First flight

Well, I can honestly say that was fun!
Yesterday was the first time I had flown an aeroplane in nearly 14 months, it just happened to be the worlds largest commercial aeroplane and the first time I had ever flown it! Hello A380, I think you and I are going to be friends.

If anyone wants to know what it's like to fly the enormous beast... fly any other aircraft and you're there. No seriously. In terms of the actual way it handles and behaves it feels like it should be half the weight, and once the flight deck door closes you do tend to forget what's behind it. The cockpit is something else though, it is much like any other Airbus, but refined. It's like all the little niggles that didn't quite work in the other planes have been ironed out, someone who cares about ergonomics has definitely been involved in it's design and it just works. The curser ball is very instinctive and even though I have only been in a few simulators and one flight I am already used to the fact that there are no buttons attached to the flight management computer and that the entire aircraft is programmed and run like a laptop! Use the cursor... type with the keyboard. Job done.

Luckily for me the training Captain was fairly relaxed, there isn't really a whole lot of training topics you can talk about on a flight that is only 1 hour and 15 minutes long and a similar length on the way back. He was well aware how long I had been away and also that I have been with the company for 5 years and so he just let me get on with it which was nice. Other people have had a few issues with landing the 380, I'm not really sure why, but I imagine that they are just thinking too hard about it. I flew into Kuwait, it was ridiculously hot, and I landed it like I would any other aircraft and it seemed to work. I am not stupid enough to say that I don't see it being a problem as any good pilot will agree, landings tend to go through phases. You have some absolutely awesome ones and then a run of it not quite working. It's just how it goes. Anyone who tells you they have never messed up a landing is either lying or has been playing flight simulator at home and isn't a real pilot!

The only time I really saw a difference from other aeroplanes was during the walk around. I will happily admit that I couldn't keep the ridiculous grin off my face. IT IS HUGE and walking around outside 100% confirms it. It has an 80m wingspan, 22 enormous wheels and 4 ridiculously large engines. I actually text a friend saying I could happily move into and live in the space provided inside one engine, and I'm not joking.

Some of the 22 wheels

As much as the aircraft is big, new and fancy it wasn't really the most interesting thing about the day. What I found most enjoyable was that I was able to be somebody I had long forgotten about. I wasn't covered in sick up, being clambered on, being asked 10,000 times what I was doing and I didn't have to go to the bathroom to get 5 minutes peace. I was able to be someone other than "Mummy" and I am not going to lie, it was nice. I love my daughters more than anything in the world don't get me wrong but I haven't had a break from them both in over 7 months and the eldest one in nearly a year. I have got up through the night with them both every night for nearly 7 months. I hadn't left them with anyone else for longer than a few hours and even when I did I felt horribly guilty. Yesterday was a bit stressful leaving the house, my husband was sick and so went back to bed, E was quite upset that I was going to work and C hasn't been sleeping well and is teething so all in all I ended up with a rushed 30 mins to get the work done I needed to do and get out of the door.

Once I was in the car on the way to work I realised how quiet it was, how I didn't really have a choice to go or not and so there wasn't anything I could feel guilty about. I'm sure you'll laugh when I say that I suddenly felt like I had different skin on. The banter on the flight deck started immediately and continued the entire duty and it's something I didn't even realise I missed. I am however now acutely aware of how much of "me" I have lost along the way. It's good to be reminded that there is more to me than "Mummy" and that I don't have to choose to be one or the other, I'm hoping the two can co-exsist.
We will just have to wait and see, in the meantime, I have some small people needing my attention..



"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself"