Sky high: who’d be an airline pilot today? (theguardian.com)
August 3, 2016
Every time we fly, we trust our life to a stranger. As well as mechanical failures and disastrous weather, a pilot must be ready to handle stress, terrorism and hours in the air. What kind of person sits inside that locked cockpit?
The most striking thing about the conversation was its utter calm. “Mayday, mayday, Speedbird 2276, request fire services.”
“Speedbird 2276, heavy fire services on the way,” responded McCarran air traffic control in Las Vegas, instantly, levelly. It was mid-afternoon on Tuesday 8 September, a bright, sunny day. “We are evacuating on the runway. We have a fire, I repeat, we are evacuating.” And within four minutes, 170 people who had been sitting back, relaxing, feeling the Gatwick-bound British Airways Boeing 777-200 accelerate to takeoff speed, were out on the tarmac and running, while the left engine roared into flame behind them. The search for a hero began (as it always does) nearly as quickly, and it did not take long to find one: the pilot, Captain Chris Henkey, from Berkshire. An ex-wife was tracked down, a current fiancee, a previous brush with death discovered. “To be honest,” Henkey said, “the way I acted just came naturally… I did what I was trained to do. The whole crew did the same.”
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Tags: cockpit personnel, pilots, stress, wages, working conditions