You see what happens…I leave them alone for 4 weeks and it all falls to pieces!!!

…a good example of this is on the 727, the “before take-off “checklist has about 25 items..on the 757/767 its about 5 (please correct me any 757 drivers) Thats good design…

We had 4 items on our 757 before take off checklist. Interestingly on an A340, if you operate it in accordance with the original design criteria there are NO checklists between take off and landing!!! In reality there are two (after take off and landing) but these are actually completed by the aircraft for you.

Anyone who thinks that all pilots are desperate to work for BA! BA is probably the only UK airline I have never sent a CV to since I’ve had a professional license.

Corfu isn’t my worst! Funchal and Samos are much worse!

Not particularly keen on:
Gerona (localised CB’s around the Pyranees and downslope on southerly runway)
Bodrum, Antalya or Dalaman at night (if there’s a CB stuck in the valley)
Zakinthos in the 753 (you have to hammer the brakes on landing)
Naples (too much traffic for the controllers to handle with all the local terrain)

Easy airports:
Mahon
Malta
Palma
Faro
Las Palmas
Lyon
Toulouse

Most satisfying:
visual self positioning at Kalamata, Preveza, Kefalinia, Kos, Chania, Kavala, Fuerteventura, Paphos, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheik, Banjul, etc

Places I flew into that look good enough to holiday in:
south west Turkey, any of the Greek islands, Majorca, La Palma, Madeira, Budapest, north west Spain

Places I flew into that I wouldn’t be so keen to holiday in:
Canaries, any of the Costas, Morocco, The Gambia, Egypt

Worst services – Greece
Best facilities – Turkey
smelliest cleaners = Turkey
prettiest female dispatchers – Turkey!
best ATC – Turkey
bumpiest runway – Banjul
worst baggage services – Athens or Faro
most irritating ATC – Spain and particularly the Canaries
best sounding ATC – the French ladies
least fun ATC – the Germans!

My last day on the 757 a few weeks ago.

I start flying passengers at the beginning of the line training stage (ie early/mid August). I am ZFT (zero flight time) qualified for the A340 which means my first ever landing on the real aeroplane will be after flying it halfway round the world with a full load of passengers! Perhaps they should give a discount for those brave souls!

I spotted the airport from here!

Don’t want to devalue the validity of your viewpoint but you can hold on aileron, etc in the flare on a bus. At around 100′ normal law fades into direct law allowing conventional crosswind techniques to be employed. I’ve got my first sim coming up week after next so I look forward to seeing just how well the flight controls are designed compared to conventional Boeing controls.