Flight Deck: Zoom With A View.
Wanted: the lucky few with vision.
Job title: Zoom With A View.
“Applicant must be willing to sit for long hours looking out window at ever-changing sky. Hours vary, as does the sky, and applicants must have the ability to stay alert regardless of the hour.
Must have the ability to play nicely with others, particularly in crowded airspace . . .
. . . where “bumping into a stranger” is never a good thing.
Job often requires eating on the fly.
Working with fun people in very close quarters.
Must keep an eye on details inside, while appreciating what’s going on outside as well.
Applicants must demonstrate innovative vision in traffic jams . . .
and an ability to capture a moment visually doesn’t hurt.
And on the ground . . .
. . . it’s helpful to have an eye for the sublime,
. . . and a tolerance for the absurd.
Workplace security is provided by a specialized force of hand-picked officials
trained and employed by a government agency.
How can you NOT rest easy when they are responsible for your security? Well, never mind that.
Paperwork is kept to a minimum,
. . . and stunning views are at the maximum
. . . if you just look.
Nonetheless, must see that people are what really matter anyway
especially when it’s “us against the world” of delays and weather and maintenance problems . . .
. . . you realize who your friends are,
sometimes, if you’re lucky, for life.
So vision is key, maintaining perspective crucial. Applicants must be able to perceive magnificence in the minute
in order to realize what really matters, and be able to recognize your own minuteness next to the magnificient
in order to see with humility
and perceive humanity with the the appropriate respect.
Applicants simply need several thousand pilot hours of jet time to apply; approximately one in two hundred will be selected.
Views provided free.
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April 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Another inspiring post!
A lot of people make the aviation industry seem boring, but you make it look exciting – an image I’ve always had of it.
Thank you!
April 21, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for reading!
April 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Always entertaining… and insightful!!
April 21, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Many thanks. And I just got a Fujifilm camera that does panoramic shots–hope to have more interesting pictures soon!
April 21, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I keep finding myself reading through your articles and hoping that I’ll never reach the bottom of a page..
great writing!
April 21, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Thanks and that’s good to know. I keep writing and at the same time wondering: is anyone really out there; does anyone really read this stuff? Glad that you do.
April 21, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Well done, Chris!
Perspective … indeed. Next time I’ll try to avoid breaking the jet in SMF!
;^)
April 21, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Actually, got an extra happy hour out of The Elephant bar on that one so it wasn’t a total loss.
April 21, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Nice!
April 22, 2010 at 8:10 am
Nicely done, Chris!
April 22, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Grazi!
April 22, 2010 at 10:57 pm
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April 26, 2010 at 7:44 am
As always it’s a pleasure to read another fellow AAer day to day activity.
April 26, 2010 at 9:21 am
Thanks for all of the work you do to keep us in the air.
May 24, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Great article in today Star Telegram ( 5/24/10 ).
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
George Tommasi AA Capt Ret.
May 24, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Your comment in today’s Start-Telgram should have been titled “Intended Stupidity.” How juvinile to cancel flights because the rules were changed. How about not boarding the planes until the airline knows it can take off and land?
It was the ailine’s own stupidity, these weren’t just anecdotall, they were testified to under oath. And they did it over and over.
But what do you expect from an industry that prices their product below the cost to break even and intentionally atagonizes their prime customers with garbage fees.
May 25, 2010 at 12:59 am
Thanks, Marvin, for underscoring the need for basic proofreading (“Start-telgram, juvinile, ailine’s, anecdotall, atagonizes”) before posting anything so as not to appear to be simply an ignorant old curmudgeon.
May 26, 2010 at 10:50 am
Post Script to Angry Marvin: Your second supposedly “proofread” rant still had grammatical and spelling errors. Plus, you seem unclear on the blog concept: this isn’t a forum for you to argue with me–it’s my blog for you to read and like or not like as you see fit. Maybe you should create your own blog, once you get a handle on basics of grammar, syntax, spelling and logic. Or not.