777-300 DFW-LHR-DFW VLOG....I finally had to shave!

After 3 weeks at home on reserve I had to fly a trip...and shave. Contrary to popular belief flying with a beard is safe. The reason we have to shave it because many airlines dictate pilots can only have a well trimmed mustache.
1:05 Headed to DFW prebrief
4:25 Arrived on Flight Deck
5:37 Landing video in LHR on 9L
7:23 Post Flight debrief
14:49 French Taco review
19:04 Bedtime discussion
22:06 Preflight return flight briefing
24:35 Post flight debrief
29:33 Video wrap up
Thank you for your support

[@highlandersixtysix]

You're just a thoroughly decent guy who makes interesting and informative videos - and that's why I keep coming back.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thank you.

[@derrickevans1659]

I fly the 777 out of IAH. Your videos are right on point. It’s good to see I am not the only one trying to stay awake through dinner in London. I have 4 LHR in November. I hope to run into you one of these days.

[@philipsebunya5614]

I do appreciate how you ALWAYS refer to your family, being a father and a husband. It’s very honorable 🙏🏿🙏🏿

[@airplaneaviation5750]

Congrats on 10,000! Your videos are always super informative and super enjoyable to watch, by far the most real and down to earth videos I watch!

[@angelojoseph6900]

SaLLute to you Darren. Vlog is awesome. Congrats on reaching 10K subs. I appreciate you for giving us the real and not just the fluff or the SportsCenter highlights of the life of a pilot.

[@Simple_man_65]

Congratulations on 10K! Those JFK - LHR turns must be brutal!

[@Tafa-Mapa]

Must be a great feeling seeing how you landed your own plane. I bet that Flight Focus channel is a hit with pilots flying in LHR. I watch that channel everyday and live in England, and I feel great pleasure the days you do a video of you coming to LHR.

[@kylekitzmiller1616]

I live in Cincinnati Ohio in the US and I watch it every morning when getting ready for work

[@astro_karbowski]

I feel you on the employee bus issue. We work for the same company and our employee buses at your favorite airport in NC are a nightmare for below and above the wing. Thanks for your videos, they push me to keep going with flight training when the future seems a little bleak right now. As I watch this I am working on CFI lesson plans lol. Cheers!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Bummer about CLT ha. Keep slugging it out. CFI training is a confusing and chaotic portion. Worth it.

[@CZARAIR45]

Great video love the routine based on your tight schedule the bottom line is you make do, but I always wanted to be an airline pilot which never came to fruition however I’m a retired police sergeant in NY still with high aspirations to get my private pilot license so be safe and happy flying. ✈️

[@david.b4186]

OUTSTANDING Landing Dude👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@WesCollingsworth]

I love that you mentioned that you cook when you’re home. I travel for work and love cooking when I’m home. I was curious what you like to cook, then you started to mention Costco stuffed peppers but that “we probably don’t care about that” 😂. It turns out we (or at least I) do!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

For breakfast I make eggs, biscuits, bacon and eggs 2-3 times a week and cinnamon rolls once a week. Other days it's oatmeal for me and cereal for them. I do make fresh waffles on occasion. For dinners it's nothing fancy...spaghetti, some kind of chicken and french fries or whatever costco meal I eyed that week. Thank you for the kind words.

[@mullzoo16]

Great video + thank you for all the content you share on KZbin!

[@Luda0978]

Great vlog I love this!

[@5710fpilot]

Fortnum & Mason and the restaurant attached is where I'd go for fresh, local farm to market grocery and food!❤ a bit downtown, but definitely cool to shop from the Queens Grociers.

[@BIGralph01]

CPT Darren Butters back at it again with another greaser! 💪🏿

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I have had my share of interrupted descents

[@atcmick]

ATC in the UK typically issues headings ending in 5 so there is not a requirement to say "degrees". Headings ending in 0 require degrees so they are not mistaken for a flight level.

[@MajorLazer182]

Love that you share your everyday life, what you get to eat etc., very interesting! Thanks Darren. By the way, hows the Equinox holding up? Do you still like it

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Still liking the Equinox EV. It’s not perfect but very good everyday car.

[@NicolasMeilhac]

You don't know why in London they give you 355 or 345 degrees?There's a reason for this! In order to mitigate confusion with climb/descend to a evel, so pretty much all headings are in 5 degrees increments instead... Great videos btw!

[@joshilini2]

You should be called Dazza! That landing was smoother than silk! Buttered and greased it in!

[@kennyadvocat]

I know you're probably bored of it but I like the London videos. hehe Nice landing!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thanks! Sometimes it all works out.

[@abbasrizvi9389]

Great Video!!!

[@tonymcflattie2450]

Thumbs up for idle reverse till exit

[@urgentarya]

Amazing landing! Great video!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thank you

[@arnoldkorir6002]

The video quality is much better.looks great even as you learn to use the new camera.

[@jimmclendon5404]

Peanut butter stuffed with apple and cinnamon plus the lemon drizzle cake….. so… how were they ? To heck with the flying for flyings sake , I would be flying for the food. Congratulations on the 10k.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Apple cinnamon thing I wouldn’t get again. The lemon cake was good but dry. Thank you.

[@thetwopointslow]

As someone who’s vegan, currently working on instrument rating and hopes to one day be where you are, good to know it can be done!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

It was NOT easy. Everything in airports used to have chicken or cheese. Traveling international and bringing food was a challenge. It can be done with planning. Peanut butter sandwiches were my staple. I felt great and lost a ton of weight doing it.

[@thetwopointslow]

@@geekontheflightdeck crazy that it can still be tough at many airports even to find healthy NON-vegan food, peanut butter is definitely a lifesaver in a pinch though! Thanks for the reply!

[@tomasmarcataio2066]

YES! New video

[@ritchieb1612]

We found Fairlife milk a year ago, great milk!!! Congrats on 10k

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thank you. Costco had 18 packs of it for $18.99. I thought that was the normal price so only bought 2. Nope $31.99 is normal. Yikes!

[@ritchieb1612]

I was curious to know the price here in YUL brother. Costco sells it for $50. 00 😲

[@geekontheflightdeck]

At least you have Tim Hortons. Though I hear we are getting them as well.

[@ritchieb1612]

Hey... hope you folks get to taste Tim's but to be honest we are not fans. We really don"t drink coffee but got into Lattes or as they served us in France Cafe aux Lait. I'll go to Starbucks and get their Lattes. I can hear the screaming already 🤨

[@LISRAREF]

Sometimes the 5 degrees is just enough to get the min separation, why send you further off course if that’s all they need? I know a lot of controllers that do headings with 5 ending though for avoiding confusion, but noone who would change it 5 degrees to make it like that.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

It's possible.....just odd how in other parts of the world I've never had a 5 degree change requested.

[@adamk6009]

How do you make the call between being tired vs being fatigued/not fit to fly? If you show up to the cockpit yawning, would that be an issue?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Yawning isn't an issue. You have to get to know your body, how much quality rest you've had and how much work is ahead. Hard to describe but I've inadvertently flown fatigued when I first started having no memory of the flight or the drive home. We had very different rest rules and much less protection back then

[@mikhailswartz]

"... Got tired of avoiding cheese... " 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

[@manualflight]

Do you guys still tap dance on the rudder on the airliner while short final? Tap dancing as in putting little pressure left and right repeatedly as taught during the GA days.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Nope. Yaw damper plus a massive airframe negate that need. Rudder only used on takeoff roll and flare in a crosswind

[@samuelyoseph25]

Is this with your new DJI camera? Quality is top tier

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Yep it’s a mix of DJI , IPhone 15 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro.

[@tonymcflattie2450]

Now how do I land this thing?

[@papatango2362]

Hey Darren, do you know why London always end at a hold over BNN VORTAC? American STARs are generally better as their final transition point is normally on or a vector to the ILS? Also why do foreign SID/STARS have several different procedures based on runway and transition. IE BNN3A, BNN1C, BNN1D etc. Find it somewhat annoying compared to selecting SEEVR4 from (initial fix) and a runway. Your thoughts on this or does it not bother you.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

London always has a hold I believe because of volume. The STAR requires holding unless cleared otherwise. I agree they are much more complex and that can lead to confusion when getting a verbal clearance. I always phonetically spell each STAR name when getting a clearance

[@Sawyer9827]

Great video. I’m currently a teen just reading books, such as Jeppesen. When would you recommend starting to look into flight schools?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thank you. I would take tours when you're about a year away. You can also get the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Airplane Flying Handbook right now from the FAA free as PDFs.

