Almost 7000 miles, 15 hours of flying time; thats the distance and time from Luanda to Houston. Of course these statistics depend on winds and route taken (north or south), but no matter the metric, this flight is a ball buster. Now, I know that military pilots often fly greater distances, under more taxing conditions, so I'm not saying my job is harder, but at the end of the day I don't get to blow anything up or ingest government approved speed on the job (I'm just saying).
World Airways has had a long standing contract with SonAir to operate a flight between Houston and Luanda, Angola two times a week. Since I've been flying the MD-11 I have bid this route every month without fail. Not for the exotic locations – we are only on the ground in Luanda for 14 hours (minimum rest for this flight) and all that time is spent in the hotel or under guard traveling back and forth. Not for the interesting flying – three round trips, across the same air space, only 6 landings to split between 4 pilots; not too bad if you liked the movie Groundhog Day. Not even for the prestige of flying passengers – when you fly passengers, flight attendants have to come along too; there is no ego boost with flight attendants around, especially when they each have 40 years of seniority with the company. No, the real reason is time off. If I was to be awarded a Luanda line, I would only have to work a week and a half and get paid for 94 hours of flying time for the month! It's the holy grail.
It just so happens that a senior captain called in sick last month and I got to fly the whole line. The problem is; that line backed up into this month's line, and I am still on the road.
Meeting the sun along the west African coastline after racing around the world in opposite directions.
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