KC-10 Driver ✈️ 👨‍✈️ B-737 Wrangler

Got a kid interested in aviation? Not sure how to help foster it? In the US, the Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) will give kids from 8-17 their first flight in a small plane! I’ve flown a few; a great opportunity for kids & pilots, too! eaa.org/eaa/youth/free…

@Goatboy__ Great story! That’s hilarious!

My dad was a KC-135 Navigator at the height of the Cold War. Their practice plan was to ditch nearby a “Weather Ship” in the North Atlantic that was supposed to be perpetually stationed in a single area. They conducted dozens of flights in that area and there was never any Weather Ship. Another fun anecdote was that the KC guys were getting shit from the B-52 guys at Oscoda, so my dad drafted up a fake flight/war plan and “left” it in the shared alert shack. When the B-52 guys found it, it showed that if shit kicked off, KC guys were planning to abandon the BUFFs and fly to Rio de Janeiro to sit out the war. The 52 guys were way nicer after that.

Air Refueling Tankers in the Cold War had a similar mission: TOAD (Take Off And Die). In the event of a nuclear war, the tankers were to scramble & offload as much of their gas to the B-52s as possible. Which wouldn’t leave enough for them to get to a runway. It was expected they would ditch the jets, most likely dying in the process. Not that there would likely be any bases to go back to anyway.

@CliffDeVaughn Great patch, thanks for sharing!

@MCCCANM At Barksdale, the tanker crews didn’t live in the alert facility, they lived in trailers next to the facility, the “Lily Pad”.

Smooth landing last night. Buttered it on. The FO couldn’t see it due to the tears in his eyes from having witnessed it. We touched down 2,500’ down the runway. Another 500’ & we would have had to go around, can’t guarantee stopping distance. Which is why smooth ≠ good.

@WriteGrlProbs @historybythpint Looks fantastic!

#TwitterSupperClub and #MFerMeals: Pomegranate glazed chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella cheese with a side of bulgar mixed with spinach and caramelized onions, including other spices not named because I don’t know.

@chrisclarkefly 😍😍

Just a normal Thursday evening at the local airstrip.

@StephanCadene Times were absolutely intense. I think it’s hard to appreciate how much tension was in the air.

@MCCCANM In France it was the same for Mirage IV nuke bombers back in the days. They had enough fuel to make it to Russia, but not enough to come back.

She’s an excellent example of being ready to commit to your beliefs! So grateful she didn’t have to ram a jet…she may have been able to eject after, but hitting another jet is high energy. No guarantee…at least a missile usually hits from behind & it’s shrapnel, not a solid object.

@MCCCANM Reminds me of the story of pilot Lucky Penney on 9/11. Her mission to take down flight 93 would have been the same. Can't think about her and her partner pilot without tearing up at the thought of what they were willing to do to save the lives of others.

@EclipsingMyself Just like we do in the cockpit! We’ll let the shoulder straps off, but the seatbelt stays.

@MCCCANM Also, always keep your seat belt fastened when sitting down.

My Summer air travel advice: 1) Fly early. Later in the day storms brew, delays pile up & everyone who missed earlier flights are trying to get on yours. Overnight hours are a “reset” for the airlines. 2) At least 2 hours for international connections. At LEAST. 1 hour for domestic is a gamble, but usually works. More is better. 3) Assume the boarding door will close 10 minutes prior to departure time. Departure time is the time we push back from the gate, not the time the jet’s door closes…which must be earlier than departure time. 4) I still arrive 2 hours before departure when traveling on leisure. You can do less, but there is stress if something goes wrong. Get there, have a beer & be in boarding area 45 minutes before departure (60 for international). 5) Yelling at the Gate Agents will not help, and only hurt your cause. Be nice. They can’t do magic, but they try harder for nicer people. 6) It’s an extremely complex system. If you think you’ll outsmart it, you’re wrong. I’ve been kicked off a jet while non-reving after pushback because the winds changed & we were now too heavy. 7) The crews want to leave as badly as you do. They mostly don’t get paid for delays, and now their layover is shot…or they’ll get home late. They won’t leave until it’s safe, though, and ATC wouldn’t let them if they tried. It’s not really up to them. 8) The airlines are not making a ton of profit on your ticket. In some cases, your ticket was sold at a loss. Perspective. 9) It can get uncomfortable. Too hot, or just sitting around. Everyone else is uncomfortable, too, and we’ll go as soon as we can, but don’t be the person who complains loudly & adds to everyone’s misery. 10) Go to the bathroom before you board. It may be extra bumpy for a long time & the seatbelt sign will be on even after we reach cruise. Hope that helps. Safe flying!

@jayrowens They do, indeed!

@MCCCANM Do FA’s ever get annoyed by the idiots who insist on getting up for the bathroom or to store / grab their crap either right after takeoff or 5 minutes before touch down?

@ChefGruel @RobertKennedyJr @LaurenGruel That’s fantastic!

It was an honor having @RobertKennedyJr over to cook some real food today and talk national food policy (and seafood). Getting in the kitchen with a superhero only makes the food that much healthier. @LaurenGruel

@airport_girl I know that museum!

