This trip hasn’t been as long as some of the ones I’ve been on lately. It has kept up the trend of new destinations, though. I had commercialled through Paris before but never stayed there. A couple days ago I stayed, but only by the airport long enough to sleep. Now, after I land, I’ll have a whole day there downtown. <\/p>\n
And then I went to Abidjan, with a stop in Algiers on the way. That was quite an adventure. I was not exactly thrilled about the idea of doing that trip, and now that I’ve done it, I can’t say as I’m itching to do it again. Just before we were going to leave Paris, it started snowing. That resulted in a 4 hour delay leaving there. And then, while we were on the ground in Algiers, I got to tell one of my favorite truisms of aviation. <\/p>\n
When you go to flight school, you learn about what makes airplanes fly. They teach you about lift and thrust and drag and weight – the four forces of flight. For a while, you think that’s what makes airplanes fly. <\/p>\n
Then the bill comes. At that point, you realize that it’s really money that makes airplanes fly. No amount of thrust or lift will overcome a lack of money. If you don’t have money, you can’t fly… period. <\/p>\n
Then you go to work for an airline. A that point, you learn that there is a force even more powerful than money: paperwork. You can have all the thrust in the world, and all the money in the world, but if you don’t have paperwork, you’re not going flying. <\/p>\n
And so it was in Algiers. We had fuel to make thrust, enough money to pay our bills, but insufficient paperwork. So there we sat, not flying, for a couple of extra hours waiting for the paperwork. <\/p>\n
Next time someone asks you what it takes to fly airplanes, tell them paperwork…<\/p>\n
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This trip hasn’t been as long as some of the ones I’ve been on lately. It has kept up the trend of new destinations, though. I had commercialled through Paris before but never stayed there. A couple days ago I stayed, but only by the airport long enough to sleep. \u2026 Continue reading