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SIX DAYS AS AN AIRLINE PILOT // Supersonic Jets, Abandoned Control Towers & Irish Cliff WalksAdded:
You got to hit me with the camera.
>> You got to hit the camera.
>> In this video, we're heading to Denver, Colorado, where we're going to climb to the top of an abandoned air traffic control tower.
>> The fact that we're just out here is insane. I'll give you an exclusive look inside the United Airlines training center, and we'll tour the Boom Supersonic headquarters with their chief test pilot.
>> You want to go fly?
>> I want. Yeah. Then it's off to Newark, New Jersey, where I'll take you behind the scenes on a 3-day trip to Dublin, Ireland. While we're there, we'll go on one of the best day trips you can make during a 24-hour layover. This is going to be fun. You ready? Let's go. My name is Paul. I fly airplanes for a living, but my passion is encouraging you to explore this beautiful world by giving you a glimpse into my layover life.
This week looks a little bit different than a normal trip to work. Today I'm heading to Denver, Colorado for 2 days of recurrent training that starts tomorrow. And then after that I head out to Newark to start a normal work trip.
But today I get first class because whenever we dead head or we travel to recurrent training, we're obligated to travel in first class, which is great.
So today's just an easy travel day, which is a really nice way to start the week.
>> Good morning. How are you?
>> Great.
Thank you. Good to see you.
>> Good morning and welcome to United Flight 1891. We are on our way to Denver this morning.
>> I spent most of the flight to Denver reviewing our flight manual in preparation for my check ride the next day because after I arrived, I had something planned that I've been wanting to do for a long time.
>> See you later. Nice meeting you. It was great meeting you. Take care. Thank you.
If you are a United pilot, you know the emotions that come with this hotel. The nerves before your interview or the joy of showing up for your first day of class. And even the joy of having your family here for your wing ceremony. My family stayed in this hotel room before I got my wings when I upgraded to captain. and also the nerves that come back before your check ride or your recurrent check ride, which is what I'll be doing tomorrow. Fortunately, I've been flying the 757 and 767 for 17 years now, and not that I don't have anything to learn. I've got plenty to learn, but I'm very comfortable on the airplane and I don't get super nervous when I show up for check rides, which means my time in Denver can be spent hanging out with friends, which is what I'll be doing tonight. Tonight I'm hanging out with my friend Katrina and Ryan, and we are headed to the Flight Co. Brewing Company.
>> Hey, how's it going?
>> Hi. Good. How are you?
>> Good to see you.
>> Good to see you.
>> The Flight Co Brewing Company isn't just a place to grab a drink. It's a piece of aviation history. It sits beneath the abandoned air traffic control tower from Stapleton Airport, which was once Denver's main hub before the Denver International Airport took over. Today, it's not only a great spot to have dinner and drinks and of course meet up with friends, but you can also take a guided tour to the top of the tower. So, after getting some refreshments for the climb, the tower historian Shawn unlocked the door and we stepped back in time. As you make your way up the steps, Shawn has artifacts from every decade on each floor. And of course, every decade comes with its own story. One of my favorites was the story of Elray JSON, who pioneered aviation charts and navigation.
>> In one month alone, out of 18 mm male pilots, four were killed in crashes.
Wow.
>> So, Captain Jacker starts taking matters into his own hands. With his little black book, he started taking very meticulous notes of every route he would take and every airport he would land at.
He'd get out, he'd measure the elevation with his altimeter, he'd measure the landing. Okay, we have a,000 ft grass strip that's 100 ft wide. There's 50 foot power lines at the end. They don't have lights on those. Watch out for those. Right. He would be climbing smoke stacks with his altimeter, getting accurate readings of how tall these buildings are. It's really important information for pilots to know, right?
He'd even reach out to people in the community, local residents all the way down to Cowboys, be like, "Hey, if we call your number, can you tell us what the weather is? Can you tell us that there's animals on the field?" And of course, this grew and grew. In 1941, they opened up their headquarters here at Stapleton airport. Um, and then World War II come. Shawn is not just one of the historians of the tower, he's the only historian of the tower and clearly loves his job. And when I asked him why he loves it so much, he said, "It brings people so much joy to come up here." And people have been looking up at this tower for their entire lives wondering what that view is like. And then when they finally get to come up here and see it for themselves, that I just get to see that every day. It's amazing. I get to get people who are uh interested in aviation, like teenagers, and they want to be pilots. So, I get to get them excited about aviation. I meet people who maybe have no idea, never were curious about it before, and I get to have them on on the tour, too. And I get to have people who are a part of the history. So, I feel very privileged to be able to do this for a living. It's >> Yeah, it's really special.
