octnov

An update,

Well its been a really hectic and busy past month and yes I do realize its been more than a month since I last blogged. October was smooth and had quite a number of interesting flights. Lessons learnt include the PEOPLE factor in aviation as well as coping with your inner self and motivation as well (lets face it, if we are not motivated, we cant do anything)

The rostering problem I had last month surely did not help. It was a mix up. People do their best to do a good job for us as well, but no ones perfect and as a team we back one another. Long story cut short I was put on standby for most of the month. It was a little messed up but a little exciting as you never know if you would get a phone call the next moment telling you that youre gonna fly people to India!

I had a chance to experience a really interesting colleague as well. This one probably more interesting than the rest but a few days later you realise, you don’t really have bright and nice days everyday and necessarily meet the right people and sometimes its up to us to hold on with patience and put our passengers first and work with the rest of the crew to salvage a good day. It’s a thorn amongst the roses. A really ugly one which in the future I’d not want to be like or even close to.

PEOPLE factor. Its about being humble and willing to work together. Being the boss means guiding a team not being authoritative and condemn inferiorities. WHO cares how much money you make?!- we are all going to make the same eventually anyway. People will make mistakes and that’s how they will learn. Everyone has a right to an opinion the least we could do is to respect and advise should the need arise and not condemn a younger counterpart. Simplicity and humbleness. Being in the military doesn’t make anyone a god. Respect is earned and not given. I could go on and on. But deep inside I am really glad I met this one. Thought me the kind of leader and captain I would never want to be. Things like this affect your confidence but invariably you get over it become even stronger. There are some positives to it and its all a learning curve.

I got to fly to Dhaka, Bangladesh this month and what an interesting flight we had. A great captain, good bunch of girls working with us and a new experience. Its just like any other flight but it’s the longest I’ve been on a plane(technically). More than 4 hours across time zones and the weather was cool as well. Our route took us toward the northern side of peninsula Malaysia into Penang, Langkawi and then towards the north toward Thailand, Yangon and into Bangladesh. There was even a point where there was no radio signal! Got to experience the busy Bangla Airspace as well as different airlines going on and about. As we descended toward Dhaka, you could see mountains, hills, some of the terrain, cars, buildings. There is something about visiting different countries. The buildings are always different and it gives you this vibe ‘’holy crap this is cool!’’. The runway is long and the air traffic controller is somewhat interesting. Found his accent funny. I flew back to Malaysia and it was a sunset departure. Took a picture. Its just beautiful climbing through clouds when you reach this bed-like cloud base and all you can see is the sun shining upon it. Theres this glow and immediately it reminds you of how beautiful this world is. The captain was a cool dude as well. He runs marathons and flies the Airbus A330 as well! Great sharing knowledge and learning all the time. Good flight.

Been on good form lately and been working on my fitness as well at the pool and back at the gym as well. The aim as always is to learn as much as I can, to work harder and making every flight safer, more efficient, profitable and above all working with the team to make it a better experience for our guests and for the Airline. Will blog soon.