… however, for your own safety, we ask that you keep your seatbelt fastened while seated,” the flight attendant announces after the ascent on every single one of our flights. Why is this so?

An airplane flies through the air a little like a ship sailing on the water – neither water nor air is a solid or even element. The way people see it, the difference is that you can see the movement of water with your eyes, but this is no true of the movement of air masses. Additionally, you can usually predict the rocking of a ship – if you now rock to the left, say, you will soon rock with the waves back to the right and then back again to the left. Anyone who has ever experienced turbulence knows that this is not the case with airplanes. Indeed, an airplane may jerk up, down and to the sides quite quickly – and because the movement of air is not visible, turbulence sometimes feels unpleasant as the body is startled by the direction of the movement.

Turbulence is not dangerous for the airplane or for people, if they have their seatbelts fastened. What makes turbulence dangerous for us who are on board during the flight is the above-mentioned fact that the direction and strength of the movement cannot be predicted – it means that someone standing in the aisle may be injured if he or she falls down from the movement. For the same reason, meal and refreshment service on our flights is stopped for the duration of the turbulence – hot coffee doesn’t stay too well in a cup if the plane is rocking around, and a hot drink that lands on the skin can leave a nasty mark.

Flight safety is the sum of many small, sometimes seemingly obvious parts. The seatbelt and armrests, those simple devices, have been designed and tested to help people stay safely in their seats during the different stages of a flight. During the ascent and descent, the use of a seatbelt rarely requires justification – the heavy plane moves on the runway at a speed of up to 200 km/h and it is easy to understand what kind of force would be involved if the plane were to make a sudden stop.

The main rule when it comes to turning on the seatbelt sign is that the sign is always turned on when the captain feels it is not safe to move within the aircraft. For this reason, the cabin crew also take their seats as soon as possible after the light is switched on.

My response to the discussion that has been going on lately about whether to do away with seatbelts and sell standing spots on flights is a decided “no”. I cannot think of a single reason why this would be a good idea.

P.S. By the way, pilots keep their seatbelts fastened throughout the entire flight. Read more about turbulence in Jussi’s blog post.

Finns can be surprisingly blasé about the Northern Lights. All right, so their northerly location means that their chances of witnessing one of the most spectacular and bewitching natural phenomena on the planet are better than most. But to my mind, this is something you want to see again and again if you’ve seen it once. Finns returning from a Lapland resort after a skiing holiday will tell you all about the number of kilometers they’ve covered and the new friends they made in the bar afterwards. But if they see the aurora borealis, the chances are they mention it only as an afterthought.

The first time I saw these extraordinary dancing green and red curtains of light was nearly 30 years ago on a frozen Finnish lake. I was with two English friends and we jumped around in the snow in utter astonishment. Our watching Finnish hosts found our child-like rapture as entertaining as the aurora, which shifted from one side of the lake to the other and soared overhead in dazzling shafts. The Finnish name for the aurora – revontulet – translates as “fox’s fires”, and it’s easy to see how the original inhabitants of the polar region created supernatural stories to explain what was, to them, unexplainable.

The zone of visibility extends as far south as Helsinki more often than people realize, but light pollution and the difficulty of finding a broad extended view to the north in the city makes it hard to spot. The aurora, a consequence of solar activity, might also be doing its stuff in broad daylight, but of course we can’t see it then. It isn’t limited to the northern polar areas either: the southern equivalent, the aurora australis, or Southern Lights, is equally glorious but less celebrated for the simple reason that fewer people live within its sphere of visibility.

From now until the winter of 2013-14 the Northern and Southern Lights are reaching the peak of an 11-year cycle, so this is a great time for aurora hunting. I was reminded of this on a recent evening Finnair flight back from London when the pilot apologized for disturbing our rest somewhere over central Sweden and suggested that we take a peak out of the window. Since the plane was full of nonchalant Finns, a sudden lurch to the left-hand side of the plane did not take place, but I rushed to the galley window as the captain dimmed the cabin lights. A queue of inquisitive Brits formed behind me – the Finns refused to get excited – and I had to be dragged away like a screaming infant from the sensational panorama of jumping green light.

