Cleared for Takeoff - Day One of IOE

Now sitting in my hotel room by the Savannah airport, it’s hard to believe my very first official trip is already in the logbook.

Today marked the beginning of my IOE, and it was, thankfully, a smooth ride. The weather played nice, the aircraft behaved, and the operation ran just as expected. No curveballs. Just a solid, successful first leg.

The report time at Boston Logan was 9:20 AM. I gave myself plenty of wiggle room, leaving the house at 6:00 sharp and pulling into the garage just over two hours later. Parking, despite the early hour, was already turning into a competitive sport. Cars were wedged into every corner of the garage, even blocking lanes. Thankfully, a few airport staff were on hand to guide the chaos, and I snagged a spot right outside Terminal C.

Navigating to Terminal A and finding the KCM checkpoint proved a bit more challenging. The instructions online didn’t quite match reality, but Terminal A is small enough that, with some help, I found it quickly. Good news: my KCM card worked. I learned a few key things too—when in uniform, one form of ID is enough. If not, two forms are needed. Today, the scanner gods smiled on me, and I was waved through without getting randomed.

With time to spare, I grabbed my usual preflight ritual: an everything bagel and a smoothie. While waiting at the gate, I reviewed the company pages for both BOS and SAV, brushing up on departure procedures and taxiway layouts. When the inbound aircraft arrived, I met my check airman, who immediately made me feel at ease.

We walked down the jet bridge, and he gave me time to get set up in the flight deck before heading outside for our preflight walkaround. Seeing it all on a real aircraft—from the preflight checks to the hazmat-suited crew draining the lav—added a new layer of realism. Still, it mirrored our training materials and walkarounds to a T.

Since the aircraft was on its second leg of the day, we weren’t starting cold and dark, which saved time. I ran through my flows and checklists while the captain walked me through the finer points of gate pushback and taxi procedures. One immediate lesson? Ground frequency at BOS moves fast. There's no polite pause—you jump in the second you hear a gap, or risk being left behind. Fortunately, the captain handled most of the taxiing and let me focus on getting everything else sorted out.

I was the pilot flying today, and we did a thorough brief before pushback. We lifted off from BOS. I hand-flew to 10,000 feet before flipping on the autopilot and settling into normal PM responsibilities. The flight was long enough that we worked through a good chunk of our IEO lesson plan en route, including scorecard fuel planning. It reminded me of private pilot cross-country work, only with more automation and better tools.

Our arrival into Savannah was uneventful. With no STARs into SAV, it was a matter of loading the approach, cleaning out irrelevant fixes, and briefing the final segment. Hand-flying down from 500 feet was nothing out of the ordinary. The sight picture was slightly different from the sim—I felt higher than I actually was. Still, we landed smoothly, with a little help from the captain.

After taxi-in, we did have to write up an MCDU issue on the captain's side. It took longer than expected to get deferred by maintenance, but it gave me a chance to chat with the outbound crew, who offered some encouragement and tips. Always great to feel that camaraderie.

We wrapped the night with a hearty dinner at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. After a long day (and a lot of blueberries for lunch), real food hit the spot. Now, I’m reviewing my notes and getting ready for tomorrow’s double-hop to JFK and Norfolk. I’m hoping to tighten up a few things, stay ahead of the airplane a bit more, and just keep learning.

So far, so good. Day one in the books—onward to day two.