Be The Leader

This is something I would love to share with you guys..

Once I asked a friend of mine for an opinion about a decision I had to make and he simply answered me with three words “Be the Leader”. This short reply made me think deeply about the values and beliefs on which I base my decisions. Once a Roman general said, “When there is a bridge in your way, you either cross it or else burn it”.

In life we are constantly taking decisions and most of the time we take brisk unconscious decisions as if we are on autopilot. It simply comes naturally. But although we do not give it any much thought, our brain bases its decision upon a value and belief that we have unconsciously implanted in our brain.

When faced with a decision, and you stop for a while and ask yourself, “How would a Leader act?” “What will a Leader do?” you might come up with a different outcome than you originally had. By leader I do not necessarily refer to a political leader or religious leader. Everyone can be a leader in any role that person has in life. Once there was a company who had an employee from the Philippines called Ricardo, who was considered as the heart of the organisation that employed around 60 employees. His official role in the company was that of making tea and coffee for the employees throughout the day at the office, and ensures that the office stays clean. But it was not his good tea or shiny floor in which he excelled. This guy had a constant smile on his face and always encouraged the employees with motivational phrases. He always expressed his joy towards life and the staff never heard him either grumble or criticizing anyone. Once he fell very sick and he stayed away from the office for around 3 months. The General Manager of the company realised a sudden slow down in the performance of the staff and although he hired professional consultants to improve the situation, the company continued to decline in performance. When Ricardo returned to the office with an evident weaker body as a result of his illness, he brought back his smile and empowering spirit in the office and amazingly the company gradually regained the output it had projected.

Ricardo was not the CEO of the company but the least in the ranks of the company, however he managed to inspire the people around him. He was a leader. Now how about you?

➢ Are you a leader as a friend?
➢ Are you a leader as a parent?
➢ Are you a leader work colleague?
➢ Are you a leader as a brother or sister?
➢ Are you a leader as an entrepreneur?
➢ Are you a leader in your community?
➢ What are your values upon which you base your decisions?
➢ How are you facing your “bridges” in life?
➢ How do you wire your brain as a leader?

Being the Leader is about creating, day by day, a domain in which we and those around us, continually deepen our understanding of reality and are able to participate in shaping the future. With our daily decisions, we are creating our future. We live in a web of relationships and if each and every one of us resonate inspiration, we definitely lead a better life.


05.11.09 @ 12:54 PM UAE 15 Comments

Dead Heading...

deadheading is a term used when a pilot or a flight attendant is transported by another plane to a location where they will fly a future flight.

Recently, I have been doing a lot of deadheading and positioning. Aviation industry is going throw a very taught period. We are not just pilots. Anyone can fly an aircraft but not every can be efficient. I love what I do. It's the everyday challenge that keeps me going. My crazy life is back again.

the more you fly the harder it gets. Not everyone is the same. my thoughts are not organized my hand is shaking.

more to come..
04.21.09 @ 07:59 PM UAE 1 Comments

2009 & me!

Since 2009 and every single flight I have done somewhere going wrong. Either technical, sick passenger, sick crew member, bad weather, delays problem on boards or at station etc.. It's all manageable but a few of the issues are beyond our limits and beyond call of duty. We still try to fix the problem and keep going. Being pro-active and keep pushing to accomplish the task is very important. At some stage you feel that you are at your own with the captain. By the end of the flight, if you were good you build a name for your self. A reputation that you need when you become a captain. I have been lucky couple of time but the training I have been through is paying off when I need it.

I did a flight a few days ago. I gave up my days off to help a friend out. The crew were so great. When we arrived at destination, one of the crew member called me and asked me to come down to crew lounge for dinner. They were cooking dinner which was so nice. It is much better than Hotel's food thats for sure. On that flight I had another pilot of wanted to stay a bit longer. So I swapped with him and stayed shorted. It suited me and suited him too. I was so happy to see a smile on his face. He appreciated what I have done.

My thoughts are not organized, I just felt to let things out. until then...


03.05.09 @ 09:47 PM UAE 3 Comments

UK and snow...

Last night was one of the longest nights ever. It all started in the morning when I woke up. Looking through the window, everything is white. Snowing all over the town. I knew it’s going to be a tough night. My initial plan was to be very well rested. We arrived to the airport, first thing we know, the inbound aircraft did not arrive. It’s still holding as the airport is closed due to heavy snow. The removal process of snow was in progress. We got our paper work. The ground staff kept dumping the bad news on us. Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is not inoperative on this aircraft. Great! We use the APU bleed air to start engines. Now, things are getting more complicated than what I imagined. NO APU, which will lead to an External Pneumatic Power start. Delay inbound aircraft that means extra pressure on us to leave on time, which will not happen. After a while they opened the airport and aircrafts kept constantly landing. When our aircraft made it at the stand. Mr. Engineer came to us with another bad news. The bleed air is not working which means it’s a “NO GO” item. This night is more challenging that I expected. When we got into the aircraft we started going throw our checks. Then decided to test the bleed air. We got no APU so the only choice we had was to start one engine. Passengers are waiting in the boarding area. Looking through the glass wondering what are we doing in the cockpit. Why it’s taking us so long. We are hitting a 1 hour delay. Bleed test showed ok. So we continued with our check. I went for the walk around. The ramp area was so slippery due to snow. Checking on top of the wings. Obviously, we have to De-Ice and Anti-Ice. That means hold over time, which means after applying the application we have to depart otherwise the ice will accumulate again on top of the wings. Eventually, we were ready with almost 2 hours and 20 minutes delay. The engineering took long time to get the De-icing truck. When everything was completed we requested engine start on stand and the cross bleed engine start. Not to forget the slippery taxiway and wet runway plus icing condition, which existed too. Trust me, this is a lot of hard work every single things we have done last night was different from what we normally do. After take off the ECAM warning goes on. The heart rates increase with it too. It was the bloody bleed air again. ECAM action completed and continued flight plan route.


02.12.09 @ 04:04 PM UAE 4 Comments

beyond call of duty

This month was the busiest, hardest months since ages for me.. every flight i ended up with a crew member sick. On one of my life one of the crew member got really sick with a sever stomach pain which lead to a operation in a hospital. Luckily we made it to the destination. Otherwise, we would diverted to somewhere due to medical case. I had enough to be honest. I feel down, tired and my brain is not functioning anymore.

I was so surprised with one of my crew member going beyond call of duty and support the sick crew being next to her in the hospital. Imagine nothing is wrong with you and suddenly you get sick, the doctors are saying you need a surgery in a foreign country. No family or parents next to you. Now, I am 100% sure that my crew is my family on a trip. I always had this in my mind but when most of them stand next to each other, it convinced me that still we can find good people in this world.

Having said that, operationally I had to go to Europe this month a lot with cold weather, rain and snow all over the place. I enjoyed it but it was absolutely cold for me lol...

I spent weekend with dad. Going to mosque together like old days. Spent most of the time studying, txt-ing, watching TV. re arranging my room. We started 2009 and Jan is already over. I got so much on my list to do this year.


01.31.09 @ 12:49 AM UAE 2 Comments