So if you are seated on a Finnair flight after dark on the northern side of the aircraft, it’s worth keeping an eye on the view outside in the coming months – after all, it might be cloudy down below, but from an airborne perspective you don’t have to worry about that.

Check out this new App – Laplication.

You can also sign up to Aurora Alerts to keep informed about when good views are most likely using the Aurora Forecast app.

Just got back from an amazing once in a lifetime adventure!

This was a long-awaited work assignment that we as the crew didn’t have a lot of info about beforehand. A phone call some two months ago, a date, a brief description and nothing else.
No destination, no client, no names, no details, no nothing… Something mysterious in two months. Are you in?

Of course I said yes.

The curtain of secrecy opened up about two weeks ago when we all finally got to see who was on the crew, where we were going and most importantly that Finnair and Marimekko were joining forces and our flight would be the start of it all. Once in Shanghai a press conference would be held and it all would be official.

Finnair & Marimekko. Yet another step towards being a true design airline.

The BIG launch. Marimekko’s wonderful team of pros had provided us all with individually fitted outfits to model on the flight. We would also have Marimekko dishes, linen, napkins, blankets etc on our flight to work with and even the plane would carry Marimekko’s phenominal ‘Unikko’ flowers on its belly.

Unikko ie the poppy plane

Still many things had to be considered in preparation for the flight and practicing the fashion show: How long can it take, who will stay in the galleys (which have to manned), where will we change, what is the perfect moment for this (before/after dinner service), how will we get the passengers to stay put, where is it safe to stop for poses etc.

A first ever fashion show high up in the clouds. Never been done. We had to figure it all out.

The day of the actual flight started with some serious grooming. Hair and make-up by Marimekko’s team, thorough briefing by our own purser and yet another briefing by the Finnair planning team. Our unique Marimekko dresses handed to us, some pats on the back, a few kicks in the butt for good luck and off we went.

And once inside the airplane it was pretty much business as usual, boarding, taxiing, take off and so on until… after the apetizer service.That is the perfect moment early on in the flight when everyone is sitting comfortably, has a drink and some snacks and is selecting movies, starting on a book, relaxing.

That’s exactly when we started ever so discretely sneaking one after another to the forward galley and changed into our Marimekko clothes in silence. Meanwhile our purser announced on the PA that something ‘very special’ is happening and that the captain is now going to put on the seat-belt sign. With butterflies in the stomach we got ready to step out from behind the curtain.

And so we did.

Music composed specially for this occasion filled the air as we began our catwalk. I felt weak in the knees, shaky even, but it all went away as I met the eyes of Mr Ihamuotila (CEO of Marimekko) sitting in row 1, clapping his hands with a wide smile of excitement. Nodding his head in one big YEAH all the way!

I could not have felt prouder to be there. Proud of the crew, proud of our company, proud of Marimekko and the fact that we where there, at that very moment, representing all of it. Brands that have been around all our lives. It felt amazing.

And the atmosphere on the plane was amazing! People clapping hands, cheering, taking photos, stopping us for poses, laughing. All nationalities, all races, all ages – together enjoying the moment. Every once in a while I would meet the eyes of my colleagues walking the other aisle and it was like we couldn’t believe it, the feeling from people. The temperature rising. The warmth. Truly an incredible moment.

After the show we all gathered in the forward galley, hands shaking, excited, emotional and joined in on a long group hug. We did it! We rocked it! Woohooo!

And then we just very quickly changed back into our uniforms, packed all outfits away and continued work as if nothing had happened. Well almost… On a normal day we get far less high fives and hugs from passengers. Or photos taken, especially during dinner service.

I love my job. And this time I loved it twice as much.

