On the 7th anniversary of 9/11, I was in Hong Kong today doing an observation flight to Manila and back. An observation flight is one where I just sit in the cockpit jumpseat and observe what is going on and learn from it.

Captain Terry Hodge was giving instruction to a new copilot Steeve Michielsen (who is Belgian) and my sim partner Chris Rollins and I watched from the two jumpseats. It was quite an impressive day to be up front on this passenger plane and see how my training is supposed to culminate — with me eventually being in Steeve’s seat as a copilot. 

It was also fun to climb the stairs from the main deck to get up to the cockpit! The main landing gear are 100 feet behind the cockpit when they touch down for landing, so the view from the front windows is quite different from what I am used to. It was good to see how things flowed and it really helped to bring things together in my mind. I pretty much knew what was coming next and a lot of my training in the sim made a lot more sense. This is why pilots have observation flights at many airlines.

The weather was great and Captain Hodge set a very relaxed and positive atmosphere, where we felt free to ask questions and learn from his experience. Overall, it was good to get out of the hotel and see some of the real world stuff that goes on at this airline. In operations, connected to our hotel, we passed through our own security there, then out to a bus that took us straight to our plane! I walked around the aircraft with the captain, while Chris stayed up with Steeve as they set up the cockpit for departure. 

The round trip to Manila was uneventful and just an absolute blast. I hope to finish my training strong and get into that cockpit as soon as I can because even if it becomes a stressful ride, it will still be amazing!