Holding Report

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For those of you who enjoy hearing about my job, here’s a little story from Friday night:

I had two flights going from Vegas to Reno. Due to snow and low visibility, the afternoon dispatcher had planned them with some extra fuel plus Boise as an alternate, which seemed reasonable to me when I arrived on duty.

If we’re going to divert, we never plan to burn all of our extra fuel, keeping some in the tanks in case unexpected problems come up. Generally, we plan to land at our alternate with a standard amount of 5000 lbs. From there, the math is pretty simple; we add the fuel burn from the intended destination to the alternate and use that amount as our decision point for diverting.

In this case, if the fuel burn to Boise is 3800 pounds, the captain and I might agree to divert once we get down to 8800 pounds of fuel to make sure we arrive in Boise with about 5000. For my two Reno flights, they could hold for 10-15 minutes before having to leave for Boise. If the weather cooperated as forecast, that should have been no problem.

Unfortunately, about the time both flights pushed back from the gate in Vegas, Reno’s visibility dropped to 3/4 mile as the snowfall increased. For us to land in Reno, the visibility needs to be at least 1/2 mile. I immediately wished that both flights had more fuel onboard, but I didn’t want to take a delay to bring them back to the gate.

They took off. The visibility dropped to 1/2 mile. My heartrate rose a bit. The visibility could drop further, or the airport might need to close the active runway to clear the snow, either of which would stop us from landing on schedule.

Now I had to look at my options. With Boise as my alternate, the probability was much greater that both flights would divert, creating problems for all involved and costing thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, 737s don’t have in-flight refueling capability like some military jets, so I was stuck with the fuel on board.

My solution? Change the alternate to San Jose, which is about 1200 pounds closer. San Jose would allow us to hold for about 15 minutes longer, increasing the chances that the conditions would improve enough to land safely. We call this shortening up. I sent this new plan to both captains through our cockpit text messaging system, and both agreed. I also called our people in San Jose and asked them to stay late in case we needed to divert there. Normally, they go home when their last flight lands, but we can ask them to stay if necessary.

Sure enough, by the time they drew near Reno, the airport was temporarily closed while the snowplows struggled to clear off the runways. The snow was falling faster than the plows could clear it. Both flights went into holding and told me via text message. I worked out diversion plans with both of them: if we can’t get cleared in to land by 7700 pounds of fuel, we’ll divert to the new alternate of San Jose.

We waited. And waited. I watched them spin on my radar. I kept checking their fuel electronically. They sent me brief updates from the Reno control tower: “Plows can’t keep up.” “10 more minutes.” Our decision fuel approached, and I started wishing I had given one flight Oakland as an alternate instead. That way I could have split the diversions between two airports instead of overwhelming one airport as they’re trying to close. My deodorant started to kick in. I checked the latest braking action report that tell me how slippery the runway is. It had gotten more slippery since the last report, so I notified both crews. Each flight had maybe 10 minutes left and would have already diverted had we not shortened up to a closer alternate.

Finally, both flights landed safely, and I could relax. The best part of a situation like this is getting the message that the flight has touched down. By avoiding two diversions, we saved the company perhaps $4000 or more, avoided a potential problem involving a crew’s maximum time on duty, and delivered the passengers where they wanted to go on the first try. What I did wasn’t anything special; nearly all of my coworkers would have handled the situation in a similar or better fashion. But I was happy to contribute and help solve the problem.

Memories of Snick

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I am sad to share that a longtime member of the Box household, Snickers the black-and-tan dachshund, died today after providing love and joy to our family for 18 years.

Mom and Dad have big hearts for animals. When I was in seventh grade, Mom kept visiting the DFW Humane Society to love on the animals, secretly tempting herself to bring one home. She fell in love with Snick’s sweet personality and warm brown eyes and convinced Dad to let her adopt another dog to go with Cinnamon, our chihuahua. Ever since, Snick remained a loyal and loving companion, an excellent bedwarmer at night, a good reading and TV buddy, and a comforting ear to hear your troubles. Here are a few of my favorite memories:

