Going to Back To Houston

[David French]

Transborder flight from Toronto to Houston

The Houston ARTCC and Toronto FIR are pleased to announce “Going back to Houston”, on Saturday December 30th, 2017, departing between 22:00z to 00:00z. This event will feature a one directional flight from Toronto, Canada to Houston, Texas, United States.

Pilots will simulate a complete flight, from gate to gate with full ATC, which includes service from, Toronto FIR, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Memphis, and Houston ARTCC. Whether its an commercial airliner or a private jet, we hope all pilots enjoy the journey from the T dot to the Lone Star State.

Preferred Route

Origin: Toronto/Pearson Int’l (CYYZ)

Destination: Houston Bush Int’l (KIAH)

Time: Departure time (22z-00z)

Date: December 18, 2017

Route: MIXUT3 GNTRY ROD BWG SQS AEX DOOBI2

[Matthew Kosmoski]

The event turned out fantastic with an enormous turnout.  Thanks to all who flew and controlled the event!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Since the event notice was cross-posted, I'll cross-post this as well:

**forehead smack**  nice flight, shaky approach, horrifyingly bad first landing attempt, ridiculously awful go-around.  made myself look like a complete horse's you-know-what right at the very end of the event.  The Approach controller whose name I didn't catch (Josue, maybe?) was gracious enough to stick around until issuing my second landing clearance.  I'm sure at least one of the ZHU staff thought I timed it as I did on purpose because of that other thread I started, but, no -- just bad timing followed by gross incompetence, all on my part (which was complicated, no doubt, by a couple glasses of wine... d'ohh!).

Aaaaaaaaanywho, although I bucked the trend and came in from the northeast, my hat's off to all of the ZHU guys I talked to there at the end.  Well done, especially toward the finale of what I know must have been a long night.

[Matthew Kosmoski]

Since the event notice was cross-posted, I'll cross-post this as well:

**forehead smack**  nice flight, shaky approach, horrifyingly bad first landing attempt, ridiculously awful go-around.  made myself look like a complete horse's you-know-what right at the very end of the event.  The Approach controller whose name I didn't catch (Josue, maybe?) was gracious enough to stick around until issuing my second landing clearance.  I'm sure at least one of the ZHU staff thought I timed it as I did on purpose because of that other thread I started, but, no -- just bad timing followed by gross incompetence, all on my part (which was complicated, no doubt, by a couple glasses of wine... d'ohh!).

Aaaaaaaaanywho, although I bucked the trend and came in from the northeast, my hat's off to all of the ZHU guys I talked to there at the end.  Well done, especially toward the finale of what I know must have been a long night.

You had been selected to be the "final" aircraft we were working when you were still in ZME's airspace as there was nothing coming down the pipe behind you for a significant period.  Nobody even realized it was you until you left the feedback on the ZHU site, but it's kinda funny that it worked out like that.  We certainly were curious about the go-around!  It looked stable enough from our side of the console.  Josh (working feeder) and Jon (working finals) were the ones you last were with, Josh being the last approach controller you worked after the go around as Jon signed off after handing you to tower.

While it was a long one -- most of us were on for 5.5 hours -- it was a fun one.  Toronto sent us a large volume of traffic, and the addition of everybody else that hopped on to the arrival train made for an exciting evening. It almost felt like an FNO at some points.  We had great facilities feeding us (ZFW and ZME especially, our direct neighbors in the flow), so it was a smooth evening all around.

[Jonathan Voss]

While it was a long one -- most of us were on for 5.5 hours -- it was a fun one.  Toronto sent us a large volume of traffic, and the addition of everybody else that hopped on to the arrival train made for an exciting evening. It almost felt like an FNO at some points.  We had great facilities feeding us (ZFW and ZME especially, our direct neighbors in the flow), so it was a smooth evening all around.

It certainly was fun! From a finals perspective, it felt like we had a pretty steady flow of arrivals with many friendly and accommodating pilots, particularly when we have to shove them off to the far runway (26R) with fairly little notice in IMC none the less.

The controllers all around did a great job. The spacing on my end looked great and we had very few delays or penalty vectoring from what seemed like an excellent turnout!

Thanks for the great work and good times from all the controllers and pilots that took part in this one! I must admit, I was ready for a long overdue break after that session!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

We certainly were curious about the go-around!  It looked stable enough from our side of the console.

I'm so used to the PMDG 738 and haven't been flying the 744 long enough to be second-nature with the differences.  The 73 is way more forgiving than the 74 about selecting glideslope capture mode a little late.  So when I tried to manually recover with a hand-flown dive-bomb, I predictably wound up long & fast.  That's when the wine kicked in & I panicked trying to get the FMC re-engaged for the go-around.  Funnily enough, my vPilot chose that moment to lose connection for a second, & I was so utterly embarrassed (& annoyed that I was keeping your guys late) that I almost left it offline.  I decided to swallow my pride & own up to my rookie mistake.  Hah.

Friends don't let friends drink & fly... ;-)

[Matthew Kosmoski]

Friends don't let friends drink & fly... ;-)

Well, you may want to try drinking some more.  It'll settle those nerves ;-)