05 May 2015

From The Frying Pan Onto The Griddle


Capt Latt Armeda
Meet my friend, Capt Latt Armeda. He has flown in quite a few places, from Iraq to Bahrain after the United States, and is now amongst us in the company. We often talk at length when our rosters overlap, and it is good to see the United States through the eyes of someone who has served under the military in various parts of the world. As with anyone, from whichever country, who takes pains to step outside his comfort zone, psychologically as well as geographically, fences are dissolved when this happens, and our chats are always refreshing. He is a big fellow, and there are ample cartoon references when we are seen walking together.
 
Capt Abel Alvarez, with SFO Jay Kumar and Capt Latt
We also have Abel Alvarez, from Spain, who has taught me a few tricks on the aircraft, and we have had a few chats over the history of Spain, her wars with Britain and how she minimised the scourges of WWII.
Senior First Officer Ugo. Never call him Boss.
The new company is a place full of different faces. There are foreign pilots from America, Spain, Italy, the Emirates, Colombia and the UK amongst others. The conversation is always varied, and there are many conspiracy theories being trashed about at any one time over coffee. Then there is SFO Ugo from Italy. Yes, I have heard ribbings and jokes over this too, but cultural ignorance fatally mistaken for humour runs the risk of falling flat on the comedian's face because from each of these persons I have learned of individual struggles to travel anywhere to earn a buck and fend for a family in the carving of better opportunities and futures for their children. In the end, when the coffee cup has been drained, we are all simply tired daddies trying the best we can for the ones we love.
The contenders gathering at the starting line called Intersection Bravo
The regimen of flying in the new place is tighter than in the old place. I find keeping up my cycling programme ever the harder, as snatching time in the morning is just impossible when the first wave mustering is 0630H. You may land and be lucky to be on split duties and skip home for a nap or no mind-load to deal with till the next reporting time at 1400H, or be plain blessed and find that there is no second wave for you at 1400H. Routinely though, your second wave waits for you at 1045H even as you prepare the trim sheet and manifest load at 0630H. Yes, a 1045H second wave means you are back at 1400H or sorts, and the rest of the day is either standby or go home. Still, wait as I may till 1745H, I cannot muster the courage to try cycling under the relentlessly scorching heat of the past three months to date. My prayers are sometimes answered when I get a few days of consecutive mustering times at 0930H. I get to sleep an extra 45 minutes compared to most mornings by waking up at 0615H, starting the ride at 0715H to return by 0830H for a rushed shower before shooting off to work by 0900H.


The mega structured Guntung Delta complex
The past three months have been good months to fly with the prevailing North-Easterly winds giving me ample opportunity to sharpen my approaches using this aircraft. This week, the winds have died down, to pick up feebly from headings exceeding 100 degrees. The aircraft captains have taken over the approaches, and I get to kick back a little and catch up on other aspects of the aircraft, such as reading, which is subservient to Newton's first law of motion.

Angsi Alpha as viewed from the deck of the Tender 10 barge
I have settled down a bit more, in the cockpit, and have begun carrying coffee in a flask to sip between radio calls and entries into the navigation log. The door slots accommodate less than the EC225's but I will have to make do. While the cockpit doesn't feel particularly small, it really is compared to the old French bird, and you will find it to be so when you have things to carry with you. The door pocket will not take a David Clark headset bag; in fact it cannot take any regular bag. Relegating a bag behind the collective control also means it is not rapidly accessible in flight, but I have learned to make do with a smaller bag crammed into the door pocket and have maximised the creature comforts of a smaller cockpit by not taking the kitchen sink along with me.

Have I walked out of the frying pan into the fire?

Not entirely. All employees, and I suppose this applies to any profession, must concede that there is no such thing as a perfect company. Every single one of them has their own brand of politics, and the further the distance an employee keeps from this fatiguing embroilment, the lower the frustration floor. That is the first pillar of truth that must be swallowed. The second, invariably, is that HR is the virally malignant department of any company hell bent of fixing what isn't broken. By both extrapolating as well as interpolating between these pillars, we can either tie our hammocks for a rest or yank the roof upon ourselves as did Samson after his crew cut grew out.

I am just going to have to bite down here till captaincy comes, because I just can't hop companies again at my age. It is not easy absorbing bitch-screaming at maximum amplitude with my already strained tympanic membranes.

6 comments:

  1. Good luck and fair weather to you in your new place of employment.

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  2. Hello Asrar Ahmad. Thank you for such simple but very kind words of encouragement. Thank you also for visiting. Likewise, I hope that whatever the sailing may be where you are, your pilgrimage makes positive progress.

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  3. Dear Jeffrey, Greetings and fairwinds!!!! Another very informative writeup of the trails and tribulations of an offshore pilot. Really enjoyed reading it. Just a point about working in a multi-nationality enviroment.... I reckon it is a fantastic thing. The conversations exchanged and why and how they have ended up on our shores make for good stories. My former company had 48 nationalities!!!! Instead of watching NATGEO... the world has come to you!!!! Besides that is the multitude of experience as aviators that these men and women that I have flown with make me feel humbled and at the same time blessed for what I have. We realize now form their stories that is really isn't always greener on the otherside
    I wish you as always safe flying and happy landings!!!!

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  4. Ah, that familiar greeting which has been missed a while!! You have hit it Jeevan Raj. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. So many western countries have gone to rot, forcing the professionals to earn a buck elsewhere, and this is so prevalent in our trade. Thanks for dropping by, and I did have a strong feeling that you would see right through what I wrote, having experienced the many many coloured fabric of our work. Yeah, man, we get more than NATGEO will ever give. I'll share a bit. One of the reasons why US citizens bear the right to arms is not mere self defense, but to defend themselves should the government itself get oppressive. That's why the collateral damage has to be counted and recounted before the government there moves in to swoop on anyone or any group. There's a thought now, huh?

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  5. Hi Encik Jeffrey, I agree with you on the no such perfect company. Having only 3 years of tender working experience in IT, I am considered a junior. But maybe i can outdone you in the screaming bitch (grin). Love your posts, take care!

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  6. Thank you Cik Aisyah for your visit. Maybe if I heard you, I could decide if you were fit to be a training captain :)

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