Charlie Murdoch
15th Nov 2005, 10:33
A Day In The Life Of The Emir**** Pilot
0400, the alarm is ringing, gees I hate that alarm. I should be thankful, I had a day off
yesterday, it still amazes me that I have to get up at 0400 after a day off and it is still called a
day off, but of course I am signing on at 0615 so it is legal. I have been awakened for the past
two mornings at 0600 by the heavy earth-moving equipment anyway, they are rebuilding the road that they built last year, appears to be a common occurrence here. Only eight days off again this month, all strictly legal of course, real pity though seeing the weather is so good at the moment, the four months of summer drive me nuts with cabin fever, but when winter rolls around we are too busy to enjoy any of the recreation opportunities available around town.
Not that I have any spare cash anyway, with two kids I have had to dip into savings again this month to survive, 18300 dirham a month just doesn’t cut it any more, most of my friends here are having problems saving, it seems as though the only guys that are actually saving
anything are the single guys, good luck to them.
I am flying with one of the old greybeard trainers today; hope that it isn’t too traumatic
for me, and that he is not too serious. After two and a half years I am finally eligible for
command, and I don’t want any hiccups. Bad enough that the flight operations management
tell you that they would prefer to employ Direct Entry Captains. Mustn’t be too negative, I
have to put on a reasonable show.
The pick up car is ten minutes late again, they have changed the service provider due
to the last one wanting more money, the new company is really disorganised. Landlords
around here can increase rents by 40%, but nobody else is allowed to jack up prices to cover
inflation. There has recently been a new law passed here that rents can only increase by a
maximum of 15%. I suppose that is the accepted inflation rate, the management, however,
tells us though that there is no inflation in this place, something doesn’t add up, but it is no use
asking questions, as the difficult ones don’t get answered anyway.
The skipper is in the car when it arrives, older guy, he tells me that he has been here
twelve years, wow, I think to myself, he has probably done all right for himself. There was a
time when you could save money on the company wage, others have told me that it was possible
for F/Os to save half of their wage ten years ago; certainly not the case now, let me tell you.
At the briefing facility it is chaos, the whole operation runs out of a hut on the corner of
the airfield, the morning is when it is the busiest. TCAS is in there this morning, credit to him to show his face, as the other managers are never seen and you only see them when you are called in for some misdemeanour. Disciplinary hearings are so common these days that the company has even changed the procedure so that they can wrap up the hearing in a couple of days...the “fast track policy”. TCAS collars the skipper, tells him about “big things happening soon”, but he can’t say anything...that’s the third time in six months that he has come out with that...nothing ever happens. I keep out of the guy’s way; I don’t need trouble at this stage. He seems nice enough, but he hasn’t done anything since I have been here, those in the know say that he’s a big fan of meetings, the more meetings the better. The local guys here say he was employed to make tea for the boss.
It’s a nightmare getting through the security checkpoint. Can’t imagine how hard it’s
going to be when the random drug checks start happening here soon. As we go through I see
one of the inbound cabin crew getting led away for a strip search, quite common now,
probably just looking for that bag of peanuts off the aircraft, dismissal to follow, happens all
the time.
On the aircraft we are advised of a delay by the redcap, happens every morning now,
the airport facilities can’t keep up. The skipper just laughs, can’t do anything about it, anyway
he is sorting out how many crew we are departing with, the Purser says that we are two crew down for this trip, once again happens all the time, 800 cabin crew resignations I hear this year.
Enroute I am mining the skipper’s head, trying to get some hints for the command
interview. The skipper isn’t much help; the trainers don’t know what those questions are
anyway. He says that the trainers aren’t told much of anything anymore, seems their boss
doesn’t like public speaking, so they don’t have training meetings anymore. The bad news is
when he lets it slip that he heard the company is planning 50 Direct Entry Captains for the
B777 early next year, perhaps I don’t have to worry about the command interview after all. I
ask him don’t they worry that F/Os won’t join here when they know they can be delayed at
any time by Direct Entry Captains, he laughs and says they don’t really care. They still believe that they can get the numbers they want, this is Emir**** after all. The arrogance of this place gets to me, but you had better not let it show, all that you have to do to get a disciplinary infraction is swear in the wrong place, I know, it happened to one of my friends.
It’s a nice day out, the skipper is a relaxed guy, he’s trying not to be too negative, but
his feelings on what is happening around here come through. One of his friends has just been
told that his one million Dirham Villa has to be knocked down and rebuilt, it is not clear how
much it is going to cost him. He bought the place “freehold”, but two months ago found out
that he has actually bought a 99 year lease. The rules change all the time, it certainly isn’t my cup of tea, really academic anyway as I don’t have any spare cash. Some guys have made money in the local property market, but a lot have been caught.
It’s a long day, ten hours duty, but the worst of it is getting caught in the ever-present
traffic jam on the way home. The whole place goes into gridlock for most of the day now; the
only good thing about it is that it lessens your chances of being involved in a high speed
crash. The driving around here is appalling, forget any notion of going out for a quiet drive, it is simply not possible here, somebody is going to annoy the hell out of you even if it is only a
10 minute drive.
On the way home we see the aftermath of three crashes, only looks as though one was
a fatal, only average really. The public holidays sees the number of crashes skyrocket.
Dropped off at my doorstep, I bid the skipper farewell, it is now 1630, I would like to get
some exercise in, but I really feel too shagged to think about it. Some of my friends are
meeting up for a drink in an hour, I would like to go, but unfortunately I can’t drink as I have a 0400 pickup tomorrow, matter of fact it is going to be three nights before I can even have a drink over dinner, oh well, look at the positive side, it is good for my health, makes up in a way for not getting any exercise.
