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Ever wish you could stop a pilot and ask for insider tips on travel and remote destinations that only those who fly for free get to seek out? "This is Your Pilot Speaking..." is a series of articles on the life, tastes and travel tips from pilots working for airlines all over the world. It is intended to be a fresh, fun and enlightening look behind-the-scenes at the airline industry - a "pilot's eye view" - offering a sense of the personalities and experiences of those who hold this intriguing and privileged position. The first of the series features Rory Forbes, a young pilot from Cathay Pacific.
Name:_Rory Forbes Age:_31 Airline:_Cathay Pacific Born In:_Canada Based In:_Hong Kong Routes currently flying:_world wide Favourite Cities:_Melbourne,Vancouver,Rome
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1. First of all, even those of us who travel a lot are always interested in travel tips. What works for you to minimize jet lag and other stresses associated with frequent air travel? Whenever I do long trips with only a short period of rest, I try to stay on my home timezone. I just sleep when I'm tired even though it might be the wrong time of day. I try to get plenty of exercise both before the flight and at the city I'm going to. Perhaps a long walk or a run when I'm there. 2. Many envy the life of a pilot, though most of us know little of what a pilot's life is actually like. What, in your opinion, is the best and the worst part of your profession? I think the best part is getting to visit all these wonderful places around the world. It also doesn't hurt that you get the challenge of operating a big, fast airplane and someone actually pays you to. The worst part is the lack of sleep the can be part of longhaul flying. 3. What is your first recollection of wanting to be a pilot? What factors in your life directly or in popular culture (films, books, etc.) influenced the decision? My family has always been interested in aviation. We have a number of pilots in it already. We were fortunate to travel alot as children and I think it rubbed off on me. I have a picture of me as a little boy of about 4 reading an airplane magazine (upside down!) so I guess it started then! 4. Pilots presumably have plenty of opportunity for free air travel in their vacation time. How many pleasure trips do you take a year and what are your favourite destinations? What are some remote and/or unusual places that you would recommend - and why? I take about ten trips a year for pleasure. It is very easy when you work in the industry to fly where you want very inexpensively. I spend alot of time in Asia obviously so places like Bali and Thailand are high on my list. Unusual,try skiing in Japan,it's fantastic and not that expensive. 5. Tell me a bit about the process of flying, say on a typical long-haul flight - 9 or 10 hours. Briefly, what kind of pre-flight regimen and process do you follow and what is the work like on the plane itself? Do you sleep? We arrive at work 80 minutes before departure and then go to the plane with an hour to go. We carry extra pilots because our flights are often 13,14,or 15hrs long so we need to split up the flying. Two pilots work together at the same time while two others rest in crew bunks that we have. Typically you end up actually in an operating seat for about 5-6 hours. When its daylight out you get some amazing views but alot of the time it's night and you really can't see much at all. 6. What, in your experience, is the easiest landing and best designed airport? Which airport do you least enjoy landing in and why? Most modern airports are very similar in the length of runway available to land big jets on. What makes it easier or harder are things like weather and terrain around the airport. Vancouver and Hong Kong are two of the best designed and most efficient airports. 7. What is your educational background? What and where did you study and where did you gain your early flight experience? I went to university for 3 years and then started learning to fly privately. I paid for all my training and just kept getting more hours and the appropriate ratings and licences. I eventually got a job flying small regional planes in Western and Northern Canada and did that for 4 years before getting on with a major airline. 8. How different is the experience of flying, say a Boeing 747 or Airbus A340-300 as opposed to a smaller plane such as a DHC 8 Turbo or MD-80 Jet? Do you have a preference? Alot of flying a big jet such as an airbus A340 has to do more with systems management than actually hand flying the aircraft around the sky. There are alot of systems that need to be monitored on a big plane and the majority of the flights are flown on autopilot. The heavier and faster the plane,the more inertia there is so you tend to have to think more ahead of the aircraft and plan what you want it to do next. 9. What are your favourite places - restaurants/areas/entertainment - in the cities you visit frequently for work? In Sydney-The Rocks for great restaurants and bars, Going on a day safari in Johannesburg, Shopping in San Francisco at Union Square, Shopping, bars and Restaurants in Rome around the Spanish steps. 10. If you could design your own airplane, what would you want to change? It would go much faster than we do today but it would have to be done without the environmental impacts of a plane like the Concorde which has just been retired. 11. How do you see your job and the airline industry changing over the next five or ten years? What would you like to see happen? I think we'll continue to see a lot of low cost carriers emerging. People want to travel but are tired of paying too much for service that is supposed to be there but never is. I would like to see travel times reduced by building faster, more efficient aircraft. And I would definitely like to continue having a human face in the cockpit and not another machine or computer. |
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related articles: singapore airlines' new, ultra long-range airbus 345 "leadership" (coming soon) this is your pilot speaking... air canada virgin atlantic's new "upper class suite" - a review flying schwarzenneger class - seating passengers by film tastes high luxury - metropolis magazine - february 2004 united airlines - ignorance and arrogance at 36,000 feet airline seating - why some airlines are finding the best sales pitch is increased seat pitch design is in the air - how top designers and architects are impacting on the experience of flying |
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