CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder)

Captain said:
-"Come on SFA, how long have we known each other? you know how to do this, otherwise I wouldn´t handle it to you"
So I pushed the button:
-" Bom dia Lisboa, XX1234, flight level 360, heading NARAK"
The ATC responded.
Then I went:
-"Roger that"

It was another moment of those I will never forget. I was proud.

Incident of the week #2

Last week the news were about taking-off with more passengers then landing, so today let´s talk about landing with one more extra passenger... well, almost!

This happened this week on a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 flight from Frankfurt (Germany) to Orlando (USA). The mommy passenger, who was in her 28th week of pregnancy, started having contractions while the plane was over the Atlantic Ocean, about 4 hours into the flight. As the situation was getting serious, the captain immediately decided to divert the aircraft. Having a situation like this while flying over the Atlantic can be challenging, but fortunately there was land in sight! - they ended up landing in the Lajes Airbase at the Azores Islands (Portugal). How fun and exciting is that? The German baby being actually borned in an island somewhere in the Atlantic causing a 352 passenger aircraft to divert. That´s certainly a nice story to tell friends when he/she grows up.

Expectant mothers with complication-free pregnancies can travel on Lufthansa flights (and on most other airlines) until the end of the 36th week of pregnancy before their expected due date. Each airline has a different policy but generally after that date, their is also a possibility to fly with a special certification from the airline medical center but is not really advisable. Such as for complicated pregnancies, carrying multiples and premature contractions. Because the threat of thrombosis (blood clots) is increased during pregnancy, moms-to-be should also wear compression stockings and elevating feet during the flight.
And then you should also bare in mind that an action like this can get quite costly for the family, as such diversions are generally not covered by insurance - especially in this case, a premature baby borned on a foreign island that certainly will be trapped on an incubator in that hospital for perhaps 8 weeks or so, a diverted aircraft, the whole bureaucracy to get the baby a passport so they can fly back to Germany and finding an airline that will actually connect them, hence Lajes is more like a charter destination for most airlines. So I think, one has  to really think twice before flying and being pregnant. Oh well, all in all it all went well and Azores - what a fantastic place to be borned!

About 15 minutes until landing in an Austrian big city, doing a final cabin-check;

Pax: - "Do you know what that is?", pointing a big city out of the window.
- "Oh, well that should be Graz, we´re almost landing".
Pax: - "No, not the grass, I mean the city down there".

[sigh]

Incident of the week #1

One of the most difficult situations to deal with  -  having more passengers taking-off than landing.

This happened this week, on a UTair B757 flight from Bangkok (Thailand) to Novosibirsk (Russia) with 239 passengers on board. The airplane was flying over China when Sergei G.,44,  felt ill, sustained a heart attack and died despite all attempts at resuscitation. The incident happened three hours after take-off and took place in the cockpit - Sergei was a pilot (although non-flying). A cardiologist was among the passengers but her efforts to revive him failed. The captain attempted an emergency landing in the Chinese city of Chengdu but abandoned it because the pilot died before the plane touched down. So they decided to keep flying towards their initial destination in Russia. Sergei was a crew member - a reserve pilot tasked, ironically, with replacing a crew member in case they fall ill. I can´t imagine how difficult it was for the crew to deal with the situation. I mean, on the spot you have to be cool-headed, it just doesn´t matter if you know the person or not - you just do whatever you can and learnt to keep someone alive. But after that.. It´s not like they just flew a couple of hours, it´s a long flight from Chengdu to Novosibirsk (almost 2000 miles / over 3000 km) and the crew has to figure out what to do with the dead body and how/where to secure it for landing. Also during the first stage of rotting - autolysis, the body starts loosing fluids, skin peels off and the muscular tissues become rigid and incapable of contraction. On top of that, they still had 239 passengers to care and to serve during that flight. So I can´t imagine how difficult it was for the entire crew to emotionally cope with it. I hope his family, friends and UTair crew fellows are doing allright.

The seek of the lost horse in the jungle..

Oh my, oh my.. where to begin here..

Mid-flight while I was wandering through the cabin, I realised someone acting a little bit strange. Not strange in a weird way but I noticed something was going on. He was standing on the aisle and was unquiet. Now, many passengers stand on the aisle during a longer flight, sometimes to just exercise their legs, or to chat with someone sitting somewhere else.. So I went to this 40 year-old man and asked him if everything was alright. He very quickly said yes and returned to his seat. But I´ve been flying for quite a time now and I surely know when a passenger isn´t really telling me the truth. And I just can´t let things go. I personally take a lot of pride and passion in making sure that as many of my passengers have the best time while on board in order to leave the plane satisfied with their flight and with a smile in their faces. So I asked him again if he was sure that there was nothing I could do for him. He then said:

-"I lost my horse"

-"Hmm..ok.." - me going like: ?!

