A few months ago, I was very kindly invited by TFT Aero to come down to their simulator and experience flying, as a pilot! I’ve been cabin crew for almost 9 years now, so I’m fairly familiar with the cockpit, however I’ve never actually tried flying the plane myself.
As you can imagine, I was super excited to try flying… and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it looks! TFT Aero have a Boeing 737 Sim, so whilst it’s a different aircraft to the 777’s we have at Emirates, the cockpit is similar. Don’t ask me for any technical details though as I’m definitely no expert!
I was invited to bring a friend, so I took along my friend Sally to experience the Sim. She loved it just as much as I did!
Once we arrived at the simulator in JBR, the pilots welcomed us and showed us to the Sim, which they’d built completely themselves. Extremely impressive!
Well, here we again with another roster post. Somehow this year is just flying by and I’m barely finding the time to update my blog, although I do miss writing here! If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen where I went in June, as I only had two flights and then went on leave.
LAX – Los Angeles, USA
IAD – Washington D.C., USA
Annual Leave
Although I only had two flights, they were both long ones to the US, which meant good flying hours (= good pay!) so I was happy about that. Restrictions have started to finally ease and we are now allowed out on some of our layovers, so whilst I only made it as far as In-N-Out Burger on my trip to LA, in Washington I was able to get out and about for some much awaited exploring.
Mask rules have also relaxed in the US so it was a breath of fresh air (literally!) not having to wear a mask at all. Obviously I’m fully vaccinated but this hasn’t really meant much has changed at all in Dubai, we still have to wear masks at all times including whilst outdoors – not so fun in the 45°C heat!
On my Washington layover we took a trip to the Great Falls in Virginia, which was an awesome day out. It felt so good to be back in nature and I loved all of the greenery. I’ll try to post about that here ASAP!
Another month, another roster! January is already flying by, and it’s been a fairly uneventful month so far. I did say I would try to make the most of my layovers, but most of them have been spent alternating between sleeping, working out and drinking lots of coffee!
Let’s see where next month will take me:
STN – London Stansted, UK
VIE – Vienna, Austria
BHX – Birmingham, UK
KHI – Karachi, Pakistan (turnaround)
FRA – Frankfurt, Germany
MLE – Male, Maldives (turnaround)
RUH – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
KUL – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
BP – Business Promotion
First up is a trip home, which I’m very happy about! The only one of my bids that I got, and although I would have loved 2 Stansteds, I’m still grateful I get to go home and see my parents.
Following on from that is a flight to Vienna – I did bid for this in December to go and see the Christmas markets, but perhaps this time there will be some snow.
Straight after is Birmingham, which I’ve only visited once. I have been to Stratford-upon-Avon which is nearby; a beautiful quaint English town which happens to be the birthplace of Shakespeare! Highly recommended for a day trip.
Next up will be a turnaround to Karachi and back. I haven’t done this flight in a while as it is two-class, i.e. no first class, so I wasn’t rostered it while I was working in first class.
Then I have a flight to Frankfurt, which I have visited plenty of times in the past. I’m not sure what I’ll do there, as I expect it’ll be pretty chilly!
I’ve then been rostered two more turnarounds, to Male and Riyadh. Male is one of the longest turnarounds we have and it’s a pretty tiring one, as you fly through the night. The pilots also get to stay in the Maldives for 24 hours while we just go there and back!
My last flight of February will be to Kuala Lumpur. I was actually rostered this flight in January as well, however swapped it for a quick trip to Milan. So I’m hoping for a nice flight to KL next month with some delicious street food! Someone has sent me a swap for Phnom Penh – which one would you take?
Lastly is a business promotion event – I haven’t done one of these since I started the cabin supervisor pool, so I’m very excited! I should find out soon which event I’ll be representing the company at.
So even though February is the shortest month of the year, somehow I have a very busy roster with 8 flights and a BP event! Let’s hope it’s a good one 🙂
P.s. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂
