The images from the speech: "From an A380 cockpit"
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Poetry In Motion In A Snowstorm
The mind numbing boredom: sitting in the cockpit, pushed-back, no engines running, waiting for the deicing crews to deice the A380.
Four trucks required. Two turn up. One breaks down. Typical New York. Fifty minutes with the air-conditioning off. 545 passengers in the stuffy cabin while we watch big fat snowflakes splat onto the windows. We hear the fire-hose sound of the de-icing as it approaches, violates our world like we're in a car wash, then leaves.
Our only respite, before the long taxi and 12 hour 30 minute flight, is to watch the A Team in action. Four trucks, engines-on deicing on the JetBlue deicing pad. They are knocking-off an A320 every eight minutes, one after the other in a constant stream.
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Iranian Lenticular Cloud
An Emirates 777 flies over a lenticular cloud in Iran.
Lenticular clouds are often mistaken for 'cigar-shaped' UFOs, especially when they are momentarily highlighted by the rising or setting sun.
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The Violet Stripe
The exact moment the sun hits the horizon, turn around 180 degrees. This flight, it's winter over Iran, and the Full Moon is just rising; but, more interesting is the violet stripe which appears for just a minute.
It shows the curvature of the earth, proving to pilots that we are flying over a planet; the thin edge is towards the summer pole.
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Valencia, Spain
The third largest city in Spain, home of the controversial 2010 America's Cup Regatta which was concluded after two races.
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The Long White Cloud
We're on the way to Auckland, in the land of the Long White Cloud. Over Bass Strait with the last of the Australian mainland to the left. Tamboon and along to the entrance at Mallacoota. Gabo Island is visible off the south-easternmost coast of the continent.
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Canadian Pack Ice
Approaching the coastline, after passing Greenland, the ice stacks-up into huge sheets.
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Stockholm, Sweden.
Hiding beneath the clouds on a summer afternoon.
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Perth, Western Australia
Prone to fog, with only one long runway which has a crossing strip (meaning that the entire airport can be closed by a minor incident occurring near the intersection); Perth Airport is the definition of the word remote.
Pilots of large, wide body aircraft headed over the Southern and Indian Oceans from Africa, Asia and the Middle East; or from the east coast; always keep a weather-eye on the half-hourly Trend Type Forecasts.
An early diversion to Columbo, Jakarta, Singapore, Mauritius, Learmonth, Adelaide or Kalgoorlie may be required. Even if the airport reopens they may no longer have enough fuel to continue to Perth once a diversion has commenced.
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The Blue Screen Of Death
There are about 135 computers in an Airbus A380, only three of them have Microsoft operating systems. Which ones do you think break down all the time?
This is the first time we'd seen the Blue Screen Of Death inflight, and high over the North Atlantic at that.
Passengers are used to Captains waking them up, asking for a Doctor; but we figured asking for an IT expert may have started a riot.
Thankfully, the Off / On fix saved the day.
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Melbourne City
In the pre dawn light enroute to AKL … I can see my house from here.
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"Direct To Enima."
43 nautical miles the other side of Bucharest airport is the waypoint Enima. Toilet humour aside, instrument flight rule airways require five letter words for waypoints that can be annunciated in English.
There are 8,931 five-letter words in Scrabble, but, as in the case of Enima, there are many more once you cast aside spelling rules.
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Surabaya, Indonesia.
An active Cb over Gunung Ringgit Volcano lights up the skies to the south of Surabaya, the second largest city in the country.
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Breathtaking
No matter how long you've been flying, every time our favourite star touches the horizon, it stops you in your tracks. As it should. Here we are in the holding pattern south of Dubai. In one year I spent 600 mins, 10 hours, holding.
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Windfarms
If they don't work, the Europeans and Chinese are yet to receive the memo.
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Seychelles
If you can handle the tricky approach, the overnights are worth it. Beau Vallon is a great beach, and worth a look.
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Sunset Over The Equator
Enroute from Mauritius to Dubai, crossing the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Equator. The dissipating storms result in high-level Cirrus cloud and some low-level Strato-Cumulous.
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Sydney Runway 34 Left
Taken from about fifteen kilometres out, with a long lens.
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Sydney Runway 34 Left
Just crossing over the water, slight crosswind from the left, about 300 feet above the runway. We'll be crossing the threshold at 50 feet and touchdown will occur next to the red and white lights.
There are over 100,000 passenger airline flights a day worldwide.
Near-perfect landings, in the touch down zone, are a repeatable skill carried-out by thousands of airline pilots every day.
Their accuracy puts goal-missing football players to shame.
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Catching Qatar
The A380 is slightly faster than the Dreamliner.
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Lenticular Cap Above Cb Cloud
Above the active CumuloNimbus (Cb) cloud, some lenticular "lens-type" clouds form a cap, making visible the wind rushing over the top.
Not a place to fly, due to the extreme turbulence.
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"Big Dog, Your Side"
Even under a full Moon, pilots still love clouds.
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Mumbai Airport
Ban the commute. Life is better when you live close to work.
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Emerging From The Cloud
Bursting-out from cloud into clear air at 600 kph never gets old.
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Crossing The Equator Under A Full Moon
The full Moon shines on the Cumulus clouds, before they build vertically to become the CumuloNimbus thunder-storms which inhibit our progress.
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Runway 34 Melbourne
Most mornings the Katabatic winds from the Great Dividing Range determine that the runway for the international arrivals will be on runway 34. That is, if you are sitting on the threshold waiting to take off, the magnetic heading will be 340 degrees. You drop the zero, so the name of the runway is runway 34.
To find an airport in a big city at night, look for the dark area, it makes the runway's approach lighting stand out.
Here the runway is the red line in the middle of the picture and the A380's heading is pointing the left. The wind from the left causes the aircraft to drift onto the correct track.
