by Gundula Welti
18 Jun 2021
Birds are truly remarkable. They rise up into the air and cover vast distances. They have exceptional eyesight and many have a sixth sense enabling them to move gracefully in the midst of a huge flock.
There are all sorts of birds with a wide range of talents but their ability to fly gives them a heightened viewpoint that humans could learn a lot from.
Is that why they fly without any luggage?
Could we fly higher if we carried less baggage with us?
Would you like to feel lighter?
by Gundula Welti
07 Apr 2020
Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to strike up conversations with people easily. So it’s not surprising that I made the acquaintance of the person sitting next to me in a plane and found out that he was a pilot for Kenya Airways.
I was amazed when he told me that flying a 747 is actually quite boring because the amount of time that the pilot flies the plane manually is only about seven minutes. Three minutes on take-off and about the same for landing. The rest of the time it’s on autopilot!
It’s incredible when you think that as a passenger, it takes you seven hours to get from Paris to New York and the pilot only controls the plane for exceptional events and emergencies.
It reminds me of a story about Abraham Lincoln: if he had an hour to cut a tree, he would spend fifty minutes sharpening the blade of his axe.
Pilots spend a huge amount of time preparing their flights for departure, working on their reflexes and training, so they are fully informed and prepared for the moment when the lives of so many people are entrusted to them.
Picasso once replied to a woman enraged at the exorbitant price of the sketch that he had drawn on a paper napkin in three minutes: “It’s not the sketch that you’re paying for madam; it’s my 30 years of experience!”
What about you? What’s your experience worth?
