Coming out of Charlotte last night, flying the terminating flight up to Dayton I realized that much of flying has a soundtrack. Or rather, you can set just about any aspect of a flight to music. I’m not sure why there is such a link between the two. Maybe it isn’t so much that the two are related, but rather music can be applied to just about anything and effect the mood.

Either way, heading north out of Charlotte and climbing though 10,000 feet, the moon started rising over the eastern horizon. It was an orange, waning gibbous moon which was sort of fitting for the following day’s festivities. Spread out below were clusters of light from the small towns of Bluefield and Beckley, WV as well as the thousands of other lights that make of the patchwork of rural America, even in this modern and light polluted time. The last few days the east coast has been severe clear, meaning visibility is limited only by the human eye and the curvature of the earth. During the day the horizon tends to blur into a brownish green, but at night with both the ground and sky black, the horizon is defined by the merging of the lights on the ground and the stars in the sky.

Our normal routing between Charlotte and Dayton heads north out of Charlotte on the Hornet Departure and then heads of north west to Falmouth, just to the south of Cincinnati. From there we head back to the north east on the KEKEE Arrival into Dayton. At night it is possible to head due north one we are halfway up to Dayton and avoid having to go west and then come back east. During the day this would go directly through a Military Operations Area (the Buckeye MOA) but at night it is shut down and we can go that way. The fix we end up heading towards is the Midwest VOR which is located in Wilmington, OH home to a major DHL and Airborn Express hub, about 30 miles south of Dayton.

Crossing the Midwest VOR normally signals the start of the arrival into Dayton. From Midwest it is just about 30 miles to ZAMBO which is the final approach fix for Runway 24L at Dayton. Once past Midwest, you have to fly right over the top of Wright Patterson AFB and then hang a left and you are pretty much lined up for landing in Dayton.

Now, climbing through 25,000 feet on our way to our cruise altitude of 28,000, Atlanta Center passed us off to Indy who gladly granted out request of direct Midwest direct Dayton. As the airplane rolled out on a northerly heading the lights of Wilmington came into view 130 miles away and behind them the bright ramp lighting of Wright Pat almost 150 miles away. We may have still had over 30 minutes of flight time to go, but home was in sight.

[i]And I can see for miles and miles and miles…[/i][/i]

95% of the time flying is 100% routine. What I mean is that most of the time we fly around, do our thing and then go home. Sure, take offs and landings are interesting or exciting (depending on who’s flying) and the always changing (but mostly the same looking) scenery is nice to look at too. However, every once in a while stuff gets a little crazy.

We were flying into Detroit from Charlotte. It was the second leg of what was a 4 leg day. However, we had deadhead the first leg so this was the first leg of the day we were actually flying. It was the captain’s turn to fly and up until we started the descent into DTW it had been a pretty routine flight. The weather in Detroit was reported as 1500 overcast, winds out of the southwest at 15 knots gusting to 25 knots and light rain. Over all not too bad as the winds were right down the runway.

Detroit has 4 almost parallel runways which from left to right are 21L, 21R, 22L and 22R (the number being the compass heading rounded off and the last number dropped). 21L (the farthest left runway) was closed. 21R was being used for departures and incoming aircraft were landing on the two farthest right runways 22L and 22R. We were given the instrument approach to 22L (the second from the right, just to be confusing) and had discussed requesting 21R (the next one to the left) if we broke out in time to see it and switch over to landing there as it was much closer to our gate.

The ride down final was pretty bumpy and we were in and out of some heavy rain showers. Despite all that we broke out of the clouds around 1100 feet and acquired both our runway (22L) and 21R. I put a quick request in with tower to switch runways and after a pause they approved it and swapped us over to the other tower frequency. The captain dumped the autopilot and started turning towards 21R while I spun the knob to tune in the correct tower freq. I eventually got it and called them up and through about 800 feet they cleared us to land on 21R. Here’s where things got interesting.

At 500 feet we were in a stable approach configuration, as required by the manual. Actually, during instrument approaches the aircraft must be stable at 1000 feet, but due to the fact that we were now on a visual approach to the other runway we were legal down to 500 feet. Basically, to be stable you must be at your approach speed (Vref or Velocity Reference), descending no more then 1000 feet per minute, have the power set at about the right amount for landing and be aligned with the runway. At 500 feet we met all these requirements, although the airspeed was about 5 knots fast, due to the captain keeping some extra speed in for the wind gusts we were experiencing. At this point I went wind sock hunting.

