We'd flown together as crew so many times over the years, on both the MD-80 and the 737, that the cockpit was pleasantly quiet. That's as it should be below 10,000 feet, when all talk in the cockpit is required to be exclusively flight-related. I'm a big fan of the quiet cockpit anyway, at all altitudes. But that's just me. Near level-off, as we settled in to cruise-with fuel good, center tank still above three thousand pounds, both boost pumps on, fuel burn only slightly behind (typical in climb)-things slowed down to hydraulics, electrics, oxygen (how many years of HEFOE checks?), and standing by for clearance direct to Wilson Creek if the Air Force restricted airspace wasn't active.
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