Have you ever wondered what it’s like to soar above the clouds for a living? Here’s a three-part peek into a day as a Quikjet pilot. It’s a life worth living if you love flying… never mind the red eyes!
The shiny, new mobile phone you ordered online just landed in your hands – on time as promised. Behind the timely delivery is the work of many hands. And, linking them all up are the freighter pilots who fly through the night — crisscrossing the nation — to ensure on-time delivery.
Enter Quikjet and the pilots who make it possible. The pilot’s are the carrier’s lifeblood. The pilots too, believe in the work they do. And, of course, cargo carriers offer much more stability than passenger planes.
Pilots are often enough a dedicated lot – very few veer towards flying as a career because of the money – having fallen in love ever since they see a plane. As Capt Mahatva Anand put it rather matter-of-factly: “Ever since I saw a plane for the first time growing up was the day I knew I had to do something that got me closer to airplanes.” He, and others like him, would not give it up for anything else. “While flying is rewarding, there are days that you’re away from your family.”
These cargo flights are real ‘Red-eye’ flights, taking off well after midnight and returning to their home bases at Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru after 9.00 am.
What then is a normal day for Capt Anand or any of his flying partners? It normally starts with sleeping for as long as they possibly can do. Reporting times are usually late evenings.
The first task is to look good for the job – so, extra care goes to ensure that the uniform is in order. Flight planning often starts even before departure from home – at least a couple of hours from flight time. On the way to the airport, the pilots take a look at weather reports — the winters with the fog in north India and the monsoon seasons often pose problems for landing and taking off – and the flight plan.
