I was in Newark yesterday thinking perhaps I was going to go home the next day or maybe the one after that. Nope! Another Captain called in sick and I had to fill his spot - so it was minimum rest at the hotel, then a flight JFK-Liege. The flight went fine - not as quick as usual because I was tired. That seems to make the flight longer for some reason. We arrived in Belgium to clouds and rain. After flying the instrument approach we landed and taxied to our gate. The fresh crew was there to take over and we went to the airport hotel (the downtown one was full).

Because I go off today, the company bought me an airline ticket to Detroit. I leave shortly for the Brussels airport where I'll catch a short KLM flight to Amsterdam (on a Fokker 50) then get on a Northwest A330 for the flight to Detroit. I should be home by dinnertime.

I am looking forward to going home - although I haven't worked a lot in the past few months, this last week has been intense. It has been almost back to back flying often with the minimum rest required before I fly again.

New York City. That's where I am today.

I didn't get to see much of New York - I took an airliner from Detroit to New York this morning, then a car service drove me to the hotel at Kennedy Airport. Of course, the route had a lot of traffic so the driver got off the highway and went through some neighborhoods. I'm always amazed at the diversity New York offers every couple of streets. Different ethnic groups, different shops and different restaurants.

I am scheduled to fly tonight from JFK to Amsterdam, flight CKS209. I was hoping to get some time in Amsterdam, even a day, but I won't even go to the hotel there. I am getting driven down to Belgium where the next day I'll pick up a flight to Bahrain and Dubai.

Busy busy I guess.

Again, not much flying. I manned the union desk again in August - it was a busy month because our new contract became effective August 1st. I spent some time answering peoples questions and solving problems.

I did get to fly twice - once it was a short flight from our maintenance base in Michigan to Newark but the other trip was pretty cool. Apparently American Airlines had an engine problem in Bueno Aires. The airline needed to get a new engine down there, so they called my airline.

So, at the last minute I got put on a Learjet and flown to New York. The next morning I woke up and went out to the plane and there it was - a 767 engine. Pretty big but not the biggest (that is probably the engine that goes on the B777). We loaded everything up and launched into the afternoon skies for our 12 hour flight to Argentina.

I had never been to Argentina so I was really looking forward to it. I had flown down to South America before but to Brazil, not Argentina. The flight was uneventful and with the exception of some thunderstorms as we crossed into South America, it was smooth. We landed in the chilly morning air - it's winter down there! It was 42 degrees and me with no coat!

The time there was quick - after resting I only got to wander the streets for a few hour. Still - interesting. You can tell the economy isn't doing so well - trash on the streets and a run-down feeling to the place. The First Officer and I had a nice dinner comprising of great Argentinean beep with some potatoes and bread. We didn't get to see much of the city as we had no guide book and only a few hours.