//------------------------------//
// Rally The Troops, Let’s Roll 
// Story: In Charge of the Field Trip Charter 
// by Split Scimitar 
//------------------------------//

“Good morning to all of you. Thank you so much for attending this conference. I would like to acknowledge the representatives of Delta Air Lines for reaching out on my behalf to help make this meeting and its purpose possible. Before we begin, I would like to preface this meeting by saying that all of the official charter requests are on my behalf, with the assistance from the federal government that is to my knowledge distributed at their discretion. I will be in charge of the rest of the bill that will not be covered.”

A Southwest representative then raises their hand.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Some of us here Southwest have been following the development of this effort closely. We ourselves have a program of our own we would like to present as part of the greater effort.”

“Of course. We’ll go ahead and save your presentation until the end, just so we can then collaborate on that program. Just please remind me if I forget.”

“Will do. Thank you.”

“Now, our first order of business is determining who to send where. I’m sure each of your organizations will want to send your repatriation flights to cities already in your route network, and I would absolutely agree. However, one of the major issues that we immediately run into are airports that are slot restricted. Given enough of the unfortunate decline in air travel even predating the pandemic, I’m hoping that we can take advantage of what may become unused slots. That’s where each of you come in. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I hope it is. If able, please contact your alliance partners and see if you can purchase rights to slots for these flights. I can certainly try to cover anything you might be charged.”

“There are various airports around the world none of us serve where American citizens I’m sure are or will be stranded. What will happen then?”

“If the opportunity to obtain their charts exists, I’m sure we can use them. That would also be important for those of you in airline alliances. I know and I’m sure that procuring such charts may be expensive for some, so if you can’t plead repatriation, then I personally am prepared to assist. Distributing $5 million amongst 10 mainline carriers? Hardly enough if at all. And, Congress has been fighting to keep these repat flights out of military bases, despite efforts from our own military officers that it’s for the better.”

“If I may,” a different rep for Southwest speaks up, “it’s completely fair, since they won’t have customs facilities and you’d risk transmission through service members. They already give the country’s greatest sacrifice. Why would you want to add to that list?”

“My counter argument is probably one that you may reject: if those people have to quarantine, then at the least a military base can make the space to do so. National Guard posts at various international airports for example.”

“I wholeheartedly disagree since you’ll be endangering what will become a pool of future veterans, but I don’t want to play politics.”

“Sir, I understand your trepidation, especially if you are a veteran yourself.

(“because let’s face it, you don’t really hire anyone else,”) I reserve for myself.

“However, it has been my experience that most service members have been willing to accommodate those that need to quarantine.”

“Very well. It’s clear that you show blatant disregard for the safety of – and outright hatred, of our veterans, our own military men and women. These are the people who give up everything to fight for YOUR rights. We will be directing all our efforts to continuing our expansion. America deserves better than this.”

The other representative, very much hung out to dry, is visibly and audibly at a loss. None of us dare break the silence. Even me, who should be leading this meeting, is in a bit of shock since a company who would be expected to spearhead a campaign like this (and it seems they did) just had one very impassioned vote to back out.

“I’m really sorry about that.” She finally says. “If it’s not a problem, there are some of us that would like to continue to follow this mission.”

“I would not have a problem with you staying. Does anyone else?”

No one objects to her leaving nor her staying, so she can stay.

“How can we obtain clearance to operate into active military bases?” A representative from United then asks, equal parts keen on and uncomfortably breaking the silence.

“As this situation is still developing,” I respond, “information will be available to disseminate as soon as it becomes available. In a few moments, Ms. Rainbow Dash will be joining me to assist in some of the logistics behind our efforts, as she is the one who is linking us on the civilian side to the armed forces. I hope she can answer any questions I cannot.

“I do have a tentative list of airports. Under the current plan, each of the flights coming in from international destinations will land at what we term as “approved Airports of Entry.” From there, they can catch connections to other so-called “secondary airports” and can be picked up there. Once again, the military presence at both AOE and the secondary airports is necessary to help mitigate potential cases and confirm no additional transmission, should a need to quarantine arise.”

