Some time has passed since my first entry already. Although I write just for fun and I don‘t really expect anyone to read these entries I still want to take my time writing these words.

During the last two years a lot has changed for me professionally and personally. Covid-19 had tremendous effects on many industries and on most peoples social lives. Despite all the bad things that had happened at the start of the pandemic and the crises (emphasis on plural) taking place and evolving all over the world I hope at least some new perspectives were gained during this time and that priorities in general have shifted for a lot of people. Maybe this doesn’t apply to some people, but it definitely applies to me.

We had only a short break on Austrians Embraer fleet, because not very long after the grounding in March 2020 the E195 was back in the air. I was happy about it at first and I still don’t complain about it, since pilots on other fleets were forced to stay at home for over a year in many cases, but as with other jobs from time to time it can get a little exhausting. I definitely didn’t envy anyone of them though. Unfortunately the work load as per flown legs peaked regularly on my fleet, but as our passengers understandably can‘t wait any longer to rediscover the world, fly on vacation, visit family, friends and loved ones they haven’t seen in forever the workload is felt on all fleets. On an even brighter side of things it’s definitely nice to see many colleagues again on a regular basis when checking in at our head office.

Last winter I applied as a synthetic flight instructor (SFI), but unfortunately I missed my shot. They were looking for three new instructors and I was ranked number four in the assessment. Although it did not work out this time as I hoped I am still happy, because when this door closed, only temporarily I hope, another one opened up as I was offered the role of a theoretical knowledge instructor (TKI). I am already looking forward to getting to know and working together with new pilots on the fleet and to   supporting them throughout their typerating and classroom training later this year.

A lot has changed at home as well. In late March I became father of a beautiful daughter and my girlfriend and I bought a nice, little three-room flat with a wonderful garden for our little family. I was lucky enough that at Austrian Airlines the vacation period from one year to another changes in April so I was able to use my old and new vacation to stay at home with my newborn daughter and my girlfriend for about seven weeks with just a short overnight in Innsbruck in week four. Of course after my absence I took off to Innsbruck as my first destination, which wasn‘t really a surprise for me. May and June were pretty intense workload-wise and I was on vacation until yesterday for about weeks to go on our first trip as a little family and to finish up coordinating the construction work and organizing our move. Funnily enough after my current vacation and when my standby duty is over I will head, you guessed it, again to Innsbruck.

Some time has passed since my first entry already. Although I write just for fun and I don‘t really expect anyone to read these entries I still want to take my time writing these words.

During the last two years a lot has changed for me professionally and personally. Covid-19 had tremendous effects on many industries and on most peoples social lives. Despite all the bad things that had happened at the start of the pandemic and the crises (emphasis on plural) taking place and evolving all over the world I hope at least some new perspectives were gained during this time and that priorities in general have shifted for a lot of people. Maybe this doesn’t apply to some people, but it definitely applies to me.

We had only a short break on Austrians Embraer fleet, because not very long after the grounding in March 2020 the E195 was back in the air. I was happy about it at first and I still don’t complain about it, since pilots on other fleets were forced to stay at home for over a year in many cases, but as with other jobs from time to time it can get a little exhausting. I definitely didn’t envy anyone of them though. Unfortunately the work load as per flown legs peaked regularly on my fleet, but as our passengers understandably can‘t wait any longer to rediscover the world, fly on vacation, visit family, friends and loved ones they haven’t seen in forever the workload is felt on all fleets. On an even brighter side of things it’s definitely nice to see many colleagues again on a regular basis when checking in at our head office.

Last winter I applied as a synthetic flight instructor (SFI), but unfortunately I missed my shot. They were looking for three new instructors and I was ranked number four in the assessment. Although it did not work out this time as I hoped I am still happy, because when this door closed, only temporarily I hope, another one opened up as I was offered the role of a theoretical knowledge instructor (TKI). I am already looking forward to getting to know and working together with new pilots on the fleet and to   supporting them throughout their typerating and classroom training later this year.

A lot has changed at home as well. In late March I became father of a beautiful daughter and my girlfriend and I bought a nice, little three-room flat with a wonderful garden for our little family. I was lucky enough that at Austrian Airlines the vacation period from one year to another changes in April so I was able to use my old and new vacation to stay at home with my newborn daughter and my girlfriend for about seven weeks with just a short overnight in Innsbruck in week four. Of course after my absence I took off to Innsbruck as my first destination, which wasn‘t really a surprise for me. May and June were pretty intense workload-wise and I was on vacation until yesterday for about weeks to go on our first trip as a little family and to finish up coordinating the construction work and organizing our move. Funnily enough after my current vacation and when my standby duty is over I will head, you guessed it, again to Innsbruck.