Cyprus-Forum.com

[Londonrake]

.......... you still out there?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... t-49222120

[kurupetos]

Don't worry, the koala is not a pilot...

[Paphitis]

.......... you still out there?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... t-49222120

Yes I know mate. I know all about the US and I also know they got the toughest airport security in the world which can be frustrating because you need to be at the airport 2 hours beforehand.

None of this getting to the airport 45 minutes before your flight like in Australia.

I am at a terminal now commuting to Canberra.

[Paphitis]

Don't worry, the koala is not a pilot...

And how much you prepared to wager in that one? I ask that because I’m prepared to wager any amount you want. 1000? 2000? How about 10,000 Euros mate? It’s on the table right here and right now since you are sure. Your chance to make some money.

My profession has nothing to do with the forum and is private but I am definitely a pilot and have been all my life and if I wasn’t, the only thing I am prepared to do besides fly, is work for myself. I do stuff on the side and can make a living on these activities if I wanted to. I do run a property business and do my own developments and I am handy on the tools as well.

I do complain a lot day to day but I do feel privileged to work in the Aviation Industry and I do love it very much. I always wanted to fly planes from when I was 5 and I made it happen and I have thousands of hours in the air and seen some incredible stuff. I worked my arse off and sacrificed a lot to get where I am. Aviation requires sacrifice.

My Son wants to be a pilot now and I am going to want him to learn in the States under the FAA because it’s cheaper and the Americans are good at Aviation and his career will progress to one of the majors at a young age from one of their regionals that are owned by the big 3.

The USA is 2 steps ahead of the rest of the world.

[Paphitis]

I am on my way to CBR now. Seeya!

[kurupetos]

Don't worry, the koala is not a pilot...

And how much you prepared to wager in that one? I ask that because I’m prepared to wager any amount you want. 1000? 2000? How about 10,000 Euros mate? It’s on the table right here and right now since you are sure. Your chance to make some money.

My profession has nothing to do with the forum and is private but I am definitely a pilot and have been all my life and if I wasn’t, the only thing I am prepared to do besides fly, is work for myself. I do stuff on the side and can make a living on these activities if I wanted to. I do run a property business and do my own developments and I am handy on the tools as well.

I do complain a lot day to day but I do feel privileged to work in the Aviation Industry and I do love it very much. I always wanted to fly planes from when I was 5 and I made it happen and I have thousands of hours in the air and seen some incredible stuff. I worked my arse off and sacrificed a lot to get where I am. Aviation requires sacrifice.

My Son wants to be a pilot now and I am going to want him to learn in the States under the FAA because it’s cheaper and the Americans are good at Aviation and his career will progress to one of the majors at a young age from one of their regionals that are owned by the big 3.

The USA is 2 steps ahead of the rest of the world.

This kid has more pilot skills than you, koala...

[Paphitis]

I was exactly like that kid when I was small.

Maybe a little older but Aviation was a huge passion for me and still is. I had all kinds of knowledge similar to that kid before I turned 10 and I think many pilots are the same. We are one of those professions where we actually live what we do. If 2 pilots married each other, it would not be such a good thing because that is all they would talk about.

By the age of 10, I could decipher a full Head Up Display and Instrument panel and my brain was already being trained for the life ahead. At this time, I was already occupying jump seats on B747 aircraft because every-time I flew or was taken overseas, I started chatting up the Flight Attendants to get onto the Flight Deck and I would be allowed to go and even spend hours there talking to the pilots because they wanted me to stay.

I also remember running away from home as a 7 year old to walk the 2 kms to a country airstrip to see a little Cessna land and my parents would freak because they had no idea where I was until they finally twigged that the first place to check is the local airstrip and sure enough there I was just hoping to see a plane. It was my little Mecca and I would spend hours there. It was my playground.

From early on, my dad who knew my passion would start buying me plane books. I still got these books and I still cherish them.

It's definitely a passion. For instance, a surgeon or a lawyer doesn't come him from work watching law or surgery videos, but we pilots are happy to come home after work and immediately go fly a light aircraft, or attend an airshow, and we always look up when a plane flies overhead.

Flying is a passion for most of us. We have lived and breathed it since we were 5. Similar to that kid who is probably going to grow up wanting to be a pilot and will probably become one too.

Similar to my son as well. I am already training my son with his Instrument Scan and how to fly instruments and scan quickly and to fly attitudes, and recover from unusual attitudes. He is 9 years old. Soon I will have him fly Instrument Approaches. It's good for his brain development because his mind is trained to be 3 dimensional.

I take it you don't want to wager. You pick the amount!

[Paphitis]

As a very young boy (single digits) my fascination graduation from light aircraft Cessna and Piper to huge passenger carrying airliners (after I got a taste in the B747 jump) and also to fast Jet killing machines like the F-4 Phanton, F-16, F-14 Tomacts, Mig 21, Mig 25 Foxbats, and everything in between. Even gliders fascinated me and I wanted to know how they flew so I started to get into the Physics side of things trying to find out.

fter my first trip to Cyprus and Greece I had wall to wall posters of HAF F-4E Phantoms. I just loved the form factor and I was just proud that Greece was the 3rd country to operate the Phantom after the US and Australia which used them in combat in Vietnam. It was like wowee, kid in a lolly shop.

I also had a taste for the old and romantic Spitfires and P-51D Mustangs. The Mustang was my favorite plane of all time. It became an obsession. Jigsaw puzzles were of aircraft such as these, and of course I also started building models in my early teens.

I use to go to a catholic School and my Dad told me once that the Head Nun came to visit them once saying I had an unhealthy fascination and obsession with destructive weapons of war and killing machines. My dad said is it any different to another noy being fascinated with cars?

I remember at one point my Dad would boast that anyone can ask me any question about an F-14 Tomcat or a Mig 25 and I would be able to rattle of the make and model of the power-plant and other tid bits of data. Well I would just read and read and my appetite was insatiable.

Come to think of it, I was more than a little obsessed with these things and everyone knew I was a bit different because of it.

Everything revolved around planes. Even my primary school art projects were 'portraits' of spitfires and mustangs...

[Maximus]

Interesting Paphitis,

It is very rare for a person to know from a young age what they want to do in life. Everyone has a calling but some people end up drifting to a place they don’t really want to be.

This career choice also crossed my mind but it never progressed further than that.

Why did you choose to be a chauffeur instead of a formula one driver.?

[Paphitis]

Interesting Paphitis,

It is very rare for a person to know from a young age what they want to do in life. Everyone has a calling but some people end up drifting to a place they don’t really want to be.

This career choice also crossed my mind but it never progressed further than that.

Why did you choose to be a chauffeur instead of a formula one driver.?

That's an interesting question.

As a kid we all drift from one thing to another. I remember there were spouts of wanting to be a fireman, or a policeman but they never lasted long, compared to wanting to fly planes.

Oh and there was an extensive period when I just wanted to be a horse jockey and that's a bit of a story because my Dad was into the horse races in a very big way, and gambling.