(Second in a series.)


September 22, Day Two:

Day Two of the PIM begins with the same hope and promise of Day One - that we all have a great time together. I think once the Cigarman poker game was announced, it took center stage above the alternate activities which were planned for today. No one took me up on the tour of the Sixth Floor Museum in Downtown Dallas, and I do not know if Techgirl's Dallas Economics 101 shopping trip took place.

I'll let Cigarman report on the poker game, as well as what he and his "entourage" did Friday night. I know he won, again, and that AnnaS (who arrived as we were calling it a night on Friday), lost, but won some of her money back.

I get ready and decide to head over early to Founders' Plaza, the area of DFW airport where aircraft can be seen taking off and landing. It is one of the few places I know of in any airport where one can get really close to operating aircraft. I wondered if it would be closed soon as a result of heightened security measures in place across the nation.

I get my answer, at least for now - "No" - when I see the increased presence of DFW Airport Police in the area. I also get a treat for arriving there early. The Commemorative AA 757, decaled in the same livery used when the carrier inaugurated jet service in 1960, takes off towards the Founders' Plaza position, which is at the South end of DFW. That is my favorite airline livery of all time, and it's on my favorite jetliner! You know I took pictures of it as it powered past me into the sky.

:-)

Surprisingly, many others also arrive earlier than I believed they would. We are all given another treat. There is a taxiway close to the plaza, where aircraft landing on the East side of the Airport use to get to the terminals. An AA 777 uses this taxiway, which, according to bollar, is extremely rare. We wave to the crew and pax aboard, and they wave back at us. I get more pictures. That aircraft sounds like a street sweeper with those Rolls-Royce engines turning.

We see a DL MD-80 and a few AA MD-80'S, and a few ASA EMB-120 commuter aircraft. I take some of the members to the 25th anniversary sculpture and foundation marker, and we find some candles and flowers left there in remembrance of those lost on 9/11. We also hear the tower transmissions to aircraft which are also piped in at the plaza. Some people have brought their own radios to hear transmissions.

The sculpture is of three kids, in the Texas plains, with their arms outstretched, dreaming of soaring among the clouds, and is very fitting for that area. Many kids are brought here by their parents to see the planes, and it's a great spot to have a picnic.

We now have an international flavor to the gathering, as hmsflyertalk and his guest arrive at the plaza. Don't be surprised if there is a gathering in Germany someday, and he's the one hosting it.

:-)

Some of the guests now have to find restroom facilities, and since there are none at the plaza, I suggested taking them to AA Corporate, since that is our next stop, and since I am the contact for the AA Tour, there should be no difficulties getting in, since the Tour Desk gave my name and the name of the group to the security guard who was going to be there, right?

Yeah, right, sure.

The C.R. Smith Museum was closed, due to the fact that it was observing the mourning period for the flight crews and pax. The lot near there, where we were supposed to park, was closed as well. Of course, I was told this on Wednesday. The Tour Desk had instructed us to park across the street, cross back over the street, and check-in with a guard who was to be stationed there. Our two tour guides, dressed as Flight Attendants, were to meet us there. No problems!

Now, I really believed that the Tour Desk had notified this guard (as they said they would) that we would be coming. Evidently they did not. He did not have any information on us being there.

We end up across the street, in Flagship University, where we see the 757 mockup for crew training, as well as the terminal mockups, all in full scale, where ticket agents, crews, and freight agents are trained. The guests use the restrooms there, while I try to get some kind of confirmation from AA that we are scheduled to take the tour.

Bollar and the rest of the group are now arriving from Founders' Plaza, and travel to the lot across the street, and the tour guides, Ann and Sheila, are there. They verify to Security that we are supposed to be there. I get word of this and bring Paradocs, AlyFlyingForFun, and Leesa, who came to Flagship University (a maze of offices and rooms in and of itself) with me, and this group now includes AnnaS, Markbach, and PeteFlys and his guest, who walked in through the other side of the University, while I was talking to the security staff there.

