Wow! I am amazed by Johan’s talent! He has broken the news through his article on the much talked-about ads of the mysterious Airbus A340, “The Oakland Raiders” What a scoop! His background in the media and his journalistic inclination has definitely been a good asset to Air Asia as he pursues his career to be a pilot.

JFK was there when the aircraft arrived from Singapore with Captain Michael Lee and First Officer Zulismadi at the controls, see this post here. Yes, I have flown with both of them in the past and they have interesting stories to their name.

When I first flew with Captain Michael Lee, I asked him why he chose to become pilot. This was what (if I can remember it correctly) he said, “There are too many square hats (doctors) in my family and I wanted to wear a round hat!” Well, he is definitely a brilliant chap (I believe he has been head-hunted to be here, ha!ha!) and today he is one of the Chief Pilots in AirAsia.

First Officer Zulishmadi was equally passionate to be become a pilot that he worked his way through the AirAsia Flight Operations, learning the basic trick of the trade there before being selected to become a pilot. Ask him anything about the day-to-day running of an airline, he has the answers!

Oh ya, not forgetting my fellow blogger here, Captain Dominic Henry Chin. He was recently appointed to head the Human Factors Department, whose roles, amongst others, would be to ensure the CRM (Crew Resources Management) program continues to help pilots to become safer in their flying operations. He has a degree related to Flight Safety from the University of Newcastle, Australia and no wonder he was talking about being safe and the “Dead Duck” story in his previous posting!

To Johan, I know you have given up the limelight of the entertainment industry to become one of the future airline pilots. I hope you will love the job to the end even though there are some pros and cons to this profession. See my answer to a doctor in “A stressful doctor wishes to become a pilot”.

I am sure many aspiring pilots, after reading your posting, would have a good idea of the road leading to the acquisition of a commercial pilot license. In my time, Human Factors or Human Performance and Limitations (HPL) was not one of the core subjects to be learned. Today, much emphasis is being placed on this and AirAsia has even created a special department under this category. Maybe Captain Dom can elaborate more on this.

I like what you said that if you love what you are doing, you will never work a day in your life! Yes, it is true. If you love what you doing, you don’t feel that you are working! (ha!ha!)

To the other pilot wannabes, I would leave the part on the candidates’ expectation in the selection process to Captain Dom as his is also involved in the recruitment of pilots. Ah, that is provided he can spare the time to do it as most of us are tied up with our work!

Till the next posting…

Captain Lim