Salt Lake

Dec 9 2009

Skidding! We are skidding! Holy crap the tarmac is an ice rink! Slow the ship down, get it back under control. Catch your breath; take your heart out of your mouth. OK wow… Welcome to Salt Lake City.

After turning off the taxiway it seems we had just a bit too much speed. When we tried to turn towards the gate the ship suddenly started sliding. That’s new and fun. Better call tower with an alert that we have heavy ice conditions on the ramp. Tower acknowledges and we recommence with a nice slow crawl to the gate. Company traffic at the gate is three other United CRJ’s that also just came in.

Why I should be caught off guard by ice on the ramp is beyond me. First of all, Salt Lake airport is 4000 feet above sea level to begin with. Second, it’s December. Third it’s obvious that it snowed here recently. The sky was clear on the way in yes, but it wasn’t too long ago that a squall went though and there’s a light dusting of snow everywhere. And finally, I should know that just because the runway braking action was good doesn’t mean the ramp is.

Fortunately the next leg of the trip is to Vegas. Ah nice, warm, desert Vegas. Somehow a part of my soul lives in the warmth of the desert and I’m looking forward to getting under way. As much as I’m aware of my “get-there-itis,” I can also say that I’m very much looking forward to lounging by the pool with a cocktail and my girl. It’s somehow fitting that there’s ice here tonight, but that I finish in warm Vegas later on. I’ve got more plans than just lounging by the pool with my girl in Vegas. She doesn't know it yet, but soon I'll be filing the long haul flight plan of life with her and I need to scout out churches.  But for now she’s resting comfortably in the back of the CRJ right now and once we’re airborne again with a light load of red-eyers, I’m sure she’ll be sleeping soundly again. She prefers to go to bed early, and I just want to get her there safely.

But first, there’s a whole lot of reconfiguring of the jet to do. First I have to figure out the route. Airnav isn’t much help since I’m unfamiliar with this territory and am not quite sure what maps to pull up. GPS works though. I can zoom out and find out where I am relative to where I want to go and see all the victor jetroutes in between. VOR stations pop up too. After a bit of paper shuffling and map checking I decide on MLM to MMM to LAS. Clearance delivery checks us out, ground gets us outbound… and we’re off. The ship and the night are my companions again. A week from now I’ll be back east and in the thick of the winter. And the icy tarmac at Salt Lake was a good gentle nudge to remind me its ice season without causing any real harm to ship, PAX, or crew.

But before I head back east though I get a few days R&R in Vegas with the girl. I’m looking forward to it. Red Rock, Joshua Trees, and flying the Heavy in the Big Long Haul of Life here we come.