After lots of walking and/or running, we are one as a large group again. We split into two smaller groups to begin the tour. I am in the group with Sheila. As we tour, we find a common link: One of Paradocs' instructors in college went to school with Sheila's husband.

What Did She Call Them?

One of the major sections of this abbreviated tour (again, some things were unavailable to us, due to the current circumstances), were the rooms with the flight simulators. I forgot, I live in Texas, where they are called "Sim-uh-laters". At least Sheila called them that.

LOL

Can you imagine her being a Borg on Star Trek? "Resistance is 'Few-tile'! Prepare to be 'a-ssim-uh-lated!' Hold still. I'm fixin' to 'a-ssim-uh-late' ya!"

LMAO

Okay. Enough laughter for now. We see the rows of "sim-uh-laters", and there is really no set grouping of them. There are examples of every type in the AA fleet, with some in use, and some waiting for use. As one of the F-100 sims starts shaking and bucking violently (it was probably simulating a landing gear collapse), Sheila tells us, "There is no such thing as a smooth and routine flight in one of these. The instructors always try to ensure that a situation is presented to the crew to see how they handle it."

Further, she states, that, "We used to train with about 16 actual aircraft, and were limited to when we could use them, so these save time and planes. We simulate bad weather, which we can't do in a real environment. We can also crash these, but then we talk about why it happened, which makes the pilots better at what they do." We are told that an instructor always rides in the sim with the normal flight crew compliment.

Sheila talks about the events of 9/11, and that those events were not ones which were simulated (although I think they will be now). She recounts her days as an FA for AA in the early '60's, flying 727's and 707's, and the kind of "sorority" structure they had to live in while training. They had a house mother, they wore makeup when they went out for any reason, there were curfews, they couldn't marry, they were "done" as FA's when they were 32 or so.

She recalls recently telling this to some of today's crop of trainees, and they just couldn't believe it. She identified herself as an "old-school" FA, and recounted that during the time she flew, pax dressed nicely for their trips, and people worked hard in the service industry, that they cared. AlyFlyingForFun recalls someone in her profession saying some of the same things, about how training and working were different "back then".

We move on. She discusses the requirements of how often pilots have to train in the sims, and tells us that John Travolta comes to town to train on the 707 sim they still have, because he owns a 707, and buys pizza for the employees there when he does. AA still have a 707 sim, because they also train USAF pilots who fly the military KC-135 version of this aircraft. NOTE: We were originally going to get a closer look at the sims, but this was canceled (Sheila said that an earlier group broke a part on one of them, and the part cost $45,000 to fix. I don't know whether this was true, or she was just not going to say "for obvious reasons, you can't see them.")

We see the sims of the 777, 737-800, F-100, 757, 767, and American Eagle sims (both turboprop and RJ). 2Many Miles and Cigarman ask why some of the Eagle sims are as big or bigger than some of the mainline sims. In another portion of the hallway, there is an MD-11 sim in use, and the A-300 sim is there as well. Sheila tells the story of how AA sold some 727 training modules when they were in the midst of retiring the type, then had to go and buy some of those back (at a higher cost, and less quality than they sold off), when the retirement was held up for a longer period. "I really believe that you need to keep at least one of everything" was the quote I remembered her saying.

We go outside to the outer doors of Systems Operations Control (SOC), the operational heart of AA. It's in a "lockdown" mode right now, for obvious reasons. The night managers are empowered to make CEO-style decisions so the CEO's don't have to be awakened unless absolutely necessary. Sheila tells us about a conference room where daily meetings and calls pertaining to the airline's operations are held, and told us she "wouldn't be suprised if the lights in there were on right now, as they have been for the past week."

Our final stop on the tour is the crew escape training modules, and yes, they have MRTC. We see the full-size modules of the MD-80 and 737-800, and the other group saw the modules on the other side of this room. Sheila tells us about the FAA requirement that the aircraft has to be evacuated in 90 seconds in an emergency. She clarifies how to slide down the emergency slide; essentially, clear the metal strip near the door, don't jump halfway down the slide, because that's when people get hurt.

