Never talk about aviation unless someone asks you about it first.

Within weeks of me starting my career as an airline pilot I was told a joke which to this day I am constantly reminded of:

Q: How do you know when your date with an airline pilot is half over?
A: When he leans back from the table and says, " well that's enough about me, let's talk about aeroplanes"

I learnt from the beginning , just after I started flying lessons, that aviators had the capacity to either enthrall an audience, or to bore everyone to tears. I also learnt that to ensure that you weren't relegated to the later of those categories you had to follow one simple rule;

Never talk about aviation unless someone asks you about it first.

Flying as a career is an incredibly exciting and rewarding way to earn a living, it is the ultimate job, being paid to do something you are passionate about. Unfortunately it can also become all consuming and if you are not careful you find yourself banging on about it 24/7, which is probably why the joke I referred to above started in the first place, most likely by a girl after a date with Orvil or Wilbour Wright.

One thing that I have noticed recently is that despite my best efforts, it has become increasingly difficult not to talk about flying, especially at a dinner party or gathering amongst people who are not involved in the industry, people who we fondly refer to as "Earthlings".

With all that has gone on recently with regards to unexplained disappearances, landing accidents and fiery emergency evacuations (or non-evacuations), it seems that everyone I come across, be they friends at social gatherings or taxi drivers on the way to work, have so many questions they want answers to. It is all very fascinating and I could talk for hours about these topics, but in the back of my mind I find I am saying to myself, "how do I politely change the subject?" or "I'm starting to get sick of my own voice, surly they are as well" or "my poor, beautiful wife, this is the third time this week she has had to listen to all this"

It is for the reasons above that I figured that perhaps a forum like this would be a great way to address all those questions and more. I spend many days and nights in hotel rooms and therefor have the time. There is also the fact that if people aren't interested then they don't have to read the content, and as a fan of crypto currencies and a bit of a techno-geek I am very interested in how forums like this will shape the future of social media etc.

It is for these reasons that I would like to invite any of you, be you an aviation enthusiast, someone with a general interest in flying, or for that matter just someone who has a question regarding flying, to go ahead and ask. I will do my best to answer your queries in a knowledgable, and hopefully informative and entertaining way.

Just for the record, I currently fly an A380 but have also flown B747, B737, A330 along with various general aviation light aircraft.

BTW I also am an avid traveller and love discussing travel tips.