English review

The training centre became quite
familiar...

 A year has now passed, since we (I) moved to Kenya. A lot has happened, and then again, not that much. At the time of writing we are on our way back to Finland, just for a quickie. The kids have a week off from school and want to meet their friends, Ira wants to go to a big four-o party (in London) and me, well, I really want to meet my friends as well. Despite Facebook and Skype, the contact has been fairly scarce. I am not big on speaking on the phone or Skype, ask Ira…

Looking for rhinos

I remember sitting on the flight one year ago, thinking what have I gotten myself into? Arriving to a new continent, an new country without knowing anything, except that my brother liked living in Kenya. Not much to build on, is it… On the other hand, when making the decision with the family, we knew that if we’re not gonna do this now, we’ll regret it probably for the rest of our lives, thinking why didn’t we go? Kids are still fairly young, not rooted too deeply to Finland, next chance might not come up until retirement.

Not all work, together with the
colombian cartel..

Looking back, what first and foremost comes to my mind is frustration. I’ve had a tough time adapting to the African way of life. It’s not just that, there were so many problems and delays with the training. Some would probably say that if you aren’t working 5 months out of 10, that’s a pretty good deal. Yes, for sure, if you know you are going to work after that. Well, we didn’t. There was a lot of uncertainty, not knowing if I will ever fly in Africa. I even checked what Finnair would say, if I had to return with the milk train, as you would say in Finland (meaning not a victorious return, quite the contrary). Luckily, at Finnair I have one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. First of all, he knows his stuff, the aircraft, better than I ever will. Secondly and mainly, he is able to protect the interest of the company while being a good guy. That is a skill not many people have. It’s not too difficult being a good buddy, or a big boss, but combining those two, that’s the challenge. I’ve had many good bosses, another one that stands out like that is one I had during my military service, a lieutenant, for whom I happily would have gone to war for. Anyway, thanks Klasu for giving me the support I needed.

Xmas dinnner

So, Finnair (Klasu) told me I’d be welcome back any time, don’t worry. With that weight off my shoulders it felt easier waiting, because we still weren’t ready to give up Africa.

New years in Watamu

Starting from the beginning, the training was very comprehensive and quite intense. If you ask me, a little too thorough, but then again I wasn’t asked. I did voice my opinion though. The training was supposed to be both shorter and easier, it didn’t unfortunately turn out that way. Why? Well, as in any country or company where unions are involved, there was opposition on hiring expats. This is nothing new, it would be the same at Finnair and I fully understand it. But because there was a real shortage of captains of the Embraer, to the extent that the local guys worked too much, the union agreed to hire some expats.

While protecting the interest of their members, the union still had unsolved issues with the company. Eventually we expats were caught in the middle of a crossfire, in a battle that wasn’t about us, but we were used in the fight as a means. The company blamed the union and the union the company. Right or wrong is not for me to decide, the result was that our training was delayed.

Walking with
dinosaurs, I mean giraffs

A lot of the training felt unnecessary to me, but due to the open issues we still had to do it. Well, the employer decides, so we did it. This includes studying for a airline transport pilot written test, a test I’ve done more than ten years ago. Furthermore, the test questions were actually based on the European regulations…

Well, we did it, passed the exam together with many other exams, after nine months I was actually ready to get out flying. This is to cut a long story short by the way… Flight training took a further two months, flying appr 100 hours with instructors, being questioned on aircraft systems etc, all the while learing to operate in the challenging environment of Africa. By the way, many of you have heard the phrase “This Is Africa (TIA)”, but have you heard how it continues? I hadn’t either, until a friend of mine, who had spent a lot of time in the different African jungles, told me. He said: “This is Africa, but remember, Africa always wins”. I understand that now, but sometimes I still struggle with it. Can you understand what it means?

Juba, one of the most challenging
places

As all instructors, the flight instructors were nice, picky but nice. Then again, that’s how it is supposed to be. It is fair to say that nearly all the instructors I’ve met have been good at their thing. You can actually extend that to most of the people. Kenyans are nice, they are proud but have a good sense of humour. Most of them are really friendly (even though I suppose some see you as potential money) and willing to help. Here is a big difference with Finland. In Finland people in general don’t seem to happy about their lives, even though they should. You don’t smile at people you don’t know, to say hi to them is almost unthinkable. In Kenya it is never wrong to do that, even a bit of small talk is preferred. And importantly, remember to be friendly and smile, otherwise you are considered rude. This is an area where I still have to learn, I’m fairly good at it at work, but not privately. Fortunately my wife is naturally sociable, and thanks to her we’ve managed to learn to know lots of nice people. Most of them are expats as well, but not to forget some locals.

First session of sims done.

So, frustration, things don’t happen the way you expect them to nor at the pace you’d like. If you handle it right though, most things are still possible.

Friendliness, relax, don’t worry, be happy. That will get you far.

Kenya is a great country nature wise. The coast with it’s white sands and hot weather matches most similar places I’ve seen. The wildlife is fantastic; we’ve done two or three safaris already but will do more for sure. You cannot get enough of the animals. I’ve never seen something as graceful as the leopard, so aware of it’s own skills, or the lion, so aware of it’s own position that it really doesn’t care about humans. It most likely considers itself above the humans.

Silence is golden?

Now I’ve been flying almost a month without instructors, finally released and trusted to go out flying. It is really nice, finally some time to relax and enjoy. The challenges are different from Europe. It is still the same aircraft, and it still behaves in pretty much the same way. The airports look different with a lot more challenging nature. Combine that with less structured procedures, and you can see the challenges are starting to add up.

From Europe I am used to a very high standard of air traffic control, guiding you and helping you, quite often pretty much they will tell you what to do. Here? No. The radios are poor, it is difficult to hear what they say and they rarely use standard phraseology. Also, don’t really expect them to help if you get into trouble. They might, if they can hear you… No, here you are pretty much on your own, and just have to come up with ways of dealing with things.

Among the first flights

The first officers and the cabin crew have so far been nice. Apparently here the captain is a bigger authority than in Finland, so initially they are a bit cautious. Normally they loosen up a bit once they notice you don’t bite.

Santa Claus is coming
to town...

To summon it up, do I regret coming here? No, not really, although there are times I would have preferred to be elsewhere. However, I do look forward to spending summer in Finland to see if the picture I’ve painted is a realistic one, of being in Finland I mean. So far the plan is to be another year in Kenya, then we’ll see what the family wants, what Kenya Airways wants and what Finnair wants. Was it the Sex Pistols who put it well; Should I stay or should I go?