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Runway 16 Melbourne
Sunday evening and the plane-spotters car park is full. They even have hot food and ice-cream vans.
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Mumbai Airport Slum
Any pilot who has spent much time operating into Mumbai will tell you their "Slum Dog Millionaire" story about what they have spotted in the slum that borders the airport.
When I first researched the slum, for my first book in 2008, there were 400,000 people living there. There were 126 schools, and the average dwelling housed 2.5 people.
Of course, the airport would like to relocate the dwellers and redevelop the land. The dilemma: most of the airport workers live there, so the airport would grind to a halt.
A 2014 FirstPost report; in which the airport terminated the contract of the redeveloper for missing another deadline; said that there were a million people living there.
That's some growth rate ... all connected to electricity, many with satellite TV.
Read the report HERE
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Qatari 777 Freighter
"My side, below." Closing speed 970 knots (1,790 kph)
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The Floods Of Bangladesh
Each year at least 18% of Bangladesh is flooded by the monsoon rains. 80% of the country is officially classified as floodplains.
After the monsoons finish, the snow begins to melt.
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Nanga Parbat, Pakistan
Naked Mountain, Huge Mountain, Killer Mountain - The Man Eater. The westernmost peak of the Himalayan range is ninth highest in the world, at 26,660 feet, (8,126 metres).
31 people died trying to climb it until it was conquered in 1953 by Austrian Hermann Buhl, alone for the last 1,300 metres after his colleagues turned-back.
Without oxygen; and after he had to spend a night standing, balanced on a ledge; he took 40 hours, and became the first person to summit a mountain over 8,000 metres high by himself.
It has had 68 victims, the third highest death rate in the world behind Annapurna and K2, (which equals it in terms of technical difficulty). And then the Taliban Terrorists killed 10 climbers and their cook at base camp in 2013.
For Pilots it is right of track as we start over the highest airway in the world, where the lowest safe altitude is 28,500 feet, just after we’ve passed Peshawar, headed for China. A quick glance, tick it off, and head for Mt Rakaposhi, and a last check of the emergency escape routes in the secondary flight plan. The next hour is serious business.
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Mount Rakaposhi, Pakistan
At 25,551 feet above sea-level, pilots and cabin crew know that the "Time Of Useful Consciousness" is three to five minutes. That is, the time a normal person has to get an oxygen mask on, and start using-it, before being paralysed by hypoxia, then death.
No wonder that there aren't many people on top of the 27th tallest mountain in the world; as we traverse the highest airway in the world, crossing waypoint Purpa, from Pakistan into China.
If we have a serious depressurisation issue, we can only descend to 28,500 feet until we get a little further north, and can start winding-down within those valleys ahead, and divert to nearby Kashi.
A tricky business at night or in cloud; so for an hour or so everyone on the flight deck is very attentive — while the passengers watch movies. 
A section of Tim A's quick reference "High CountryEscape Route Chart,” used in training to get an understanding of the depressurisation strategies.
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The Five Ks
The Karakoram Ranges lie north west of the Himalayas, across India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
As we fly from the north-western corner of Pakistan, K2 is up the glacier, to our east. We then go around the top, into China and look south-east along the line of the Ks.
The last pic is from inside China, looking south-west. K1 is top right.
In Pakistan the five K mountains dominate the skyline: Masherbrum (K1), Godwin Austen (K2), Broad Peak (K3), Gasherbrum II (K4), Gasherbrum I (K5).
K2 is the second highest mountain on earth. At 28,651 feet it is about 800 feet shorter than Everest but much more impressive, since it has the greatest fall in the shortest distance. Knick-named 'The Savage Mountain', one person dies for every four who conquer it.
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It's A Great Wall
You may not be able to see it from space, but you can see it from an A380.
To catch the winter sunrise, the sales team had an early start.
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London, England
During the final turn onto the Runway 27 Left Localiser (lateral) beam, the right wing dips affording one of the best views in aviation.
The sun shines on Heathrow Airport, and the microphones at Wimbledon pick-up another passing jet.
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Mt.Hood, Oregon
Having passed Mt.Rainier, Mt.St.Helens and Mt.Adams in Washington state, Mount Hood stands proud, just over the border in the State of Oregon.
The chances of this potentially active volcano erupting in the next 30 years are put at 3-7% by the United States Geological Survey.
Its last major eruption occurred only a few minutes ago, geologically-speaking, in 1782.
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Mt.Adams, Washington
A little further south of Mt.Rainier, and 55 kms east of Mt.St.Helens*; Mt.Adams is considered active even though it has not erupted for 1,000 years.
Never turn your back on the sea, or an active volcano.
Have a look at the live camera, and see if she has gone off again, HERE
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Kolkata, India
Proof the earth is round. Watching the setting sun up here. Meanwhile, at ground level it's already night.
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Mount Ranier
After crossing the North Pole, enroute to San Francisco, we see the ring-of-fire volcanoes of the western U.S.A. starting with Mt. Ranier just south of Seattle, in Washington State.
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The Burmese Hump
To keep the Chinese war-effort supplied during the second world war, more than 157,000 flights were made over the eastern Himalayas, between India and China.
Ranging from 10,000 feet to 16,000 feet, crossing the mountains on the China-Burmese border exposed crews to hypoxia in the unpressurised aircraft.
The Monsoon weather added to the difficulties.
Everything we know about air cargo was learned in the operations of the Air Transport Command.
509 planes were crashed and a further 81 lost. 1,659 people were killed.
A total of 650,000 tonnes of freight and 33,400 people made the trek across “The Hump” using a fleet of up to 640 aircraft at a time.
Looking down on the stratocumulus stacked-up on the Burmese (Myanmar) side, we spare a thought for those who never made it across.
