First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about: What's In A Name?

This has been a pretty slow couple of weeks. What I’ve discovered is, the more I’m earth-bound, the more I’m feeling comfortable with it. I miss flying for a living but am enjoying life here on the rolling prairie outside Denver. Our deep snow has retreated leaving damp earth and gushing rivers in its stead under blue skies and temperatures of over 70 degrees.

Had I still been commuting to Chicago to fly trips this winter, I don’t know how I would have managed it and frequently wonder how other pilots were able to get to work. We were snowed in so many times I lost count. I could not have even backed the car out of the driveway, let alone drive the 50 miles to the airport.

Cap’n Al and I had the opportunity to meet with one of United’s dispatchers (flight planners) when she passed through Denver last week. I had previously spoken with her on the phone from Tokyo (Narita) when she was working Pacific flights and I was flying them. I met only a few dispatchers face-to-face while a pilot and it was a nice opportunity to put a face to the name.
Sporadic meetings such as this, along with emails to and from other pilots, are pretty much my only remaining contact with airline life. Even after more than a year since my last trip, it’s hard to believe it’s been more than just a few months since I last flew across any oceans or countries.

As I said, though, I’m not uncomfortable being home for now with Al and all our various critters. When I first had a cat, I seriously considered taking him with me on my flights. That was when I lived in Alaska, in the early 1980’s. Obviously, taking a cat along was out the question, but I missed him terribly and never did understand how parents could manage being away from their children so much.

These days, the thought of leaving Al, the Puffer (our dog, Coco-Puff), the Ferret Brothers (Petey and Charlie), Miss Bunny Bunée and Houdini (our Chattering Lorrie) is just too painful to even consider. New readers can meet all of them and see some of our views along with some gorgeous sunsets from our rural Colorado home here in our At Home Album.

The latest installment of “The World At My Feet” sequel, Chapter Three, Part II,” may be found here: Table Of Contents

Sorry about the short time notice, but Lufthansa is having a sweepstakes to win a VIP tour of the A-380 when it makes its U.S. debut on the 19th. The deadline is tomorrow to enter, and you must answer some technical questions about Lufthansa’s Airbus 380 fleet. You must enter by midnight on March 12th.

Lufthansa Sweepstakes

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about Lights, Please!

In my last Blog entry, entitled A New Direction, I wrote that my life has taken a new path which is very different from my life's work as a pilot. The time has come to discuss it with my readers. Many of you have written wondering if and when I might resume flying for another company.

I wrote once before that I was starting to trade foreign currencies in the Forex (FOReign EXchange) with some success. A spinning medallion was added to the upper right-hand corner of the Home Page at www.fromthecockpit.com. That link will take you to a site, www.forexeztrading.com, which has to do with trading the Forex using a simple, mechanical method requiring no analysis, chart interpretation, etc. There is a small learning curve to learn to use some software, but very little knowledge of the Forex is required.

There is also a mini-course which explains the philosophy behind the method. The course is also available in a free Ebook which I can send upon request. Write to admin@forexeztrading.com and put Free Ebook in the subject line.

Since that icon was posted, I have been trading about a dozen different accounts, some for myself and my business entities along with other accounts for some relatives and friends. Every single account has shown a profit, some of them mind-boggling. Of my four main accounts, two have more than tripled and two have more than quadrupled since mid-November.

In the first two months I used this software, my accounts rose about 60% or so.

However, about two months ago, I discovered an additional couple of twists and suddenly my profits were through the roof, resulting in profits even I did not imagine.

Through my broker and word of mouth, my track record started getting noticed, and I began to receive requests to trade others' portfolios for them. Some of those requests were for portfolios worth potentially tens of millions of dollars from commercial money managers.

To that end, the Captains Fund was born. Please do not consider this a solicitation in any way. It is not and I do not have any need or desire to seek additional funds to trade. However, if you do have an interest, you'll find the pertinent information at http://www.captainsfund.com . Regardless of my successful track record, trading foreign currencies is considered speculatively and risky, in spite of the fact I've learned how to minimize the risk.

The name of this new endeavor came about, not only because I'm a retired airline captain, but because my three partners happen to be retired or current airline pilots as well. My three partners are my husband, Al The Web Guy (retired 747-400 captain), a former Eastern and Cathay Pacific 747-400 captain, and a current 747-400 Co-Commander for Cathay Pacific, currently based in Hong Kong.

