Pilot Rant

Several folks over here who know the commercial pilot
gig so they may have some input. 

“I’m a senior Captain  and pilot with (a major airline). 

On Wednesday June 8, 2016, I was flying into JFK from Asia. Over Montana, 

we were told by the company to expect a small delay in landing since Air
Force One was landing at 3:00 pm. Looking at the FMS (computer), 

we were scheduled to touchdown at 3:23. Luckily,
we were ahead on gas by 6000 pounds. About the time we
passed over Green Bay, they changed our route to go further
north over Toronto and to the Kingston 1 Arrival. The closer
we got to New York the more vectors i.e. heading changes we
received. ATC gives vectors instead of holding patterns
because they are graded on efficiency, and holding patterns
i.e. delays are not rated as “efficient.”

Alas, it became unavoidable, and we were put in holding over Kingston
VOR. This was around 3:10, and we were given an Expected
Further Clearance time of 3:45, or about 35 minutes of
flying ovals in the sky. Long story short, we landed at
4:23. Originally, we were going to be 30 minutes early, 
but due to Air Force One’s priority handling, we were 30
minutes late, and very close to having to divert to
Philadelphia. 

Understand that late afternoon/early evening
is prime time for international flights arriving in JFK, and
we heard several flights having to divert because of low
fuel. This was just in our sector, and not including all 
the  diverts in all the other sectors. No telling how many
airplanes diverted.  So why am I passing this  along? Just 
think of the number of passengers that were inconvenienced, by being 
late and  missing their connections. Think about how much fuel 
was wasted by the many planes diverted or rerouted, and what was
the cost to the airlines? How much extra did the airlines
have to spend for employee pay? I get paid by the minute.
How much did this Air Force One flight and all its ancillary
expenditures (for a second plane, armored cars, personnel,
security, etc.) cost the American people? All because His
Highness was going to be on a late night talk show. I
don’t know where he flew in from, but if it was DC, he
could probably have gotten there just as fast on his Marine
One helicopter. 

In any case, there could have been a better
way than flying a massive Boeing 747 (VC-25A) for an hour to
JFK. So the next time Obama talks  about carbon emissions or 

cutting expenses, just know that it’s YOUR carbon footprint he’s

talking about and NOT HIS. And now that he’s announced he’s going to support
and stump for Crooked Hillary, the American public will also
have to pay millions for his travel to present a
totally-biased, liberal, anti-American philosophy that
hasn’t worked in the entire 7+ years he’s been President. 

That just really pisses me off even more.