>> Very cool. Yeah.
>> Finally, after a lot of really fun stories and 203 stairs, we made it to the tower cab, which obviously had 360° views of Denver. And of course, Sean had more stories to tell. But then he offered something that was hard to say no to.
>> Sean said we can go out on the catwalk, but this is not a normal tour occasion.
>> Sure.
>> Here. You got to hand me the camera.
>> You got to hit the camera.
>> Wow, that is cool. One of a few.
>> This is the VIP.
>> This is the >> That's the VIP entrance to the tower.
>> VIP entrance.
>> Yeah. Very few.
>> Um, we also can walk around which is pretty cool. And also, I mean, like if you want to, you can go up here. It's kind of cool. But, uh, >> I mean, >> amazing.
>> Um, >> okay. Yeah, I want to do that.
>> Yeah, go up there.
>> That's where I go set up my tripod for some time lapses.
This tower was built when?
>> Uh 1962.
>> That should be good, right?
>> Wow.
You know when you wake up in the morning and you're like, "Today should be cool."
And then you don't realize like how cool it's going to be. This is one of those days.
>> The fact that we're just out here is insane.
>> Yeah. While going out on the catwalk isn't part of the normal tour, everything else you saw is, including going up in the tower cab. And the best part is Sean has it priced, so it's available for everyone.
>> Best deal in town.
>> For $12, >> you get an amazing history tour, an incredible view, >> and a free beer.
>> Yeah. All of that. It's best deal in town, >> dude. That that literally I don't know anything that would be better than that and different. Like that's amazing.
Yeah.
>> Yeah. But I agree. Sean, >> thank you so much so much.
>> This is awesome.
>> I'm just I'm so happy you guys are here.
>> This is super.
I know how fast the word travels on the jump seat, so yeah, you know.
>> The next day, it was time for my check ride. Before we jump into the simulator, however, let me give you an inside look at the United Airlines Training Center.
Sitting on 23 acres, this is the largest airline training facility in the world, spanning over a million square feet and running around the clock to prepare crews for just about anything. Inside, it's a full ecosystem of learning.
Pilots train in dozens of full motion and fixed space simulators, while nearby classrooms and quiet study areas give crews space to prep and debrief. We have specialized door trainers for both pilots and flight attendants to practice normal and emergency aircraft exits along with full emergency trainers complete with evacuation slides, life rafts, and life jackets so crews can rehearse real world scenarios safely.
Beyond flight operations, there's hands-on CPR and medical training, ensuring crews are ready to respond in critical moments on board. There's even a bit of culture woven in with an on-site museum showcasing United's history. and the Mainliner Store where employees can pick up branded gear. I usually pick up some of these challenge coins and keep them in my bag for special occasions. And because this place never really sleeps, there's a full cafeteria to keep everyone fueled through long training days and late night simulator sessions, which is where I met my training partner, Lesie. We've flown together before, but we met for a quick lunch before a check ride so we could catch up and go over any last minute questions before we started our training. Each sim session starts with a 2-hour briefing where the instructor will go over what to expect in the sim.
The simulator sessions themselves are four hours long. The sim flies just like the real airplane, but the instructor sits in the back seat and can induce any emergency imaginable. The one we train for the most is an engine failure or fire right as we take off. But we also train for a multitude of other scenarios from passenger security issues to windshare or even terrain escape procedures. In the case of recurrent training like Leslie and I were doing, we have two days of training every nine months. If you're getting trained on a new airplane though, or if you're upgrading from first officer to captain, that training lasts roughly 2 months.
So, by the time you leave training, you're very confident that you can handle whatever might happen in a real world scenario. But that confidence is built before anyone ever leaves the ground. Speaking of leaving the ground, before I leave Denver, I had one more stop to make.
Just outside Denver at the Centennial Airport sits one of the most ambitious aviation projects in the world, Boom Supersonic. And today I'm getting a rare look inside with their chief test pilot.
Japetto, thanks for having me.
>> Hey, glad you're here.
>> Oh, dude, this is awesome. So, this is the XP1. Yeah.
>> This is what flew supersonic not too long ago, and you were the test pilot for that. Yeah.
>> XB1 is supersonic, faster than the speed of sound.
>> What was your path to becoming a test pilot for Boom. Were you a military pilot before?
>> Yeah. Uh I studied uh aerospace engineering at the Naval Academy and then I went to flight school after that kind of with the the long-term goal of becoming a test pilot. After flight school, I was assigned to fly F-18s out of Lora, California. I flew a operational tour there and then was selected for test pilot school through the uh through the Navy. Boom. Had posted a job for a a landing signal officer. I did that for for a while and then a position opened up as a as a test pilot and that I just I couldn't pass that up.