A few seconds later, Rainbow walks into the room, to which I then address all the participants with,

“Here comes Rainbow Dash, our military liaison for getting our citizens home. I’ll leave the rest of your available time to her, as she will be able to give you more complete information.”

As Rainbow takes over the conversation, I exit the room so I can have some water. Even though I have backing, I’m still extremely nervouscited. We’re about to embark on what may be one of Rainbow’s greatest displays of loyalty and one of my biggest callings to action since… well, ever really.





Despite considerable opposition from Congress and some of the airlines themselves, the resultant shortlist of approved AOE is as follows:

Palmdale (Los Angeles/San Diego – SoCal)
Homestead ARB (Miami)
Navy Key West (Miami)
Chicopee (Boston)
Richmond (DC/Greater Virginia)
McChord (Seattle)
Portland, OR
Jacksonville, FL
Minneapolis
Navy Fort Worth (Dallas)
Stockton (San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland/Sacramento – NorCal)
Bangor (New England)
Selfridge (Detroit)
Elmendorf (Anchorage)
Eielson (Fairbanks)

Under the current plan, repat flights land at AOE, where passengers go through customs and are tested. With results available relatively quickly, if they test positive, then obviously they quarantine at the AOE. If they test negative, then they can be transferred to a secondary airport where they’re tested again, this time for a test that’s more for “sensitivity.” If positive, quarantine at secondary.

Obviously, there is still risk for transmission during these efforts, but as it stands, it’s damn near impossible to formulate a completely watertight process. With that in mind, to help mitigate the risk, I implored airlines to find deep cleaning methods to sanitize the cabins. JetBlue, due to the structure of their route network, have decided to frontline the cleaning process, feeling in that regard to be pulling their fair share.

As for other airlines, I encouraged making use of fleet types that were in consideration for retirement. Since no one else proposed it at the meeting, and because Delta were shuffling their own fleet around, the idea was met rather well.

Every major US airline is participating, except Hawaiian, who were restricted by the state government as being deemed “too much of a risk to potentially bring the virus to the Hawaiian Islands.”

Three airlines have fully owned regional airline subsidiaries: Horizon Air under Alaska, Endeavor Air under Delta; and Piedmont, PSA, and Envoy (the OG American Eagle) all under American. A fourth regional airline, CommutAir, is 40% owned by United. Some of those fleets will be utilized on thinner routes or to airports that can only service regional jets.

Things are looking up, and fortunately for me, I have a lot of airplanes that are able to and should be utilized, so if an airline decides not to sacrifice any of their fleet, I should be able to “sublease” my own ships to fill in any gaps. I did say this was one of my biggest callings. Let’s see where the fates take us.

At $6.70/gallon, that $5 Million won’t even cover half of one airline’s expenditure on these missions. Instead, my fuel reserves are going pseudo pro Bono, letting the government cut go towards things like slot rights purchases, airport fees, and let’s be honest, overtime for the service members for those that will have to quarantine.

Here’s what I have planned for the airlines: virtually every airport with a military presence such as an ANG or ARNG station will potentially (and likely, depending on the region) be receiving flights as a secondary airport. Depending on what part of the country, the goal is to make sure that no one picking up (unless by choice) has to drive more than 3 hours. Certain places however just have to go more than three hours from home, simply because the military connection is a full military base, which for security reasons, cannot be serviced, at least for now.

United has sent two 777-300ER and three 787-10 for parking in Victorville. I tow them to their spots and help mothball them before a company A319 shuttles them out so they can get transferred to their next assignments. The next heads up from them will be the readying of their pandemic fleet, of which they’ll want to set up here.

American’s A330-300s are coming out of retirement to do London shuttles, since they’re the highest capacity model they’re volunteering. I quickly get each of the tanks topped off ahead of their dispatch orders.

Shortly after United raise the gear, in come Delta, with quite a few of their 777-200LR.

“Howdy Max!” The Chief Pilot calls, accompanied by all his accomplices.

