So this is the moment. You have your few years Boeing 737 experience, and you logged some hours of Boeing 747 simulator training. But today you get to actually fly this icon, this legend. When I walk into dispatch at this early morning hour, to the table with all the paperwork for my first flight, there are so many thoughts and emotions in my head. Flashes of previous 737 experience, flight training, moving all over the planet, Phoenix, Girona, Rome, Barcelona, Hong Kong, manuals, operating procedures and limitations. I see my name on the crew list, I sign in and read the flight plan, notams and weather. I try to push all the chaos in my head aside and focus on the task at hand: a base training flight in the Boeing 747!  I wrote earlier that becoming a pilot was never my childhood dream. I was well into my twenties when I made the switch to aviation. However, I do have some clear childhood memories, regarding the Boeing 747. I grew up close to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. I remember driving past the airport, little me in the back seat, and how my eyes would widen as I spotted these … Continue reading A dream comes true: flying the jumbo jet