Richard Yeomans

Today was my last day in the Office dealing with safety.  It was a good and productive day.

Much of the chat in the bar tonight was of doom and gloom following a briefing from the Director of Flight Operations to a GRT class.  I had a chat with a manager last night and he was less than positive in the resurgence of the economy.  People are talking about a 3 year recovery just to get back to the level of last August.  I feel sorry for all the little operators and new companies who are starting out and really have no chance to make it through the next 2 years. It is going to be a long hard slog.  ‘It’s the hardest game in the world this aviation.’

Maybe I’m getting old but, I am getting increasingly annoyed with people’s time keeping.  Why do I have to spend my life waiting for people who can’t get to an appointment on time?  Maybe it’s the soldier in me; maybe I’m becoming a grumpy old man.  I do find it so rude that my colleagues keep me waiting as the float about with scant regard to me.  I’m going home for a few days, that’ll give me time to calm down.

I have spent a day in the office near Lisbon.  It was a long day and I found myself getting taken up with the finer points of the Netjets operation that came up in the Air Safety Committee.  There is a real feeling within the company to improve our way of going about business to keep the planes flying safely.

I am always amazed with how many people work in the office, what do they do and how does it influence me flying the planes.  Today, I felt like a small cog in a big machine. The machine will be getting smaller over the next few months I think.

There was no coffee at the meeting, is this a sign of the times………..

This is a TAP special ‘Donkey and Pineapple’ roll. I wonder why you cant buy these in the shops? It was horrid.

Im travelling down to Lisbon today and Heathrow seems quiet, maybe people are changing the way they live their lives. With the Row being so quiet, you would think security would be quicker but no, it still took me 20 minutes to scan my bag and for me to get a free massage.

So, Im flying TAP. They will give me a grey meat sandwich and terrible coffee. Well, what do you expect for €200. the thing that gets me with TAP is that the flight attendants dont sit down on landing until the plane is 50 feet over the runway, why?