The wind sock is a great invention. In the old days it probably really was just a big dirty sock that people hung up to give landing pilots a clue as to where the wind was coming from. Now tower normally gets a reading from a high tech wind gauge which gives exact direction and velocity which they pass on to landing airplanes. However, most runways still have a wind sock at the end of them to give pilots last minute visual feedback as to what the wind is doing. They do a great job at giving you the direction the wind is coming from as well as giving a sense of how strong it is blowing by how extended the sock is. It’s not perfect, but it does help.

Anyhow, both the captain and I quickly found the sock (it helps they are normally bright orange) just to the left of the big “21R” painted on the runway. Through 500 feet the sock was pointing directly towards us, fully extended, backing the “220 degrees at 18 knots gusting 26 knots” tower had told us when they cleared us to land. Through 400 feet the sock was in the same position. When I looked at it again through about 300 feet something strange had happened. It was now pointed away from us, but still fully extended. Before I could even say anything we started dropping at a much quicker rate and our airspeed started disappearing. There are sensors in the airplane that are supposed to sense (duh!) a windshear like this and make all kinds of noise and flash bright lights in our faces to get us to do something. For what ever reason none of that happened. What did happen was that the computer sensed our increased sink rate and started yelling “SINK RATE” as well as flashing a yellow caution light on the glare shield that says the same thing. Before the computer caught on to what was happening the captain had already felt the bottom coming out and had started to increase the power.

Fortunately for us the engines on the 200 are very responsive (mostly because they are so small) and spin up to speed quickly for a turbine engine. Hence as we virtually fell towards the runway they started producing enough thrust for the captain to pull back and arrest our descent with out stalling out the airplane. Also as we descending into ground effect (the 20 or 30 feet above the ground where the down wash off the back of the wings actually provides additional lift for the airplane) the descent rate slowed. A combination of these two things allowed the captain to make a rather soft landing despite almost free falling the last 200 feet.

We cleared the runway and sort of laughed it off as we taxied in to the gate. I reported the 20 knot loss to tower and that was that. Just another landing on just another flight making up just another day of just another trip. They’ll be more like it I’m sure but it does make me stop and think about the skills that are required to do this job. I am confident I would have caught it too and although my landing might not have been as soft, it would have been safe and chances are the passengers in the back would never know what just almost happened. However, people often joke that all it takes is a pulse or breathing to fly these days, and fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) that isn’t the case. Pilots are highly trained professionals, and even though I do this day in and day out, I forget that some times. It’s nice to be reminded.

Las Vegas was fun. I would say more but I am tired and should be going to sleep.

I managed to snag a first class seat from LAS to Chicago going home today thanks to the gate agents out there. I then took Skywest/United down to Day. Again I was put in first class (although it was an RJ so it wasn’t REALLY first class). The flight was probably one of the most turbulent I have been on in a while. We got rocked from about the time we flew over The Lake on the climb out until we had descended below 10,000 feet going into DAY. Fun stuff. The good news was I got home by 9pm.

I don’t know why there are no pictures for this month. I just didn’t find anything interesting to take a picture of. I tried shooting some nasty thunder cells I saw last night (more on that in a bit) but of course it was dark out and even on a 3 second exposure, nothing happened. As I look back over the stuff I have taken, I see I have become slightly more selective in what I keep. Granted, I’m a sucker for flying into New York, so you have to suffer through multiple shots of heading up the East River or the Hudson. Sorry. But other then that, I have pretty much only saved and uploaded stuff I’ve found to be interesting. I think some time in the near future I’m going to get a better camera (still shooting 3.1 megapixles) and that may make me more inclined to shoot more for a bit.

Anyhow, about the thunderstorms. Due to the fact I am going to Vegas for a few days (starting tomorrow) I had to mess around with my schedule a bit to get all the days off I needed. The way our schedulers work, a day of scheduled work is a day, not matter how much or how little flying you are supposed to do. So, I dropped a 4 day trip and picked up a 3 day and a 1 day. The day trip consisted of deadheading down to Charlotte, sitting for 3 hours and then flying back up to Dayton. It certainly wasn’t a replacement for even one day of my four day trip, but legal is legal and I needed the days off so I took it.

