Once again, I've let WAAAY too much time pass since my last entry.
I guess the big thing that's happened since I last bitched about stuff is the fact that Blackie, my '98 Explorer and all-around peice of shit car, is currently in the driveway...and her driveshaft is sitting on the front porch. Therefore, she's completely inop. And like the old "Ugly Duckling" car ads used to say, "Life Sucks Without A Car".
>>A week ago, myself and a bunch of my co-workers went out to the Hooters north of the airport and had a few beers, some wings and, and shot the shit for a little bit. Margee was coming back through the airport when she called me, so she came out as well. When it came time to leave, I decided to go to Denton with Margee and get a few more drinks with our friends there and then just crash on her couch.
We stopped at a stoplight on northbound 121 and, when the light turned green, I hit the gas and heard a big BOOM!. My car stopped accellerating and it felt like I was dragging something. I WAS dragging something. My driveshaft was still connected to the transmission until I stopped on the side of the road. Basically, my car blew a u-joint and, because it dragged on the ground, there was a little bit of damage to my actual driveshaft.
One of my co-workers, Melinda, fixes cars as a hobby. (I am aware of how sad it is that I have to get a chick to fix my car for me.) She came over the other night and tried to fix it...and it turns out the u-joint bracket is practically rusted onto the car. Not good. We're still not sure how we're going to get the damn thing off. I mean, she brought the airtools and everything. It sounded like a NASCAR pit row in my driveway when she was working on it. So, here I am....stuck at home on my day off. It's killing me. I have so many things I NEED to do, but at least I'm not wasting gas.
>>Things are getting better at work. School starts soon and the loads are getting lighter. We've mastered the art of quick turns with heavy loads...so we should kick some ass until November. I think management is considering sending me to CI training this month. Imagine that...ME...training people. HA!
Ahh, who am I kidding. I've already trained half of our new crew in the nuances of the ramp. I just can't sign them off on equipment. And I think they've all turned out to be quite good. In fact, the ones I trained are EXCELLENT. I'm quite proud of that.
Had a little drama at work yesterday. My first emergency landing. One of our outbound flights turned back to Dallas due to indications of a right-side hydraulic failure. They had to manually drop the landing gear...which means they landed with the main gear doors open...dragging them like a driveshaft on a '98 Explorer.
The aircraft landed safely...much respect to the captain for such a smooth landing in overweight and emergency condtions. It was swarmed by fire trucks & EMS vehicles and a crew of us were escorted out to runway 17L to tow the plane to the gate. When we got there, we could tell it WAS a complete hydraulic failure on the right side thanks to the thrust reverser still open on that side. It never retracted.
We kicked a little ass to get the plane off the runway ASAP. A plane on the runway for more than say, 25 minutes, becomes a PR nightmare. News choppers were probably scrambling. Gear pins were put in, towbar hooked up, and we tried to get the gear doors in place (that wasn't happening thanks to damage). We got her back in the gate 24 minutes after she landed....including a 8 minute tow from 17L.
Knowing that everyone was safe and we got them to their destination safely, though a few hours late, allows me to say that it was exciting. It was my first time out on the runway...and my first time dealing with that kind of situation. One of our rampers brought his digital camera with him to the runway, but I won't be posting any of those pics here since they would be a dead giveaway of who I work for. Not that you guys don't already know...but I just want to stay on the safe side.
>>Not a whole lot else has been going on. I met a smartass F/A the other day...I let her get away with it because she was really cute...and we've been talking the past few nights. I wouldn't say she hit on me...but she's definitely the only female F/A to (unofficially) give me her number...HAHA! Either way, apparently, I now owe her dinner and a few beers. I wouldn't owe her if my car were working the other night when she overnighted in Dallas...grrrr. Hurry up, Dirty Blackie, get fixed! You're killing my social life.
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Current Music: Bowling For Soup - Almost
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