My blogger friend Petra once told about a conversation she had had in the cabin about the line-up of the cockpit. Is it really true that there could be two people sitting there who do not know each other? How on earth can that kind of cooperation even work? After all, we Finns don’t just shoot the breeze with people we don’t know. Except about the weather, of course. And hockey, if we’ve just won the world championships.

Yes, it does work. All throughout my career there have been days when I have had new colleague sitting next to me. It’s incredibly easy. The methods, things to be checked and work flows have been well standardised. I know each one of my colleagues to be a top-quality professional. And none of us is shy. During flight preparation, we greet each other quickly and then take on the flight preparation papers. As a matter of fact, in this case the weather is actually interesting for us. On the way to the plane there might be some time to chat about how we are doing. Once there, one of us inspects the plane from the outside. The other gets the cockpit ready and enters the flight route into the navigator. We go through the briefing on the departure route, weather and taxiing route and calculate the takeoff speeds. Startup. “Flaps one”. “Taxi checklist”. “Briefing and loadsheet – confirmed”.

What kind of person is my pilot colleague? Are they all cut from the same cloth? At the core, yes, but their outer shells are very different indeed.  Certain integral features unite us all, such as good cooperation skills and the ability to work under pressure. Unflappability, rationality, the ability to make even difficult decisions and to adapt to changing situations. In addition, a certain “positive assertiveness”, or ability to communicate about flight-related deficiencies actively but positively, is deeply seated within all of us.  “Hey, did you forget enter that ILS data?” “You’re right, thanks for telling me”. In the cockpit, we never mock someone else’s mistakes or try to cover up our own. We don’t mope or have hissy fits about things. We are brisk, open and direct.

And what about the differences? Some of us are older, and some are younger, and we look different. Some have bushy pirate beards and some shiny bald heads. One of my colleagues is a two-metre-tall, severe-looking body builder, while others risk being whisked away by strong winds on the ground. There are introverts and motormouths. Some speak the strangest Pori dialect or a sing-song dialect with the pronouns mie (I) and sie (you). You hear it all. One first officer speaks a strong Tampere dialect with a Finland-Swedish accent. And one captain looks exactly like the whacky pilot on the Finnish comedy series Kummeli, the “Inversion Man”. He even flies to Las Palmas like the pilot on the show. Of course, he behaves himself a bit better.

On longer flights, you usually get a chance to get to know one another and chat a bit more. We might exchange views on vacations, work shift schedules, the latest news. You might not have realised how many of us have another degree or background. I am sometimes surprised myself. An orientation towards technology is pretty typical, for example many of us have an engineering degree. I have also flown with a lawyer, a doctor, a political scientist, an economist, a top athlete, a professional musician, a police officer, a fire-fighter, a football manager, a programmer, a pastor, a soldier and a graphic artist, at the very least. We have talked about coaching a floorball team, mountain climbing, world politics, wild boar farming and the efficiency of wind power plants. Different personality types are the spice of the profession. Everyone has interesting thoughts about something. Sometimes, on the other hand, we are silent, alone with our thoughts for a long time. That also works out splendidly and doesn’t bother anyone. Sometimes it’s well-grounded to keep quiet in front of the landscapes.

In addition to strict guidelines, work in the cockpit is also characterised by an unwritten code. Regardless of what you’re talking about, work is always the top priority and we respect the work of our colleagues. No story is important or funny enough that it couldn’t be interrupted by a call from air traffic control, or that a colleague couldn’t programme the navigator, go through the briefing on the upcoming approach or get familiarised with maps of the destination. Everything else comes second. Pride in one’s own professionalism and the desire to do work safely is a strong feature of all of us. Everyone appreciates the others and their work. It is a great joy to work with these sirs, madams and misses.

