A NIGHT AT THE EVVY'S
USA Today.com Ask The Captain
A NIGHT AT THE "EVVYS"-AND THE WINNER IS…
First a few notes:
1. The radio program scheduled in San Diego at 760 AM KFMB
for June 12th was confirmed, then rescheduled after all and
I'm sorry I was unable to get the word out in time. It has
been rescheduled for June 25th and I'll confirm both the
time and the date when I know we're back on the schedule for
sure. The hostess of that show had a conflict, apparently.
2. Thanks to the many of you with nice comments about the
radio show broadcast live in New York on Sunday (June 12th)
and over the Internet, called "Travel with Val."
3. http://www.fromthecockpit.com - Look for new
"Chicago-Frankfurt" Album with just a few aerial shots of
Greenland and Frankfurt. Unfortunately, many of the
pictures I took just won't load up. I'll add to Album when
I fly the trip again, which I surely will.
4. Look in the "Fish and Animals" Album to meet an octopus
and the award-winning photographer who's taken all these
pictures (my cousin!).
5. Look in Speaking Engagements and Awards Album for some
new photos.
Cap'n Al The Web Guy and I rarely go out for social events
(I'm not counting my jetting around the planet as my job).
We live way out in the boonies and we're just not
particularly enthused about getting dressed up and having
conversations with people we don't know. Some folks are
good at mingling-we're not. (Public speaking doesn't bother
either one of us at all, strangely enough.)
However, last night was an exception. "The World at my
Feet" was up for an award called an "Evvy." My first book
was published by an independent publisher, as opposed to a
mainstream publisher (my next book, due out June 2006, will
be mainstream) and there are awards for this type of book
just as there are awards for mainstream-published books.
The "Evvys" were named to somewhat resemble the "Emmys" and
are awarded in different categories. My book was up for
Autobiographies/Biographies and it won First Place! So I
am, of course, thrilled that we went. Good dinner, too!
Book is available, as always, through my site
www.fromthecockpit.com at the bottom of the Home Page, and
there is a synopsis (don't miss the audio there) by clicking
on the brown button "The Book!".
Last week I wrote about a marathon trip from Chicago to
Seattle, Tokyo, Honolulu, Tokyo, Seattle and home to Denver.
I had just two days at home and then was sure I was going to
be assigned a domestic trip from Chicago to San Francisco,
Denver and Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport.
As almost always happens, I was wrong. At 3:00 AM, night
person that I am, I decided to check for uncovered trips
once more and there it was-a three-day trip to Frankfurt. I
called the crew desk to volunteer and it was mine!
Nothing extraordinary about this particular trip other than
the weather. So often, it's cloudy over Greenland and over
much of Europe as well. But this time, Greenland was
spectacularly clear as we passed over the extreme southern
tip. I got a few photos which are in the new Chicago -
Frankfurt Album at www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery.
Unfortunately, many of the photos I took from the plane
would not load up when Cap'n Al The Web Guy tried to do so,
and there aren't many new pictures there. He tried all the
tricks he knows to no avail. I'll have to try again when I
fly the trip again, which I surely will.
I wandered around Frankfurt in the sunny weather but wound
up, as I almost always do, at the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train
Station) when it was time to eat. Since it is, in my
professional opinion, always time to eat, it doesn't much
matter when I show up. I had my usual Nüss-Croissant (Nüss
means "nut") and good strong coffee, followed by a trip to
the underground grocery store.
More often, instead of eating in a restaurant, I do a picnic
kind of thing. I picked up some bread, cheese and really
good German yoghurt (strawberry) and ate near the river on
this beautiful day.
By the way, the main river running through Frankfurt is, in
fact, the "Main" but it's pronounced "mine." When there are
two vowels together in German, the second one is pronounced.
I've come to realize that many flight crews think "Frankfurt
Main Airport" means the "main" airport, but the word "Main"
is actually referring to the river. The city of Frankfurt
is actually known as "Frankfurt am Main." The "am" is a
contraction of "an dem" which means "on the." So the name
means Frankfurt on the Main (river). Got it? Now, do you
care?
Another kind of cute misunderstanding is that when German
controllers hand us off, they often say "Tschüss!". This
sounds vaguely like "Cheers!" and means pretty much the same
thing and many pilots will answer this back thinking that's
what they heard. It's pronounced to rhyme, more or less,
with the word "juice"-with the "ch" pronounced like the "ch"
in the word "choose."
