Love Beyond Altitude

Chapter 6[ First Flight Part One]

Today is the day. I've waited for this moment for almost 15 years, my first flight as an airline pilot. I woke up two hours earlier than I supposed to. I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was too antsy to fall asleep. A surgeon's most significant moment is performing their first surgery. A lawyers most significant moment is trying their first case. A pilot's most notable moment is handling the controls on their very first flight.

The crew house was tranquil today. There wasn't anybody around. I sat in the kitchen eating my breakfast, cinnamon toast crunch cereal. As a new airline pilot, we don't make the big bucks until we build seniority. The longer we fly, the more money we make. When you upgrade to a captain, that's where the big bucks are.

When I was eating my cereal at the dining table, I wondered where Alex was? I am supposed to report to the airport in an hour. After breakfast, I walked up to her room. Her bedroom door was wide open. Because of my curiosity, I peeked into her bedroom. Her bedroom was twice the size of my room and had a private bathroom.

Her wall was full of airplane posters. Similar to how my room looked in Vegas. Her bedroom had the aroma of flowers, probably from the essential oil diffuser that's running by her bed. The sun was coming through her curtains, which illuminates her orange themed color scheme.

Alex also had a small entertainment center at the corner of her room. She had a Playstation and an Xbox One console. She had several games including Call of Duty and Halo. Her TV screen has been left on to the welcome screen of Fornite. Alex is a cooler girl than I imagined.

After looking in her room, I heard somebody coming up the stairs. I immediately turned around and walked into my room. As I sat in my bed staring at the hallway, Alex walked through. She walked into her room wearing black yoga pants, a purple hoodie, with headphones in her ears. Her head was sweaty as if she went jogging.

Alex left her bedroom door opened as she walks into her bathroom, and turns on her shower. I stared at her from the hallway as she jammed out to music in her headphones.

Alex quickly undresses and walks into her bathroom as steam exits through the bathroom door. After 20 minutes of being in the shower, Alex walks out of her room. She stepped out of the bathroom with a towel over her body and hair. She then closes her door.

A few minutes later, I looked at my phone and noticed the time. I only had 20 minutes to get to the airport. I quickly changed into my uniform, sprayed axe all over my body, and walked out of my room with my bags.

Moments later, Alex walks out of her room in her uniform and calls my name. "Skyler!" As she waves her hand at me. I approached her, "Good morning Alex! How was your night?"

She nodded her head and replied, "Eh. So and So. I didn't get enough sleep last night, but we'll be okay. Would you like a ride to the airport with me?"

"Sure," I answered back.

Alex and I walked down the stairs, into the garage, and drove away in her Jeep. This time, I opened the door for Alex on the driver's side.

It took only fifteen minutes to get to the employee parking lot of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and another five minutes to get into the passenger terminal.

Today is going to be a relatively easy day. We were only doing one round trip flight, before coming back home for the day.

[Today's Schedule: Monday, August 20, 2018]

[CPT- Alexandra Coleman F/O- Skyler Judd]

[09:30 Seattle (SEA) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) United 1502 operated by Blue Skies]

[Flight time: 4.00 hrs] [Arrival: 15:00]

[16:00 Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Seattle (SEA United 1602 operated by Blue Skies]

[Flight time: 4.20 hrs] [Arrival: 18:20]

Total Time: [8.20]

After checking into our flight at the crew lounge, Alex and I began to walk towards our gate. While we were walking to the gate, Alex asked.

"Are you nervous at all, being your first flight?"

I nodded my head no and replied, "I've been waiting for this moment, for a very long time."

She smiled back. "That's awesome. I remembered the first time I flew as a new pilot. I was only eighteen-years-old at the time. You are lucky because the weather is beautiful right now. My first flight was during a massive snowstorm when I worked out of Minneapolis. The runways were slippery, and we had to de-ice almost twice. Visibility was also, terrible. My supervisor had to take over most of the flight."

"Well, I am fortunate not to be flying in a snowstorm," I replied to Alex. Alex laughed and smiled at me. She looked at me for a few seconds, before she realized it, and snapped out of it.

We arrived at Gate B12 at the airport. The screen showed Chicago O'Hare. Alex and I approached the gate agent as we flashed our ID cards, and walked into the plane. As a captain, Alex walked into the cockpit first, followed by me.

She sat down in the cockpit and started pressing buttons. She pushed almost thirty buttons before stopping. As she touches the switches, lights start turning on; the air started flowing through the cockpit, the alarms began making the sound, until she finished starting up the power on the plane. After turning on all of the switches, Alex turned around.

"So, I will do the controls for this first flight; then you'll do everything on the flight back. Sounds good?"

I smiled back at her and replied, "sounds good!".

I sat on the right side of the aircraft, and I prepared for the flight myself. A few minutes later, a flight attendant came into the cockpit and asked us a question. "Are you guys ready to board yet?" Alex replied with a thumbs up. A few moments later, people started boarding the aircraft.

When people started boarding the aircraft, Alex grabbed a large bag of candy and started to hand them out to everybody on the plane, as they boarded their flight. Alex had a smile on her face and welcomed everybody that walked in. People thanked her for her smile and customer service.

I thought it was pretty cool how Alex made everybody feel welcome on her aircraft. She is technically in charge of all of the lives on board, and she's rocking it by getting to know everybody on board.

Ten minutes passed, and boarding was complete. Alex then walked back to her seat and prepared for the flight. She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at her. After smiling back at her, she turned around biting her lip as she glanced at her iPad.

"Hey, Skyler?"

I looked at Alex and replied, "Yes?"

"So, whenever one of us isn't controlling the aircraft, the other would operate the radio. Are you okay to do that?"

I nodded my head, yes, and she replied, "Great, we're just about ready to push back here." She turned around, grabbed the phone, and began to speak.

"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome aboard United flight 1502, operated by BlueSkies Airlines. Beautiful day in the windy city, not windy at all. We're looking at 71 degrees in Chicago with blue skies. No winds in Chicago. We're looking at a flight time of four hours, at an altitude to 100,000 feet, just kidding.

We'll be cruising at 33,000 feet. Should be a smooth ride to Chicago. I'm your captain Alexandra Coleman, followed by first officer Skyler Clayton. Ladies and Gentleman, it's his first day, but don't worry, the controls are in my hands. Have a good flight ladies and gentleman".

As Alex told the passengers it was my first day, she started to laugh. After making her announcement, Alex stared at me again. "I'm just joking around with you. We're going to have a great time. Okay, Skyler?" I smiled back, and the aircraft began to push out of the gate.