I’m in Moscow and it’s cold.  Well, I think it is cold, it’s -10 and feels freezing, the locals just say that I should wait until the winter really starts.  It’s cold enough for me and I have to say it looks nice with the clean white snow on the ground.  We stay in a hotel pretty close to the airport and it is a country club and spa but facilities are a little limited due to the cold.  It has a pool and gym but I find that I am a little lacking in motivation to get wrapped up to go across to the pool.

We got into the hotel pretty late last night and I have spent the morning catching up with a little sleep and this afternoon I am getting stuck into Flight Crew Finder chores as I listen to my Spotify playlist.  We are having a big surge of effort over the next few weeks to get most of the site constructed for a launch early next year.  There is no fixed date yet but, I can say for certain, it will not be launch until it is fully ready and tested.

I head home tomorrow and I have a busy week collecting and checking all the promotional material I have ordered.  We will need to get some photos of the things we have so I can post them here.  Keep an eye out on these pages and also follow us on Facebook for the most up to date news and the odd job advert.

I have had a day in Geneva and I have had a chance get stuck into some work.   I love the idea that I can continue to work from my hotel room around the world and there is no real difference.  I can set up the phone to work through the computer and when someone calls the Flight Crew Finder number it rings on my laptop.   I am someone who tries to resist all change but, I have to say that I love my laptop and my little mobile office.  It gives me a feeling of being at home with the BBC i-player, it is a phone and it a good way of keeping in touch.  Dare I say Facebook – too addictive.

I have had to write an article for the Netjets Safety News.  I have been putting it off for weeks but once I started the article started to flow pretty well.  I have to let the article ’settle’ for a day or two and then I will read it and then re-write and edit the article so it makes some sort of sense.  I have been continuing to deal with lots of emails from people interested in Flight Crew Finder.  I enjoy dealing with people enthusiasm and I just can’t wait until the site is up and running and we can see people getting paid employment.  

I have taken delivery of the Flight Crew Finder ‘crew tags’ but I have yet to see them as they arrived after I left to go on tour.  I have placed an order with a local embroidery shop and they are making up some samples.  We hope to distribute and sell some of the t-shirts, hats and bags from the website and trade shows.

The worst thing about flying is getting to the airport and some say it is the most dangerous part of any journey too. Today, the traffic gods frowned upon me and I was late, so late I missed my airline. I feel a little guilty as I only allowed 3 hours for the 60 mile journey and I knew I may hit some traffic. It all worked out well, I have enough time to fly to Geneva without delaying the revenue leg to Rome this evening.

Heathrow is quite pleasant today, it’s quiet I do like Terminal 5. I have my favorite little places to hide and keep away from the masses.

I have only had 4 days off and try have been packed days. I have been working on the Flight Crew Finder project. The website design is now complete and the build continues. I know so little about the mechanics of website construction but, I know what I like!

I have ordered some samples of promotional material and I will be posing in some photos next weekend for the online shop. The ‘crew tags’ have landed in the UK and hopefully I’ll have them when I return from tour.

This week away has to be a writing week. I need to write an article for Netjets Safety News as well as loads of copy for the website.

Follow my progress on Twitter @flightcrewfind and on Facebook!

I have had a pretty busy tour but it has been really enjoyable. We have had a great mix of flying and spent quiet a lot of time in the UK. It is strange but I really enjoy spending time in the UK, I like the familiarity of it all. Have I travelled too much? I don’t think so, I still really enjoy my job and think it is the best job in the world.

I have suffered a little frustration with some of our handling agents. I think with the reduction of flying activity some of them may be losing their focus. It took over an hour to get towed out of a tight parking stand yesterday and that made us late for the rest of the day. These are the frustrations of a Netjets pilot!

Flight Crew Finder has published it’s second news letter and it can be found here. Things are progressing well and the contest for the web site design is well under way. I hope we will have a winner within a few days and then the building work will really begin. It is so exciting and I can’t wait until I can get out and spread the word to all those companies who will be looking for pilots and cabin crew.

I have been on standby for a day in Kiev and enjoyed the time off. It gave me an opportunity to work through some issuses with Flight Crew Finder.

I am still very excited and can’t wait for the site to be up and running so I can get around and tell everyone how useful it us. There are now well over a hundred people following us on Facebook.  We have now launched ‘Touchdown’ a weekly update.  This is available so click the link.

I went for a walk around town and enjoyed the late autumn sunshire. Dynamo Kiev were playing so the streets were full of people, It was a very pleasant way to spend a day.

It was busy with weddings too. I wonder why people were getting married on 21st November? I saw this sight and just had to take a photo! What a wedding dress! I now have a few days off and I hope I’ll be able to go surfing.

I’m writing this at 41,000 feet over the Croatian coast on our way to Sharm El Sheikh from London. It is a pretty long and easy flight giving me a little time to think and write.

I was up early, at about 5 o’clock, to go for a run along the coast in Ibiza. It was so quiet and I felt like I could run forever listening to U2 on my iPod. The music seemed to set the mood. I have now completed negotations with the Flight Crew Finder crew tag supplier in China and will send the money as soon as I can. I am looking forward to giving them away to crew members I meet. I just wish the website was up and running but my business partner is building it and can only work on it in her time off. I am sure it will be up and running soon. I just want to make sure it is bug free before we go live. I just hope people will be patient enough to wait. I hope I can be patient enough!

