After flight school I got a job at an airline in Istanbul, where I worked for a year before I was offered another job in Antalya in the southern part of Turkey. In both Istanbul and Antalya, I was working for airlines that employed a lot of international pilots, and during my time in Turkey, I met new friends from all over Europe.
For most people, the holiday season provides an opportunity to spend quality time with near and dear ones, but for those of us working in the airline industry, December is one of the busiest months of the year, and the December roster is something most of us are looking forward to with a mix of fear and anticipation. Will we get to spend Christmas Eve with our families? Under a palm tree? Or at flight level 350 somewhere over Russia?
On a long flight, food is often the highlight of the day. If you’ve run out of other things to talk about, you can always discuss the crew meal. Here is a sample of this month’s culinary delights:
When I got my first airline job and was undergoing line-training, I remember flying with an old and very experienced training captain. For the life of me I can’t remember where I went or what training topics were discussed on the flight, but what really stood out to me on that day was after the flight had concluded and the de-briefing was done, the captain said to me: “Poul, the best advice I can give anyone brand new in aviation, is to always be polite and respectful towards everyone you encounter, all the way from the baggage-handler to the airline CEO, because everybody remembers an a**hole, and in this industry you always meet people at least twice”.
Hello from Washington! This morning I did something wild and crazy! I ran my usual track in the opposite direction! Amazingly, I found out on my GPS tracker that it was 100 meters shorter in that direction, so I only got 11880 meters of exercise today. Wonder why?