What else can I say about them? Maybe we wouldn’t say it aloud, but somewhere deep inside most of us lives a small longing for faraway places and a certain sentimentality. I sometimes see a look that tells of this for a fleeting moment in my colleague’s eyes when the sun’s last rays break through the reddening horizon. I’ll admit that I myself am just that kind of sap. But maybe we’ll come back to the romance of flying sometime later, stay tuned.

A group of women is crowding the backstage, each one prettier than the next. A brunette stares firmly into a mirror as the makeup artist shades her eyes with a dramatic colour. A blonde lady sways on one foot as she tries to pull her tights on. People everywhere are hurriedly changing into their uniforms.

On the stage there are seven stewardesses dressed in retro-outfits with smiles revealing sets of perfectly shining, white teeth. Suddenly a smokescreen fills the stage. Then suddenly the charming, flying stewardess – one of the stars of the show -–- descends from the roofline dressed in bicycle shorts, holding an umbrella.

The Finnair cabin crew is practising for the show that will launch the book “Airborne” at the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki.

The Writing Takes off

Stewardesses Riitta Kiiveri, Noora Kunttu, Pirkko Saari, Christina Strandberg, Meriitta Ahtikari, Kati Kaivanto, Lene Malmström and steward Tony Pokkinen are the authors of the book, who wrote and compiled side-splitting true stories together with their colleagues. Featured are amusing incidents from both on the air and on the ground. The Airborne project was completed independently as a labour of love on their free time.

The proceeds of the project go to charity to aid the Prinsessa school campaign set up by the Finnish Central Association for Mental Health.

A Feel-good Show

There is a hurly-burly on the stage. The music is playing loud, the dancing retro-stewardesses sway in rhythm and the cheering crowd urges them on. One must say that this is a particularly attractive crowd, which is no wonder, since most of them are members of Finnair’s cabin crew.

Dancer-choreographers Osku Heiskanen and Jarkko Valtee switch from one persona to the next at a dizzying pace, thus bringing the audience the Finnish stars Danny, Paula Koivuniemi and Jenni Vartiainen – with Lady Gaga finally adding an international flair to the proceedings.

Jani-Petteri, the “small boy” made famous by the TV show Putous (played by an adult woman, Iina Kuustonen) blushes as a group of stewardesses grabs him and his sword into their embrace. Jaana Pelkonen is one of the two patrons of the book and she joins J-P for a message about the importance of mental health work. Later Jani-Petteri gets a kiss on the cheek from Ellen Jokikunnas, the presenter of the show.

As Arja Tuomarila, a former stewardess currently working as a singer and a presenter, performs a duet with her husband Kai Lind, the atmosphere becomes almost devout. The appreciation the hundreds in the crowd feel towards their former colleague is tangible to even the outsiders.

Teasers

The stories comprising this book present the lives of the stewardesses and stewards in a joyful light with occasional glimpses of self-irony. As a teaser to the book, we offer this announcement, originally made by a young co-pilot:

The co-pilot was new to the job and had rehearsed the announcements in advance, focusing in particular on his Swedish. He had intended to begin with “Jag hälsar er alla välkomna ombord” (“I would like to welcome you all aboard”) and end the announcement with “Jag önskar er alla en trevlig flygresa” (“I wish you all a pleasant flight”). What actually happened was that the air traffic control kept talking on the radio frequency as he was supposed to begin his announcement in Swedish. In the confusion, he ended up getting his thoughts mixed up and simply blurted out: “Jag älskar er alla. Tack.” (“I love you all. Thank you.”)

Further information

You can find more stories in the book. It was published by Atar Kustannus and can be ordered online from http://atar.pikakirjakauppa.fi/tuote/a/9789526757742 All proceeds go to charity.

More photographs on Finnair’s Facebook-page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151104668182911.457073.291393512910&type=3

For more about the charity, go to http://taivasmikätyöpaikka.fi/hyvantekevaisyys.html

Words: Laura Varja
Photos: Niko Helle, Juhana Mikkanen (work group photo)