The XP1 is obviously not what passengers will be riding in. Instead, it's the demonstrator aircraft which was built to lay the foundation for the design of Boom's supersonic airliner, Overture.
Overture will be doing something that hasn't occurred since the Concord stopped flying in 2003, like flying from New York to Frankfurt in 4 hours and 15 minutes or Los Angeles to Sydney in 8 hours and 45 minutes. With an entirely first class configuration, Overture will be flying nearly two times the speed of sound. And what Japetto and the team at Boom have proven with the XB1 is that you can fly supersonic over land without making a boom. Well, sort of. Can you explain a little bit how this is designed so there's no boom?
>> It's it's a common misconception actually. This aircraft is not specifically designed to not make a sonic boom. We demonstrated this phenomenon known as mock cutoff where you take advantage of the uh atmospheric or the the temperature gradient in the atmosphere. So as uh as altitude decreases temperature increases and speed of sound is a function of temperature. So the higher the temperature, the faster the speed of sound. And a shock wave being a a wave will refract toward the area of lower speeds. So as the speed of sound increases, that causes that shock wave to refract. And if you know the the temperature profile of the atmosphere, you can predict at uh the fastest you can you can fly and get that shock wave to refract all the way back up into the atmosphere and uh not put a sonic boom on the ground. My next question, can I sit in the cockpit?
>> Absolutely.
>> What do you think?
>> This is awesome.
>> It's not bad, huh?
>> So, how does this compare to You said you flew F-15s and F18s.
>> F-18s and F5. You know, all of those airplanes we kind of joke like you you wear them, you don't necessarily get into them, right? The idea is like, you know, you should be I should be able to reach everything without having to like lean forward. Can you fly an ILS in this? Like just a normal like a normal airplane or is it VFR or is >> uh this is very much VFR only? Oh, it is.
>> Oh, yeah. Uh we did have a like a GPS derived uh kind of ILS approach, but it was only to runway 30 in Mojave. Uh we only plan to ever land this at Mojave or Edwards in an emergency. Uh and so yeah, we only landed it on runway 30.
>> So this wasn't flown from here to Mojave.
>> No. Yeah. Mojave was just such a better place for flight test. You know, you think about like flying out of Centennial right here. There's nowhere I can go that I'm not over houses, right?
Uh whereas Mojave, it's just desert out there. So, it it keeps it keeps the public safer to do it out of there.
Also, we were only authorized to fly uh supersonically in the the Bell X1 corridor, which is the same piece of sky that Chuck Jagger broke the sound barrier in in 1947.
>> That's very cool. So, there's a simulator back there.
>> Yeah. You want to go fly? I want Yeah, I just got out of the simulator, but I kind of want to go fly 767. Yeah.
>> Go ahead and hop in. When you're ready, you can take the the throttles. Uh so up to the middle stop and then it's a soft stop, so just push them all the way forward. Okay.
>> And then uh rotate at 150.
>> Okay. So to the stop and then keep going.
>> Yep. Yep.
>> Yeah. And like you're doing now, I'm flying, looking outside, just scanning air speed until until I rotate.
>> And rotary rotating too.
>> Uh like 15° pitch attitude.
>> So there's 150.
>> Yep.
>> So rotate and then you can bring the the gear up there >> and then your camera goes away.
We climbed up to 30,000 ft and quickly approached supersonic flight, which is something we don't even get close to in the 767.
All right, so we're at Mach 91 92 93 94 95 96 97.
>> Feel that you pulling back on the stick now?
>> Yeah. Yeah. So there's Mach 1.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm supersonic.
>> Nothing to it.
>> Nothing to it. It is cool. Like this is the one of two airplanes I've flown that is happier supersonic than it is subsonic.
>> Then Japetto offered something that I couldn't say no to.
>> You got to do a supersonic aileron roll because it's full.
>> So either direction you want to go, just put the stick full in full left or full right.
>> Do you need to push at all forward or anything? No, just just Okay. All right.
Supersonic aileron roll.
Feel like I'm pulling some G's.
>> Well, that was not very pretty.
>> So, we artificially limit the the roll rate that the the pilot can command here. Uh but you can you can override it if you want and and really do a fast one. See that middle knob on the bottom?
The roll ratio deflection. Yeah. Put that in high.
>> It's going to give you a caution cuz it's like, "Hey, you're going to break the airplane.
Now do it again.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Throw up.
>> Dude, this is amazing.