Whereas the simplified do-it-yourself method is highly effective and takes literally only a few minutes a week to manage once set up, I've added my personal touches and in doing so created a full-time occupation. With so much at stake, I can't justify running off for a week or two each month to go flying in such early stages of this new venture. I may reconsider my potential offer to ferry airliners in the future, however, especially since a software company is attempting to automate my trading system for me. Should they be successful, I will still have the option to resume flying. Right now, it doesn't seem terribly likely, but I haven't ruled it out, either.

Had the overseas airlines I applied to not rejected the notion of a foreign female airline captain, or had the airliner ferry job offer come sooner, then I might once again be flying around the planet. For now, however, I find great satisfaction in helping others grow their portfolios and intend to start a charitable application in the very near future. Since I am able to generate more in a month or less than I did as an airline captain in an entire year, financially my needs have been met. This was of great concern after both Al and I lost nearly all of our pensions after United declared bankruptcy and they were handed over to the government.

I've discovered a new passion and am thoroughly enjoying myself, even more so knowing I can make a difference in people's lives.

With this fortunate turn of events and my life on a new course, my sequel may now have an ending, as yet unwritten, but for now you can find Part One of Chapter Three here: Table Of Contents

An American Airlines captain declares a fuel emergency, and doesn’t receive the priority that he needs.

ABC News Story.

The first unforgivable part is that Air Traffic Control wouldn’t give the captain what he asked. The second unforgivable part is the captain not reasserting what he needed to do. Perhaps the captain should have “told” instead of asking.

Listener Martin is now a podcaster! Check out his podcast at:
The Private Pilot

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about about Icing Conditions.

I've alluded once or twice to a possible flying position starting around March of this year. At this time, however, my life has taken a new and exciting direction which I will tell you more about in the next Update. It's exciting in an utterly different way from flying, yet I've discovered a new passion and talent for something I've long suspected but never had the time or tools to develop.

Things have happened very quickly even I'm surprised and I think you will be too when I tell you about it. You may even want to participate in my new venture and I'll give you all the facts so you can make an intelligent decision. Although it means passing up the opportunity to take up a flying career again right now, it does not rule it out in the future. Time will tell.

So for now, hopefully you are intrigued and rest assured I'll fill you in completely in about two weeks. In the meantime, you can check out Part Two of Chapter Two of my book sequel, and catch up on any parts you may have missed here: Table Of Contents

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about about "Crabby Pilots”

Now, I may have exaggerated just a tad with the title, but that's just me. When a friend of mine invited me snowmobiling near his Breckenridge home I couldn't resist. I'd been snowmobiling just once before, for about ten minutes, sitting behind someone who believed in keeping his speed moderate--maybe about 20-30 mph. That was in Alaska about 25 years ago or so.

My friend assured me this would be a docile, scenic ride. There would be two others with us, a couple from Florida. That sounded like fun and with all the snow we've had I knew it would be beautiful, so I accepted the invitation.

Al The Web Guy made the trip to the mountains with us but has snowmobiled many times before and didn't want to leave our dog Coco-Puff, so they just wandered around the mountains a little while we zoomed off into the wilderness. And when I say "zoomed," I mean ZOOMED.

It was a weekday and we saw very few other snowmobilers. My host had a trailer full of snowmobiles, helmets, gloves, clothes and everything else you can imagine.

What I didn't know was he apparently has the need for speed and an apparent death-wish. I was in the #2 position behind him with the wife and husband in that order after me. He took off like a shot and right away I had trouble keeping up. Within the first 20 minutes I was barreling along so fast it was hard for me to take my eyes off the trail and look at my speedometer, but I managed to do so. 65mph! What was my host thinking and what was I thinking trying to keep up? I later discovered he rides at speeds up to 120 mph, so from his perspective I guess we were just poking along.

I was afraid I'd lose him, though, as the trails branched off and he was not always in sight, and tried valiantly to keep up. At one point the trail became extremely steep and I went out of control and right over the side of the mountain. The snow was very deep off the trail and I stopped fairly quickly, but it took about half an hour to dig me out. I had tried to brake but my gloves were just big enough to keep my grip from being firm enough. I later pulled them up high on my wrist for better control, which helped a little.

One by one, we each had our moments, catching someone else's ski and usually throwing both riders off but each time, our host helped us up, then took off again leaving us far behind.

