April Fool's prank?
Greetings,
The wait is finally over. It is time for me to get back to work after what has been a dreadfully long year.
No, this is not an April fool's prank. I have been fortunate enough to be recalled back to work. I feel so relieved, it is difficult to describe. At the same time, I have absolutely no motivation to celebrate. I am in the minority returning to work while for most the wait continues into an uncertain future.
Returning to work is not as simple as just showing up. There will be a significant amount of retraining involved. This is mainly to regain competencies which previously were second nature. There will be simulator sessions which would mimic real airplane operations. The most fun part, however, will be a training flight in an empty airplane.
Simulators are so advanced that training sessions in them are akin to training in real airplanes. This precludes the expense of using a real airplane for training. So then why use an airplane and incur expenses in the region of $100,000 per hour? It seems a very unusual move but then most of us haven't even seen what a real airplane looks like since March 2020. The airline management is of the opinion that after a lengthy break, no expense should be spared to bring crew back up to speed. For sure, it will be a useful training session.
It reminds me of the days I learned to fly airplanes. Only an instructor and me in a small airplane, with endless blue skies as our playground. The skies still look as stunning as before. The difference this time is the size of the toy we play with. It will be large. Super large.
If someone forwarded you this newsletter, please thank them on my behalf! Welcome to Newsletter # 38.
Thoughts that crossed my mind, while I was watching…
A Branch of a Pine is Tied Up by Murata Tomoyasu.
This short film is a puppet animation commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
It was 6 years in the making. It requires great courage to work single-handed on a project for such an extended period of time, with no assurance about how the public will react to it. The dedication and passion displayed towards creating this film is evident in every shot. It is impossible to achieve something like this when we care about how the public will receive it. When we try to please many, we please no one. I believe Murata aims to please himself and is confident that the standard he sets are so high, it will be a masterpiece.
That’s a lesson for me. Set extremely high standards but have low expectations.
Fingers crossed, normal travel will resume soon and along with that I will be able to go revisit the places I have enjoyed. Hiroyuki shared a picture and he was one hundred percent certain that I miss this view. He is absolutely right. I miss NYC.
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Stay well and see you next week.
Evian
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