…keep on recovering...
0400, the alarm is ringing, gees I hate that alarm. I should be thankful, I had a day off
yesterday, it still amazes me that I have to get up at 0400 after a day off and it is still called a
day off, but of course I am signing on at 0615 so it is legal. I have been awakened for the past
two mornings at 0600 by the heavy earth-moving equipment anyway, they are rebuilding the road that they built last year, appears to be a common occurrence here. Only eight days off again this month, all strictly legal of course, real pity though seeing the weather is so good at the moment, the four months of summer drive me nuts with cabin fever, but when winter rolls around we are too busy to enjoy any of the recreation opportunities available around town.
Not that I have any spare cash anyway, with two kids I have had to dip into savings again this month to survive, 18300 dirham a month just doesn’t cut it any more, most of my friends here are having problems saving, it seems as though the only guys that are actually saving
anything are the single guys, good luck to them.
I am flying with one of the old greybeard trainers today; hope that it isn’t too traumatic
for me, and that he is not too serious. After two and a half years I am finally eligible for
command, and I don’t want any hiccups. Bad enough that the flight operations management
tell you that they would prefer to employ Direct Entry Captains. Mustn’t be too negative, I
have to put on a reasonable show.
The pick up car is ten minutes late again, they have changed the service provider due
to the last one wanting more money, the new company is really disorganised. Landlords
around here can increase rents by 40%, but nobody else is allowed to jack up prices to cover
inflation. There has recently been a new law passed here that rents can only increase by a
maximum of 15%. I suppose that is the accepted inflation rate, the management, however,
tells us though that there is no inflation in this place, something doesn’t add up, but it is no use
asking questions, as the difficult ones don’t get answered anyway.
The skipper is in the car when it arrives, older guy, he tells me that he has been here
twelve years, wow, I think to myself, he has probably done all right for himself. There was a
time when you could save money on the company wage, others have told me that it was possible
for F/Os to save half of their wage ten years ago; certainly not the case now, let me tell you.
At the briefing facility it is chaos, the whole operation runs out of a hut on the corner of
the airfield, the morning is when it is the busiest. TCAS is in there this morning, credit to him to show his face, as the other managers are never seen and you only see them when you are called in for some misdemeanour. Disciplinary hearings are so common these days that the company has even changed the procedure so that they can wrap up the hearing in a couple of days...the “fast track policy”. TCAS collars the skipper, tells him about “big things happening soon”, but he can’t say anything...that’s the third time in six months that he has come out with that...nothing ever happens. I keep out of the guy’s way; I don’t need trouble at this stage. He seems nice enough, but he hasn’t done anything since I have been here, those in the know say that he’s a big fan of meetings, the more meetings the better. The local guys here say he was employed to make tea for the boss.
It’s a nightmare getting through the security checkpoint. Can’t imagine how hard it’s
going to be when the random drug checks start happening here soon. As we go through I see
one of the inbound cabin crew getting led away for a strip search, quite common now,
probably just looking for that bag of peanuts off the aircraft, dismissal to follow, happens all
the time.
On the aircraft we are advised of a delay by the redcap, happens every morning now,
the airport facilities can’t keep up. The skipper just laughs, can’t do anything about it, anyway
he is sorting out how many crew we are departing with, the Purser says that we are two crew down for this trip, once again happens all the time, 800 cabin crew resignations I hear this year.
Enroute I am mining the skipper’s head, trying to get some hints for the command
interview. The skipper isn’t much help; the trainers don’t know what those questions are
anyway. He says that the trainers aren’t told much of anything anymore, seems their boss
doesn’t like public speaking, so they don’t have training meetings anymore. The bad news is
when he lets it slip that he heard the company is planning 50 Direct Entry Captains for the
B777 early next year, perhaps I don’t have to worry about the command interview after all. I
ask him don’t they worry that F/Os won’t join here when they know they can be delayed at
any time by Direct Entry Captains, he laughs and says they don’t really care. They still believe that they can get the numbers they want, this is Emir**** after all. The arrogance of this place gets to me, but you had better not let it show, all that you have to do to get a disciplinary infraction is swear in the wrong place, I know, it happened to one of my friends.
It’s a nice day out, the skipper is a relaxed guy, he’s trying not to be too negative, but
his feelings on what is happening around here come through. One of his friends has just been
told that his one million Dirham Villa has to be knocked down and rebuilt, it is not clear how
much it is going to cost him. He bought the place “freehold”, but two months ago found out
that he has actually bought a 99 year lease. The rules change all the time, it certainly isn’t my cup of tea, really academic anyway as I don’t have any spare cash. Some guys have made money in the local property market, but a lot have been caught.
It’s a long day, ten hours duty, but the worst of it is getting caught in the ever-present
traffic jam on the way home. The whole place goes into gridlock for most of the day now; the
only good thing about it is that it lessens your chances of being involved in a high speed
crash. The driving around here is appalling, forget any notion of going out for a quiet drive, it is simply not possible here, somebody is going to annoy the hell out of you even if it is only a
10 minute drive.
On the way home we see the aftermath of three crashes, only looks as though one was
a fatal, only average really. The public holidays sees the number of crashes skyrocket.
Dropped off at my doorstep, I bid the skipper farewell, it is now 1630, I would like to get
some exercise in, but I really feel too shagged to think about it. Some of my friends are
meeting up for a drink in an hour, I would like to go, but unfortunately I can’t drink as I have a 0400 pickup tomorrow, matter of fact it is going to be three nights before I can even have a drink over dinner, oh well, look at the positive side, it is good for my health, makes up in a way for not getting any exercise.
…keep on recovering...