Plane Answers: How pilots pick an airline, choose their 'legs' and avoid DVT.

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6-29-2008 @ 6:51PM

Gail said...

Our recent experience with airline-based ( in this case British Airways) pilot's training showed me that it is a two edged sword.There are things to enjoy ( such as the challenge and the technical stuff that appeals to the love of flying) and things that are very unpleasant ( such as the intense scheduling which separates the pilot from loved ones for long periods of time). Often these two emotional states are difficult to separate; at the end of his recent Airbus training, Senior First Officer Mike ( my sweetheart) no longer cared about the outcome, he just wanted it to be over. And in the end he got his wish, which, despite suceeding in the techinical checks, was to go back the the 777 and never fly that "nasty little airplane" again!

Mike's dad was also a pilot ( his granddad piloted boats in the harbor at Shanghai) and. like Kent's, advised his son against pursuing a career in commercial aviation. It was terribly unstable during the span of Mikes' dad's career ( late 1940's through 1980's) At one point they sold their house in Enlgand and moved to India for a job, only to find the airline folded soon after. But Mikes' back-up career plan is probably about as satisfying to him as Kent's is to Kent: teaching English. Unfortuantely for those students whose lives will never changed as mine was, Mike really was gifted as a teacher of great English fiction. But he is much happier as a pilot.
I often ask him what the two pilots, cooped up in a small space for hours at a time, find to talk about. Comes down to a s few topics and a pattern. Seems like first they establish what fleets they've flown on in the past, which may branch into do-you-know-so-and-so. Next topic has to do with seniority and retirement, an especially actute subject on BA's 777 fleet, with its bottlenck in promotions. From there, investments, golf ( two very short converstaions with Mike) and what to do down route.Occasionally he flies with another pilot who is also a musician.
Hope you do get into the Bastille/Marais area in Paris on your next trip!

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