The 777-200LR are going to serve the Pacific Theater, as we’re coming to call it, since someone at Andrews coined Atlantic Theatre in response to this virus being called “biological warfare.” These are of some of the farthest destinations from the US, so one of the longest range aircraft in the world ought to serve the corridor.





It’s taken this long, but the first country to bar international flights is one that I’ve been expecting, Turkey. Though no US airline serves Turkey, United is the carrier of choice, as one of their Star Alliance partners is Turkish Airlines. As United hasn’t sent any aircraft to me for fuel, I imagine they may come for it later.

I’m part of a group chat that announces and occasionally updates status for repatriation flights across the board. UA’s dispatch orders to Turkey are the kickoffs to operation March Madness, an apt name by this point, as we’re nearing April.

Next morning, a couple of hire vans show up with pilots for the 757/767. There is one extra special set of 757’s for dispatch, to be operated by United’s pilots, Allegiant’s (from when they dappled in Hawaii). They will head to Detroit to pick up medical equipment in exchange for repatriating US citizens. And before you get all riled up about how “we’re giving away American resources to foreigners,” I’m not going to bother wasting my time.

These guys are going to Paris and Rome. Poor Italy has had a bit of trouble handling a massive influx of patients, putting their healthcare system into a negative turnover, which is to say more hospitalizations than patient release. Spain has been having a similar problem as well as some regions of France. Hospitals have had to turn away patients or transfer patients to prioritize those inflected with what preliminary research has deemed SMEARS or SAMERS. Severe Middle Eastern Acute – or Severe Acute Middle Eastern – Respiratory Syndrome. By the looks and sounds of things, it sounds like a gross, disgusting hybrid of the original SARS and MERS viruses. Guess it did spread at the Qatar World Cup.

Now, just because I didn’t go to medical school does not mean I’m completely illiterate in that respect. I’ve done my own research, and with some knowledge of previous SARS and MERS outbreaks, it’s pretty clear to me that with all due respect, irrespective of what current disseminated information is available, the conclusion I can draw is this:



“Coronaviruses as a whole have been *grossly* (both wholly and disgustingly) understudied.”



While it’s easy to say that virology is a field that gets a lot less attention than it deserves, based on how I’ve seen general public reaction, action (or lack thereof) taken by leaders and authority figures, and my own research, it’s pretty clear cut and glaringly obvious that virologists are overworked and under-appreciated; and that what’s transpired is sort of the result of humanity’s own shortcomings in research on Coronaviruses.*

Soon after the last Allegiant 757 leaves for Detroit, I check to see if anyone has filed flight plans for either March or Victorville. I encouraged flying into the latter to keep a low profile, and because of traffic into and out of the Los Angeles corridors. Obviously I’d want to keep traffic out of March because it’s my current home, and me moving in is still a work in progress, but also consider that Victorville has the second longest runway in the United States, and if aircraft need to be stored, I have a lot of space here.

Next on the list is Delta. The country? Russia. Aeroflot, SkyTeam. ‘Nuff said. A330s on this route. Capacity and range, but mostly capacity. In Moscow at least. The US has three diplomatic missions here: Moscow, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok. In the case of Vladivostok, the flight is technically classed as Pacific Theater, being closer to Japan and Korea than their own capital.

Inbound from Seattle, fresh from mainstream trips to Japan, three A330-300’s touch down at Victorville.

Each of the pilots and flight attendants on this trip came to the field in casual clothes, as an agreement where I could lend them facilities to help them out of course. So, as all of the crew members freshen up for what’s surely to be a long few days ahead, I get each airplane filled up.

Just as the Russia crews emerge, American sends three of their A330-200 for parking, and so they can do flight tests on the A330-300 ahead of their dispatch orders. Following is a Delta A321 with a bunch of their 777 pilots in tow, and are due out for some of the farthest destinations from home: Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. I know it seems pointless to fuel up here, but it’s free fuel (sort of), and I’m sure they don’t want to use their shiny, brand new A330-900neo or A350-900.

For probably the first time in its memorable history, Victorville is (technically) seeing commercial ops, and I haven’t even booted up the tower; though that’s only because Torque Wrench and I are the only ones who are trained in line operations, and she certainly can’t do it all herself.

