Bird's Eye View

The first full weekend I was living in Vietnam, I met a group of people who had also just moved to Vietnam. They were all here to start up the first private airline in Vietnam; Vietnam Airlines is a state-supported airline. The majority of the people were around my age and had all come from Atlanta. It felt like a little bit of home was setting up shop in Vietnam.

On my way back from Phu Quoc a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit on my flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. In the United States, you used to be able to sit in the cockpit, let kids visit with the pilots before takeoff, and open the cockpit door during flights. With the increased security on flights since 2001, the cockpit is now off limits--FAA rules. In Vietnam, there are no such rules, so when my friend G asked if I wanted to sit in the cockpit with them, I jumped at the chance.

The first thing I noticed was that you don't have as much room in a cockpit as you'd think. The guys had already flown several routes that day and mine was their last one of the day. They switch off duties, so it was L, the first officer's time to fly, while G kept watch on all the instruments and manned the radio. Some of the highlights of the flight were of course takeoff and landing. It was really cool being able to see the lights of the runway and where we were going. Once we were in the air and had reached 10,000 feet, G told me about this cool phenomenon that usually happens in the warm evenings when they are flying. All of the energy in the air reacts with the airplane making what looks like lightening coming off the plane. As we were flying these sparks came up over the nose of the plane. It reminded me of the electricity balls that they have at science museums. At 35,000 feet I could see the cities of Hue, Danang, and Hoi An in a row. They looked so close together although they are 30 to 60 minutes driving distance apart. I could also see the fishing boats dotting the ocean. There looked like 100s of them.

I had amazing views throughout the flight and I'm so glad I was able to see it all. I think G and L have most people beat in the coolest office views. If you're ever in Vietnam, check out Air Mekong for a domestic flight!