Listen to a podcast interviewing a radio operator who flew "The Hump"
https://tinyurl.com/FlyingTheHump
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"I Wonder If That's Over The Airport"
As soon as we rose above the inversion after takeoff from Doha we saw it: a huge isolated, active Cumulo-Nimbus (Cb) cloud.
A look at the Navigation Display (ND) revealed that it was active, (the red bits), and sitting over the approach path to Dubai's runway.
Air Traffic Controllers suspended departures to enable arriving aircraft to manoeuvre as needed, to avoid the storm.
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Sometimes You Get Close
Threading your way between cells of the ITCZ on a moonless night, upwind of the closest storm, when suddenly she becomes active and the light show begins. "That didn't scare me!" Yeah, right.
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Waiting For The Crew Bus
It's hard to translate how tired you are when you are waiting for the crew bus, suffice to say that just posting this pic makes my eyes feel like they have sand in 'em.
Then, by the time you crawl into bed at home, you will be wide awake and sleep will have deserted you.
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Sunrise Over The Inversion
Sometimes it's hard to believe they pay you to be here.
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Tabarka, Tunisia
Whenever you look down on the earth; wherever it's warm, humanity just loves a beach.
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Singapore
The lightning from the active thunderstorms of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) puts the blue back into the night sky. We're following the A380 from Brisbane, (that's the two lights just to the right of centre).
At least 50 ships, mainly oil tankers, are waiting in Singapore Strait.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The thunderstorms of ITCZ sitting over the Strait Of Malacca as we continue to follow the A380 from Brisbane.
The Strait Of Malacca
Further up the Strait Of Malacca, as we continue to follow the Brisbane flight, the thunderstorms are lighting-up the sky.
The Strait Of Malacca
One quarter of the oil transported by ship, and 25% of the world's traded goods pass through the narrow Strait each year.
We are still following the A380 from Brisbane (right side of picture), this is the area where MH370 was last seen on radar.
The lights of fishing boats are visible amongst the trading ships and tankers. 94,000 ships use the Strait every year.
Incidentally, you can see the A380 from Brisbane, ahead.
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Dubai Dawn
Not every arriving flight at Dubai is allocated a gate with an aerobridge. Sometimes you are allocated a stand-off gate, where passengers are bussed to the terminal.
Whilst the cabin crew are doing their post-flight security check, Pilots have time to stand on the steps and witness the dawn.
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Le Concorde
The Air France Concorde at Charles de Gaulle is on our side of the airside divide to remind us of a time when things that went fast could look good as well.
We think of her again, a few minutes later, when we are about to roll on her fateful runway.
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The North Pole
The blue dotted line is a 40 NM circle around the North Pole. The next waypoint is 89 degrees North and 80 degrees West.
The ETP is the Equi-Time Point between the two closest airports, Keflavic in Iceland and Sondrestrom in Greenland. For any emergency diversion before the ETP it will be faster to go to Keflavic.
.84 in magenta at the next waypoint denotes that the Oceanic Clearance has specified that the aircraft must maintain a set speed for the duration of the crossing.
The compass ring is moving constantly at this stage, with zero degrees pointing at the North Pole. In seventeen minutes or so it will be abeam us.
Ahead and to the left is a green blob, indicating moisture in the form of a cloud. This is probably incorrect, since the weather-producing atmosphere at the north pole is very shallow, so there's not much weather to affect aircraft. More likely, the radar beam has been turned-down so that it is producing ground-return at the furthermost point, 160 nautical miles (320 kms) away.
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Almost Home
The tail-cam view displayed on the cockpit instruments. We're on 'downwind' for runway 12 Left, flying over the Ruler of Sharjah's house (one of about 120 flights to do so every night). You can see that the Wing Lights are on, illuminating the engines, making ourselves visible to other aircraft; and you can see the magenta lines on the screen. Used for taxying on the ground, the lines show the actual position of the extremities of the landing gear … so you don't cut corners.
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True, It's The North Pole
One difference between Commercial Navigation, and Senior Commercial Navigation in the pilot training syllabus is Polar Navigation, and how you navigate above Latitude 72 degrees North.
Compasses are switched from Magnetic to True, so they point to True North, and navigation is conducted with reference to the Polar Grid.
Pilots change the compasses at the press of a button, or just wait until the aircraft realises it is above 72 degrees north, and switches them automatically.
[True North is at the top of the planet, whereas Magnetic North wanders about, and is currently in Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada.] 
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Gold At The North Pole
It's a long day, flying from Dubai to San Franciso over the North Pole. 15 hours 50 minutes flight time, plus your pickup 2 hours 15 mins before takeoff; and the trip to your hotel room, about 2 hours after landing.
For over 20 hours the sun is relentless.
The good news is that, looking South (every direction is South!) from the top of the world, the sun sparkles on the cracks in the ice, and makes it look like veins of gold.
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Fishing Boats
In the Java Sea, north of Surabaya, the lights of fishing boats dot the darkness. This is nothing.
You could just about walk between Japan and Taiwan on the fishing boats every night, without getting your feet wet. And in the Gulf Of Tonkin, in Vietnam, between Haiphong and Danang; there are more fishing boats, than stars in the sky.
Order fish 'n' chips for your next meal … before the world runs out.
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"Company Super, Head-To-Head"
The A380 Windscreens have three layers of glass, one layer of plastic and one of gold fibres, like fly-wire, which is heated.
The result is not very good for photography. This image was taken from an A330 whose windows, whilst built the same way, produce clearer images.
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"Request 20 Miles Left & Right Of Track"
Due weather. Enroute from Mauritius to Dubai, traversing the inter-tropical convergence zone during sunset, there's about an hour spent picking your way between thunderstorms. Spectacular, but you can never really relax.