In the lobby of our layover hotel I was talking with a group
of (gorgeous) Singapore Airlines flight attendants. They
were headed to JFK. I was in my uniform and we were all
waiting for our rides to the airport. I casually asked one
of them if they had any women pilots. I already knew they
didn't but was curious about their reaction. They all
giggled! I asked if they could imagine a female pilot and
they just giggled harder!
As difficult as it was to become a pilot in this
male-dominated career, I still appreciate the fact that I
live in a country where it did, finally, become possible to
do what I wanted to do for a living. There are lots of
countries where it is still completely unacceptable to even
consider female pilots.
And this brings me, for no particular reason other than his
country is so near to Singapore, to my new good friend
Captain Lim Khoy Hing of Malaysia Airlines. He has his own
truly excellent Question and Answer site at
http://www.askcaptainlim.com which has also been added to my
Favorite Links Page.
Captain Lim is a fellow B-777 captain and as highly
enthusiastic about flying as I am so I do hope you'll pay a
visit to his "Ask Captain Lim" site. Lots of great
questions and answers there and I have used his site as a
resource for my own USAToday.com column at times. He also
helped critique my "Ground School for Passengers" CD,
available at www.flyingfearless.com and I appreciate his
great feedback.
Since this Update is turning out to be a "this and that"
type of column, let me just add that I've posted a picture
of the award-winning underwater photographer, otherwise
known as my cousin Mike, in the "Fish and Animals" Album
along with a new picture of an octopus taken in the Cayman
Islands. Mike is an anesthesiologist in the morning and
treats allergies and does general practice medicine in the
afternoon in Las Vegas. He's also a champion tennis player,
having won about ten open tennis tournaments in doubles, and
currently dives twice per year in exotic locales. I've
always enjoyed his pictures personally and that's why I
included this seemingly unrelated album.
And that was my week-a quick trip to Germany, award for my
book, conversations with foreign flight crews, and a few new
photos for the gallery.
And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airpseed!
Cap'n Meryl
http://www.flyingfearless.com
http://www.fromthecockpit.com
A NIGHT AT THE "EVVYS"-AND THE WINNER IS…
First a few notes:
1. The radio program scheduled in San Diego at 760 AM KFMB
for June 12th was confirmed, then rescheduled after all and
I'm sorry I was unable to get the word out in time. It has
been rescheduled for June 25th and I'll confirm both the
time and the date when I know we're back on the schedule for
sure. The hostess of that show had a conflict, apparently.
2. Thanks to the many of you with nice comments about the
radio show broadcast live in New York on Sunday (June 12th)
and over the Internet, called "Travel with Val."
3. http://www.fromthecockpit.com - Look for new
"Chicago-Frankfurt" Album with just a few aerial shots of
Greenland and Frankfurt. Unfortunately, many of the
pictures I took just won't load up. I'll add to Album when
I fly the trip again, which I surely will.
4. Look in the "Fish and Animals" Album to meet an octopus
and the award-winning photographer who's taken all these
pictures (my cousin!).
5. Look in Speaking Engagements and Awards Album for some
new photos.
Cap'n Al The Web Guy and I rarely go out for social events
(I'm not counting my jetting around the planet as my job).
We live way out in the boonies and we're just not
particularly enthused about getting dressed up and having
conversations with people we don't know. Some folks are
good at mingling-we're not. (Public speaking doesn't bother
either one of us at all, strangely enough.)
However, last night was an exception. "The World at my
Feet" was up for an award called an "Evvy." My first book
was published by an independent publisher, as opposed to a
mainstream publisher (my next book, due out June 2006, will
be mainstream) and there are awards for this type of book
just as there are awards for mainstream-published books.
The "Evvys" were named to somewhat resemble the "Emmys" and
are awarded in different categories. My book was up for
Autobiographies/Biographies and it won First Place! So I
am, of course, thrilled that we went. Good dinner, too!
Book is available, as always, through my site
www.fromthecockpit.com at the bottom of the Home Page, and
there is a synopsis (don't miss the audio there) by clicking
on the brown button "The Book!".
Last week I wrote about a marathon trip from Chicago to
Seattle, Tokyo, Honolulu, Tokyo, Seattle and home to Denver.
