NEW BASE: BERGEN
Skrevet: 16 JULY 2010

 

1 June we started flying some of the routes on the west coast of Norway that is being transferred from SAS to Widerøe. As a result of this Widerøe sees an increasing demand of pilots at its southern bases, and I am transferring bases from Bodø to Bergen on 1 September. That means I have about two more work weeks left in Northern Norway before I start flying out of Bergen.

Widerøe distributes its pilots around the different bases based on a preferential bidding system where we bid on which bases we want, and then they are awarded according to seniority when a base needs more pilots.

I've been based up north for over 2 1/2 years and had the pleasure of flying around the amazing scenery, but it's no point in hiding the fact that I am looking forward to get down south. The winters up north can be quite wet, cold, dark, and very long...

The base in Bergen will eventually become a regional base like our base Torp (outside Oslo). This means I will no longer be flying the Dash 8-100 on the short fields once they train me on the Q400, which will probably haappen early 2011. Operating around Norways short runways has its charm, but I'm looking forward to trying out a different operation where I trade the 800 meter runways for bigger airports and the 15 minutes legs for "longhaul".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANTIPAROS GREECE

Line and I flew down to Greece last week to celebrate her dads 60th birthday together with the family. We went to a very cosy small island by the name Antiparos which is located between Athens and Crete, and we had the pleasure of flying Olympic Airways Dash 8-100 from Athens to Paros which is the neighbouring island. We had a very enjoyable week at the beach with wonderful greek food. Fortunately we made it home and to work before the greek went on strike again. I don't quite understand why they would even consider striking action which targets the very people who can add some much needed cash to the country. I'm only guessing tourism and feta cheese is their main export...