Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: It's trial by fire in the author's long-awaited return to the cockpit. Can you say "barf bag"?

So much training, so little time. For those who've complained because this column has been shorter of late and the schedule somewhat erratic, cut your author some slack. Over the past six months or so, since returning to my day job after five-plus years of layoff, I've endured two complete training programs on two different aircraft. The end result works to the reader's benefit. For the first time in my repeatedly hiccupped career I'm assigned to a wide-body aircraft flying exclusively on international routes. Think of the fodder. <P>Five years of involuntary leave was a long time. During that stretch, despite being broke, I <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/travel/">traveled</a> to more than 40 countries, started a popular online column and wrote a semi-successful book. That was, I suppose, making creative and rewarding use of a bad situation. Certainly it beat selling real estate or turning to a life of crime. On the other hand, such pursuits left me ill-prepared for a return. A majority of laid-off pilots find one or more flying jobs in the interim. For me, living the thrill vicariously was interesting, was enjoyable and made me an extremely famous celebrity (<a href="http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2005/09/23/askthepilot155">at least in Italy</a>). But it also made for a stressful and challenging readjustment period once I was called back. <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/150334813" height="1" width="1"/>

Comments