Home for the holidays

They say that timing is everything, and I guess that's so. It certainly was for me, having been away from LA for the last week. It was drizzling and sprinkling from gray skies as I left, and the news has been full of stories about record rain in California ever since. The rain finally let up yesterday afternoon, just in time for my flight to arrive. We landed on runway 25 left, and as we came down the final, the view out my neighbor's window was of a city standing in water. Every street and highway (and Hawthorne's runway) glistened with sunlight reflecting off the puddles, lakes, and rivers that covered them. Once I was in the car, the radio traffic reports covered a long list of streets and highways that had lane closures - or were closed completely - due to flooding. After I drove home through a continuous sprinkle, the rain resumed.

While the storms have now moved on, it will take LA some time to get back to what passes for normal out here. During my absence from LAX, it sounds like things were hectic: Holiday traffic, lots of rainy weather, and east traffic. I've discussed east traffic at LAX before, so suffice to say that it makes everybody a little bit crazy and tends to slow things down a bit. My current trainee was due for certification checkrides on ground control, so I'm glad we got to do a few hours of east traffic last month.

My west-bound ride

A special shout-out to the crew of Southwest 267. Will, Chris, Nancy, Craig, and Donna all did a great job with a full-to-the-gills planeload of holiday travelers, including at least three screaming babies. The guys up front had a special Fasten Seatbelt sign: Every time we hit some bumps, they'd turn it on, whereupon the bumps would stop. Magic! Here's hoping that your holiday travels go smoothly, where ever you're headed . . . be it the comfort of the barn or greener pastures.