Composition Week Day 0 - Flight to Newark

2010-06-26 22:48

The time I have listed for the blog post is Pacific Standard Time, as my take off location was San Francisco International Airport.

I am currently on a Boeing 757-300, at 35,000 ft.  I brought along a compass, but I don’t believe that I am flying 100 degrees...that needle probably is badly magnetized.  The pilot told us we would be scheduled to land on time, on Runway 4R.  I’ll pull out my charts when the time comes.

So when I first boarded this 757...I thought, “hey, it looks just like a 737!”  Only a lot longer and stretched out.  Even the flight attendant told one of the passengers: “this plane is a Boeing 757-300...a stretched, stretched limo.” Plus the wings are longer and higher off the ground.  And also, I listened to the whine of the engine as it started up...a different sound compared to the engines Southwest uses for their Boeing 737 fleet.  I believe the ones on this plane is something by Rolls Royce.  I’ll look it up when the time comes.  One more detail I should mention...I am seated towards the rear of the airplane...and I can really see that wing flex. 

The take off video I got is here:




I believe I took off from Runway 1R.  It was pretty dark and I couldn’t see for sure.  And man I forgot how shaky it can be when we are rolling down that runway so fast.  But then again, this is a full flight...packed to maximum basically.  The only few seats that are open are the seats that you have to pay an extra $79 or $99 for extra legroom.  That’s just stupid.  I’m glad that I could get a window seat at the last minute...that’s good enough.  Like really, I originally was seated for a middle seat, and I’m very grateful for whoever gave up this seat for a different one. 

About 10 minutes ago, the flight attendants delivered some pretzals.  And now I got a can of Sprite.  That should keep me satisfied for a while, and hopefully I won’t need to use the lavatory.   One thing I notice is that the tray tables don’t have a little cup holder thing.  It’s all flat.  I guess that’s okay.  However it kinda was very amusing on my British Airways flight to London, when we were served tea for breakfast.  Just when we got the tea, we experienced a little turbulence.  I should find that video of the tea just shaking with ripples...threatening to spill over at any minute.

Hmm...I just managed to spill soda over my lap.  That was very annoying.  I probably shouldn’t have been thinking about the tea incident as much...that way I could have been more mindful about how I am handling the tea.

I think I should stop talking about logistics of this flight and finish up some thoughts about the music composition program.  I really need to get some rest since this is a red eye flight, and I’ll be dog tired when I get over there.  Currently it is 02:30 on the East Coast.

One of the things I definitely want to say is that I brought along my piano concerto and I believe the Camp Royal Waltz.  I’ll be using those for show and tell.  And of course, I have Florence, but I totally have no clue where the DVD of it is.  I’ll just look it up on YouTube and give it to the staff.  So I’ll need to worry about that music later.

Hmm... at 35,000 ft, it is a darn clear night.  I can see towns and city blocks from this altitude.  I still have no idea where I am though.  And I assume that I am around Utah or so, since it is about an hour into the flight.  I don’t know what the pilot selected for cruising speed, so I’ll just assume Mach 0.80.  I should have been able to travel at least 400 nautical miles by now.    And there thing that looks weird is that there are these huge completely dark areas.  It really looks like I am just in the ocean right now with a coastline.

I’m going to call this a blog post and get some rest.  The spill is almost dried up, and falling asleep will help me forget about it.  And I need to wake up on time for the landing as well.