So … for the second time in 2 years and the third time in 25 … I’m doing another Type Rating. This time it’s the Boeing 737NG and it’s very … different. For the first thing – I have LOTS of time. As practically every other pilot who’s ever gone through a type rating knows […]
So having come back to Virgin after a COVID-enforced absence, a common request from a few pilots is for me to update my Wide Body EBA Remuneration Spreadsheet for the Narrow Body 2021 EBA. Sure, I thought. How hard could that be? Well … The 2021 EBA is quite a radical change from the previous […]
![Tax Time : Crew Allowances (v3.9) [04Feb23]](https://www.infinidim.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Tax.jpg "Tax")
It’s tax time again and time to drag out the spreadsheet I use to calculate the allowance gap between the ATO overnight stop allowance and what the Company pays. Last year this netted me thousands on my tax refund, so it’s worth doing …
So having recently come from a night freight operation where we were quite often operating towards the limits of the Maximum Flight Duty Period (MaxFDP) – After having stuffed up the calculations a couple of times, I decided to create a VA Max FDP Calculator Spreadsheet that would calculate for me the number I usually […]
For the last decade or so, I have been working on a document called Boeing 777 Procedures and Techniques. It has it’s genesis in what was originally a Common Errors document based on observations of Pilot/Student actions in the Simulator – but most particularly Instructor/Examiner activity in the Brief/Sim/Debrief as well. If you would like […]
I recently developed a spreadsheet to check the domestic allowances I was being paid. The process was educational, to say the least. This initial version only checks domestic allowances – I will develop further to facilitate the checking of rostered vs actual international allowances as well. Note : – This spreadsheet required VBA programming code […]
After a few years at Emirates, with some good experience as a First Officer on both the Airbus (A310-300 and A300-600R) and Boeing (B777-200 & -300/ER) – and after some hoop jumping – it became my turn to take on the Command Upgrade. If you don’t count my time in the Left Seat of the […]
I recently showed some photos I took a few years ago of a Delta 767 crossing the Irish Coast to another Captain I flew with to LA. He was so stunned by them that I decided I may as well blog about them – three years later. Looking at them at a remove – they […]
So last year was a COVID Airline Industry sh!tshow and the upshot was (after being made redundant from the Virgin 777 operation) – I was fortunate to find myself on a BAe146 course. At least in part, my recruitment was based on my technical and computer skills (as opposed to any dubious potential to point […]
My Nanna Joy (my Father’s Mother) passed away on the 11th February, 2013 at the age of 89. She was a grand lady with whom I spent a great deal of time with during my formative years. I was asked to speak at her service – here is what I said.
The future of aviation could very well be here with electric aircraft. Electric planes like the commercial Pipistrel Alpha Electro aircraft, nicknamed “Bobby,” have recently reached new milestones, flying 1,400 kilometers on a single charge. And it’s not the only rechargeable plane that has done so. Electric commuter airplanes from Seattle in the United States […]
In September 2020 after 20 years on the Boeing 777 – I commenced a Type Rating training course on a new aircraft type. This series of blog posts (Ha!) tracks my progress (or lack of) through that tumultuous exercise. Having trained (helped) many others through this exercise over the last 20 years – it was […]
Fourteen months ago I commenced a Type Rating on the BAe146 aircraft. After 20 years on the Boeing 777 it was something of a reset. Almost the first thing I did after checkout in the simulator was to travel to Cologne, Germany to Test fly and deliver an additional BAe146-300 aircraft to Australia. Yet another […]
The future of aviation could very well be here with electric aircraft. Electric planes like the commercial Pipistrel Alpha Electro aircraft, nicknamed “Bobby,” have recently reached new milestones, flying 1,400 kilometers on a single charge. And it’s not the only rechargeable plane that has done so. Electric commuter airplanes from Seattle in the United States […]
Early last year, the FAA revised the SIDs and STARs at Los Angeles KLAX airport. I don’t know if I had annual leave or missed any associated documentation, but it’s fair to say that as a fleet that basically operates into the East Coast of Australia and LAX exclusively – it was something of a baptism […]
