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So you want to fly for a living? A word of advice – PLEASE DON’T! Certainly not unless you’re passionate about it. For that matter; don’t consider a career in anything you’re not passionate about. The world is full of…

“See? What did I tell you? Piece of old tackie. All they do is sit there and watch the auto-pilot do the flying.” This was the comment by a passenger to his friend visiting the flightdeck on one of my…

(IAM – Institute for Aviation Medicine.) Every now and then a subject comes up that, if discussed candidly in the aviation domain, is bound to disturb the bureaucratic karma. I was reminded of one recently that although contentious, is long…

EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE something goes so badly wrong in an aircraft that not even the designers or manufacturers considered it plausible. When it happens in a jet fighter you cut your losses, curse your luck and escape on the…

Picture the situation. You’re the captain on a SAA Boeing 737-800. You’re airborne out of Capetown en-route for Johannesburg. It’s a lovely winter’s morning and you’ve just leveled off at 37000 feet. The sky is indigo blue with a patchwork…

by the Rt Reverend Friar Walter Waldeck. New convert and Training Captain A340 SAA. Converting to your spouse’s religion when getting married is a bit like converting from Boeing to Airbus. You don’t really want to, but to keep the…

It always amuses my students when I tell them I was scared of heights. Why is it when you’re standing on the edge of a tall building or a bridge you feel weak-kneed and woozy with fear – but not…

(A lighthearted stab at inflicting cockpit CRM principles on your wife and kids.) Marriage is a bit like signing on for a flight with the same co-pilot. Time after time after time… (Although thankfully to different destinations.) In the good…

The one adage I’ve never quite been able to get my mind round is: “There are no bad students – only bad instructors.”! It was said by a very experienced instructor many years ago. I never quite got the hang…