>> Then it was time to land. And unlike a normal airplane, the pitch attitude is so high on this airplane when it lands that they have two cameras on the nose wheel connected to two separate monitors in the cockpit. So instead of looking outside at the runway, the pilot looks at the display inside the airplane.
>> That's about 80 feet.
>> Okay.
>> Uh, no, that was more like 100. There's probably 50, 40, 30.
>> Come off the power.
>> Yeah, you can start sliding the power back. Five.
>> Nicely done.
>> Yeah, it's about how I landed the sim today.
From there, we moved over to the overture simulator so I could see what flying the actual passenger aircraft will look like. And stepping into the cockpit, it was immediately clear that this is a very different kind of flight deck than the 767.
Fittingly, our approach was set for London Heathrow, an airport I've come to know very well over the years.
>> They're 30 20 10 and then it has a tendency to float.
You can bring the nose down.
Auto brakes.
>> And with that glimpse into the future of United and passenger travel, my time at Boom Supersonic had come to an end.
>> Well, Japetto, thank you so much for having me.
>> Hey, thanks for coming by. It's great.
It's got to be very cool for you to be on the like to be very cliche the leading edge of what's potentially a huge change in the aviation industry.
>> Yeah. I mean it's it's just really cool to be a part of this team. Like everyone everyone who works here is just really the best at what they do. So uh you know flying XB1 we did with a pretty small team of about 50 people and uh every single one of those people was just incredible. And so yeah, it's just I I just I'm just really honored to be a part of the team here.
>> Yeah, that's so awesome. Well, I'm honored that you let me come out for the day.
>> Well, thanks for coming out. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Hopefully I'll be sitting in the cockpit of a real one of these someday.
>> Good morning. After getting beat up in the simulator for the last couple days today, I finally get to go back to doing what I love, which is flying airplanes.
I'm starting my commute from Denver to New York today. And tonight, I'm going to Dublin, Ireland. I'm flying with a friend of mine, which I'm very excited about. You might remember that I said when we travel for recurrent training, we get first class. And today, I purposely booked my ticket to Newark in a 757 because it has Polaris lie flat seats. So today's flight to work will be not only one of the most stress-free, but one of the most comfortable commutes to work I've ever had.
Before we took off, I watched one of my favorite YouTubers videos on the Denver airport conspiracies. If you don't follow Tonio and you love feelgood, hilarious videos, go look them up.
For breakfast, I just had some yogurt, fruit, and a croissant with a side of the office. Then I took advantage of the lie flat seat and slept the rest of the flight, saving my energy for the adventure that awaited in Dublin. I don't know about you, but I sleep best when there's a little turbulence.
After a quick stop in the United Club to update my iPad and grab some lunch, I headed downstairs to the crew lounge for nap number two of the day. Because with only two pilots on our Dublin flight, there'd be no rest once we were in the air.
Then I picked up a salad, a coffee of course, and it was off to the flight planning area to meet with the first officer, review the flight plan, and call our dispatcher. From there, we headed down to the airplane. And after the pre-flight checklist was complete, we were on our way to Dublin. I want a very good evening from the flight tech captain speaking. Like to welcome you aboard United flight 317 service now to Dublin, Ireland. We'll be pushing back here very shortly. One short route tonight, 6 hours and 2 minutes from takeoff until touchdown. expecting uh a fairly smooth flight. There's a chance of some light turbulence off and on. So, just keep an eye on the seat belt sign and we're we'll do our best to find some smooth air. On our arrival into Dublin, looks like a very nice day. Partly cloudy skies, temperature of 8° C, which is 46° F. If there's anything else we can do to make your flight more enjoyable tonight, please don't hesitate to ask. From all of us at United, welcome on board. Enjoy your flight. One of the questions I get asked the most when it comes to traveling to Europe is how do you adjust to the local time zone when you're coming from the United States to Europe, the best answer is to stay awake when you land and not take a nap like you really want to. And that's exactly what my first officer and I are doing today. Today we're taking the train 30 minutes outside of Dublin to the seaside village of House.
Dublin has no shortage of day trips, but few are easier or more rewarding than house. Just 30 minutes from the city center, a quick ride on the dart takes you from Dublin's busy streets to the edge of the Irish Sea, where the air gets saltier and the city starts to feel a world away. A small fishing village on the northern edge of Dublin Bay, it's known for its working harbor, fresh seafood, and colorful boats bobbing just offshore. The peninsula was once an ancient fishing port. And its name comes from the old Norse word hov, meaning head. A nod to the Vikings who settled here more than a thousand years ago. And while the harbor is a fun place to hang out, the real reason most people come to Houth is waiting just outside the city.