Legally you must remain clear of red weather radar returns, and no closer than 20 nautical miles downwind of an active thunderstorm cloud.
The A380 has "Auto-TCAS", where the aircraft automatically avoids an intruder aircraft. There is no reason why they can't develop "Auto-Avoid", where the aircraft will automatically skirt around the upwind side of an active cell, and then regain the flight planned track.
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Three Below And One Above
In Dubai's Desdi holding pattern the three aircraft below us line-up 1,000 feet above each other as they begin their inbound turns. The aircraft above is two-thousand feet above us. One year I spent a total of 600 minutes in holding patterns.
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'That's it. No More.'
Storoya Island, in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, is the last land you'll see when you fly over the North Pole from Dubai to San Francisco. At 80 degrees north, there is nothing after this … except the Arctic Sea and ice.
The next time we'll see land will be Canada, in four hours.
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'You Have Control, I Need A Stretch'
No matter how comfortable the seat, (and the Airbus has lambswool covers on its control seats and nifty foot rests), you need to get up every hour or so and stretch your legs.
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That Exquisite Feeling
An airline pilot's task is to get the aircraft to the destination, cross the threshold at 50 feet, and be in a position to land in the touchdown zone — or go around. No landing is assured.
When you get it right, the sense of job-satisfaction is exquisite.
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Waiting For The Curfew To End
At either end of the Kangaroo Route are two curfew airports, London's Heathrow and Sydney's Kingsford Smith. Every morning, whilst you sleep, pilots fly their aircraft in holding patterns waiting for the airports to open.
Despite what ATC say about the planning and 'speed control', the old adage holds true most of the time:
"Whoever gets to the holding pattern first … wins!"
And as you land-bound people wake under leaden skies, nature hands us this view as payoff for flying throughout the night.
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Suez, And The Canal
Completed in only ten years, the 193 km-long canal system was completed in 1869. It takes 12-16 hours to transit the canal, shaving 7,000 kms off a trip. The average capacity is 76 ships every 24 hours.
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Mt.Ranier, Washington
Dominating the skyline south of Seattle is a magnificent volcano, which last erupted a few minutes ago, geologically-speaking, in 1854. Although currently dormant, it is monitored daily, because an eruption would cause mass destruction brought about by its huge glacial ice.
It's twice as big as Mt.St.Helens, 80 kilometres to the south, so an eruption would be impressive, but moreso because of Lahars which would quickly engulf life downstream. Moving at tens of metres per second, and up to 140 metres deep, the glacial ice would melt, mixing pyroclastic flow with rocks and water. Three and a half million people live in its path.
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Dubai, U.A.E.
The trick, after flying from Australia overnight, is to land, and get home to bed before the sun rises.
But on a flight like this, you're five minutes out, and the sun has beaten you. It's not easy to land a plane when it feels like there's sand in your eyes.
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Fracking Pads, Texas
In 2014 the United States became the world's third largest producer of oil after Saudi Arabia and Russia.
And by 2016 the USA was between 86-91% self sufficient in total energy consumption.
Fracking has made it all possible, and at least 600 trucks will visit each pad during its lifetime, depending on who you read, HERE. So work out who will be fixing the roads before you sign-up for the fun.
The oil companies promise that there are no long-term negative effects from putting these pads so close to water-courses and houses; after all what could possibly go wrong? (One radical documentary is HERE)
And anyway, Canada has plenty of fresh water, if it's needed. They can send it by ship, using all those old unwanted oil tankers.
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Mount St.Helens, Washington
The eruption, on May 18th.1980, blew the north side out of the volcano's crater in the largest debris avalanche in known history. The magma then flattened 600 square kilometres — destroying trees, 200 buildings, 57 humans, 7,000 large animals and 12 million fish.
It is alive and is being "recharged" with magma. Over 130 earthquakes occurred underneath Mt.St.Helens in the eight weeks from March 2016. Too weak to be felt by humans, the largest was 1.6 on the Richter scale.
Never trust them, and like the sea, never turn your back on one.
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Northern Lights
Over Greenland, with the Big Dipper above.
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Wake Turbulence
Best avoided, especially if generated by a Boeing 757 or Airbus A380, the two types of aircraft whose wake is particularly vicious to aircraft below.
Usually invisible, the wake descends at 500 feet-per-minute, so pilots have to imagine where they are. Here the atmosphere is moisture-laden so that contrails have formed, making the wake visible.
On head-to-head airways in RVSM airspace, (1,000 feet vertical separation), when an aircraft passes directly overhead pilots will check their wind readout and determine where the descending wake will be in two minutes, and manoeuvre their aircraft to avoid it.
Strategic Lateral Offset Procedures (SLOP) allow Pilots in Oceanic Airspace to offset to the right, up to one or two nautical miles without having to advise ATC. When piloting an A380 it's wise to put yourself on the most downwind SLOP track to make it easier on other crews.
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Euphrates River, Basra
In Iraq, about forty kilometres downstream from where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet, this is "The Cradle Of Civilisation" … or one of them. It is widely accepted that civilisation independently emerged in five locations.
Flying into Basra had added challenges. Before descent the crews had to call the company on the satellite phone to confirm that the Security Department was happy for the flight to continue. Then all external lights were turned-off for the approach. During landing the lights were turned back-on.
The airfield did not have any runway lighting, so flights had to get in and out during daylight. Breakdowns added extra layers of complexity.
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Times Square, New York
On any evening a percentage of the spectators sitting in the bleachers at Times Square are bleary-eyed airline crew, coming to terms with why New York is called the "city that never sleeps".
When you sleep during the day the room maid next door smashes the vacuum cleaner into the wall beside your bed, and taxi drivers honk at crossing pedestrians in the streets below.
Earplugs are the solution. Along with that book: "Sleeping for Pilots & Cabin Crew (And Other Insomniacs)" HERE
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North Western Sweden
A particularly busy part of a flight to New York as the augmenting pilots emerge from the crew rest compartment, and are briefed to take over until one hour before landing.
Leaving the Swedish controllers behind and going to Norway's Bodo Control, it is time to accept the detailed Oceanic Clearance as the trip over the North Atlantic will be outside radar coverage and conducted procedurally.
Meanwhile, a glance outside shows the first dusting of snow.
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Years Off Your Life
Flying to a particular island, (Australia), the government is paranoid about insects being introduced, so requires all operators to spray their aircraft before each flight that enters their country.
In the old days the spraying would occur when the passengers were on board. Nowadays they spray the aircraft prior to boarding.
Often, during spraying, the smoke detectors go off using the same alarm that advises when the plane is suffering a major disaster. This occurs during flight preparation when the pilots have their heads down, comparing waypoints in the autopilot against the printed flight plan.
Airbus calls the alarm "an attention getter". It works. Every-time.
Turn your speakers up to full, and listen to it HERE
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"I Think It's A Dog"
"Nah, its a crocodile." Pilots spend a long time looking at clouds.
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The Glamour
At the end of a long flight there is the delay after the passengers have left the aircraft, the walk through the airport, the delay at immigration, collecting baggage and waiting for the bus. Then the inevitable traffic delays, and finally check-in at the hotel.
My record waiting for rooms to be readied -for the entire 30 crew-members after a 14 hour duty- was two hours fifteen minutes.
If you want to understand the life of a long haul crew member, catch a bus to an airport, plug your headphones in, and, on the way, listen to Jackson Browne's "The Load Out, & Stay":
The band's on the bus
And they're waiting to go
We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago
Or Detroit, I don't know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms
And wander 'round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came
It's how we live.
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The Natraks
Eastbound from New York, approaching sunrise on Track X-Ray.
The North Atlantic Organised Track System (NAT-OTS) is designed to assist the 2,000 aircraft crossing between the USA and Europe every day.
Originally, five tracks were spaced 60 nautical miles apart laterally, and thirteen vertical levels were spaced 1,000 feet apart, between 29,000 feet to 41,000 feet. And planes were fired along them every ten minutes or so.
There are now extra tracks with closer-spacing of just 30 nautical miles.
The system reverses every twelve hours to take advantage of the fluctuating westerly winds, and the morning and evening peaks.
If you have the stomach for it, check out these videos. Be warned, you may never be able to sleep in an aircraft again when you see how many planes there are.
Visual depiction : HERE
Detailed Explanation: HERE
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"Super - 1,000 Feet Above"
Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) airspace between 29,000 and 41,000 feet inclusive, means that participating aircraft can be separated vertically by 1,000 feet instead of the standard 2,000 feet.
Modern track-keeping using three inertial navigation systems tied-into twin GPS guarantees that; unless you offset a mile or two right of track; you will pass directly under planes flying the other way on two-way air routes.
The A380 is designated as "super" aircraft for wake turbulence, rather than "heavy" as appended to the callsigns of 777s and smaller types.
Noticing an oncoming A380, with a True Air Speed of 480 knots, your combined closing rate is 2 x 480 = 960 knots, or 1,777 kph. Not much time to snap an image, but time enough to look at the wind direction and imagine the dangerous wake turbulence descending from the wingtips of the passing machine.
You can hear the woosh as it passes.
Falling at 500 feet per minute, you have time to select the Heading to manual and ever-so-slightly turn your aircraft upwind of the descending turbulent spirals. If you are successful, after two minutes you can gently turn the aircraft back, arm the navigation system to take control when you regain track, and your passengers remain blissfully unaware.
Get it wrong, and the subsequent short, sharp turbulence may be enough to spill the coffee.
And you thought pilots sat and read the paper. Not anymore.
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Ngorongoro Highlands, Tanzania
Some of the volcanoes of the East African Rift Zone, (the big one is Ela Naibori), the largest seismically active rift system on the planet today.
The African tectonic plate is splitting in two at the rate of 6 -7 mm a year. The larger western plate,(the Nubian), will break off from the eastern plate, (the Somali), and a new ocean basin will form.
If you live in Somalia, you have about 10 million years to move.
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Albert Park, Melbourne
Turning onto final, Runway 34 at Melbourne Australia, in the pre-dawn light, after flying 545 people twelve hours across the globe from the Middle East. Nice to look across and see Port of Melbourne cruise ship terminal, Albert Park Lake — where the Formula One race is held— and look down on my street, five minutes walk from the beach.
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Iranian Mountains
The Zagros Mountains never fails to attract the attention of passing pilots. The collision which caused them, between the Eurasian and Arabian tectonic plates, is still occurring. The range is climbing higher by a few millimetres annually.
Sea slugs, once at the bottom of the sea, have been found (fossilised) over 4,000 metres (2.5 miles) up.
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We'll Go Right, Thanks.
In a pitch-black night, the lightning puts the blue back in the sky, and you get to see the distinctive anvil-shaped top of the thunderstorm cloud. This gives you the tip that the wind is blowing right-to-left, so the smoothest option will be to divert upwind.
We'll go to the right, even though the guy we are following looks to be going left-of-track. Our passengers will appreciate the smooth ride.
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Catching Bait
During a morning walk during a layover at Mauritius, a local fisherman catches bait fish before heading out over the bar.
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Here It Comes
It's been a long night.
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Naples & Mt.Vesuvius
The stunning scenery of Naples is over-shadowed by the mother-of-all thunderstorms ahead.
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Virga
Precipitation that evaporates before hitting the ground. Can be quite turbulent in there.
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First Officer Working
It's not as rare as you'd think. Here three enroute airports are polled to find the actual weather conditions in case a fast diversion is needed.
