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How is life in a suitcase

By Petter Hornfeldt | December 21, 2018

Hi my friends!

I just want to write a short update to my previous story about my temporary winter base.

I have been working out of one of our simulator centres for almost 3 months now and I have started to notice a few things.

1: Living your life out of a hotel room is really boring. You never realise how much you appreciate being able to sit in your own sofa, drink from your own coffee cups and take a dump on your own toilet until you can’t do that anymore.

Living life in a hotel very quickly becomes like “Groundhog day” where every day looks exactly the same. 1: You wake up 2: Have breakfast 3: Go to work 4: Come home, get dinner 5: Surf internet, watch CNN 6: Go to sleep …. And Repeat.

I will have to find a way to get “going to the gym” into that routine soon. 🙂

I think this is a problem that faces all pilots that are away during large portions of their working weeks so you will have to come up with some kind of plan to handle it.

2: You miss your family much more than you might think.

I knew this would happen but the first couple of weeks were quite ok since everything was new and I needed to prepare fro sessions etc.

Now that everything has become more routine you spend more time thinking about your kids and family. Skype or Facetime is a great help but its not a replacement.

3: You get really good at packing a suitcase quickly and still…. You always pack to much clothes for the time you will spend away. 🙂

4: Doing only sim is not bad at all!

Its very nice to know exactly how the day will turn out, no matter what the weather is outside. The guys in the simulator and the simulator engineers are great people and its very interesting to see different solutions to different problems.

I do miss flying but the weather has been quite bad over Europe during the late autumn and winter so the workload has been much lower in the simulator than on line.

I would never be able to do this for an extended period of time though. The flying is to fun to miss but being away from it is a great way to appreciate it.

5: I would love to do more typerating training and work with cadets. Doing LPC’s (Simulator checks) can be interesting but its instructing that I really love. I love explaining something to a student and see that “light” appear in their eyes when they understand what I mean. Instructing typerating cadets is like writing on blank sheets of paper. They soak up all the information you give them and apply it immediately. Its a really rewarding form of instruction, especially when the students are well prepared and highly motivated which tends to almost always be the case.

6: I have much more time to think about YOU guys and how I can expand the channel, my apps and everything to help you guys and make your experience an even better one.

I have a lot of new things coming up but I would like to hear your opinions.

What would you like me to explain to you? Would you like me to try and teach you how to actually set up and fly the 737?

Would you like me to show and explain more cool manoeuvres (Like in my app “Mentour 360“)

Would you like more competitions and quizzes? 

Please let me know in the comments below. I will do my best to try and satisfy your wishes.

5 comments

  • Happy Holidays!

    When you talking about missing out on social life as a downside of the profession. I wonder if this job would be a perfect fit for someone who isn’t interested in having a social life at all (e.g. party animal vs. rather spend the reading Anna Karenina). Personally, I have no issue with spending Christmas at an airport Marriott and spending the day reading Vol de Nuit by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

    I have thought about it a lot but never had the courage to ask anyone in real life.

    • A

      Hi! Being a pilot suits both Introverts and Extroverts. As long as you can function well in a team environment and is not afraid to get your voice heard when its important, you will be fine. If you are ok without a social life, you might be very successful in almost all corners of this strange and wonderful world of aviation.

  • Dalilati Muhamat

    I want more quizzes and competitions 😊

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