I Say Again...Merry Christmas!

Ladies and gentlemen, from the flight deck...A Few ticklish tidbits to get you re-energized for the Holiday shopping adventure, and to carry you into the New Year. . .

Quick! Gotta get those Christmas trees delivered, pronto!
Actual vid: http://goo.gl/5TXSFT

THANK YOU for tuning in this past 2013

The blog experience—and especially meeting all of you—has been AWESOME!

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Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and to all a

wonderful Holiday Season!
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Recently, Mark Lawrence, Producer of nycaviation.com (and plane spotter extraordinaire over at http://amateuravphoto.blogspot.com), snapped a pic of Cap'n Aux landing his bird on Rwy 10L in KFLL! . . . and, yep, I was hand-flying at this point!

HEY KIDS!

Speaking of tracking flights, join NORAD as they track Santa around the world!

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhTLGBq-Uyg&feature=share&list=UUY4MNXx_FB6_o1C7zkeI0fg&index=3

NORAD Santa Tracking Link: http://www.noradsanta.org

And now . . .

Let's get this party started with . . .


the great Cap'n Jean Luc Picard singing his version of, "Let it Snow" . . .
Make it So!

Direct Link: http://youtu.be/oiSn2JuDQSc

Flash! Late addition! An immediate classic:

Direct Link: http://youtu.be/T-D1KVIuvjA

Speaking of those naughty Clauses, if you haven't seen it,

here's a GIF of a nasty, viral vid from this past week:

To catch the actual video (F-bomb alert—this is NOT a Christmas vid for the kiddies!), here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9-jEm2hIw

If drunken, moronic Santas street brawling just aren't your thing,

here's a delightful, family-friendly alternative video—

one family's video Christmas card, called the "Christmas Jammie Jam!"

Direct Link: http://www.dailydot.com/lol/news-anchor-rap-christmas-cards/

The Holderness Family video Story: http://www.dailydot.com/lol/news-anchor-rap-christmas-cards/

. . . and my own version of a classic Christmas poem, called 

"Santa Drops In"!

Direct link:  http://youtu.be/w0_rwWbTN7c

In the spirit of the Holidays, don't forget to SHARE, SHARE SHARE! 

Embed code:
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w0_rwWbTN7c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Candy cane airplane Christmas ornaments.
Thought this was awesome!

A Christmas tale: 

One thing I love about flying on Christmas is sharing the joy of the season with the kids on board.  Last year, I flew on Christmas eve, at night.  So, I waited till we had an opposite-direction aircraft passing by us.  Just before they passed, I got on the PA and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just been informed that Santa and his reindeer are passing by us momentarily.  Watch out your left side windows, and he'll be passing by in about a minute.  In fact, I can already see Rudolph's red nose!"

The aircraft flew past us close by, a mere thousand feet below, and all you could see was the running lights.  From our angle, it appeared as if the red (port) wing light was in front—Rudolph leading the way!

Reports from the Flight Attendants in back were that the kids went bananas! 

Santa! Jepps called: your new North Pole GPS approach is ready!

Direct Link: http://youtu.be/xVwA8bUg52k

—Every runway is 18 (i.e., landing South!)

—Increased minimums for Rudolph's nose Out!

—Increased minimums for 2 or more Reindeer Inop!

—0/0 Takeoff & landing minimums for Rudolph's nose!

Another Christmas tale:

In another incident that happened to my Flight Attendant gf Bunny, a man who plays Santa happened to be a passenger on board an international flight.   She asked him to dress up, then got on the PA and said, "Boys and girls, guess who's here!" As expected, mayhem reigned for about an hour as Santa was mobbed by children for cookies, photos and autographs!

GOTTA LOVE THIS SEASON!!!

Through the Holidays,

100% of proceeds from both my novels go to the orphan charities warmblankets.org and flyingkites.org

. . . and stuff PERFECTLY into that STOCKING!!!

The Last Bush Pilots
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TOP 100—AMAZON Best New Novels 2013

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Code Name: Dodger
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Winner, Remington Literary's Search for a Best Young Adult Novel!

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Perfect gifts for the aviation geeks, adrenaline junkies & voracious readers on your list!

Need more? Karlene Petitt posted a great list of aviation writers:

http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com/2013/12/santa-really-does-fly.html

A wonderful vid from the folks at WestJet. Brought tears to my eyes!
"Twas the Flight Before Christmas"

Link: http://youtu.be/zIEIvi2MuEk

While Googling Christmas Airplane cartoons, I stumbled across this funny site: 

Things you Don't Want to See out an Airplane Window

http://thechive.com/2009/01/30/15-things-you-never-want-to-see-outside-the-airplane-window-15photos/

Christmas, 2011: Cap'n Aux endures his grueling PVR (Puerta Vallarta) layover on Christmas eve. This year, on Xmas Eve, I'll be in GEG (Spokane.) No barefoot sunbathing for me! 