Since the Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) dilemma has reached both law offices and newsrooms, it has become front of mind. In aviation A.I. killed-off Flight Engineers in the mid 1990s; so now pilots have to monitor the aircraft systems themselves, as well as handling track-keeping, navigation and communication … as well as piloting.
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The Squadron Heads Off
We are off to London, they are off to Paris. 1000 feet above us, we'll both step climb as often as we can to save fuel. Unlike other types, most Airbus flights will be able to immediately climb to 35,000 feet unless restricted by traffic. With the EA engines, at 35,000 they start "making fuel" — below that you sometimes have to earn your money.
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Granny's House
To celebrate the royal wedding we look down on the River Thames, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Green Park, The Mall, Buckingham Palace, and Hyde Park.
The approach to Heathrow's Runway 27 Left is magical for First Officers. Captains get to see Wimbledon.
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The Pyramids Of Giza
On the Giza Plateau just outside Cairo, the only "wonder" remaining of the seventh wonders of the world, The Great Pyramid (Pharaoh Khufu’s) is closest. Ten metres taller than the second pyramid, Pharaoh Khafre’s, which appears more imposing due to its base and that fact that its limestone cap remains. The smallest is the Menkaure pyramid.
To sit in the burial chamber inside the base of the Great Pyramid is one of the most awe-inspiring things you can do on, or even above, our planet.
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Russian Sea Fog
Moist air has encountered the chilly seas and condensed, usually, around microscopic airborne salt particles.
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Bangkok
The Chao Phraya River winds its way through Bangkok in the aftermath of a thunderstorm which has dissipated into high-level cirrus and low-level strato-cumulous clouds.
Fuelled by the monsoon climate, which sees it receiving 1,400mm (55 inches) of rain a year, the river is the life-blood of Thailand.
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Oman Air 787
"Head-to-head, my side." When you see a dot in the sky coming at you, hold very still and see if it is moving in the windscreen. With practice, you can tell if the other aircraft will pass in front,
or behind. Left or right.
Another aircraft, whose relative position doesn't change — is going to hit you.
Just like a car approaching your crossroad. At least, in aviation, we are at different altitudes. Or are we?
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U.F.O. Above
One year I added-up the minutes I spent in holding patterns: 600 minutes. Ten long hours. Here an unidentified flying object, probably a 777 or 787, is 1,000 feet above us in the Desdi holding pattern, just north of Dubai.
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Sliema, Malta
My home during my time in Malta: the Crowne-Plaza Sliema. After the failure of Ansett, my career was restarted thanks to Joe Farrugia, Chief Pilot of Air Malta. Everytime I flew past the island nation, I doffed my cap in thanks to the only man on the planet who gave me a second chance at a career in aviation. The most important person in your life might be someone you have never met.
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Ellesmere Island, Nares Strait
A glacier makes its way to the sea via Nares Strait, which separates Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
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Auckland, New Zealand
The City Of Sails on New Zealand's North Island is rumoured to hold the greatest number of boats registered, per head, in the world. And most are yachts. If winning yacht races is your thing, you can't go wrong if you fill your boat with Kiwi sailors.
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Ellesmere Island, Canada
The easternmost part of Canada, just before you cross the Arctic Ocean and the top of Greenland, is home to the township of Alert — the northernmost permanently-inhabited place on the planet.
Only 817 kilometres from the North Pole, it's not the kind of place you'd like to take 545 passengers wearing summer clothing.
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Daly City, San Francisco
Just after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, a temperature inversion traps haze. Two hang-gliders, operating from Mussel Rock Paragliding Site, are unaware of the Airbus A380 crossing above. Below the cliffs: The Pacific Ocean.
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Cloudsurfing
You're climbing up through stratiform cloud and realise that you are about to break-out on top. Hit ALT HOLD and the aircraft will target your current altitude. Then select VERT SPEED and crack it up 100 feet per minute until the cloud is passing just underneath the window. With climb power set the speed is increasing, as it approaches 350 knots, pull OPEN CLIMB and up she goes like a homesick angel / fart in a bath (insert your description here). The only other people who know what's going on are the ATC, who have noticed you've stopped climbing, and that paxing pilot, smiling to himself, in 23A.
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The Big Apple
And its even-bigger electricity bill. The image was taken from 37,000 feet over New Brunswick, New Jersey, heading from east-to-west (we just passed Washington) enroute from Los Angeles to Dubai.
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North Atlantic Weather
A rare image of three distinct weather systems over the North Atlantic. Seafarers caught in between the systems would be suffering "a perfect storm".
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Crossing The Nile
Just south of the bridge at Beni Suef. That smudge of light in the distance is the Greater Cairo area, home to 20 million people.
Humanity clings to the Nile all the way through Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda from its source in Lake Victoria.
It contrasts as a ribbon of green on the sand during the day; and light at night.
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777 Contrails
A closing speed of 1,770 kph, -56.5C super-chilled air, and zero wind, combine to make condensation trails of the oncoming 777's wingtip vortices.
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Sit This One Out
"What's worse than being on the ground, wishing you were in the air?
Being in the air wishing you were on the ground."
So goes the old pilot's adage. Taxying-out at Bangkok during an active thunderstorm, it soon becomes obvious that setting the park brake and waiting ten minutes is the prudent thing to do.
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Pay Your Respects
Each trip to Auckland Emirates crew go and pay homage to the spectacular Emirates Team New Zealand yachts that lost the America's Cup to the Swiss Alinghi team by one second in the final race in 2007. Arguably the most exciting mono-hull races ever conducted, the series included new onboard cameras and microphones, with virtual imaging that brought the television coverage to life.
After seeing the yachts at the Viaduct Basin, you can dine at Portofino or The Fox Sportbar. No visit is complete without visiting Danny Doolan’s and singing the NZ anthem: "Slice Of Heaven" by Dave Dobbyn.
