2020 the good: still gainfully employed at my full time job (engineering). In fact my operational tempo significantly increased. In a world of unintended consequences, working from home increased my customer's focus and efficiency and therefore it required a similar increase on my end. I could have told them that since I've worked from home for the last seven years myself! Thus my day-to-day routine actually remained relatively unchanged. What little commercial air travel I had to endure was actually nice. Aircraft were uncrowded, upgrades plentiful, and loyalty program status extended no questions asked.
2020 the bad: both my private and commercial flying dropped off considerably. Every single tour opportunity dried up and has continued to be that way. It does not look any better for the foreseeable future. Business travel, normally plentiful, has been nil. While the air travel was easy, hotels and eateries have been badly affected and posed many challenges when on the road. The lack of face to face, human contact with my colleagues and customers definitely started to affect me negatively right around Aug/Sep. Definitely starving for actual human contact.
The one highlight of the entire year was a two week deployment for a test where I got to fly around in a UH-60. Sadly, in the back, but still an amazing, incredible machine, and it was wonderful to experience the Hawk first hand.
Thank you Ned for your kind and generous offer. Best wishes to all for a better 2021.