The flight down was fine. I almost ended up taking the jumpseat as the flight was oversold but somebody didn’t show up so I managed to snag a seat in the back. Once in CLT I had dinner at Chili’s with another FO and then watched the Red Sox hold off the Indians until about the 4th inning when I headed down to the gate.

Of course it was a zoo down there. There was a line of weather that was running from Canada to the Gulf and a whole bunch of flights were delayed or canceled. I can always judge how bad a day it is by looking at the line at the special services counter. Anyhow, my plane wasn’t due in until 9:31pm with a scheduled 9:59 departure. I made the mistake of hanging around the ticket podium while I was waiting for the flight release to print out and got slammed with people asking questions. I know how to look up gate and time information but that is about it. Fortunately there was a ramp supervisor who moonlights as a gate agent who was there as well. Between the two of us we were able to hold off the crowd. Actually, he did most of the holding off. I just smiled and nodded.

The plane rolled up to the gate around 9:30 and I headed out to do the walk around and throw my stuff on board. The crew who brought it in (minus the FO I was replacing) were continuing on to Dayton so we didn’t have to do a full crew swap. The gate sent the people out just as soon as everybody was off from the inbound flight which meant I was hurrying to get through everything. Somehow it ended up being my leg, which was fine although it felt sort of odd having my first flight of the day not even push off the gate until 10pm.

We got out to the runway and finding no line (which is always a good thing) were soon on our way to Dayton. With the exception of some moderate chop on the climb out the weather held up until we were somewhere over West Virginia (south east of Charleston). This was in the 700 so we actually had the power to climb up to altitude in a relatively short period of time despite being heavy and having to use the cowl anti ice as we were in out of the clouds and the temps were below 10 C. Once we leveled off and took a look at the radar (and the radar snap I had taken on my phone before I shut it off) we decided that staying east (the route normally goes west to Cincinnati and then back north east to Dayton) would be a better idea. With that in mind we requested and got direct the Midwest VOR which sits in Wilmington, OH.

The whole northwestern sky was lit up with lighting as we started the descent, but we were in the clear and the moon was illuminating what cells were in our path. That allowed me to avoid most of them, although we got rocked pretty good by one that didn’t look that bad and wasn’t showing on radar. Once we popped out the backside of that, the lights of Dayton started to come into sight and we were given a heading to join the finals and cleared to descend down to 3000 feet. The approach was mostly smooth although once we got down to about 1500 feet there was a bit of chop from the 20 or so knots of surface wind. I managed a nice touchdown on 24L (well, ok it was slightly firm) and we hurried to the gate. From the look of the radar on final there was a huge cell just west of the field, but as I ran out to my car it didn’t seem to be moving towards the airport. Over all the timing worked out well. Just as I walked into my apartment the rain started coming down and the wind kicked up.

When stuff goes well it is due to good planning. When it doesn’t go well it is due to bad luck.

I am mostly recovered from my weekend of flying (or rather, not flying). By the time I got home to Dayton on Monday night it was already 11pm. Asleep by 12:30 and I slept in until almost noon. The one bad thing was right before I left on the trip I purchased two roller shades for my bedroom to replace the slatted blinds that were in there. The windows face east and south and let in a huge amount of light in the morning not to mention there is a large amount of light pollution even when it is dark out. I installed the east facing roller shade before I left for the trip but didn’t get a chance to do the south facing window. It didn’t really matter too much, but it would have been nice to have a dark room when I was trying to catch up on my sleep. As was I installed the other one yesterday and it was in fact VERY dark in my room last night.

Today is another recovery day. I have a day trip tomorrow evening, but between now and then my only plans are to play ultimate frisbee tonight recharge and sync up my mp3 player.

The plan for the next few days is busy, but not crazy. I get back from my day trip tomorrow night pretty late, do laundry on Friday (I’m supposed to be working but took a personal day) and then pack to head out to Vegas on Saturday morning. Wahoo.

So, here’s the score card for yesterday.

