FLYING

My flying career eventually started in 1988 and years and years of rejected applications and unsuccessful interviews. However i am not a defeatest and would never give up and all the rejection made be stronger to succeed. I applied to Dan Air in 1987 and was successful with a flying job based in Newcastle; my home town. Then after an Interview with British Airtours ( charter arm of British Airways) i was also successful with them but meant a move south. I thought a clean break would be good so Ged and i uprooted ourselves and moved south to share a single room in a friends house in Isleworth. It was hell and after sharing in Kingston and Morden as well as other places in Surrey and London we eventually had our own place after a huge struggle.

My training took place in Eastbourne on the south coast. It was live in Monday-Friday and a long drive back to my temporary room at weekends. My original British Airtours application although suceessful there were to be changes within the airline industry with the merger of British Airways and British Caledonian. So as to not lose the Caledonian image and the tartan which was admired British Airtours were no more and Caledonian Airways became the charter arm of BA. My training was difficult with drills to learn and write down word for word. Aircraft safety equipment charts to learn. They were given to us blank in the exam and we had to fill them in. Not an easy thing to learn but there was a knack. We jumped down emergency slides; put out fires; moved suspect packages found inflight and even taught how to deliver a baby in the first aid training. It was 5 weeks of headaches and stress.I was not licensed to fly on Tristar L1011 and Boeing 737 aircaft. My first flight was to Palma Majorca late at night with a bunch of passengers who had spent the entire day drinking in the airport. There were 2 experienced crew who had flown for other airlines but most of us were new. We had no idea what we were doing and it must have been dreadful for the passengers at the time. We soon learnt that speed was of the essence and we were working against a clock going backwards from take-off to landing. There was a lot to squeeze into some very short flights and i would have been better on rollerskates.

I had engine fires;aborted take-offs; rejected landings; medical emergency diversions; disruptive passengers;drunks;hen parties; stag parties; choirs;musicians; soldiers; celebrities to name a few.

Spending time in new places was very exciting and i mostly did there and backs to spain; greece;italy;balearics;canary islands and other destinations withing Europe. In 1989 Caledonian aquired a B747 Jumbo jet to service Orlando and Los Angeles. These were great trips but yet another training course. I had such a great time on that aircraft but spent up to 12 days away from home at any one time. How much of Disney and Epcot can one cope with!!! Venice beach copies littered our home with copy trainers; sunglasses and t-shirts. All tat but must haves!!

I applied for mainline BA many times to be based at Heathrow and on my 29 year ( last year to apply as maximum age limit) i was unsuccessful. The following year when i was 30 the age limit was dropped due to new EU laws so i coudl aply again.This time i had to speak a foreign language so as i did french at school i thought it would be easier to refresh myself rather than learn a new language from scratch so i paid to see a French tutor who loved local and took a french Exam within BA as well as 2 interviews and started my course on December 4th 1995. I would be flying on Boeing 747-100 747-200 747-400 on longhaul flights only. It meant a decent salary for a change and a change of destinations and would take me to places others could only save or dream of. The older Jumbo's were very Pan Am with the spiral staircase at the front and the tired carpeting. They had character and always got me from A-B safely. ( thank you god).

Its now 2007 and i have 19 years under my belt. I have been for promotion 3 times unsuccessfully. I have a knack for always being in the worng place at the wrong time and that's how it goes with promotion. I am happy with my role that i play on board now; mostly working in First class on Business however i also enjoy economy-coach- or world traveller as we call it. Nice down to earth people who are either heading home or on holiday. Maybe a business trip or visiting a sick or dying relative. Every passenger has a different story to tell and are quite diverse.

Celebrities i could list and still be going when i got to 60. Royalty includes Princess Michael of Kent and Sarah Ferguson.

Author J K Rowling.

Politicians Jack Straw and Michael Portillo.

Sports starts are Frankie Dettori-Ian Botham-Mary Peters and George Best

Music stars :- Geri Halliwell-Robbie Williams- and then there were actors and actresses heading to some awards ceremonies include Hugh Grant-Helen Mirran-Pierce Brosnan-Ewan Mc Gregor-Michael Caine. Then there's the Jerry Springers-Queen of Jordan-Naomi Campbell -Heidi Klum and Kate Moss. There are many more but won't bore you.What i will add to this is that Robbie Williams is a down to earth polite well mannered young man. I will defend him 100%. I think when he is on the aircraft he relaxes more as there are no papparazzi to worry about and i saw the "real" Robbie. A great entertainer and a lover of chocolate!!!!

This section of the blog i will add too should anything exciting happen during the course of my 20th year in the skies. The job is different from the 80's as i think all crew will tell you 9/11 was a wake up call for us all. Security is tighter. Limitations on cabin baggage and liquids. Queues in airports not only for passengers but for crew also. Things take longer....check in lines seem to be longer. Security searches are more thorough which people should make extra time for to save delaying flight. What i will give away is a little trick we use. On your boarding card is a sequence number from 1-eg 300 ( that is capacity of 747) if it were a 737 it would be 1-125. So if you board the aircraft and say you checked in early and you have not got seats together when we look at your boarding card and read 299-300 we will know you were last to check in so please don't try that one.

I hope to serve you soon whoever you are reading this and if your on a BA flight and see a Gary....ask me about my blog.....Happy Safe Flying to you all.