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| The training centre became quite familiar... |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