9:00am – Left my friends apartment in Brooklyn. Enjoyed a crazy cab ride to the airport.
10:45am-12:00pm – Sat in the back of an Airbus from LGA to PIT.
12:00pm-4:05pm – Hung out in the PIT airport. Had lunch. Surfed the web (yeah wireless all the way at the end of the A gates!) and read a book.
4:05pm-5:30pm – Flew in the back of a SAAB PIT-MGW-CKB.
5:30pm-6:00pm – waiting around the Clarksburg Airport Terminal for somebody to give me a ride over to the Maintenance facility on the other side of the airport. Eventually one of the airport fire fighters drove me.
6:00pm-10:00pm – Hung out in the pilot lounge (read: a couch, a chair a TV, a fax and a internet cable) waiting for the captain to show up and the airplane to be done.
10:00pm – The captain shows up.
10:20pm – We get paperwork from dispatch
10:30pm – The MX supervisor tells us that in doing their final check on the airplane they discovered fluid leaking on the nose wheel.
10:45pm – The Supervisor informs us the nosewheel steering actuator is leaking and will need to be repaired. They are talking to our Maintenance Control to see what they want to do.
11:00pm – The captain finds a couch in the lobby and puts his head over his eyes and goes to sleep.
11:15pm – I call out maintenance guys to see what is going on. They tell me that they authorized them to fix the part.
11:45pm – I go downstairs to try to find a vending machine as I haven’t eaten since about 1pm. I run into the supervisor who shows me where the vending machine is and that they found the part in stock and it should be about an hour to replace it.
12:00am-12:30am – I eat my vending machine cheese and crackers and M&Ms.
12:31am – I spill most of the packet of M&Ms on the ground when I try to turn the page of my book too quickly.
1:am – I try to go to sleep on the lounge couch but find it uncomfortable and the noise from the shop floor keeps me up so I just sort of lay there and try to think about nothing.
1:45am – The MX Supervisor comes up stairs and tells me that the part is on and it should take about 45 minutes to do the paperwork. The captain hears us talking and wakes up.
2:00am – The captain and I look at the paperwork and determine that our flight plan (which was filed for 11pm and was only good for 2 hours) may have dropped out of the system.
2:05am – I deal with the new and (not so) improved Lockhead Flight Service briefer. I end up talking to a guy in Raleigh, NC and refile out flight plan. From him, I get a number to call to get a clearance as CKB tower closed a long time ago.
2:30am – We head out to the airplane where I do a walk around while the captain gets stuff going.
2:40am – I get back in the plane only to discover that while I release calls for 8800lbs of gas we have 15,000lbs. I go back in side and tell the supervisor that we will have to defuel to get down to 8.8.
2:45am – We get an ACARS from dispatch (who we assumed had already gone home) telling us to give them a call. The captain calls and dials the wrong number (waking somebody up). I try calling and get through and write down our new fuel information.
2:45am-3:15am – We wait for the paperwork to be done.
3:15am – They finally give us the paperwork and we start up and taxi out to the opposite end of the runway we will be using. I think call the Clearance Number the the FSS briefer gave me.
3:15am-3:25am – I sit on hold.
3:25am – We get our clearance. Direct CLT. Wahoo.
3:30am – We back taxi the length of the runway to scare off any deer that might be there. We only see a skunk. Upon reaching the end I take off and at 4500 feet have to avoid another airplane. Honestly, who is out tooling around VFR at 3:45 in the morning? Bad people I tell you. Bad people.
3:35am – We are able to reach Cleveland Center and they clear us up to 26,000 feet and direct CLT.
4:00am – We begin the descent into CLT where I pull out a rather nice landing on runway 5. We then taxi to the gate.
4:10am-4:15am – We wait for the MX guys to come over and park us. After that we shut it down.
4:20am – I call the hotel to get a van and am told that the van won’t run until 5:30. I then call scheduling who after putting me on hold tells me that she called the hotel and they were going to send a taxi.
4:25am-4:35am – We walk through an empty CLT airport. The captain heads to the crew room to sleep a few hours in a quiet room while I head out through security (which is just opening up for the morning) to the cab line.
4:35am-4:55am – I wait for a cab.
4:55am-5:05am – Drive to the hotel, where not surprisingly there is no reservation for me.
5:05am-5:10am – Wait for scheduling to fax an authorization.
5:15am – Get on the elevator as the early crew for the sim gets off.
5:20am – Get in my room, shut the door and manage to get in bed and asleep in about 5 minutes.

Today was just one of those days. Once again, I’m writing this now (late evening on the 12th) and posting it some other time. Notably when I rejoin civilization and get an internet connection.

