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Published: October 16th 2009
Ready to fly
ready for my flight to IstanbulHello all and first of all, apologies for the lengthy delay in uploading this entry. I’ve succumbed to the realities of international flying: Free time to do this kind of stuff is a rare luxury now. Sleep, eat, fly and layovers are the four main elements of life nowadays. So where to begin? I suppose Istanbul would be the logical place. This was my second observer flight and was on the A320. The fight went well and I didn’t feel as lost as I did on my Dubai flight. The small little touch that will stick with me from this flight was on opening the door on arrival to the airport being welcomed to Turkey by the ground agent. It was a little bit of a reality check in that we wake up in Doha, fly to another country, then be back home for dinner all in a days work.
My first operating flight was the following day to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Normally new crew start off in positions with no real responsibilities, but for some reason I ended up being positioned to be in charge of not one but two doors on the Airbus A321.
Colombo was a
Lifes a Beach
vivid colours in the Maldives nice place, but we arrived in the evening and left again the following morning so there is no time to explore or enjoy the city. I was back again later in the week for another short layover this time it was a day time layover. The hotel was at the airport, so is a fair way from town so we all just slept at the hotel. I say slept, but it was easier said than done at this hotel. The beautiful peace and tranquility that existed in the midst of the large coconut plantation in which the hotel was situated can soon be ruined by a drill, hammer and saw and some overzealous workmen deciding to do some work on the roof. After a few visits to reception, I managed to move rooms, but then had to wait 45 minutes for the porter to bring my case that he insisted I let him bring.
The most amusing part was my shirt saga though. I gave housekeeping my shirt to dry clean as soon as we arrived and requested to have it by 6pm. Wake up call was 6.30 for a 7.30 departure, so I went straight down to reception
Sunset in the Maldives
taken from the Hulhule Hotel pool to collect the shirt. The gentleman behind the desk assured me that it would be ready for 9pm, so not to worry. However, at 9 I was due to be hurtling down the runway at 140 knots heading back to Doha wearing said shirt… After a swift renegotiation he assured me it would be ready in 15 minutes. 30 minutes later I was back in reception all ready demanding where my shirt is much to the enjoyment of the rest of the crew who were already waiting in the reception. It finally arrived at 7.28 and I ran to the reception to a very bemused crew awaiting my grand entrance with a complete uniform. I think this was the definition of just in time.
I had a nice but very brief layover in the Maldives as we arrived early evening and left first thing the following morning. The crew and pilots were very nice and we went straight to the pool on arrival and had a nice cold pint to relax with. Later a few of us went over to the main island of Male on the free hotel shuttle boat for dinner and had a nice curry. The
flight back bought me my first in air drama albeit not too serious thankfully. The aircraft was beginning the descent into Doha and we had just checked all the passengers were strapped in and secure before the landing when three of us were walking back up the aisle to the aft of the aircraft. Suddenly the left wing just seemed to lose all lift for a second or two causing the aircraft to list violently to the left before doing the same to the right. We all threw ourselves to the floor and hung on to the seat frames not sure what the aircraft was going to do next. It was all over in a few seconds and the rest of the descent was normal. I will always remember the expression on most of the passenger’s faces were looking at us and thinking ‘should we be scared?’ I just smiled back and tried to convey a look of reassurance, but there’s only so much one can do when you’re hugging a seat in front of 150 people…
The next big flight was the highlight of my August roster was Cebu in the Philippines. The flight is one of the
longest that we can fly on the A330 at 10 hrs each way. The best part of this flight is the 3 day layover in Cebu. The crew was great and we had a good few days off enjoying the sights, scenery and entertainment in the area.
After getting back to the flat at about 1 in the morning, I saw a notice saying that we were all to move to a different block of flats. The rooms were allocated on a first come first serve basis, and as this had been put up almost as soon as I’d left the flat four days earlier to go to Cebu. Needless to say, all the nice apartments were gone and we were left with the dregs of the flats to choose from - democracy in action. Having said that, the flat we got is still very nice, but doesn’t compare to the one we moved out from.
September was the month of the UK flights and I had four consecutive flights all to the UK for the first half of the month. I suddenly realised that I had to renew my pilot licence before the end of the month, so
Downtown Cebu
Pump Nightclub after a bidding frenzy for various UK flights, it paid off.
The first Gatwick flight was a very successful layover as I made full use of the 24 hours on the ground. As soon as we had checked into the hotel (which took a very long time as there was a US Airways and American Airlines crew to check in before us) I had a quick shower and change before heading back to the airport to get the train down to Shoreham Airfield. I was able to do the check ride in the afternoon and after flying around for two and a half hours, the examiner was happy enough to sign me off to fly for another two years. I was so relieved as I had only flown one hour in the last 12 months, but thankfully everything came back to me really quickly. It was also the first time I’d used a grass runway, which was quite novel.
After a long day there I headed back to Gatwick to meet Stuart, and friend from university, for dinner before grabbing some sleep. The following morning I had to get up before my wakeup call as Mum and Dad
Back in the PA-28
flying around the South Coast from Shoreham were at Gatwick leaving for their holiday. It worked out really well as I was able to see them for the first time since June for a cup of coffee and had a great time with them before they had to proceed through security. I then returned to my room in time for the wakeup call and was soon heading back to Doha.
The next flight was on my birthday. I had wondered which exotic location I could have had my birthday in this year such as Seychelles, Maldives, Beijing, Bali, Manchester, etc. Of course I was lucky enough to get the latter option, but it was a great layover nonetheless. On the flight across to Manchester, the entire crew came to the aft galley to sing happy birthday and give me a cake and present. The crew very kindly bought me a shaver and chocolates from the onboard duty free. I had arranged to meet some of my friends (Scott, Scott and Chris) from Stamford in Manchester and they were waiting in the lobby as we arrived in the hotel. We spent a good afternoon catching up before joining three of the crew (Bond, Promsuda and Emmanuel) for
My Family
an early morning rendezvous in Gatwick dinner at a very nice British pub. I ordered pork sausages and mash and it tasted so nice... oh pork how I’ve missed thee!!
On the flight back to Doha the following day, I was handing out the sweets and freshets to the passengers when one of them said to me ‘Rob Farmer, is that you?’ It was Daniel a childhood best friend and neighbour. Him and his girl friend were off to Bangkok for a few weeks and happened to not only be on my flight, but in my zone of the aircraft too. The flight went well apart from the In Flight Entertainment had a total failure, which meant we were very busy for the entire flight as most passengers were drinking to pass the time.
I was able to make a quick visit home during the Heathrow layover and after another quick shower and change I was on the long journey home consisting of bus, walk, underground, train and car. I arrived back home and spent a really nice evening with my family. Soon enough the alarm was ringing for me to begin the long 3,500 mile journey back to Doha. I arrived in my
room five minutes before my wakeup call, wishing I had only just woken up! After a typical flight back to Doha, I was glad to finally get back to my flat and put my feet up. All that was missing was a nice cold beer to relax with. I was scheduled to fly to Beirut the following day, but thankfully that had been cancelled and changed to a standby and I wasn’t called out, so was a nice day off and actually get round to writing a lot of this blog.
Apart from flying, there’s not been much going on in Doha. Mainly because we’re all so busy flying now, but also it has been Ramadan here meaning no food or drink in public during the day and no alcohol to be served anywhere. We managed a few social get-togethers at the Tajine restaurant in Souq Waqif in the evenings which was nice, but even at 1 am with the fans on, it is still hot to be outside.
Anyway, next stop is Kuala Lumpar and Bali, so until the next time it is goodbye from me.
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