The Danger of Long Duty Days
It’s a Sunday morning and I’m jolted awake by the piercing sound of my phone ringing at 5am for what is going to be (unbeknown to me at this point) a whopping 16+ hour duty day…
Pan Pan! First Medical Divert
It’s 7pm and dark outside. We’re sat at 38000ft in the cruise over Croatia on the way back to London. Today we’ve already flown from London to Egypt and we’re on our return leg. With the slot delay we’d absorbed in Egypt, the duty was going to a fraction over 14 hours long by the […]
Airline Captains Most Challenging Day (Part 3 of 3)
This was a day that pushed my skills and capacity as both a Commander and a human being to the limit. It consisted of 3 main events, the 3rd of which is detailed here – Flight Planning Laws, Discretion Limits & Passenger Management!
Airline Captains Most Challenging Day (Part 2 of 3)
This was a day that pushed my skills and capacity as both a Commander and a human being to the limit. It consisted of 3 main events, each of which I’ll dissect across 3 articles.
Airline Captains Most Challenging Day Part 1 of 3
This was a day that pushed my skills and capacity as both a Commander and a human being to the limit. It consisted of 3 main events, each of which I’ll dissect over the next few articles.
Managing The Grey: Birds
Refusing a takeoff clearance due to birds on the runway is something I’ve never seen anyone do in my 10 year career, but as our thrust was rising to 50%, I made a command call.
Hazardous Pilot Attitudes Story – Amsterdam Diversion
There area 5 hazardous pilot attitudes and this story is an example of diverting because of them!
Unsustainable Instability!
June/23 3 days were planned; 1 night flight followed by 2 standbys, before the following unravelled; Day 1:Â Rostered an evening flight to Spain & back, so had to be at the airport for 6pm, aiming to get back around 01:40 the next morning. I know this is going to be a big shock to […]
What’s it actually like being an Airline Captain?
Hopefully this doesn’t come across as blowing smoke up my own ass when I say that becoming an Airline Captain is a great achievement for any individual. It’s a path that’s fraught with very unique challenges and hurdles to overcome, and even once you make it to Captain, your career and future still hinge on […]