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Help us celebrate by uploading your favourite photos to our facebook page  we will send a goody pack to the winner, every entrant gets one of our limited edition crew tags. 

The pictures need to be aviation themed and different in some way.  So let your creativity flow and show us what is great about being air crew, something that typifies our working days in aviation.  There may even be bonus prizes for ones that stand out from the crowd.

I found an article HERE and it really highlighted the value of an experienced and well trained crew.  As we are recovering from the trauma of an economic tidal wave employers are looking to drive down the costs of operating their fleet.  The very worst way to reduce your costs is cutting down the pay and conditions of crews.  A well trained and motivated crew can make all the difference when you really need them, when the passengers really need them!

I just cannot believe that another security scandal has appeared on the horizon, this time in the fuselage of cargo planes flying around the world. It now looks as if the first victim of this latest event was the Boeing 747 belonging to UPS that crashed in the deserts of Dubai.

The taxi out of Goose Bay was simple as was the departure. No need for noise abatement procedure in the North East of Canada as no one seems to live there. Having been through Goose Bay in the winter I can see why people aren't flocking to live there. ATC gave us climb up to 30 then 43 thousand feet and headed us toward the Great Lakes and the US border. I enjoyed the quiet flying and even as we passed into US airspace the radar was fast but clear to understand. There are some fundamental differences in the procedure in the USA but we were provided with all the information we needed and just a little preparation was required.

Like so many things in aviation, plans constantly change. We were planning an early morning departure to Bangor via Stornoway but the departure was delayed as the CEO needed a ride to Newcastle. Newcastle was on the way for our Northern trans-Atlantic crossing so it seem prudent to take him along and re-plan our crossing.

The later departure allowed me to go for a run and do a few weights. The sedentary lifestyle of a pilot can be conducive to gaining weight and poor health. I want to keep flying as long as possible so I spend time exercising and watching what I eat.

There are two words that you never want to hear on an aeroplane and it's not 'emergency landing', it's 'drunk pilot'.   (To be honest any phrase with emergency in it is pretty bad!)  There has been another case of a pilot reporting for work unfit to fly, this time in Amsterdam. A Delta Airlines 767 was just about to depart when the police entered the cockpit and removed the captain. Following tests it was found that he was over the Dutch drinking and driving limits and was arrested.

The summer season is coming to an end, the airlines are seeing how much profit or losses they made and they will be planning for the next summer season soon. The airline hiring cycle will soon start to ramp up as the accountants will tell flight operation departments how many aircraft they need to crew and what routes they will fly next year.