The Houth cliffwalk begins only a few minutes from town, climbing quickly out of the village and onto a rugged stretch of coastline that feels more remote than it is. Within minutes, the harbor gives way to open sea. Fishing boats disappear behind you, replaced by cliffside paths, rolling green hills, and sweeping views across Dublin Bay. It's one of the most scenic walks in Ireland, and easily one of the most accessible. A full coastal hike with dramatic sea cliffs, endless ocean views, and the best part, no car required. We are 3 miles into our hike, and I just checked the map. We have one mile to go to get to the lighthouse, but we are just now getting our first views and it is spectacular.
Perched on the southeastern edge of the cliffs, you come to Bailey Lighthouse, which has watched over the entrance to Dublin Bay for more than 200 years. The first beacon here was built in the 1600s, but the lighthouse standing today dates to 1814. For generations, it's guided vessels safely into Dublin Bay.
Today, it feels like the defining landmark of the walk. A reminder that long before Hal became one of Dublin's best day trips, this was a place built by the sea. And that's what makes Houth so special. In just an afternoon, you can leave the city behind, walk cliffside above the Irish Sea, and end the day with fish and chips in a centuries old fishing village that still feels deeply connected to the water around it.
Good morning. Yesterday was awesome. And one of the best things about going straight out when you get to the hotel is that you're really tired at the end of the day. Last night I slept for 11 hours and this morning after a little coffee, I'm refreshed and ready for go home day. Today is day six of this entire trip. So we're off to the airport in a little bit and then back to New York and then home to Minneapolis.
67, this is fam.
>> Hey, this is Paul Holy on flight 316 from Dublin to New York. How are you?
>> I am doing all right. How are you guys doing in Dublin?
>> Pretty good.
>> So, I'm on the release of one that Julie had put out. Fuel weight looks like it's found right now about 2700 uh pounds. Um, so far it's been a little bit of light shop at like 35 right there by like go up and then 30 West. Um they've just uh put out stuff for some light chop over in that area. Okay.
>> After 30 west at least it should uh or even after 40 west it should kind of clear up a bit. Most of the rest of the way coming in looks like coming kind of over Maine or just north of Maine. Yeah, that jet stream over there later on that you might have a little bit of bumps with that um later on. Um other than that solar weather, no you probably are going to have a little bit of a Euro control delay coming out of there. They got Shanwick with some staffing issues.
Your takeoff time right now is showing 14:27.
>> Okay, sounds good. All right. Well, we'll talk to you Airborne.
>> Okay, sounds good. Have a good one.
>> Yep. You too. See you.
>> The nice thing about Dublin trips is that everyone clears US customs and immigration in Dublin. So, when you land in Newark, you dep like you would off of a domestic flight. After I say goodbye to the last passenger, I went to our secret bag room because I've got a few hours before my flight home to Minneapolis. So, I'm going to change clothes, go up to the nightclub to have dinner and maybe a cocktail to celebrate a great week at work. On the flight home, I couldn't help but feel grateful that what I call a normal week at work is something someone else has spent their whole life dreaming about. And maybe that's the reminder here. So, whatever your dream is, whether it's starting your own business in a forgotten control tower, building something new like a supersonic airliner, or flying airplanes, go after it. And if the possibility of failure is what keeps you on the sidelines, listen to what my friend Bob Gooff says. Fail trying, don't fail watching.
I had to get my microphone fixed.
No, I'm laughing because I know you're just upstairs listening in this video.
I'm the worst actor.
Thanks for the confidence boost.
Okay, today I am flying to Denver, Colorado to do 2 days of recurrent training, which is something we have to do every 9 months. And then after that, today's drone footage is brought to you by Ryan Patterson, who very graciously lent me his drone after I crashed mine in Denver.
No questions asked.
>> I'm scared of heights.
>> Wow.
>> Are you really scared of heights?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, you are? I was out here with the air traffic controller. He was the same thing. He was like this. He was like this the whole time.
>> I have one quick question. So, I'm I'm making a YouTube video on this trip.
Would you be okay if some of this audio was in it or no?
>> Yeah, that's fine.
>> Okay, cool. Very good. And one of the best reasons, good morning. Yesterday was awesome, but today is go home day and I've never done this before, but I happen to have a My Lover Life sticker in my pocket.
All right. If you come to house, you see my sticker, comment down below or tag it on Instagram.
That's the first time I've done that. I swear. Hey, editing Paul here. I'm trying to reach a million subscribers one day, maybe. So, hit subscribe if you haven't done that yet. And thank you.
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