Understanding Piloting

During Wednesday’s Rose Café, Mike Comell, a pilot for Delta, came in to talk to us about what it is like to be a pilot. Before the café, I did not think about what it took to be a pilot, specifically what it took to be a commercial pilot. I did not know that there are five different licenses that a pilot needs to receive before they are able to fly a commercial plane. Becoming a pilot takes a lot of hard work and dedication. He also discussed his schedule and what a pilots schedule is like. He talked about what it meant for a pilot to time out. When a pilot times out or exceeds a certain amount of time in a given period they are no longer allowed to fly. Although it may cause inconvenience for passengers who may be on the flight, it is important for the pilots and flight attendants to get their rest. On every flight, I will make sure that I say thank you to flight attendants and pilots when exiting the plane. Furthermore, something interesting is that at certain times during the flight if you look out the window you could potentially see another plane pass. During flights, I rarely look out the window unless the plane is about to land and I could see the landscape of the place I am going. However now, I want to look out my window more and try to see if I could spot another plane in the distance. Lastly, he talked about how LaGuardia airport is his favorite airport to fly into. He talked about how he likes seeing the Hudson River and New York City. My favorite city to fly to is my hometown of Seattle. I love seeing all the evergreen trees, Lake Washington, the mountains surrounding the city, and of course the Space Needle. The view from the little tiny airplane window is the best view of the city. I never get tired of it.

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