04 Dec 2008

Still no colleague A, as he is quite poorly, so we have the A-team that is me and Harleen today. I had such high hopes that today could not possible be anymore chaotic than yesterday, how wrong I was to be proved to be!
It turned out that the CJ2 was now departing at 0700local, instead of the 1000local I thought it was when I left the office at about 8pm last night, because of a curfew for non-scheduled traffic at point A that starts at 8am. I can see the logic in that but it meant that, when we arrived at our eventual destination at 9am, it did not open for another hour. The aircraft circled around for a couple of times before eventually having to divert to Point C due to a need for fuel.
We then picked up further delays because the pilots have to get off the aircraft and go to the ATC tower to pay cash for all landing and navigation fees. This can take up to two hours in a busy airport like Point C. This was not time we had to spare because our eventual destination of Point D had for forecast and the clock was ticking.
To cut a long story short, we eventually made it to Point B. The pilots refuelled the aircraft, paid yet more landing and nav charges, collected our passengers and departed for Point D.
We didn't make it. The weather had closed in (it was now about 6pm and the weather reports said the visibility was now zero), and the aircraft would have to divert. We were told he was going to Point E, we rang the ATC tower and Point B and confirmed he was going to one airfield, we set up handling etc at that airfield....so imagine our surprise when he landed somewhere else!!!
On top of all this, we picked up a charter for Friday, plus a possible third flight for one of our major shareholders. By the time everything was put to bed it was 9:30pm before myself and Harleen left the office.
Colleague C was amazing once again today. She coped with everything and didn't get stressed with me. This woman has the patience of a saint methinks.
Colleague A is back tomorrow, hooray!!!!!