It's Tuesday evening and time to make the final preparations for the first working day of the week. The pilot's suitcase is prepared, the sunglasses packed, the only thing missing is the travel suitcase. One of the most important features that luggage for pilots must fulfill is a large amount of space. The next 5 days we will be on the road a lot. Among other things, overnight stays are planned in Sweden, Rome, Berlin and Paris. That means I have to be prepared for 0 degrees and rain in October as well as for 25 degrees at the beach. In addition, we are on the road for work. That means I need everything twice. Casual clothes for 4 days and work clothes for 5, plus towels, jackets, gloves, etc. Of course, I also have to do sports here and there. So don't forget sports shoes. With the Pull Up Suitcase all this can be easily managed.
Through the Packaging Cubes I can divide everything clearly into work and leisure. At the bottom I put my jackets and towels, plus a bag for laundry. On top a small cube for underwear and of course the practical cube for the bathroom. For the sake of simplicity, I use it at home as well as on the road. So I just have to fold it and put it in the suitcase without having to check if I forgot my toothpaste again like before. Furthermore, I also need a change of uniform... who knows maybe mine will get dirty. It's not so easy to eat when things get turbulent again. Not all locations have irons or dry cleaners so it is important to transport the uniform as wrinkle free as possible. Here the Pull up Suitcase has an indispensable advantage for me. I hang my jacket with trousers and shirts in the cube with hanger provided for this purpose, fold twice and I'm done. No more tedious folding and hoping that everything holds... what a work relief I am happy again! I'm done with that, the whole process took less than ten minutes. Suitcase closed and off to bed. It is only 20:00 clock but I am scheduled for the first flight to Hamburg, which goes out at 6 o'clock, which means for me to get up at 03:45 clock. So good night and see you tomorrow! :)
The next morning I am awakened at 03:45 by my light alarm clock. So my girlfriend can continue to sleep without being startled by the ringing of the alarm clock. I get ready for the day and off I go. I live on the second floor without an elevator. Fortunately, the Pull up Suitcase is more compact than it looks and can be easily carried down the stairs with one hand using the handy handles on the top and side. Pilot case in the other hand, cap under arm. At first I was worried about the zipper, but they were completely unfounded. They are solid and expected to survive even the suitcase. Down in the carport the next challenge, or better, its absence. I drive a sports car as long as I have no children yet one must use that yes^^ Only trunk has of course hardly one. To be exact only my flight kit fits in there. So I have to put the Pull Up Suitcase on the back seat of my 2+2 seater. Again, kudos on the shape of the suitcase, fits perfectly through the opening and sits great in the car even though that probably has more to do with luck. Both my previous cases have either not fit through the door or not fit in the back seat because too wide (Other forms of closet cases).
Off to work. 25 minutes later, I'm in uniform in the briefing room. We discuss weather and navigation data, calculate how much fuel we need and introduce ourselves to our crew. A crew bus then takes us directly to the aircraft where we leave our luggage to be loaded. Here another important requirement for a pilot's luggage comes into play.... It must be waterproof. Sometimes it lies and stands in the open for up to 30min in rain and puddles next to the plane until it is loaded. The exterior of the Pull up Suitcase looks like soft fabric, but is almost completely resistant to dirt, even lying in water doesn't do much. Other than some slight color clouding, I haven't noticed any changes over the last year. After we have prepared the plane and the guests have boarded, we are ready to go.
Thrust lever on full throttle and already we are on cruising altitude 39000ft, good 12km, up there it has -55 degrees. Up here we finally have a few minutes to talk about our everyday life in general. What is the life of a pilot like? We normally work about 18 days a month, so we get 10-11 days of weekends, as opposed to the 9 days you would normally get. The extra days are due to long working days or free capacity in winter for example. How and where we fly within a month can be influenced by a request system. So we can keep important dates free in the next month. At the end of a month we get the duty schedule for the next month. Normally we are on the road for 1-5 days at a time, 2-5 flights a day, depending on the route. After that we have 1-4 days off. (So for example 4 days work 3 days off, 2 days work, 1 day off, 5 days work, 4 days off etc.) Of course completely independent of holidays or weekends. We have over 40 days of vacation, but here weekends are not included, so this is only 5-6 normal weeks, which must be requested a year in advance and can also be rejected.