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A Long Way From Anywhere
Flying over the North Pole to San Francisco, this screen shows that, from our present position, we are 1,328 nautical miles from the closest airports. BGSF, Sonderstrom (Kangerlussuaq) Airport, is in Greenland; and 1,585 nautical miles away is CYZF, Yellow Knife in Canada. Once we have travelled a further 289 miles along the airway we will be at the ETP (Equi-Time Point); the half-distance point, modified by wind; from where it will take us the same amount of time to get to either: two hours and forty-two minutes, (17:13 - 14:31 = 2:42).
Not that you want to land an A380 at either. The runways are short, are often covered in ice and snow, and the temperature is often way below freezing … not places to be popping the slides.
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Le Bourget
Paris' first commercial airport, with Charles De Gaulle in the background. It was the airport where Charles Lindbergh landed in 1927, after his transatlantic crossing; where Hitler landed in 1940, Nureyev defected in 1961; and where the ill-fated Concorde was headed in 2000.
In 2005 I landed there in a VIP A320; and watched as my boss, a Saudi Sheikh, bought a brand new Airbus A340 at the Paris Airshow. The new A380 was there: "Would you like a look inside?"
"No thanks," I said, "I'll never fly one!" I went on to fly my first A380 in 2008, and my last in 2016.
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Sister Ship
Each day, over Denmark, the New York bound flight passes last night's return flight coming the other way. When this photo was taken we only had the two A380s. The only time the two were in the same place, at the same time, was at this spot, at 12:30 UTC every day.
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Air France Concorde
At Charles De Gaulle Airport, (a.k.a. the scene of the crime), there is a frozen-moment Concorde next to the taxiway reminding passing pilots of the crash on the 25th July 2000, and the lesson it underscored:
"Never, EVER, shut down an engine that is delivering power, until you get to a safe height — regardless of the flames."
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Crossing The Equator
Every flight crossing the Equator has to negotiate the ITCZ, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. It's where the northern and southern hemispheres' weather collides, distinguished by the unstable air masses leading to Cumulo-Nimbus (Cb) clouds and thunderstorms.
It is illegal to fly into active thunderstorm cells, so pilots have to fly around them, no closer than 20 nautical miles on the downwind side.
Cabin crew close the window blinds so passengers don't see the lightning flashes that go off every 90 seconds. Passengers sleep, or watch movies, not realising that the light show from the flight deck is much more exciting.
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Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai
Dubai Creek, inching towards completion, effectively placing Dubai's tourist precinct on an island.
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A380 Sunrise
You've been flying all night and they make you park on a stand-off gate. Great. Now it's going to take an extra ten minutes to disembark the passengers. The sunrise colours everything for a minute, and the first A380 I ever flew takes on a whole new look.
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Zipper Distrail
Pilots spend much of their lives day-dreaming as they gaze out of windows; in my case, defeating the prognostication of Mrs.Coventry who, as my class teacher in Grade 3B, told the entire class that I would get nowhere in life by day-dreaming out the window.
I did get somewhere, thousands of times, at 82% of the speed of sound. This particular day, on approach to Dubai, looked-up and spied this amazing distrail in the high-level Cirrus cloud above.
[ Distrail (definition): A clear path through a cloud created by a passing aircraft, caused either by evaporation, or freezing, of water droplets in the wake. ]
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Twin Rope Clouds
According to the Australian Bureau Of Meteorology who classified this image. The clouds preceded a cold front by about 25 nautical miles. They are the same family of clouds as the Morning Glory Roll Clouds regularly seen in Burketown, The Gulf Of Carpentaria, and Esperance, as well as other places on earth.
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Sydney Harbour
There are few airports in the world that offer such a spectacular view on approach or departure as Sydney. Large aircraft bound for New Zealand, (using the long runway in a northerly breeze), are kept high before turning east, … so grab a window seat on the right hand side.
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Bangkok Short Final
On slope (two whites and two reds on the PAPI to the left of the touchdown zone), with three aircraft taxying down the parallel taxiway; and just about to switch the visual aiming-point to the far-end of the runway.
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Sitting At The Holding Point
Every year of your career you spend hours waiting at holding points for other aircraft to takeoff and land. It's amazing, with over 100,000 flights a day worldwide, how often pilots land safely in the touchdown zone. When you think about it, it's a remarkably safe business.
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Karakoram Ranges - Full Moon
Flying from China into Pakistan, over the highest air route on the planet, the cloud is stacked-up on the Pakistani side. This is the usual state of affairs with the prevailing southerly breeze. It is rare to experience a cloud-free crossing.
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Park Circus Station, Kolkata
Who'd be an Indian train driver?
On the crew bus trip from the hotel to the airport, this daily view of Indian railway humanity never fails to grab attention.
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Manhattan Island
Home to 1.6 million people, the borough of New York received 62.8 million tourists in 2017. The five boroughs of New York City have a combined population of over 8.5 million people.
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Norfolk Coast, England
Looking south from above Scotland, the English east coast is defined by low cloud and the sea fog over the North Sea.
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Rose Bay, Sydney
With Bondi Beach in the background. Rose Bay was the base of Qantas' Empire Flying Boats that used to take four days to fly to Singapore, as their part of the route from AKL to LON in 1938.
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Dubai's Creek
Long before Dubai's geographic location saw it become the world's aviation hub — with two-thirds of the earth population reachable within an eight hour flight— its creek made it the trading-hub for Bahrain's pearl traders and the world outside the Gulf. Dubai has always been a trading town, and after a boom lasting about 30 years, only 5% of its income comes from oil.
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Red Sea - No Borders
Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi in one glance. The site of Saudi's proposed super city, Neom. Announced in October 2017, and costing USD 500 Billion, it will have a bridge to Egypt that spans the Red Sea. [More HERE]
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Chasing Qatar & A Planet
Full moon over Iran, chasing a Qatari 777 as it heads towards Mars.
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Heathrow Runway 27L.
You spot Heathrow by the three huge reservoirs, (there are actually five). "Wraysbury" is at the end of 27 Left. "The Queen Mother" is at the end of 27 Right.
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Denpasar, Bali.
Spotted from an overflying A380, an aircraft becomes airborne from Ngurah Rai International Airport's runway zero-nine.
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Aurora Borealis
Over Hudson Bay in Canada, just outside the FO's window … this appears. You'll never forget the first time it happens.
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Hold Short Of The Runway
It seems you spend years of your life sitting at holding points waiting while others use the precious runway. In Dubai there are three holding points together. If the plane beside you has its nose-wheel on the yellow line, you probably won't hit wingtips …
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Birth Of A Sandstorm
This is how it starts. From nothing, a few knots of sand begins to mix. Within days, it becomes The Shamal. The north-west wind sandstorm that begins here in Iraq and sweeps down the Arabian Peninsula, engulfing everything in its path, about three times each winter.
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Gonna Be A Long Night
Approaching the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) While the passengers sleep, the pilots are about to spend the next few hours avoiding thunderstorm clouds, (CumuloNimbus [aka CBs]).
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Boracay's Daily Storm
As the sun goes down it illuminates the top of the active CumuloNimbus cloud (thunderstorm), over the "mainland".
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Sunrise On The Glareshield
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Saudi Farms
Years ago Saudi Arabia started drawing-up water from the 500 cubic kms worth of reserves at the rate of 21 cubic kms per year for its irrigation farming program. The National Geographic reported that 400 cubic kms had been used by 2008. Nowadays they just buy farms in USA, Argentina and Africa.
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The North Pole
This is the real place. Not the North "Magnetic Pole" which moves around a bit. At the moment the only way to get there is by Russian Icebreaker as it lies in the middle of the Arctic Sea, which is 13,400 feet deep.
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When A Tug Dies
The pushback tug in Melbourne has died, just after pushing-us back. So some Bright Spark has decided to push it out of the way with two baggage trolley tugs. After lots of smoke, and skid marks, we waited for another big tug to do the job.
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Mt Ranier and the Volcanoes Of America's North-West.
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Arctic Plotting Chart
Flights over the North Pole use Latitudes & Longitudes in between the standard waypoints, that are plotted by the pilots on a chart which is filed for future reference. Each Lat & Long must be added, and the aircraft's position checked, and plotted, ten minutes after passing each point.
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Dissipating Cumulonimbus Clouds
Traversing the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITZC) between the northern and southern hemispheres, crews are glad to reach the calmer skies after few hours avoiding active cells.
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Approaching Waypoint 'Purpa'
About to cross the Karakoram Mountain Range, from Pakistan to China, on the highest air route in the world. The Lowest Safe Altitude is 28,500 feet.
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"Line-Up Behind Departing A340"
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Northern Lights
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Head To Head A330
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Watching Captain Mike At Work
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Au Revoir Paris
On Departure from CDG, it's a great view from the left window seats. Even better if you are listening to Pavarotti singing 'Nessun Dorma' in your headphones. (The Pilots listen to ATC instead)
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Dubai 2013
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Mumbai Departure
The blue plastic tarpaulins showing the location of the slums in Mumbai.
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From Both Sides Now
As we reach the last five days of the Top 150 it's time to reflect on the wonder of clouds.
Joni Mitchell's song seems to have been written for pilots:
"I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down and still somehow,
It's clouds' illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all."
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Where It All Began
From a school camp on Banksia Peninsula (bottom left) we kayaked to Sperm Whale Head (bottom centre), then hiked across to where the kayaks were waiting. We then paddled across Lake Reeve, behind Rotamah Island (bottom right), to camp in the sand dunes of Ninety Mile Beach (far right).
Around the camp fire we listened, enthralled, to our teacher who told us of his exploits as a Catalina Pilot in WW2. He inspired me to fly. His name? Ralph Shinkfield. We are still in regular contact. The first copy of each of my books goes to him.
Every time I flew from Melbourne to Auckland, I'd look down and see the place where a Maths Teacher lit a spark around a campfire. A spark which flew around the world.
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The Meaning Of Life
The penultimate image from the Top 150 Collection is of our reason for being. Our favourite star: Sun.
She captivates us today the same way she captivated all who have spent time on our planet before us.
She takes our breath away twice a day, and is truly the most beautiful thing we have ever, or will ever, see.
She gives us light, energy, food, water, warmth and is always on time. To the second. Totally dependable.
Maybe that's why you earthlings, under clouds, take her for granted.
But up here; where it's minus 57 degrees, and the air molecules are a long way apart; where we suspend tonnes of metal with Jet A1 and the invisible rules of physics — we never do.
When she comes and goes, we stop what we are doing and stare, enthralled. Somewhere, deep down, something in our being is hoping that we will be around to see her do it again tomorrow.
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Home
In May 1985 this is the view that captivated me during my first Trial Instructional Flight, and inspired me to embark on a journey encompassing over 31 years and 18,000 flying hours.
Melbourne Australia, in the pre-dawn light, looking from the docks to the city and up the Yarra Valley beyond.
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The Last Flight
After 31 years & 18,000 flying hours it's time to give the FOs a go.
Joined the A380 Fleet in 2008 when we had two, EDA and EDB. Retired when we had 93. Today they have received 115 of their 123 on order.
The road from Cessna 172 Student Pilot to Captaining an A380 is like a slow-motion trudge to the top of Mount Everest. Worth the effort, worth the view.
Now it's time to find another mountain … HERE
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