-"It looks like that" - he pointed then to his son.
His son was holding the smallest chess table I´ve ever seen. And then all became clear to me. Even not being a keen chess player, I understood a chess piece had simply slipped down. It was a light flight so I bended down onto the next row and tried to find it myself. But even with the scarce of passengers (and therefore feet!) nearby on that Embraer Jet, I simply couldn´t find it. So I went to the galley and grabbed a torch. It was worthless. Mind you, it was really the tinniest, smallest, most petit, litttle piece I´ve ever seen. And its grey colour didn´t help as well. I even took the passengers seat cushion off mid-flight and we simulated a piece dropping down (in order to see where it would fall) but nothing helped. I think the passenger quickly became a little bit embarrassed of my endless attempts to find the piece, he kept saying it was alright if we didn´t find it, it wasn´t that important. But I just wanted to do everything I could think off in order to find it. After all, losing a knight it´s something you don´t want on a chess game!

Oh well, kudos to traveler-edition games and the fun they provide at 38.000 feet!

Airports..

I recall, even from a very early age, this strange so overwhelming feeling when travelling.
Airports still fascinate me for the diversity of people. But mostly for the diversity of emotions.

Proposal

I like a lot listening to air traffic control interactions. And a while ago I came across this one and today I want to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I´m not really into weddings, proposals and all those kitschy stuff but I have to admit it - nicely done!





Glu glu glu in the cabin

One good thing about flying is that you come across with many different people,cultures, beliefs and religions. And that doesn´t only happen on long flights, to countrys way different and far away from your own. Each flight is an adventure and I love it.
We were flying from Egypt back quite loaded. And I was serving a hotmeal. And then 7D popped the question. Not if I wanted to marry him (!), but what kind of meat was in the sausages. And for my own sake, I just couldn´t remember the word!!! So embarassing.. That´s when speaking 5 different languages can be challenging. And what pisses me even more off is that just about an hour before I made the usual announcement explaining what choices were available on the menu for the flight. So there I was, picturing the stupid animal but being unable to speak it out!
"Pork?" - his companion uttered.
"No, ahhmmmm..." - I replied, desperately trying to find the word.
"Chicken?" - went 7D
"Nop" - me, now trying to catch my FA attention, who was serving drinks just a few rows ahead of me.
"Beef?" - now 8D, a passenger traveling with his family sitting behind 7D popped in.
"Nooooo..!!!" - me loosing it, the word was just under my tongue, I just couldn´t remember it.
So, of course everyone sitting nearby got it all, and we were all laughing, because everyone was now picking an animal - we were like little kids, playing a game and trying to see who would win:
"Lamb?"
"Sheep?"
"Duck?"
"Nop, nop, no!!!"
Alright, It was time to pop my secret weapon - whenever you´re unable to communicate thru words, just mimic it!
So with my hands under my armpits I threw a little theater at 38000 feet:
"Glu, glu, glu he goes"
"TURKEY!!!" - some soul in a nearby row yelled.
"Yes!!!! Turkey! They are turkey sausages!! - I laughed making everyone else laugh.

"Well, I´ll take the pasta then" - 7D replied.

Oh well, our days are certainly never boring!

Courtesy of the Fabulous Flight Deck #2

Passenger in his middle 20´s boards the airplane, cockpit door is as usual during boarding open.

Passenger starts a little chat with the pilots, asking the most poxy question ever heard in the deck:
- "Do you know what all this buttons and knobs are for?"
- "yeap, we do" - answers a slighty nerved captain.
- "So what happens if I turn this one on?"
- "you get a broken nose"

The queen [captain] is not amused  :)

What´s an APU used for?

In today´s commercial aircraft, power from the engines is used to supply energy to hydraulic or pneumatic aircraft systems, generate electricity and operate air-conditioning units during the flight. An auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is used to provide the required energy on the ground. Up to 60kg of fuel can be saved on each flight by keeping the use of APUs to a minimum and deploying eco-friendly ground power units (GPU) for good measure. This benefits both the environment and the balance sheet

of the airline. Ecology and economy go hand in hand in the aviation industry :)

Merry Christmas!!

Some flights are unforgetable..

Some moments will stick with you forever.

We were aproaching a very well-known shore city, it was night time, and the full moon was reflecting in the water. The skys were clear. And from the top, you could see some amazing fireworks.

And then, suddenly, a shooting star crossed in front of us. Just magical..

Last flight was a sad one.
Had to say goodbye to someone I really like.
And that´s the second time in just two months.

The thing about flying is that you never know when or where you´ll be next..
I really don´t know if our paths will ever cross again - but oh well, I want to believe that somewhen it will happen somewhere . After all the Earth only has a surface of 510,072,000 square kilometers and both of us fly around it all the time  :)