Another week of flying done and dusted. Last week’s routes took us to Milan and Berlin, followed by a surprise change on my standby day, they reassigned me to a positioning flight to Cologne, where I overnighted and operating two sectors to Venice and back.
The weather over Germany was a whole different story, challenging to say the least! We had to stay sharp, keeping a constant eye on the weather radar and visually scanning ahead to avoid the towering CBs (cumulonimbus clouds). For those of you who aren’t weather nerds (yet 😉), CBs are those big, powerful clouds responsible for heavy showers and even hail. You never fly through them intentionally, they demand respect.
A fun fact for my fellow curious minds: hail forms when the vertical build-up of the cloud is so intense that water droplets get pushed high enough to freeze, turning rain into ice balls. That’s the short version anyway, any meteorologists out there, feel free to jump in and correct me if I’ve butchered the science. 😅
After dodging weather and making it safely back, I stayed at the Prox Hotel in Cologne, conveniently within walking distance from the terminal. It’s a modern, trendy spot with an understated aviation theme. I always appreciate the little nods to our world in hotel design.
Back at home base, I rounded off the week operating to Ibiza and Luxembourg. And now… four days off!
The trickiest part of this week? Definitely navigating the weather, dodging storms takes a whole different level of preparation and awareness compared to a calm, clear CAVOK day.
How’s your week been? 🌩️✈️