When the Russian crews board their jets, I tow them clear for jet blast purposes before they start up. Fortunately for us, the first one out is the ship dispatched to Vladivostok, so once we get all of the Delta ships lined up, as American does work on their own A330-300s, I watch them and monitor the CTAF through a handheld as they taxi to runway 17.

“Curiosity question for any of you. Were you able to contact Joshua [Departure] from here?”

“Affirm, void in 15 minutes.” One replies.

“Perfect! Great flight guys, see you soon.”

“Oh, we’ll definitely be back!” A different pilot replies.

Suddenly, a flood of texts to the repat group chat pop up.

“We need to station aircraft for flights to places we can’t reach from SoCal. Even empty.”

“I’ll be in Illinois next week. We’ve got the Indonesian rescues here now, and the Russia guys just departed. Are there any more places that can depart from SoCal that have approval? I don’t want to head for Peotone until there’s at least a few day’s break between stationings” (sic).

“We’ve sent a few 737’s down to some of the Antilles.” The Chief Pilot for American replies, “and I’ve been told that a bunch of our guys will be heading down to Cali soon for the Australia flights.”

“Have they been approved already?”

“Still waiting on slot clearances. We have full approval for Canberra, but we want to wait until at least Sydney is approved.”

“When are all your guys going to show? That will determine how quickly I’ll get myself to Illinois.”

“We can get them to you as early as tomorrow.”

“Likewise.” The Chief Pilot of United adds. “New Zealand has approved Christchurch and Wellington, but Auckland is still pending on slots.”

“No problem at all, if you can get them down here ASAP.”





In prep for repatriation flights from Central and South America, I prep some of Delta’s 757s already retired, including a handful which, like the Allegiant jets, were rescued from storage. Some of them don’t even have winglets. These airplanes still have the range to go about as far south as Buenos Aires, but have to return to Homestead or Navy Key West.

Nevertheless, these are the last planned dispatch orders from California before I fire up EI-DSW and head for SMG. A couple hours after landing, Torque Wrench and I are getting the fuel trucks ready just as ships inbound to here broadcast their positions.

Delta’s 777-200LR that aren’t on the Pacific Theater are serving on the Atlantic Theatre, mainly servicing places that only this aircraft can reach, like Madagascar or Mauritius, which is where Lockie settled when he came to this world.

After I line each airplane up for easy access when they get dispatched, American joins the party and sends all their 767. The invasion of Peotone completes with the arrival of some American 757’s, but these to my surprise, are painted in the old Chrome/Bare Metal, meaning they too are fresh out of storage, and looking beautiful and shiny as when they left.

After all the pilots leave, Torque Wrench and I get to filling up about 30 different planes. In the time it takes us to fuel half of them, a dispatch order is given.

Here’s where things get a little exciting. Most of Western [Continental] Europe has solidified their dates, and want flights immediately. Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Greece, and Malta.

There are many airplanes on the route, each serving a different AOE depending on the range, expected capacity, and of course, the status of each airport.

Generally, every airport will see flights to Palmdale and either Bangor or Chicopee. The latter two cover New England and most of the Mid-Atlantic respectively. Thus, each airport will usually see at least two flights.

When the first few airplanes are ready to be boarded, it’s brought to my attention that two of the flights out are captain upgrade checkrides. Very exciting news.

Since Peotone has a massive deicing ramp, this is our staging area, that way they can just pull straight ahead and taxi out.

Just as I watch the massive queues forming, I ask myself if I’m a mini Dallas, because all the ships on dispatch are American. For now. Depending on how the approval processes go, each aircraft between repat flights is supposed to “rest” for two weeks, just in case any positive cases did travel, in addition to the sanitization process that JetBlue uses, with their permission.

What a spectacle watching a series of close parallel departures, completely uncontrolled. Well, you know, until they switch over to departure control.

Next morning, as we both rise early and check the radar for flights inbound, I find two Delta -200LR currently over Joliet, so they’re close. Looks like they’re on the Long Range Atlantic Theatre, to be stationed here instead.