So today started off pretty normal. A flight down to CLT (first time this fall we had to use anti ice on take off) and then a 2 hour sit. From there we did 2 turns to airports in the hills. First up was Charleston, WV where the weather was about 4000 feet overcast but otherwise a nice day. I made a nice (but firm… which was to be a trend for the day) landing and after we taxied to the gate made the mistake of turning my phone one.

Of course there was a message from scheduling about a “small” modification to my schedule. I called them back to see what was going and and was told after the next turn (to Roanoke) I had entirely new flying. I was supposed to end up in Tri Cities, TN tonight and then tomorrow do some flying and end up in Cincinatti. Then on day three (Sunday) end up in Columbia. My new schedule had me going to Roanoke and then ferrying an airplane to Clarksburg, WV and then (get this) waiting in a hotel in Clarksburg for 46 hours until Sunday night to fly another airplane back down to Charlotte. When I originally was told this, scheduling (wisely) made it sound like I would only be spending one night there and then flying out late the next day. Still, 26 hours didn’t sound too good either.

We got back to Charlotte and I went up to the crew room to print out my schedule. And sure enough, I was to stay in CKB for 2 days. While walking back to the airplane I checked some flight schedules (thanks Treo!) and found that Colgan runs a shuttle up to PIT (through Morgantown) that leaves at 9:40 am. Also, there is a shuttle that comes back at 4:40pm on Sunday. So that got me to PIT. From there my options were Baltimore (old friend who actually was heading home herself this weekend), Hartford (Amherst and home) or New York (old High School friend I haven’t seen in a while). In the end New York won out. I managed to get scheduling to release me in the morning so I technically wouldn’t be non reving while still on a trip.

We ferried the 700 up to Clarksburg and started the arrival around 10pm. The captain actually lives up here so this is a dream trip for him. He was familiar with the airport (the last time I was here was in a 172 and I was a student pilot). We turned final and touched down on a deer free runway (something of a concern some times here) and taxied over to the maintenance hanger. The plane was coming in for a “C” check, which is the heavy maintenance check done ever few years. Basically the entire airplane is torn down to it’s component pieces and then reassembled again. It’s good because everything gets tested and looked at. It’s bad because you are relying on them to put everything back together correctly. We parked over by the hanger and then were escorted inside and past a company 700, two Northwest Airlink 200s and a company 200 (the one we are supposed to take out on Sunday). They were all in varies states of disassembly, missing parts of wings, engines and body. Not to mention the interiors which were pretty much gutted. Interesting to see.

From there we went into a reception area where I waiting for a cab and the captain’s wife picked him up. My cab showed up shortly there after and I got a ride (and an earful about just about everything) over to the hotel. It’s a Days Inn, and while it is slightly run down, the rooms are ok (and actually pretty big) and the bed which I am sitting on now while I write this is actually pretty comfortable.

In this business you’ve got to be really flexible. I was planning on overnighting in Tri Cities tonight and having a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel tomorrow morning (that’s about the only food they have that isn’t double fried, and even then, I wonder about the pancakes some times). Instead (if it works out) I am going to get a chance to head up to New York and visit a friend I haven’t seen in a long time. Just the way it is some times.

This is one of those I’m writing now and posting later. Now is sitting in my rather nice Marriot Hotel room in White Plains, New York. Later will probably be when I get home tomorrow night. The reason being that despite the fact that this hotel is pretty swanky (nice beds re: old post on here, good carpeting, clean bathrooms and a nice lobby), it does not have free wireless. There is in fact wireless, but they charge something like $10 a day to use it. So not worth it. But that’s not what the point of this ramble tonight is. This is about vans.

Flight crews rely on vans to get them pretty much everywhere on the road. We roll up to an airport, park our plane and then wait at the mercy of an often times retired guy to come pick us up in a van and drive us to the hotel. Likewise, in the morning (or afternoon) when we show, we again rely on a guy to cart us from the hotel to the front of the airport terminal so we can get on with our day. Sometimes, if we are lucky, the van will even drive us somewhere to get something to eat or to go out drinking. And if we are VERY lucky, they will come and get us when we are done (otherwise it’s the old cab routine).

Vans come in various shapes, sizes and colors. The most normal is the 16 passenger van, with the last row of seats removed. Also somewhat common are mini vans. There are also some random bigger bus (think airport car rental transportation bus) style vans and the occasional SUV. Tonight we had a nice Chevy Suburban pick us up. Leather seats, all kinds of AC vents and cup holders. Nice.

