,and the Williamsport Arrival into Newark,which was being beaten about the head, neck,and shoulders, with 80 degree x-winds out of the NW, gusting to the high 30s,guaranteed to ensure you earned your money on arrival this holy day. We screamed out of that lovely,stratospheric high blue, and slowed when ordered to by New York Approach,ending up on a 21 mile final for 4R,south of Sandy Hook,south of Raritan Bay, following a CAL 737 getting beat up like we were in the low level turbulence,real bump,and grind stuff. The guy two planes ahead of our guy,bailed,went around,said he was getting windshear indications and had no choice,our warning systems stayed silent,we squared our shoulders,and plowed on. finally our turn to land,airspeed fluctuations +,- 10 kts, within limits, a bootful of opposing rudder,and all the aileron we can muster into the wind, with a sigh ,and a clatter we settle in, decelerating, engines roaring ,reversing, sheer JT8D thunder,80 kts,60kts, I grab the tiller,ease the rockets out of reverse,and steer 675 ,off the runway,panting,to parking and a well deserved rest. In 3 hours I deadhead home on NW,to DTW, another all too short visit to the old sod. Days like this,you have to love it,its what flying is all about, even with all the industry crap,its still a true,and beautiful way to make a living, and the 727 still rocks,more than 40 years after her inception, she may not make the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, but she can give any'bus out there a run for their money and then some, shes beautiful ,fast(.88mach max),and burns way to much gas. Anyway,end of rave,sorry to get all long winded,gents. It was a good day.
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