When they land, a bunch of pilots emerge and immediately start working on the company -200ER that are already stationed here.

“We’ve been approved for what may well be the longest flight we’ll have to serve short of Perth or the Maldives. Outside of South Africa, the rest of Southern Africa collectively only has 156 passengers. We’ll be sending six jets down there, but Johannesburg and Cape Town are waiting on confirmation from our diplomats.”

“Any of these guys getting their captain’s upgrade?”

“Not this time.”

“Any word from London or Sydney? I know they have to find the perfect day, but obviously the longer it takes, the risk might just increase.”

“Not that I know. All of Australia’s and the UK’s major airports are slot restricted. We have noticed however that a lot of our regular flights have routinely sold out for consecutive weeks on end. Looks like many of them are playing it smart.”

“There’s something you don’t hear every day.”

“Ain’t that right.”

“Those are incredibly long flights down there. I really feel for the guys choosing to do the multi-hop. That’s… what, 8 different countries or territories? And it’s quite literally a full day to get down there.”

“Yeah. The aircrew on that plane is 15.”

“Mad props to them. And the ship. Los Angeles to Nairobi is about the absolute range.”

“Endurance profile claims about 22 hours or so.”

“And Los Angeles–Nairobi is about 19.5.”

“There ya go.”

“Alrighty then.” I say as I point the Africa crews in the direction of my facilities. “Man, I feel like a truck stop. And I am, in a way.”

“We really appreciate it. You donating fuel and use of your facilities definitely makes up for the government shortchange.”

“Well, “it’s not his responsibility”. And sadly, some taxpayers may agree.”

“Maybe, but is it because they don’t want their taxpayer dollars “wasted” on free flights to those who tried to stick out a vacation?”

“Or is it just because they’re backing the opinion behind [the] Resolute [Desk]?”

He only shrugs in response.

As we start chatting about the 777, we get into a bit of a chat about how there’s a bit of a “rivalry” amongst 777 pilots. Team ER and Team LR. There are a few differences, of which each of the now few remaining pilots swear their allegiance to for a number of reasons.

I of course don’t take sides. Each variant has its shining points and while they are siblings, they don’t necessarily complete directly, even though they’re configured exactly the same as far as passengers are concerned. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that the 777 pilots are still enjoying themselves, even as their type slowly nears their end.

A couple hours later, the Delta LR departs for what’s sure to be a long few days for them. These guys really a have volunteered a lot for these efforts.

“Peotone traffic, United Flight, a group of 757s in sequence inbound.” A voice on the CTAF calls a few minutes later.

“United flight, Peotone manager. How many are you?”

“17.”

“Roger. Say intentions on the ground.”

“2 of us are assigned to the Canaries and Barcelona departing the day after tomorrow. The rest of us are the p.s. transcon birds moving to your airfield for parking.”

“I’m not observing any radar right now, but are any of the Allegiant jets with you?”

“No, they’re in the Eastern European corridor. Last I heard, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus were where they were headed.”

“2 apiece?”

“Uh, three of them went to Kiev. The others I don’t know.”

“Good to know. Taxi instructions will be to park at the deicing ramp except the transcon. Will you need progressive? I can do that from the tower.”

“Yes please.”

“No problem. I’ll get that going for you. I assume you’re running close parallel with visual separation?”

“Affirm.”

“Roger, talk to you soon.”

Torque Wrench is already booting up the tower and has the equipment scanning by the time I get up there.

Each airplane follows the leader and are soon parked. Rather brilliantly, the flight leaders are United p.s./Transcontinental 757s, intended to be parked here while their fate is decided. Because of this, 15 of the 17 inbounds are moved to one of my many terminals, as we’re expecting quite a few more arrivals today.

The 757s United uses for the p.s. transcon routes are the 757s United operated before the merger with Continental. There are some subtle differences that would require a careful eye to notice.

The registrations on the p.s. will always end with ‘UA’, such as N502UA or N590UA.
The registrations on ex-Cons are all 5 numbers, such as N17105 or N14120.