She also states that during this procedure, an FA can push you, etc., to get you through the slide, so you don't impede the exit for too long. She joked, "How hard they push you depends on whether or not you have been nice to them." She asks the group whether anyone has been in a situation requiring this, and no one raises their hands. She also stated that there has never been a successful water ditching ("Some planes have crashed into the ocean, and some have ended up in bays, etc.").

We exit the building and return to the area in which we started, passing the C.R. Smith DC-3, which was inside the museum. I give her an SOS and we thanked her for the tour. I walked with AlyFlyingForFun and Paradocs back to our cars, which were still at Flagship University (which, BTW, is affectionately known by the crews there as "F.U.", no kidding!), then I drive to where the other group parked, and waited for them to get out, so I could follow bollar to his house, where I showered and changed clothes. After all of that running and walking I did before the tour started, I needed it! As you will see from the photos of the "business casual" dinner, we all cleaned up very nicely!

:-)

Again, you have probably already seen the dinner menu in the Community posts related to the gathering, so I won't describe it. Although, I was surprised at the excellent quality of the Devil Creek Shrimp (being from Louisiana, I know these things). The Shiner Bock Rib-Eye was good, but the shrimp was better! I have AlyFlyingForFun to thank for that, as well as her telling me I was wrong in my argument that having steak prepared well-done will eliminate the bacteria better than having it prepared medium-rare. Thanks for clearing that up!

;-)

In terms of the desert, the Texas White & Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake was better than the Passion Berry Duo. Thanks for sharing it with Aly and myself, Paradocs!

:-)

After dinner, I toasted the attendees, and thanked them for coming. I thanked Applefan for putting the site together, and told him "not to feel bad that he went on the TPE run"and missed updating some information. We all know that, given the opportunity, we would have gone on that run ourselves! I thanked techgirl for coming up with the alternate plans, "and for teaching us (myself in particular) about choices and diversity." I told the guests that bollar "was the conscience of the PIM Group, always thinking and trying to remain one step ahead", and that Leesa "was the strength of the PIM Group, nailing down loose ends, and that she was the one to thank for the dinners", as she orchestrated them perfectly.

I made a final toast "to our community. To FlyerTalk - May God bless her and all who post on her." I was answered with a resounding, "Hear, Hear."

We continued to discuss travel, miles, and points, Markbach took pictures of everyone, and soon, we all adjourned for the evening. I left Cigarman, AnnaS, techgirl, applefan, ClueByFour, bollar, Leesa, and PeteFlys and his guest in the Cigar Room (where else?), where C-Man had built a huge following. When they had originally gone there, they were the only ones; but many others followed later on. On the stage was a local band called "Incognito", whom I had never heard of.

All in all, despite modifications to the gathering, things turned out very well. I met more of the people who are regular and familiar members of FT, and I met new and definitely exciting people as well.

However, if things had not changed so drastically, I can only dream of "what could have been".

With that, I turn the reins for planning the next PIM over to techgirl, and I will act as an outside consultant on this one and future ones. The lessons learned here will make the next ones even better!

:-)


Studley







[This message has been edited by studley (edited 09-24-2001).]

Studley - thanks for doing these wonderfully complete reports.

One thing I might add. For those whove never seen a simulator (I hadn't), even from the outside, they're pretty impressive. Picture a 20 foot by 20 foot metal room, held a full story above the ground by 6 large hydraulic pistons. When the sim is turbulence or landing gear problems, or whatever they were doing, those puppys really bounce around - I'm sure way worse than most earthquakes.

Great meeting everyone.

swag

Terrific job, Studley! And I didn't even notice you taking notes. You have an excellent memory!

A great time was had by all! Thanks go to all who spent countless hours planning! The job you did was outstanding!

Great job, Studley. Thanks for the report.