  • She always knew what she wanted, whether it was space in your lap or food in her bowl, and knew how to tell you. When she barked to ask for something, her front end often hopped off the ground like a wind-up dog.
  • Until her back quit cooperating, she was a master of the official dachshund trick: sitting up straight on her hind legs to beg. If the two of you were on carpet and you had something she wanted, such as popcorn, she sat up straight as a soldier and held perfectly still, daring you not to toss her something. You generally gave in.
  • When my sister Lisa went rollerblading, around age 10 or so, sometimes she leashed up Snick and let her run down the street like a sled dog. Snick loved to run and pulled as hard as her little 10-pound body could pull to keep Lisa rolling. They both had smiles on their faces.
  • During a visit from my aunt, Snick got into her stash of bran muffins and went to town. I think she ate five of them, making her one seriously overstuffed wiener dog. Oh, boy, we’re in trouble now! we thought. Lisa, cousin Brandi and I set up some newspapers by the door for the, um, aftermath, clearly labeling it with “POOP GOES HERE” and similar instructions to remove any confusion. Somehow, nothing happened.
  • When she was healthy, her walk was more of a noble trot, like a prize racehorse. She pranced along like she owned the place and was having a blast exploring the grounds. When we took her for a walk, she charged ahead with all her might, just like she did with Lisa on the rollerblades. She had places to be and wasn’t going to let us slow her down!

We love you and miss you, sweet girl.

Feel free to post your own memories of Snick if you’d like.

Significant Changes of the Last 100 Years

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The other night I got to talking with some friends about the things we take for granted and how things change over time. Wars have been fought, for example, over simple luxuries such as spices to flavor food and absolute necessities such as clean water, both of which are overlooked, underappreciated parts of life for most Americans. Diseases that killed or crippled millions of people several decades ago, such as smallpox and polio, barely exist in America today thanks to vaccines. Centuries ago, sending a message to a relative overseas might require a handwritten letter and take weeks to arrive. Now, I can use my mobile phone to talk to or text someone on the other side of world in nearly real time. Instead of being in awe that such an interaction is even possible, I might be frustrated that my connection isn’t better!

My friends from the other night and I are curious. We’ve seen or read about changes in medicine, politics, communication, music, language, religion, technology, architecture, diet, family, and any number of other areas. What do you consider to be some of the most significant changes over the last 100 years, and why? What are some of the inventions or other changes that we take for granted?

Buy and Ignore?

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As some of you might remember, I got onto an investing kick shortly after I finished my MBA, hoping to put my new degree to work. In all I bought 7 different stocks over a couple of years. For a variety of reasons, partly my own and partly the economy’s, most of my investments haven’t done all that well, even when compared to the market overall.

It’s important to gauge your investments’ performance against the market, generally as measured by the S&P 500 index. Why? Because if your investments aren’t beating the market, you’d be better off putting that money into an index fund instead. Many analysts believe it’s impossible to beat the market in the long run. Warren Buffett disagrees, but I don’t have his financial savvy. Despite all my research, my stocks have underperformed. Apple and Honda are my exceptions.

I used a buy-and-hold philosophy as my foundation. I picked companies that looked promising, bought shares, and waited, planning to hold them for years. Unfortunately, my approach could be more accurately described as buy and ignore. Once the market began to crumble, I fearfully closed my eyes and tried not to panic as I waited out the storm. It wasn’t necessarily a bad approach due to my long-term outlook, but it wasn’t necessarily good, either. By mostly ignoring my companies, I missed the fact that some of them were underperforming the market, reporting bad news, and taking a nosedive in price that I didn’t have to absorb.

Sobered by the market’s turmoil and humbled by the disappointing performance of many of my own picks, I want to change my approach. Although some people succeed at it (Shipman, perhaps?), maybe I’m not smart enough to analyze financial data alone and predict the future. The only two companies whose stock has held its own during the storm, Apple and Honda, had two things in common: 1) strong financials, and 2) I actually used and loved their products and understood their place in the consumer world. My new plan includes the following:

  1. When buying stock, buy companies that I actually like and patronize rather than obscure ones that I’ve never heard of and don’t understand.
  2. Allocate part of my holdings into a market index fund at some point.
  3. Find a new broker. I’ve been using Fidelity, which I’ve enjoyed except for the $19.95 commission they charge on every trade. Since I don’t trade much, I was willing to accept it, but now there are many brokers that charge much less. OptionsHouse.com, for example, charges a flat rate of $2.95 per stock trade.

Enough about me – I’d love to hear from you. If you invest, what is your approach? Which broker do you use? Do you like them?