Bored_Z

On the 28th of October I've finally been promoted to First Officer. Almost three long years from being admitted into the training program. I understand how lucky I am to have had this chance. I know of people who are still struggling to collect hours to have that golden opportunity to get a foot in to fly the big jets. As one of the management pilot has told me, 'I am now second in command of a multi-million dollar equipment!', or rather, I am now in charge of the safety of a few hundred people!

The learning has not stopped though. There's still so many more things to understand, techniques to learn, to be more efficient, and more proficient. It's all about survival in the end. I gather knowledge to make sure that when shit hits the fan, I know what to do to come back to my loved ones. Of course I'm also learning the soft skills, how to make the journey comfortable for everyone, passengers and crew alike, flying wise and relations.

Anyway, biggest reward is that I can now fly to Europe. (there isn't any space in the cockpit for a trainee i guess) First flight was to Amsterdam. Was quite excited since the route takes me over Afghanistan. The exciting thing is all the high ground over there. Company provides procedures in case something happens that we need to rapidly descend so as not to hit any of the towering mountains!

Amsterdam is as I remembered it ages ago when I went there as a backpacker. Unfortunately I couldn't find the eating joints that I went to previously. This time I had the time to go to the Van Gogh museum and spent quite a bit of time admiring the paintings. I still prefer his work when he was starting to go 'insane'. As usual, there was only time to just take a sip of the culture, the architecture, and the general ambience of a place before I had to fly home. I know I'll get to come here again, and then I'll take another sip.