Originally posted by Ren Frew
I know you mentioned going to France next month for a break, just wondering if guys in your line of business look for holiday places far removed from the types of places you fly to all the time ?
Would the thought of a fortnight in Lanzarote or suchlike be enough to do your head in ?

We generally get much better staff travel terms and conditions than the scheduled carriers. Companies generally have ‘interline’ agreements with other airlines so their staff can have discounted travel on each others flighs on a standby basis. A typical but good deal would be referred to as an ID90 where you get 90% off the full fare price of the ticket. The advantage of working in the charter sector is that we not only own the airline but the whole package business so as well as getting cheap flights on other airlines we get big discounts on complete holidays but these are firm rather than standby. In my outfit once a year we can book a complete package for our family and then get 50% back off. On top of that twice a year we can phone up (but only with 48 hours notice) and take a complete package (maybe even all inclusive) at any available destination (Med, Carribean, etc) for £75 per head. Up until recently it used to be £25 per head!

The annoying thing is that I have been busy doing building work on the house (I’m a bit of a jack of all trades) and raising babies for the last few years so I haven’t got round to taking up any of these offers! The other side of the coin is that when I get a week off I really enjoy NOT getting on an aeroplane! Don’t get me wrong, I love aviation but it’s a bit like eating chocolate at every meal!

I think every KR1 in the UK is overweight! I have never come accross one that can legitimately carry 2 adults and enough fuel to go much further than round the curcuit!

Worked every day/night like I do every bank holiday. Gatwick-Zante-Manchester-Gatwick, Gatwick-Keffalonia-Gatwick, Gatwick-Izmir-Gatwick. Would love to say that I get time and a half or double pay but no, working bank holidays and weekends is part of the job.

How topical, I have just got in from taking that very aircraft to Keffalonia and back!

Judge and jury seem to have made up their minds very quickly!!! How about we take a while to let the investigators analyse the data recorder before jumping to too many conclusions.

Comments of mine that equally apply to the RJ series –

‘Low, slow, old, out of date, ergonomically poor, noisy systems, out of production, high on maintenance, fat and ugly…weather restricted, prone to uncommanded thrust reduction, etc.

On the plus side it’s got quite good brakes…can’t think of anything else!’

As you see I’ve taken out the phrase ‘ancient cockpit’!

Is modular more often done by people who already have PPL’s and a few hours? How far into it is Gaurav?