Eid Mubarak & Happy new year...

Ten degrees right please... twenty degrees left please... and so it went into the clouds with the runway not in sight at twelve o'clock and five miles. We planed for Autoland. The tower warned us of possible windshear on final, so we reviewed the windshear recovery procedures on final approach. I tried to keep myself ahead of the airplane without a problem; very good for a guy with only less than one year on the line. At about 200 feet above the ground, everything is normal and yes the lights of the runway are there "between me and myself, El7amdillah". The aircraft touched down smoothly in the touchdown zone morphing from a flying vehicle to a ground machine. The reverse thrust slammed us forward in our five point harnesses. Lightning bolts in all quadrants were illuminating the runway surface. Awesome!

check in the hotel.. the usual question, whats the plan for tonight guys? nothing =( then one guy propose to go for a walk and dinner. suddenly this beautiful restaurant came into my mind. They liked the idea. but there is a problem i cant remember how to get there lol.. no problem we will find it. after a lovely walk in -5 degrees we decided to go for dinner. and yes we found the restaurant hahahy...

I woke up today after a lovely needed sleep. the bed in this hotel is very soft and warm. the minute you get into for a sleep, it takes you only a few minutes to start dreaming.. first thing I did was opening the curtains of the room to make sure if we need to de ice or anti ice today. its a long procedure. time and energy consuming..

coming back home today, Eid eve. I am so glad that I will spend if with my family. I would like to wish everyone a very lovely Eid. Kel 3am oo ento eb5air.. and Happy new year to everyone..













12.29.06 @ 11:38 AM UAE 5 Comments

the penalty of being a pilot

the captain & myself went into nice discussion, he was pointing at a few things that he missed during his career.
1. most of the public holidays and Eids.
2. being with your wife when she deliver your kid.
3. the first moment when your kid talk or walk.
4. when someone from your family is sick.
and so many other things. he was advising me to be ready for these stuff. to make sure you do your best to be there. it is so hard i already started missing couple of nice events. it is even more difficult to keep a good relation with your families and friends. talking about friends here. by now couple of them are in far east and the rest far west and whatever comes between them. but again i try. the only two disadvantage that i find beside working hard is the lack of social life that we got and we go to work when everybody goes to bed. for the time being i enjoy the most of it.

Yesterday one of the cabin crew came into the flight deck with a dusty notepad. first of all i thought she stole it from a museum but it turned out that this notepad belong to Japanese couple. they wanted us to write comments and our names there. of course curiosity was killing me to know since when they started doing this and i found the date. it was since 1978. i am sure some of the people who wrote in this notepad are not in this world anymore.. again these little things makes you proud of what you do.
you still feel there are people who really appreciate you for what you do..

i will leave you for the time being. i am still in the hotel room with the balcony open. by the way it was raining an hour ago..



12.19.06 @ 03:55 PM UAE 7 Comments

a thought !!

Sometimes we want to stop and look at our life from a different perspective. From someone else’s eyes; a friend, a family or even a stranger.

My profession teaches me a lot, with every flight I meet the clouds, I meet new people. I become responsible of not only myself, nor my family but many hundred others instead with one destination and one objective in mind is to reach there safe and sound and content.

Stressed of work? Of family? Too much traffic down there and its getting expensive by day? You have a family to support and a future to plan? Well guess what, imagine you have all those thoughts added to them a lot of air traffic, flying against the current, engines to maintain and systems to make sure they are functioning, cargo to weigh and passengers to please.

Challenges and difficulties are not only there on the ground, the sky is full of them. But in all cases we are born to learn how to learn. Whether it was on the ground or on the air, the point of our existence is to fulfil our duties in the best possible way. Always seek excellence in your actions and always take responsibility of them.











12.12.06 @ 04:23 PM UAE 5 Comments