In what is a hugely responsible job, what is the toughest part of being an airline captain?
Jay: The hardest thing is pulling things together to enable the aircraft to depart on time: this routinely involves issues surrounding passengers, engineering, loading and the crew – all of which always happen minutes before departure. The other fun bit is when a really tough call has to be made – a decision that centres on legality or practicality and safety pops its ugly head out and everyone just turns and looks at me. When it’s one of those, you have to do the right thing and follow the safe path which isn’t necessarily the same direction as the company’s operations department would want me to go. When the chips are down, I look after my passengers, my crew and my plane, preferring to be late at destination rather than being early into a risky situation. Q. You are highly trained and work in most closely regulated and monitored sector of the transport industry, why are people scared of flying? Jay: The media as well as friends and family have, I believe, a sense of responsibility e