People often ask me if I ever get to spend Christmas at home.  We have ALWAYS had to create an "alternative" Christmas day for our family (see my post earlier this month, "Top 10 Downers of an Airline Pilot Career," http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-10-downers-of-airline-career.html). But this year, it ain't too bad: I'm scheduled to arrive back home around noon on Christmas day. Just in time for the family feast! (as long as my "schedule" holds up, that is!)

Don't forget, however, there are many flight crew out there spending a lonely day away from their loved ones (we are often stuck in hotel rooms for TWO DAYS over Christmas, as the schedules are reduced to bare minimum over the holiday!)

Moreover, there are TENS of THOUSANDS of our troops stationed abroad protecting us!  

Please pray fervently for for their safe return to their loved ones!

FINALLY,

With all due respect for my non-Christian readers...

A scene from one of my all-time favorites, "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

I DO want to remind those concerned about WHY we have CHRISTmas in the first place!

What if Facebook were around in the time of Jesus? A wonderful, tastefully done vid:

Link: http://youtu.be/sghwe4TYY18

(sorry, direct link has an ad up front)

And, even if you "DON'T believe in Christmas," just remember the SPIRIT of the day:  

the GIFT to the WORLD of PEACE and GOODWILL TOWARD MAN!

So, please don't just have "Happy Holidays,"

HAVE A VERY, VERY, VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS,

HAPPY HANUKKAH AND AWESOME NEW YEAR!!!

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 THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS NICHOLAS D. CHECQUE, 

of Navy Seal Team Six, killed Dec. 18, 2012, in the Afghanistan raid that rescued Dr. Dilip Joseph, a U.S. citizen held hostage by Taliban terrorists.

True American Hero, Petty Officer 1st Class Nicholas D. Checque*

—Chris's Story HERE
*I was going to dedicate last year's Christmas post to Petty Officer Checque (who was the same rank as my father), but sadly the Sandy Hook tragedy occurred, and I scrapped the post. What I came up with, I believe, was a very poignant article about the tragedy and the spirit of the Season.

Don't miss my previous post, an updated version of the Sandy Hook article, entitled:

Answers to the Sandy Hook Tragedy Found in the Christmas Season

http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/12/answers-to-sandy-hook-tragedy-found-in.html

I SAY AGAIN . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Related Cap'n Aux Posts:

• Sandy Hook Tragedy: http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2012/12/answers-to-sandy-hook-tragedy-found-in.html
• Happy NoMoWriMo!: http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2013/11/happy-nanowrimo-month.html
• That's How I Blogroll!: http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2013/01/thats-how-i-blogroll.html
• Cap'n Aux's Greatest Role Model: http://capnaux.blogspot.com/2013/11/capn-auxs-most-inspirational-role-model.html

Related Links:

• Chris Checque Story: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/10/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-rescue/index.html
• Chris Checque Bio, Hero Project: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/12/nicolas-checque-slaying-part-of-terrible-month-for-navy-seals-in-afghanistan.html
• 10 Facts About Chris Checque: http://www.heavy.com/regions/2012/12/nicolas-checque-seal-team-6-rescue-hero-afghanistan/
• Things You Never Want to See on a Plane: http://thechive.com/2009/01/30/15-things-you-never-want-to-see-outside-the-airplane-window-15photos/

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                        POST-FLIGHT CHECKLIST

1.  JOIN THIS SITE.....................VERIFY.............................JOINED
2.  COMMENT............................VERIFY.............................MADE
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      POST-FLIGHT CHECKLIST.......................COMPLETE!      

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LINED UP & WAITING

Blogging in Formation Week!—Posts all week beginning Jan. 1

Jan. 1: Smart Flight Training - Andrew Hartley
            Flight to Success - Karlene Petitt

Jan. 2: House of Rapp - Ron Rapp

            Adventures of Cap’n Aux - Eric Auxier

Jan. 6: iFLYblog - Brent Owens

            Introducing Mark L. Berry, at marklberry.com!

This Month's Theme: My New Year's Resolution!

Cap'n Aux post: January 2 @ 00:30 PHX

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HOLDING SHORT

Departing in January 15th @ 11:00 PHX

GoPro Vlog: Cap'n Aux Gets High!

. . . in the Altitude Chamber, that is!

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TAXIING FOR TAKEOFF

The Best of Cap'n Aux, 2013—Voted by YOU!

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R U on FaceBook? Twitter?  Me too! 

I post on FB (http://www.facebook.com/CapnAux) & Tweet (@capnaux) almost every day!

Y'TUBE http://www.youtube.com/user/capnauxblog AMAZON amazon.com/author/ericauxier

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