Originally Posted by
wiggy
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If you think both pilots on your holiday flight are somehow different to RAF ones and always sit bolt upright, manfully/womanfully giving the operation their complete and undivided attention throughout the sector you might be dissapointed!!!
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indeed! As SLF, I recall a flight to Malta some 30+ years ago. Waving my NATS business card at the Cabin Crew, I was soon invited up to the flight deck of the 737 as it droned over the Med off the west coast of Italy on an overnight schedule.
Both pilots had their feet propped up on the instrument panel. An RT call from Italian ATC told them to re-route via "Point Bravo" [of which there must be thousands!]. An Upper Airways chart was produced, which didn't actually have too many labels on various intersections of the Upper Air Routes. The Captain and FO looked at the map, and the Captain said "It's probably that intersection there", and adjusted the autopilot to point us at "Point Bravo" [possibly].
I decided that flying Air Malta in the future was not on my personal agenda.