A Pilot’s Career – The Spirit Airlines Collapse.
Image: Spirit Airlines. A Pilot’s Career – The Spirit Airlines Collapse. To some outsiders, the career of an airline pilot can seem like a linear pathway – learn to fly and get a job flying a jet. While some have that express path, for the …
From Apollo to Artemis.
From Apollo to Artemis. (Image from video. NASA) It’s 1969 and it’s a grainy memory. In fact, the strongest memory is that my brother was allowed to stay home from school. Like millions around the world, I was watching a grainy image on our black …
Living and Learning.
Living and Learning. I am often contacted by the parents of children with a passion for aviation and seek to pursue a career among the clouds. Without attempting to dampen that passion, I remind them that it is a vocation in which you never stop …
Small Wins.
Small Wins. I have just run my first road race since my major cardiac surgery late in 2022. I’ve been a regular at the gym since then but stepping out with other runners where hills have replaced the treadmill’s constant and subtle incline is a …
Credit Where Credit’s Due.
(Left Image Credit: Aussiepom) Credit Where Credit’s Due. My wife, Kirrily, recently passed 30 years service with the airline for which she flies. She was presented with a pin and some words printed on paper but they hardly captured what she had achieved in that …
Risk.
Risk. I recently took a ride in a “Waymo” in San Francisco. What’s a Waymo? Well, a Waymo is like an Uber…..but without a driver. I was keen to see the new technology at work, particularly as it navigated the busy streets of the bay …
It’s Not About Me.
It’s Not About Me. I’ve been very fortunate over the years. Sure, there have been airline collapses, pandemics and major cardiac surgery but even in the face of these hurdles, I have lived in a country where a path forward was always at hand. I …
Aviation’s Grass Roots.
Aviation’s Grass Roots. Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 787 and Airbus A320 and 321. I have been very fortunate to be rated on a range of airliner types during my career. Even so, there is a very special feeling to return to grass roots aviation …
Giving Back.
Giving Back. At my age, much of the conversation seems to centre around retirement. Personally, I have never considered retirement, it is more a case of changing focus and a large part of that will be continuing to give back to the industry that has …
Flight – Technology, Safety and Humanity
(Image: Simon Coates) Flight -Technology, Safety and Humanity. There is no disputing the enhancements in safety that technology has brought to aviation. One only has to consider the advent of Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS) to appreciate the number of lives potentially saved by technology. …
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