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It boggles my mind. We can hear and feel the wide body airliners taking off, over and above the noise of our engines, when they are taking off in front of us. Just when I think the Caravan is big, I see the ERJ. Then I see the EJet. Then I see the EJet next to a 737. Then I see a 747 behind a...

Sunsets in fast jets.

I think you just need to lie in the aisle! Long haul flights must be painful for you.

@Mrs. Zog , more interior photos. While waiting for pax today, I sat in the exit row, and a regular row. Clear difference in leg room. I'm around 1.76m tall. But hey, no middle seat!

Dash 8-300 Just look at the size of that tail!

Hi @TrailBlazer, I have known it to be like this for the last 10yrs. 120hrs per month, 300hrs in 90 days, and 1000hrs per annum. There are rumours the CAA wants to reduce it to 900hrs per annum. @Bubby , I don't know. Airlink has grown exponentially, and has some 400+ pilots, and over 3000...

I'm not 100% sure, but I reckon it's a case of supply and demand. Also, these African countries like to charge ridiculous amounts for services. You pay for the airspace you fly through. You pay for the air traffic controllers. You pay for the landing. You pay to park. Ground handling services...

Legally, 120 flying hours. But the company tries to cap it at 100hrs.

Here go @Mrs. Zog The Embraer 135 has 37 seats, and the Embraer 140 has 44. Airlink's big marketing thing is "no middle seat". The same goes for the bigger EJets which have a 2 - 2 configuration.

Interestingly enough, no. I just ran the figures for a temperature range from 10°C to 45°C. The rotation speed changed by 1 knot. At a sea level runway, it allows me to run the numbers up to 49°C. In Johannesburg (5500ft elevation), it stops me at 39°C.

Another question I get asked often is "Does your passport get stamped on the regional flights?" Thank goodness, not. Otherwise I'd go through two maxi passports a year! As we don't leave the airport, we don't technically enter the country. "But what if you night stop?" As crew, we enter on a...

A 3am wake-up for a 5am sign-on sucks. But the sunrise makes it all worth it

A lot of people ask what routes I fly, and if it's the same ones. Airlink has over 50 destinations, most of which are served by both the ERJ and EJET fleets. I fly the ERJ, so the furthest north I have been is Lubumbashi in the DRC, however that isn't a common route for this fleet. Lusaka...

I used to love looking out of the window of the Embraer 120 and marvel at the massive engine and propeller next to me. It was a thing of beauty, the chrome cowling glinting in the sunlight. The massive blades a blur. Everything held together by magic. Now, I don't have a propeller to marvel...

It depends on the day. Sometimes it's low, other times not. Today we sat in it at 34 000ft in the cruise. It can be from the heat of the day, mechanical turbulence (mountains), inversion layers, jet streams.

Lesotho And Vilankulos

I don't know about flat, but it sure is beautiful.

It's quite a surreal feeling hurtling through the air in a metal tube at over 900km/h, at 36 000ft above mean sea level. The milky way extending above, thousands of thousands of light years away. The city lights twinkle below, with dark patches of nothing inbetween. The engines suck 550kg of...

Fortunately coming from the Embraer 120, it was a fairly easy transition to the jet. However, contract ops and airline ops are VERY different, and I struggled with the pace initially. My first day of line training was meant to be JHB-Polokwane-JHB-Kruger-JHB. On those flights, you don't even...

Darn, I'm on standby on Monday. And it's not letting me swap with the pilot doing that flight.