Surprisingly, out in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, we came upon a lodge where our host sprang for hot chocolate and hot dogs. I declined the hot dog as Al and I had stopped on the way up for a big breakfast. I couldn't resist looking at the prices, though. Six dollars for a hot dog! Frankly (Get it? Frank-ly?) that's just too much for a hot dog. Or maybe the hot dog was really just $1 and the fries 50 cents apiece. Hard to say.

So we refreshed ourselves, pleaded again with our host to slow down, which he didn't, and the three of us proceeded to be flung all over the mountain some more. I had to be pulled out over and over again. My last incident was the worst when I went over a steep cliff and wound up buried, along with my trusty steed in deep snow.

Our host and the other gentleman with us were successful in digging me out along with the snowmobile, but the incident held us up and our two hour ride turned into a six hour ride. Al was on the verge of calling Search & Rescue, which wasn't a bad idea by that time.

However, we emerged safe and sound if a little banged up. Our host invited me snowmobiling again this week for another scenic tour but I politely declined. I'm still healing from the last round and not yet quite ready to be splattered all over the Rocky Mountains again.

To see some photos taken during the ride, the following link will take you to the Last Uploads in our Colorado Wildlife album: Snowmobiling

Part One of Chapter Two of my sequel to The World At My Feet is now available for viewing. You'll find it here in the Table of Contents . Table Of Contents

Just a note first, that I've posted a wonderful photo of Margaret Wade, wife of one of my readers Walter Wade, in my Cap'n Meryl & Friends Album. I have a special fondness for figure skating myself and you can tell by her smile and her very stance what she thinks of it: Margaret Wade

I've lived in Colorado for 18 years now (how could it possibly have been this long?) and there has never been this much snow. Al The Web Guy was born in Golden, Colorado, has lived here all his life and even he can't remember a snowier winter. We keep getting snowed in over and over and over, and when the snow stops, the wind picks up and renders us snowbound once again due to the newly-formed drifts, many of which are taller than I am.

With the white sky and the white snowscape, and with even the small amount of vegetation poking through now encased in ice, it looks quite like a different planet at the moment with no visible horizon at all.

Temperatures here are now sub-zero and forecast to stay that way for the next several days. I lived in Alaska for ten years and I don't remember weather any more wintry than we're having right here, and in fact it's colder right now here in Colorado than it is in Fairbanks, Alaska, known for it's sub-zero temperatures.

Except for the fact that this extreme cold and snow creates a true hardship for people without the means to house themselves and keep warm, and the fact that livestock and other animals are stranded without enough food, it actually has little effect on us. We have a warm house and everything we need right here, and there is scarcely a minute of the day I don't look around and truly appreciate how fortunate we are.

Last week I published the first half of Chapter One of the sequel to "The World At My Feet." You'll find a live link now to the second half of that chapter here: Table of Contents .

Please note Al The Web Guy has created a free photo gallery site where you'll be able to post your own photos in your own private gallery. Your family and friends will be able to view all your photos. You can register and upload your photos at Your Photo gallery

"The World At My Feet" and "Flights of Whimsy" is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here: Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about about winglets & sails

Unless you're completely out of touch with humanity, you probably heard that Colorado got absolutely clobbered by a blizzard just before Christmas, wreaking havoc at our "all weather" airport and across the state in general. Al The Web Guy and I were snowed in for five days, then got hit with Round 2 and were snowed in a second time for another three days.

Al and I reside about an hour and a half south of Denver International Airport and of course had plenty of warning for the blizzards on the way. However, Al developed a bad toothache the day before the expected arrival of Blizzard #1 and our dentist was so swamped he had to put Al off until the day of the storm.

The dentist showed up even though the blizzard had begun full force just before dawn. Al was in such pain he kept his appointment as well and headed out into howling 50 mph winds and blizzard conditions. He had not a minute to spare getting home and was unable to stop and get a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics for fear he wouldn't make it home at all. It turned out to be a good decision in spite of the pain.

Our driveway is a quarter mile long. Al got stuck or nearly stuck in snowdrifts several times on the way home on rural country roads and in fact didn't quite make it all the way, but had to abandon the car near the house and tromp through the drifts and the storm with high winds the rest of the way. Serious business, but he made it safe and sound and although he was really uncomfortable for a couple of days, gradually the pain subsided on its own and there didn't seem to be an infection.

This was on December 20th and we weren't able to make it out at all until Christmas Day. However, even then the snow kept drifting back over our driveway and we were once again snowbound. The day after Christmas was the first day we could get out with any certainty of getting back.

As harrowing as it was, after the storm subsided we had sapphire-blue skies and a true winter wonderland to gaze at in awe before the second storm arrived. I've added quite a few photos to our At Home album of our photo gallery including one of our car almost buried in snow where Al left it. The following link will take you to the latest uploads. They take up an entire page plus two photos on the next page of the album. Be sure to click the Back arrow when you've finished viewing: Latest Uploads

My good friend Kelli King, a regional jet pilot (and former music teacher) sent me a beautiful photo of a snowy night at O'Hare, taken from the cockpit of her jet. Click here to see it in my Guest Aviation Photos album and don't forget to click the Back arrow after you've looked.

She also sent me a long and detailed letter of a truly harrowing winter trip rife with delays, lost baggage and a multitude of other difficulties, but I want to share with you what she wrote when I asked her if she was still enjoying her job as a pilot, even though she had just written about the most horrific conditions on a trip lasting several days.

Kelli wrote: "In spite of it all, I LOVE my job! I figured out a long time ago that whatever you do in life, you should love it enough to put up with all that comes with it. I didn't have that love for teaching school music, but I do have that love for flying. No matter what happens on the ground, or what sort of politics are going on within the company, I absolutely have no regrets when I put those thrust levers forward. I'm willing to deal with quite a bit in order to have the privilege of sitting in one of the "good seats." I can't really see myself wanting to change fields, even within aviation. Airline life is strangely addictive and exciting, as you well know. Even though much of the "glamour" is gone, there is still a "mystique" to being an airline pilot. I used to think I wouldn't care what sort of pilot I was, as long as I was flying, but it turns out I do care, and as long as I can, I want to stay with the airlines! I am also blessed to have a husband who supports me in doing this crazy job.

Is that a wonderful response or what? And she's right when she says airline life is addictive. I'm still in withdrawal although adjusting well enough. In March I will have to decide whether to take up flying again with a potential job offer, but there are several factors to consider and my mind is not yet made up. More about that in the next few months.

And now, here is the next installment of the Sequel to The World At My Feet. The full title of the sequel, at least for now, will be "The World At My Feet, Part 2 - The Other End of The Rainbow." This link will take you to the Table of Contents, where you can click through to the entire Prologue, if you missed all or part of it, as well as the first part of Chapter One - The Rocking Chair: Table of Contents

From Al The Web Guy & me, Cap'n Meryl, along with our critters (you can meet them all at the link above for our At Home album), Miss Bunny Bunnée, The Ferret Brothers Petey & Charlie Chopper, Coco-Puff the Pomeranian and Houdini, our Chattering Lorrie, we wish you a very Happy & Prosperous 2007.

Please note Al The Web Guy has created a free photo gallery site where you'll be able to post your own photos in your own private gallery. Your family and friends will be able to view all your photos. You can register and upload your photos at Your Photo gallery

"The World At My Feet" and "Flights of Whimsy" is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here:
Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about the difference between what the pilot feels when flying with a stick vs. a yoke

Last week I offered my congratulations to Courtney Riecan, who recently attained her Private Pilot's license. Courtney became inspired last April to become a pilot and is now in flight school in Orlando, Florida, to accomplish her goal. I've posted a new photo of Courtney in my Sky Ladies Album, taken just after the successful completion of her check ride, with her check pilot and proud flight instructor:Photo Gallery

Also, last week I posted a question from one of my readers: He asked whether there is a "website where you can see all the planes flying in the US and zoom down to see your area, kind of a live radar map of the US." Thanks for all the responses on this. Most of you sent this link: http://www.flightaware.com along with a direct link to live tracking: http://www.flightaware.com/live

A few other readers sent the following link: http://www4.passur.com and you can add your own city. For instance, http://www4.passur.com/ewr.html

In the last issue, I put the decision to my you, my readers, whether or not there was any interest in seeing the sequel I started for "The World At My Feet." Part way through, I left United and the publisher no longer felt I would have the content they desired. The project was terminated a little more than halfway through. However, the chapters I did write may make entertaining reading, and so many of you responded favorably that I will go ahead and publish about half a chapter per Update (due to length). A few of the chapters have been published elsewhere, so you may on occasion recognize them, especially readers who have been with me for a year or more.

There will be a separate link so you can read anything you might have missed thus far, and I'll be adding to it each week. That way, if you're a new reader or just missed one part, you'll be able to view everything posted so far. Much of the content has to do with experiences I had prior to joining United, but none of it was included in "The World at My Feet."