Another way to tell Houston apart from Chicago.
Chicago’s 757s are powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2037, whose engines look “stubbier” and are of a larger diameter. Delta operate these same engines.
Houston’s 757s run on Rolls-Royce RB211, the same as the former US Airways, American, and America West. These engines are much skinnier and longer.

But the most subtle difference between the tulip and the globe is actually in my name, the winglet.
Globes have been upgraded to a so-called “blended scimitar” or simply “scimitar.” Instead of having two parts like the 737, the 757 upgrade is only the top “dagger,” with no ventral strake.
Tulips have not seen these upgrades, and didn’t because of the cabin configuration whose cost of upgrade would not be offset compared to their other counterparts.

In short, the three ways to tell United and Continental apart are the registration, the shape of the engine, and the shape of the winglet.

Before all this, I’d been training Rainbow Dash on the Ex-Con -200s, as she much prefers the Rolls-Royce engines of the Ex-Con (and Icelandair too) to the Pratt & Whitney from Delta (both types are out of or near retirement – partial retirements). It’s a good thing we advanced as far as we did in her training, because I find her marks on the -200 good enough to begin her IOE on the -300, which is our next lesson. Or, we can move her to the 767, if she so desires.

Anyway, as Torque and I get to work filling up the UA/CO birds on the ramp, the sound of yet another inbound airplane slowly fills the air.

My suspicions confirm as I watch an A319, all blued up, park on the back edge of the deicing ramp. Attaching an air stair and presenting a whole outfit of stewards and stewardesses, I confirm they’re picking up these pilots across the Great Lakes to Newark, where they’re continuing on to other flights they may be assigned to.

They leave an hour later, and with no scheduled operations for the rest of the day, I turn in early.

At about 6:50 am, I’m woken up by some radio chatter. Sounds like the first arrivals are inbound.

I head into the tower and boot up the radar. Since I didn’t file a NOTAM for tower services, I cannot and will not act as a tower controller. Instead, I’m relegated to tracking them via the air and ground radar.

Soon though, the staging area of the former deicing ramp is pretty much full, with the aircrews awaiting ground transportation back to Chicago, though most of them do take the time to change.

Just then, the cleaning crews arrive. With a number of groups cleaning about a dozen or so airplanes at a time, the process moves by relatively quickly, especially with so many people per aircraft.

To my surprise, the cleaning crews do the entire ramp in about 45 minutes. As soon as they finish, I pay each of them plus a small tip for driving all the way out to Peotone before the two of us pack our things.





“Hello?”

“Hi Max, how you doin’?”

“Not too bad, yourself?”

“I’m alright. Um, we’ve just received clearance to repat out of Portugal, but we’re short pilots, and the 757 is the only aircraft available. Can we… fly you into New York and get you out to Portugal from there?”

“That’s fine. I can do that.”

“Do you by chance have a copilot who can join you?”

“I do. She’s SIC-only though.”

“That’s fine, as long as she can act as a crewmember. Get in touch with her, we’ll get you a cabin crew, and you can make your way down to PDL.”

“Wait, I thought you discontinued service to the Azores.”

“We did, but our charts are still valid. They expire next week, so when and where can we pick you up?”

“When’s the flight?”

“Friday.”

“Okay, let me talk with my F/O and see what her schedule is. I’m sure she’ll take an opportunity to fly with me. Do you have red eyes available, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“Best I can do is early tomorrow morning.”

“Okay then, that’s fine. I’ll also need a night in New York to acclimate and such.”

“We can help with that. Thanks so much!”

“No problem. Happy to help.”

“We’ll see you in a couple days then.”

“I look forward to it.”

“Who was that?” Torque asks.

“Delta. They have a flight scheduled but no aircrew to fly it. They’re calling on Rainbow Dash and I.”

“Do ya know if anyone else is coming in to either airfield while you’re gone?”

“No, but I imagine we’ll have the Sydney and London shuttles ready pretty soon.”

“I’ll be ready to fuel them up.”

“Alrighty.”