Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thanks, Captain



The Flight Level 390 blog that has long been a feature of the sidebar appears to have been taken down. 'Captain Dave' the anonymous author wrote beautifully about his job as an airline pilot in the USA, allowing us a glimpse into the highly professional world of the Captain who commands a multi-million dollar machine and is trusted with the lives of many people, but whose professionalism is accompanied by humanity and perhaps an enduring sense of wonder at the natural world that is sometimes beautiful and sometimes threatening. Perhaps someone in his employer's PR department got nervous of what he could not directly control - not too different from our beloved MoJ, if that is the case.
I shall leave the link on for a while, in case the absence is a temporary one. I hope so. 

17 comments:

  1. How sad. I discovered Flight Level 390 through this blog, and it became my favourite - even if posting was incredibly sporadic - flight blog.

    Does anybody have any alternative suggestions to sate my aviation need?

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    Replies
    1. Try any Ryanair flight - it will cure you of your aviation need for all time.

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    2. I sympathize, but it looks like being the only survivor of the European air businesses?

      Their penny pinching, high profile approach ensures profit. As every other airline runs out of capital and the backing sovereigns are beggared, prestige and strategic desire will relent and Ryanair will dominate. Take less than a decade I suggest?

      Take that Johnny English, for the Birmingham 6 et al! REVENGE! Mwahaha!

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    3. Decision height is another airline pilot blog, almost as enjoyable as captain dave.

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  2. Cap'n Dave last posted 28/10/12. That was 38 days after his 2nd most recent post. I am hoping that this is indicative of nothing more than either hectic schedules, lack of newsworthy material or both. I have followed him for years, and thoroughly enjoy his content and writing style.

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  3. Update to last. My analysis was based upon RSS Newsfeed subscriptions as opposed to viewing the blog in a web browser. Sadly it does appear to have been removed - great shame.

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  4. I agree entirely; Captain Dave came across as a superb professional, with a splendid writing style. Let's all hope that he's back soon

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  5. Such a shame to see Captain Dave disappear.......I have followed him for a few years, if only to imagine what it would have been like to fly the big metal as opposed to the small metal I have flown. Maybe he will be back.....

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  6. Nothing lasts forever. Random Reality (Tom Reynolds) and Johnny B are gone. The Copper's Blog is invite only. It's inevitable that everything comes to an end one day. The sad part is there seem to be no decent blogs to replace them.

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  7. www.pprune.com has some great posts in the forums (or is it fora?)

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  8. is it coincidence that the photo shows a USAirways Airbus (such as flown by Captain dave)? whoever he flies for I think that maybe their head office have shot themselves in the nosewheel??
    Incidentally, I say that he "flies" as a tribute to his prose - I normally refer to the people in that office as "drivers"

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    Replies
    1. There is no significance in the choice of photo, which was picked off Google Images because it is an A320 series Airbus (aka the Electric Jet or Fifi) as flown by Captain Dave and belongs to an American airline. That's it.

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    2. "understood" as we say. . .. .

      My apologies if I've maligned USAirways

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  9. A sad loss. I'll never get to fly the big stuff personally so I flew vicariously with Captain Dave. PPRUNE has good posts and can be a lot more technical but nothing can replace Captain Dave's simple joy and eloquence.

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  10. I always got much enjoyment from FL390 and can only hope that it will re-surface in another guise.

    Another US airline pilot blog that may interest readers is named Decision Height:

    http://alancockrell.blogspot.co.uk/

    Like FL390 it's about quality rather than quantity. The most recent post describes a tragedy clse to home and there has been an unusually long gap since but I am sure that it is not defunct.

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  11. Some months ago I e-mailed Capt Dave and told him how much I enjoyed reading his blog and got a very nice reply in return. The reply was sent from cfm56b2@gmail.com now I am not sure if this address has gone too but can I also all fellow Capt Dave fans to write and ask him clear the electric jet for take off once again.

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  12. good news?
    if you google 'captain dave flightlevel' you will find
    http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/site_notes/flight_level_390_and_capt.php
    which implies that he might return.

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Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.