06:40 – Wake up at Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates.
06:55 – Quick breakfast and a first glance at today’s flight plan to Amsterdam before heading out the door. Flight time to AMS is 7:04 due to some serious headwinds.
07:35 – Report at Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi CBC (Crew Briefing Center) where I meet my crew for a pre-flight briefing.
08:00 – Make our way to the gate.
Todays’ aircraft is A6-ETC, a Boeing 777-300ER.
08:15 – 09:19 Setup the aircraft for our upcoming flight whilst taking on fuel and boarding our passengers. Meanwhile we run through our take off performance based on today’s load sheet. We finish our briefings and checklists and I sign the Tech Log. Finally, we get our clearance and go off chocks 1 minute ahead of schedule.
10:04 – Once we’ve reached TOC (Top Of Climb), we run through our contingency briefings and get weather information for our en-route airports. After filling out our OFP (Operational Flight Plan) we get a chance to sit back and enjoy our office with the best view in the world.
10:59 – Cruising at Mach.84 we slowly overtake an Emirates B777 above us, giving us a spectacular view of the sun lighting up the condensation coming of it’s wings.
14:34 – Arrival in Amsterdam just ahead of schedule.
17:09 – Quick dash to the hotel, shower and change and straight back out again to meet friends in The Hague for dinner.
19:05 – Enjoying a great night out with friends. Back in the hotel around midnight for a nice sleep in the next morning.
16:25 – Wake up call in the hotel. One hour to get ready and meet the crew downstairs. Crew briefing during the bus ride to the airport. Today’s return flight of 6 hours and 5 minutes is 1 hour faster than our flight to Amsterdam. Yesterday’s headwinds are today’s tailwinds
21:39 – Push back, 14 minutes behind schedule due to an ATC (Air Traffic Control) ‘slot time’. With our 6:05 flight time we should manage to get back into Abu Dhabi well ahead of schedule.
05:06 – TOD (Top of Descend). Briefings and checklists are completed. PA to the passengers done, let’s ask for our descend clearance.
05:31 – Turning final as we pass straight over my house. My bed is calling!
05:36 – Touch down in Abu Dhabi 14 minutes ahead of schedule.
06:43 – Beautiful Sunrise as I wait for the bus to bring me back to the car park.
14:23 – Next day. Aaaaahhh! Best way to deal with jetlag.