I had just two days at home and then was sure I was going to
be assigned a domestic trip from Chicago to San Francisco,
Denver and Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport.
As almost always happens, I was wrong. At 3:00 AM, night
person that I am, I decided to check for uncovered trips
once more and there it was-a three-day trip to Frankfurt. I
called the crew desk to volunteer and it was mine!
Nothing extraordinary about this particular trip other than
the weather. So often, it's cloudy over Greenland and over
much of Europe as well. But this time, Greenland was
spectacularly clear as we passed over the extreme southern
tip. I got a few photos which are in the new Chicago -
Frankfurt Album at www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery.
Unfortunately, many of the photos I took from the plane
would not load up when Cap'n Al The Web Guy tried to do so,
and there aren't many new pictures there. He tried all the
tricks he knows to no avail. I'll have to try again when I
fly the trip again, which I surely will.
I wandered around Frankfurt in the sunny weather but wound
up, as I almost always do, at the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train
Station) when it was time to eat. Since it is, in my
professional opinion, always time to eat, it doesn't much
matter when I show up. I had my usual Nüss-Croissant (Nüss
means "nut") and good strong coffee, followed by a trip to
the underground grocery store.
More often, instead of eating in a restaurant, I do a picnic
kind of thing. I picked up some bread, cheese and really
good German yoghurt (strawberry) and ate near the river on
this beautiful day.
By the way, the main river running through Frankfurt is, in
fact, the "Main" but it's pronounced "mine." When there are
two vowels together in German, the second one is pronounced.
I've come to realize that many flight crews think "Frankfurt
Main Airport" means the "main" airport, but the word "Main"
is actually referring to the river. The city of Frankfurt
is actually known as "Frankfurt am Main." The "am" is a
contraction of "an dem" which means "on the." So the name
means Frankfurt on the Main (river). Got it? Now, do you
care?
Another kind of cute misunderstanding is that when German
controllers hand us off, they often say "Tschüss!". This
sounds vaguely like "Cheers!" and means pretty much the same
thing and many pilots will answer this back thinking that's
what they heard. It's pronounced to rhyme, more or less,
with the word "juice"-with the "ch" pronounced like the "ch"
in the word "choose."
In the lobby of our layover hotel I was talking with a group
of (gorgeous) Singapore Airlines flight attendants. They
were headed to JFK. I was in my uniform and we were all
waiting for our rides to the airport. I casually asked one
of them if they had any women pilots. I already knew they
didn't but was curious about their reaction. They all
giggled! I asked if they could imagine a female pilot and
they just giggled harder!
As difficult as it was to become a pilot in this
male-dominated career, I still appreciate the fact that I
live in a country where it did, finally, become possible to
do what I wanted to do for a living. There are lots of
countries where it is still completely unacceptable to even
consider female pilots.
And this brings me, for no particular reason other than his
country is so near to Singapore, to my new good friend
Captain Lim Khoy Hing of Malaysia Airlines. He has his own
truly excellent Question and Answer site at
http://www.askcaptainlim.com which has also been added to my
Favorite Links Page.
Captain Lim is a fellow B-777 captain and as highly
enthusiastic about flying as I am so I do hope you'll pay a
visit to his "Ask Captain Lim" site. Lots of great
questions and answers there and I have used his site as a
resource for my own USAToday.com column at times. He also
helped critique my "Ground School for Passengers" CD,
available at www.flyingfearless.com and I appreciate his
great feedback.
Since this Update is turning out to be a "this and that"
type of column, let me just add that I've posted a picture
of the award-winning underwater photographer, otherwise
known as my cousin Mike, in the "Fish and Animals" Album
along with a new picture of an octopus taken in the Cayman
Islands. Mike is an anesthesiologist in the morning and
treats allergies and does general practice medicine in the
afternoon in Las Vegas. He's also a champion tennis player,
having won about ten open tennis tournaments in doubles, and
currently dives twice per year in exotic locales. I've
always enjoyed his pictures personally and that's why I
included this seemingly unrelated album.
And that was my week-a quick trip to Germany, award for my
book, conversations with foreign flight crews, and a few new
photos for the gallery.
And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airpseed!
Cap'n Meryl
http://www.flyingfearless.com
http://www.fromthecockpit.com
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