We are still looking for a launch customer but, I guess people will wait until the site is up and running before they commit. I had a great flight from Ibiza to London with a passenger sitting on the jump seat for the whole journey. He was a former South African Air Force pilot and loved chatting and watching us at our work. It is all too easy to forget what a cool job we have. We have the best working view and the physical act of flying is good fun. I an looking forward to Sharm as I have never been there before. In fact, I have never been to Egypt before. All this time flying around Europe and and the middle east and never to Egypt. I have no idea where we are staying or what time we go tomorrow, I just hope we have a little time to enjoy the place.

I am returning from a couple of days working with the Safety Department in Lisbon. It was very productive and I now have a list of jobs I need to do before I return to fliying duties next week.

I have been talking to some of my colleagues about Flight Crew Finder and everyone I came accross was very positive. In fact I am getting some great ideas and offers of help. Sometimes I feel that I may be getting distracted from the job in hand and I need to retain some focus.

The build continues in Canada and I just can’t wait until I can hit the streets and show companies how cool the product is. I am looking at the flying careers fairs and thinking about exhibiting and presenting. I think when people see what we can do they will sign up.

We have formed a ‘Facebook’ group page and I would love for people to pass on their suggestions and ideas there. I want flight crew to think of www.flightcrewfinder.com as their place to help them find work. I hope it will become a hub for networking and somewhere people can turn to for advice.

I have been reading the aviation trade press and I an encouraged with the news of companies starting operations or expanding. I feel that we are at the bottom of the econmic cycle and the only way is up. I just hope people start flying again soon.

On Friday I was asked to talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society by a colleague at Netjets.  I travelled up on the train and spent my time preparing my presentation, I thought I had it pretty much in the bag by the time I arrived.  I hopped off the train and onto a bus thanks to a great IPhone app and arrived at the RAeS at 10 o’clock.  I found the the room I was due to talk in and went through my presentation one more time.  I have a real phobia of Power Point and in the past I have most humiliating experiences and I wanted to check and check again the software was going to work.

I had an hour or two to wander around the exhibits and talk to a few people about Flight Crew Finder.  Every time I speak to some one and get some feedback it is interesting.  Everyone was pretty positive and it is always encouraging that people think that the idea of the business is good and will work.  I met up with a couple of Netjets Cadets and really enjoyed chatting to them.  I hope I will be able to help them in the future with the site.

I managed to complete the presentation with no real problems and I was a little disappointed that no one wanted to ask me really difficult questions.  Everyone seemed happy and I soon found myself walking down Piccadilly just for the exercise.  Then it was out with the IPhone and on to the bus then a fast walk to catch the train back to Chichester.

I spent the journey home thinking and working on www.flightcrewfinder.com.  We still have so much work to get this thing working but, it will be worth it in the end when people start to get jobs.

I have had a busy few days researching the first Flight Crew Finder newsletter.  Below is a little introduction…if you want to read the whole newsletter, please go www.flightcrewfinder.com in the next few days.  If you register you will be emailed the newsletter when it comes out.

Flight Crew Finder Newsletter No1

Welcome to this first edition of the Flight Crew Finder Newsletter. This will be a monthly publication giving an update on what is going on in the European job market and will hopefully help our members find the jobs they are looking for. If you have any suggestions of subjects you would like to see covered in future editions please email to contact@flightcrewfinder.com.

In this edition of the Newsletter I will give you a taste of what Flight Crew Finder will be able to offer the job seeking pilot and cabin crew as well as the services that are open to employers. You will be able to see who is starting up and who is maybe looking for crew members in the next few months.

Flight Crew Finder is a company set up by two people with an idea. Richard Yeomans is pilot and flies for one of the world’s largest aircraft operators and has read thousands of CVs over the years. He has interviewed countless pilots and cabin crew and sat though very many simulator evaluations. The technical side of the house is the responsibility of seasoned web developer Karen Smallwood. She has developed sites for clients all over the world and her business Ice Shadow Studio will be taking the lead on Flight Crew Finder.

The motivation behind setting up Flight Crew Finder was born out of the economic down turn and reduction in flying jobs. We want to provide a service that will allow the best-qualified people to find the right jobs and make it as easy as possible for aircraft owners and operators to find the people they want. Any pilot or cabin crew member can sign up and store their CV for employers to search using type rating, geographical location, language and many other elements. We want to attract members from student pilots, flying instructors, seasoned freelance pilots, airline pilots and cabin crew. In fact, this is a website for anyone who wants to fly for a living.

Employers will be able to list a job on the site and we will be touring around Europe, meeting with as many aircraft operators to show them how simple the job listing process is. We are going to be working for our members trying to find the job you want and giving you an advantage over the rest. There will be many other features to membership and we will tell you about these over the next few months.

Please email us at contact@flightcrewfinder.com if you have any questions or requests for features you would like to see. There will be more news in the December Newsletter but for now here is a run down of the current job market………………..

To see the whole newsletter please check www.flightcrewfinder.com in the next few days.

I was up early and it was a hassle at Athens airport, sometimes I think I am under paid for my job.  We had 2 great passengers and flew them to Italy in the morning and the weather was very kind to us.   The airport we landed at had the radar out so we had to do the full IFR procedure.  It was interesting and I couldn’t help think back to my time training as a new commercial pilot.  I would dread doing a procedural approach but, in my jet it’s easy and seems very safe.  

On arrival we had a few hours before we had to fly back to Athens and we went to a hotel.  I had a very pleasant run by the river and felt I could have run forever,  I find the act of exercise a cathartic experience and it seems to clear my mind.  I came up with some plans for the promotion of  www.flightcrewfinder.com .  I now have a clear view of the way forward.

I have started work on the first  www.flightcrewfinder.com newsletter and if you want a copy please go on the web site and put in your email address and click subscribe.  We are getting lots of interest already and you can join the large body of people who are following our progress.  If you want  email me  and I can tell you a little more about what our plans are.