Chicago to Abu Dhabi

Here is part 2 of my inflight notes, written in the "morning" after takeoff:

The seat/bed is cool. It adjusts to almost any position you want, it's just that finding my own "sweet spot" took most of the night. I've never slept well on airplanes - odd for a pilot, I know - and last night continued the trend.

It's strange to realize you've just flown over one of the places you never dreamed you would come close to. Here I am cruising at 35,000 feet at 600 mph, enjoying a light breakfast of herb omelet, lamb sausage, cheesy potatoes, toast and coffee, when the moving map display points out that Baghdad is only 75 miles away.  A few minutes later while finishing a fruit plate with slices of orange, watermelon, kiwi, some lovely purple grapes, and a delicious fruit juice, the map showed Baghdad passing by only 45 miles off our right wing tip.

We are flying in a brown haze. Possibly brown because the world below is brown as far as I can see.  We left Chicago at 9 pm yesterday, and through the magic carpet effect off flying east at jet speeds we are approaching night again 8 hours ahead of Chicago time.

Those phantom 8 hours were mostly spent tossing and turning and dozing, but I still feel more refreshed than at the end of most flights spent in a chair. There's a lot to be said for being able to put your unshod feet up for 90% of the flight! Many of the passengers in my section are still asleep. After a while though I know I have to sit up. While eating breakfast I reset my watch to local time. Not the first time I've eaten breakfast at dinner time!

As an Air Force pilot I got used to eating whatever food was available no matter what time of day it was.  It's always strange to be in the passenger section after a career of flying other people around. I'm pleased to know that I still have good air sense - I know what all the noises are, I can tell what's going on with the flight, I can easily keep up with where we are, and am still very comfortable in the air.  I like that!

The cabin manager has just given me a frequent flyer form to fill out, and I think I will. I'll make this trip several times over the next year, and it's a lot of miles each way! He also told me I'm welcome to use the lounge while I'm on the ground at Abu Dhabi, with food, Internet, shower, and massage services available.  Oh yes, we'll be checking those out.

Interesting that it is late afternoon here, but the cabin window covers are all down, even though most of us are stirring by now.  Maybe they know there is nothing to see but the brown vista, and they see that all the time.

It has been many years since I was on a flight this long. The last time was during Operation Desert Storm when I flew in a C-5 Galaxy, the world's largest plane, from the U.S. to Cairo, Egypt. I'd forgotten the urgency to stay well hydrated!  Airplane cabin air is very dry, and you lose moisture with very breath.  So after drinking a double Scotch and two glasses of wine with dinner and not nearly enough water, I ended up with a dehydration headache (some people call it a hangover) earlier today.  When I woke up enough to realize what was going on, I guzzled several bottles of water and have kept up my fluid intake since then. I feel much better now!

My pilot sense just felt a very slight change in throttle position that tells me we will begin our descent any time. The Saudi airport I will end up at later is passing 36 miles off our right wing, at Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are passing over the Arabian Gulf near the Saudi coast - good thing, since on the other side of the gulf lies Iran.  Most of us know this body of water as the Persian Gulf, but when going into a host nation you call things by what they prefer!  I wish I could see it, but it is invisible in the brown haze below us. Pretty sure I'll have the opportunity to see the gulf in the coming months!