I like heavy bombers and I cannot lie…

@trojan4545 Good one! We usually start descending about 30 minutes before landing & turn the seatbelt sign on then. I try to go about 1 hour before landing, then give the passengers 20-25 minutes notice it would be a good idea, too.

@MCCCANM 10A going to some destinations (international) try to get to the bathroom before you land, you could be in passports queue for some time.

@Padraiccleary I think we have more severe weather that affects us, in part.

@MCCCANM Why does flying in America sound so much more stressful than Europe ?

@iambenjaminw I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer to your question. I can see what you are saying & it’s a good point, but I don’t know, sorry!

@MCCCANM Doesn't Florida only have two FIRs cause a lot of issues flying to and from Florida when the weather is involved?

Summer flying is around the corner, which often means thunderstorms & delays. A primer of what’s going on behind the scenes may help avoid some angst… To begin, the (U.S.) National Airspace (NAS) is divided into sections called “Flight Information Regions” (FIRs). Each one is under the control of an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), a big building w/ lots of antennas, usually named for the city it’s in. It controls traffic flying through the FIR, but usually doesn’t give radar approach vectors – those are separate facilities at the airport. There are 22 of them, including Anchorage & Honolulu. Each FIR is further divided into “Sectors”. The FIR is divided both laterally & vertically…so one sector could look exactly like the other, just stacked on top & divided at some altitude, like 23,000’ or something. Each sector has an Air Traffic Controller. It’s not uncommon for one controller to control multiple sectors, though, especially during slow periods. Ok, so the jets fly around on “Routes” that transit all these sectors & FIRs, switching from sector to sector & less often, Center to the next Center. There are various types of routes, but they all have numbers, so you can file a flight plan saying where you will join the route & where you will leave it. Some routes go very long distances, others don’t. I posted an example map below of Western CO / Eastern UT. You can fly around outside of the routes, too, but most of us stay on them. Anyway, when thunderstorms build, it can block the routes. Or it can make the destination airport unsafe. There can be 5,000 aircraft in the air at a time. The Sector Controllers know everything happening in their sector, and usually what’s happening in a bordering sector, but Denver Center doesn’t know what’s happening in Jacksonville Center, nor do they care. So, a center for the centers is needed. This is the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC), located in Virginia. It takes data from all the centers & manages the whole NAS to keep traffic flowing & avoid breakdowns. To do this, they use “Traffic Management Initiatives” (TMIs). In effect, the airline asks to takeoff & head to destination, but the ATCSCC is who authorizes it. As long as the ATCSCC has not put a TMI in place, the local ATC gives permission to proceed. TMIs take a few forms. The most common is a “Ground Delay Program” (GDP). When an airport is about to be hit by a storm, a GDP is issued. Any jets headed to that airport that have not yet taken off are immediately delayed & given an “Estimated Departure Clearance Time” (EDCT). This is good; you don’t want them showing up out of fuel & diverting. The jets already in the air will probably do that, or hold, pretty soon the airspace is packed & the divert airports are overflowing. That’s bad. GDPs & EDCTs go out to nearby airports first, then later to further away airports. It’s possible to have them go across the whole country, but you don’t need to delay a flight from LAX to JFK if your storm will be over in an hour…it will take the jet 5 hours to get there anyway. Now, just because the storm passed doesn’t mean you can ditch the GDP. Airports have a capacity, a max number of jets that can land per hour. After a storm, all the jets that couldn’t get in will now try, combining with the jets that weren’t delayed – which can exceed capacity. So, a GDP may remain after the weather clears. Remember FIRs & Sectors? Sometimes the weather isn’t affecting the airport, but it’s blocking enough routes that they can’t squeeze everyone into the remaining routes. Now you’re “Flow Restricted” & need to slow down how many will come through. This is a tough one for passengers, because the weather is good at the origin & destination, so it doesn’t make sense to be delayed for weather. Sometimes they don’t have staffing to man all the sectors & get flow restricted that way. 1/2

@ExConDX It’s good advice!

@MCCCANM My advice, from the planning side, fly early morning during thunderstorm season, for the reasons @MCCCANM stated (GDP'S, EDCTS, etc.). Most storms brew late morning onwards. If you're at your connecting airport or final destination, you're a hero for saving the family vacation.

@Benight_photog @AJamesMcCarthy @UnitedPilots All good!

@AJamesMcCarthy @UnitedPilots @MCCCANM I just saw he already reposted it. My bad for tagging.

Hey @UnitedPilots, know who was crew on Flight UAL2460 IAH-LAX May 11th, 2026? Show them this!

@snarksalot @Oriana0214

@MCCCANM @Oriana0214 A wonderful write up of an incredibly complicated and impactful part of the NAS. You have such a great talent for this!!

@DawnKeyHoTee Oh yeah, FL is well known for it!

@MCCCANM Ahhh, stormy travel. Leaving MIA the other day, was told they were working to reroute the flight d/t storms, which would add time. Then caught this view shortly after takeoff - was glad to get out of the area when we did.