Of course your comments are always welcome regarding whether you enjoy this new content or not. Comments should be sent to me at support@fromthecockpit.com and just put "Sequel" in the subject line. If you spot any plain old typos, I hope you'll pop me a note so I can get them corrected.

This link will take you to the Table of Contents, and you’ll see the entire Prologue may be linked to from there.

Al The Web Guy and I wish you the happiest of Holiday Seasons!


Prologue (continued from last week)

I’d first traveled this same route by train 35 years ago when I left my home in San Diego, but things were different now. Back then, trains had a certain sound to them—a certain rhythm. First there would be a loud CLANK CLANK as the momentum started, followed by a more subdued clunk clunk. Then another CLANK CLANK, followed by clunk clunk. The clanking would get faster and faster and faster and would finally disappear as the train got up to speed. Back then, you could feel the rails.

This train was very sleek and modern. If I hadn’t been looking out the window as we pulled out of the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) I would have had no sensation that we were moving at all. The ride was so smooth that later, after I’d had my head down for awhile reading, when I looked out I literally could not tell whether we were moving or not in the pitch-black before the first light of dawn. With nothing for my eyes to focus on, I was convinced we were stopped. A few minutes later I saw some lights whiz by and realized we were traveling at full speed. It was remarkable, especially when compared to some of the ear-shattering local trains I’d experienced in the United States.

I was impressed by the smoothness and quietness of the ride, but I missed the noise and rhythm of the train on the rails. My mind raced ahead now. What would I find when I got to Innsbruck? Was my host family dead or alive? If they were still alive, had they moved and I wouldn’t be able to find them? How old would they be? I was now fifty-one. They would have to be in their eighties. This trip had come up so suddenly I’d had no time to try and look them up first. This was crazy! What was I even doing here?

This was just like me. My whole life seems to have been dictated by irresistible spur-of-the-moment whims and my succumbing to them. It kept things interesting—that’s for sure. The argument about whether I should or should not have made the effort to take this trip raged in my head all the way to Innsbruck.

When my flight had touched down in Frankfurt from Kuwait just fifteen hours or so earlier, it was the middle of the night. I had almost exactly fifty hours on this extra long layover to either take this side-trip or forget the whole thing. The normal layover time was around twenty-six hours, never long enough to consider a side-trip like this, but this was an exception.

I was so groggy when I finally lay down in my hotel bed at 2:00 AM this morning, I decided to not set an alarm and, on the off-chance I woke up in time just two hours later, I would get up no matter what and go catch that train. That’s the deal I made with myself.

The “night shift,” as I like to call it—otherwise known as my subconscious—apparently couldn’t resist the temptation, and woke me up at precisely 3:55 AM. The voice in my head was saying, “You may never get this chance again! Get up, already! Don’t you even think about going back to sleep. I’m not going to let you. I’m going to stay right here and scream at you inside your head until you get up. "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" I got up.

At least I’d had the foresight to research train schedules ahead of time and knew there was an early train departing around 5:00 AM. There would be two transfers involved to get me to Innsbruck. If I missed any of them, there would be no time to catch up and I’d have no choice but to return to Frankfurt, mission unaccomplished. A train even a few hours later would not connect to anything that would get me there before nightfall. It was go now, or forget the whole thing.

So here I was, having flown a military charter as a captain for United the day prior all the way from Frankfurt to Kuwait and back with over ten hours of flight time and several hours on the ground waiting for the troops to arrive for the flight back, barely able to keep my eyes open, heading full-speed into my rather colorful past.

I hoped I’d find my host family still alive and in the same house, but realized I could easily be making this fourteen-hour trip in vain. Still, as I gazed out the window, I thought how surprised they would be to see me and to read what adventures had befallen me. It would be worth it just to see their faces again.

As my train raced on, deeper and deeper into the mountains, my mind wandered to events which happened since 1985. That’s the year the narrative in my book stopped, the year I was hired by United Airlines, the year my dream of becoming a pilot for United was realized, the year I knew all my hard work and disappointments along the way were worth it.

It was also the worst year of my life.

Please note Al The Web Guy has created a free photo gallery site where you'll be able to post your own photos in your own private gallery. Your family and friends will be able to view all your photos. You can register and upload your photos at Your Photo gallery

"The World At My Feet" and "Flights of Whimsy" is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here:
Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl