Tel Aviv

I managed to go flying again, although all I managed was 3 take offs and landings to keep myself current!  Its always the same though isn't it?  I hardly fly and when I do its at night to a strange airport!  Although this time the strange airport was Tel Aviv, and we got to spend 2 days in the hotel with the best toilet view I have ever seen!  After that, we managed a night in Eilat where a sudden rainstorm after landing almost washed the aircraft away and meant we were stuck on board for a couple of hours.  When the sun came out again we managed an evening on the beach and then left high temperatures for St Petersburg and below freezing!  I am writing this blog from the comfort of the Helsinki Finnair Lounge as I airline back home after a memerable jaunt!

Good Tour!

Well, the flying turned out to be great!  Although only 8 flights over the 6 days it turned out to be a very interesting tour.  I started in Oslo where we picked up the aircraft and flying to Malmo in Sweden.  From there we flew to Zurich and then onto Farnborough where we spent the night (big pizza in Zizzis - always nice!)  We then went on to Athens and then Tel Aviv for another night stop before returning to Athens the next day.  After that, the highlight of the trip was a landing in Baku, Azerbijan!  I had not been there before and it was a very interesting flight with a lovely low level approach over the city and coast.  We then ended the tour in Instanbul!  So, all in all a great trip away from the office and far from routine.  However, its back to the office now and all that goes with it!!

Desk Pilot!

Well, it would appear that since taking the office job I have become a desk pilot!  I no longer seem to fly anymore - although just when I was feeling 'ground happy' I get a flying tour! Whippee! I have now airlined to Oslo to pick up and aircraft and tomorrow I get to fly 2 legs on day 2 of a 6 day tour.  It felt good just to be gazing out of the airliners cabin window as we flew in - I had forgotten how much I enjoy it in the summer time.  I will report back over the next few days on how it went!

Still working!

I have been 'office bound' for the last fews tours as I have taken up an extra role within the company!  However, the new role does not mean as much flying as before but the upside is that I spend a lot of time in the sunshine in Lisbon!  It has also allowed me to do more work on this site - check out the very amateurish video on the 'How to fight inflight fires'.  This shows a peice of equipment I have designed to give very realistic training to crews using the aircraft they actually fly in instead of a generalised mockup!

I am going flying on Monday, hopefully to some nice places with easy flights so I don't have to work too hard.  I'll give an update as to whether I remember to do it or not!

Back to work!

It does seem a long time since my last post - however I have been dealing with a death in the family and all that entails so have been out of the air for quite a while.  As well as the bereavement, I have also had to take the vacation left over from last year - so consequently have done little since New Year!

However, my simulator recurrent was at the end of February, so that bought me back up to speed, which was a good thing as my first tour back in the air sees me carrying out my company 'line check!'  This was eventful; after airlining into Amsterdam I switched on my phone to find lots of messages advising of a change of plan - one of our other aircraft had gone 'tech' and I was to carry out the recovery flight!  Still, a little bit of stress helps and I quickly prepped the aircraft whilst waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.  We then carried out a flight to Florence, for a bumpy approach and night landing on a limiting runway! 

After a good rest in a comfortable bed, we ferried to Barcelona.  Its beautiful weather here and it shows that spring is well established - hopefully no more snow for me!