Van drivers are about as varied as the vans they drive. Often times they are retired guys who are just trying to keep busy. Sometimes they are hotel desk, maid or maintenance staff who double as van drivers as needed. Occasionally you will get hotel management driving the van. In a few places there is a contracted van services that drives us. The drivers range from friendly and talkative (some times way too much so) to very quiet.

I have no idea what van drivers get paid. I would guess minimum wage. It is accepted practice to tip the van driver. I deviate slightly from this. It seems like the captain will always tip (as will I once I switch seats). However I only tip if they do something other then just drive. Most will load/unload your bags, and for that I will tip. If they are helpful in suggesting a place to eat or something to do I will tip. And if they are really funny or tell a good story I will tip. Also, if they are driving us anywhere other then between the airport and the hotel I will tip.

Every once and a while we end up taking a cab. This could be due to a van never showing up, the van being broken or them not having a driver that day. Cabs for flight crews (like everybody else) can be hit or miss. Often times the driver is very excited to have a flight crew and asks all sorts of questions. These are the type of questions that when I am deadheading and the person next to me asks them I normally mumble and answer and then put in my earphones for my mp3 player. Of course, in the confined space of a cab that really isn’t an option. Also, while MOST hotel vans are in good shape, cabs can be pretty worn out and often times smell of smoke.

I don’t often fear for my life while I am at work. Walking to get food at a few hotels can raise your blood pressure a bit and I supposed once I upgrade new hire FOs might scare me from time to time. However, during a van ride it isn’t unusual to wonder if you are going to survive. Just tonight (in the nice Suburban) our driver passed a tanker truck in the right hand lane in a construction zone with concrete barriers up against the edge of our lane. The tanker truck was drifting all over the place and not only did our driver jump right up next to him, but then proceeded to stay there as we went around some nasty curves. Oh yeah, the driver was talking on his phone the whole time. Th guy didn’t really speak much English either, so I have no idea what he was saying. Probably something like “these dumb flight crews… trusting my driving.”

Sometimes you end up sharing a van with another crew. This can be interesting or awkward depending if you’ve stolen any of their flying recently or not. Being a wholly owned carrier we are pretty much exempt from that as we can’t actively bid on any flying. However, I’ve heard some interesting stories. Also, from time to time you end up with passengers from your flight in the van with you. Normally, as long as the flight was good, it’s pleasant. However, I’ve had a few times were we’ve been delayed or had to divert to get there or something fun like that. Some people are understanding, but once again, in a confined space, people are often emboldened to complain and blame you for their miserable trip.

There of course, are also the strange stories you hear from van drivers. From the cab driver in Little Rock explaining how he used to be a cabbie in Chicago until he got shot in the hip, to the contract driver in Columbia arguing about child support with his wife/girlfriend over the phone while we slide our way through a rare South Carolina ice storm to graphic descriptions of porn movies by the early morning driver in Jacksonville, NC (who has since been fired), the van rides do make for an interesting experience.

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Ironically enough, after I wrote this last night, our van to the airport this morning didn’t show up. Actually, it left just before we got outside (10 minutes before our scheduled departure time too). The hotel quickly found us a car service who showed up only 15 minutes late. The car was some sort of Lincoln Town Car. Nice, although a little worn out. The driver tossed our stuff in the trunk and we headed off the airport. Unfortunately we (well, I) made the mistake of letting him know we were running late. He then made it his goal to get us there as soon as possible. Just across the street from the hotel as we turned towards the on ramp for I287 he saw the interstate was backed up so he cut back across 2 lanes of traffic to take back roads. Westchester County is actually pretty hilly. For the next 25 minutes we endured some of the craziest driving I have ever seen through typical New York area rush hour traffic. We were doing 70 mph in 30 mph zones. We would accelerate towards a red light and then screech to a stop. We would cut back and forth across lanes of traffic trying to find holes. I actually was getting queezy in the back see. The best part was near the end when the car in front of us slowed to make a left turn across traffic, our driver pulled onto the shoulder to pass. The problem was there was a HUGE pothole right there. The car bottomed out, although we were going so fast at the time we bounced right up the other side. When that happened the driver said “huh… that wasn’t there before.” Classic. And we ended up only being 25 minutes late.