[@Sawyer9827]

@@geekontheflightdeck Thank you so much. A little confused, what does the “year away” mean? Could you elaborate? But thank you so much I appreciate it.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

A year before you’re ready to train start taking tours. Tour at least 3 different schools. Look for grants and scholarships as well from AOPA NGPA OBAP WAI LAPA PAPA and more. You can search each one and the word scholarship.

[@Sawyer9827]

@@geekontheflightdeck Okay, will definitely look into this. I appreciate the advice. Hope you’re having a good day.

[@dinomagnifico7076]

Hi Darren, your videos are awesome! I have aerophobia, didnt fly for over 20 years. I took my first flight last year, short one but I want to fly more, do you have any advice? My biggest fear is flying over the ocean, any advice on that? Thank you

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Thank you. Remember planes are not autonomous. There are two (or more) professionals upfront that always have safety in mind. We want to go home to our families at the end of every trip. The biggest fear I find is turbulence. You must accept aircraft can easily fly through the worst turbulence you can imagine just fine. They are tested at much higher turbulence levels than I’ve ever been through. Think of it as a free massage.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Maybe stop by the flight deck and mention you’re a nervous flier and ask how the ride and weather will be. Most pilots are happy to talk about it. Just need to ask the first Flight Attendant you see when you board.

[@dinomagnifico7076]

@@geekontheflightdeck thank you so much for your advice. I will stop by the flight deck. You make great points. Thank you again.

[@phynessea247]

Do you ever do DFW - YYZ

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Years ago on the MD80 and Airbus

[@phynessea247]

@@geekontheflightdeck Then you most likely flew me. Took many flight btw DFW & YYZ on the Mad Dog.

[@sirjasonakana]

Does your company issue the link ties?, or do you have to buy them and they just allow it? good idea/suggestion about colored items vs white or black.

[@geekontheflightdeck]

They are company issued but we must purchase them. The money goes to a cancer charity. All ties must be company approved with very limited exceptions

[@heresthething9740]

Which GLP-1 are you on, how long have you been on it and how much weight have you lost? Are you on maintenance level now? Does the FAA specify which GLP-1's they allow?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I'm on a compounded version of Wegovy. I'm down almost 50 from January. FAA fully allows it for weight loss only. I can shoot you the FAA document

[@Musamaliii]

Hey I thought about this but are you ever going to incorporate videos in the flight deck or is that not allowed by the company?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Not allowed by company

[@abooismail]

Looks like a panini and what a drag, no ketchup

[@vixwald]

Did you switch from an ioniq 5 to a blazer? I love my i5 but curious what you think of the Chevy

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I sold my Ioniq 5 and went to an Equinox. The Ioniq is a fabulous car by far to fancy for am airport car. I’m saving thousands over the course of the lease

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I have a review of the Equinox on this channel from a few weeks ago. Short. I love it.

[@lydtay932]

what did pass at 28:36??? it look like a massive Radar or VOR

[@geekontheflightdeck]

TTT VOR!

[@joshuasmith1813]

How long until your off reserve i dont know the lingo

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Varies by aircraft seat base. For me in my situation it could be 2 years. Reserve can be better than a bottom end line holder

[@calilife6661]

You guys aren’t allowed mustaches?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Mustache only per company. Full beard or nothing from my wife.

[@peterk814]

What are your thoughts on the 777x?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I really don’t have any. My airline can’t ordered it so I know nothing about it.

[@davowe]

Hey Darren. What are the glasses you film with?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I use Meta glasses for my hands free filming. Biggest limitation is portrait video only.

[@davowe]

@@geekontheflightdeck oh ok. Do they have your regular prescription in the lenses?

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Correct they are prescription.

[@csj_80]

watch your phone in London, lots of phone snatchers on bikes!

[@PInk77W1]

777-300 is a different aircraft than a 777-300ER

[@geekontheflightdeck]

Same. I fly the ER. I just don’t use the full name.

[@bc25phl]

When are you going to LAX and meeting up with @StigAviation (www.youtube.com/@StigAviation)? The two best "Kirkland Airlines" KZbinrs!

[@geekontheflightdeck]

I met him once when I was on the Airbus years ago. In true Stig style he covered his face AND badge when I met him. Ha.