together to take their baccalaureate in Paris, to study there afterwards. Imagine all those young people on board the same UTA flight: you couldn't see the time go by! My best memory of a flight? Every flight is synonymous with freedom and travel. A round- the-world flight is always a great moment; I've been on several. One of my fondest memories, albeit a professional one, was when we renewed our fleet and I flew on Air Tahiti Nui's Boeing 787 Dreamliner. That flight had a very special flavour: we had renewed 100% of our fleet in one go. A bad memory? Not really. Like everyone else, I've experienced major delays, cancelled flights and turbulent weather, but really bad? You have to accept the unexpected. It's fair to say that I'm naturally tolerant, that I adapt easily and that I quickly forget incidents. I've had much more unpleasant memories on the train, abando- ned at the station because of a strike and forced to continue by hitchhiking because I was a student and couldn't afford an alter- native! I remember those bad memories well! One flight may well have had an impact on me, yes, when the plane was struck by lightning on a stormy day. It's got a strange effect! There's a great silence.
father said to me: "You're going into engineering.” What was an engineer? I had no idea, but I found out later that it was a good thing: after five years of studying, I knew how to make an aero- plane! My first flight? It was my mum who took me to the flying club, the same one where I learnt to fly and where I became a pilot at the age of 19. I was less than 10 when I made my first flight. I remember sitting in the back of the plane, I think it was a Jodel, with a wonderful feeling of well-being, I thought it was magic! My dad is a true earthling: he's only flown once in his life, the first flight I gave him for his 50th birthday. On his return, he said to me: "I understand your passion better, but we're good on the ground too.” As for my first commercial flight, it was in 1980: an Air France Boeing 727, with that madeleine de Proust, the smell of the litt- le pouch with lemon perfume we had on board. I can still see the interior decoration of the plane - it was another revelation! The 727 still has a very special place in my heart, because it was the first aircraft I ever flew with. Finally, since we're talking about the importance of air travel in people's personal lives, my mum used to dream of going to Tahiti. When I travelled a lot by plane and had enough miles, I invited her to make the trip, in first class; that was in 2004. She couldn't believe her eyes, she said to me: "Pinch me, I'm drea- ming!
Pascal Parant is Vice-President Corporate Marketing at AAR, an independent provider of aviation services.
My best memory of a flight? It was by Concorde.
Pascal Parant: I'm like Obelix, I fell into the magic potion when I was a kid. I was born in 1969, the year the Concorde made its maiden flight; the year the Boeing 747 made its maiden flight; and the year Buzz Aldrin (whom I once had the pleasure of mee- ting) walked on the Moon. It was a good omen. When I was very young, I used to go to Le Touquet, to the Canche campsite, with my grandparents, and we were in the airport final. I discovered not so long ago that it wasn't Caravelles but Tridents that were flying over us. There were also Fairchilds, and many others. I would draw a runway on the sand, but I knew that the engine wouldn't make 'brrrou' right away! First I would reproduce the sound of the turbine: "adjouuuu", and with my finger I would start to turn engine 1 and engine 2 as I went along. On Sundays, my grandparents used to take me and my mum to the roof terrace: in those days airports liked to make people dream; we'd go there and I'd see the planes. I was fascinated by aeronautics from a very early age. My mum used to ask me: "Who are those people flying around in those little planes? When I became a private pilot and, much later, I used to come and land regularly at Le Touquet, my mother used to say to me: "Every time you land, you can't imagine how it makes me feel, because 40 years ago, we were sitting on the terrace marvelling and wondering: who were the pilots? I've always dreamt of flying, and of course I wanted to be a pilot. My father said to me: “You wear glasses, you'll never be able to be a pilot. But there's nothing to stop you building aeroplanes.” Then at the secondary school, I had to choose a career. My
I couldn't see it any more. It was the end of the myth, the end of the dream. My worst memory in the industry.. A bad flight memory? The day after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan (New York), I was on board a flight from Amsterdam to Paris: the tense atmosphere was palpable in the plane - nobody was talking, we were looking at each other and staring at the cockpit door. I think everyone was thinking the same thing: the first person who tries to get through, we all jump on him. I was also there when the Concorde stopped in front of Air France headquarters on the way back from its last commercial flight. I burst into tears.
Gustavo de Hosto is President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce for the Dominican Republic.
Gustavo de Hostos: I once had to sign a major contract in Switzerland, but I was in Cienfuegos, Cuba, and it was difficult to get around at the time. I had just received the information in the evening, and I had to be there the day after tomorrow. I left for Havana, from where I took a charter flight to the United States the next morning, then flew to New York, from where I took the Concorde: 3 hours 45 minutes later I landed in Paris! From there I took a helicopter to Switzerland, where I had din- ner that evening with my contacts! The experience of flying on
50
~C L A S S & R E L A X L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E - 2024 ~
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting