Estimated reading time for this article: 8 – 12 minutes
The AeroBlogger Team comprises of a group of highly knowledgeable aviation enthusiasts around the world. Here are some brief descriptions of our bloggers:
Rohit Rao: A native of Massachusetts, Rohit is a student and an aviation enthusiast currently based in India. He flies 30,000 to 40,000 miles per year, enough to get him his Star Alliance Gold Status. His favorite airline in the world (to the shock of many people both in real life and on FlyerTalk) is Air India, which he chooses to fly whenever possible. He looks forward to bringing a unique take on aviation to readers worldwide. You can contact Rohit on FlyerTalk with his handle PVDtoDEL, or send him an email at rohit [ at ] aeroblogger [ dot ] com.
FriendlySkies: Based in Lawrence, Kansas, Daniel is a college student who travels more than 130,000 miles per year. He holds Executive Platinum status on American Airlines, 1K status with United Airlines, and is a Hyatt Diamond member. An avid photographer, Daniel has been to 14 countries in the past two years, and has enjoyed some of the world’s greatest sights.
Darren Boon: A Singapore resident, Darren is a self-confessed Singapore Airlines apologetic and fanboy. Darren is a lowly Krisflyer Silver member who enjoys traveling, particularly riding on airplanes (he even went out of his way just to fly on one of ANA’S Hiroshima-Tokyo Haneda 787 flights). In the last two years, Darren had left his carbon footprint in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain (and every country he flew over in between). Outside his work in the communications line, Darren enjoys movies, fashion, and all things relating to the Hallyu (Korean) wave.
The Flying Engineer: With 13 lucky years of being an aviation enthusiast turned full time aerospace designer and flight simulator instructor at one of the world’s largest avionics companies, besides being a part time aviation journalist / author for India’s only civil aviation magazine: SP’s Airbuz, Vasuki Prasad has been lucky to have picked up some of the rarest combination of experiences. A graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering, he has interned at an international airport, an airline training centre, at a civil aircraft maintenance facility, and at an avionics company making Flight management Systems (FMS) for all Airbus and most Boeing aircraft. Multiple jump seat flying in single aisle airliners, flight checks for the ILS, training engineers on how to fly and operate the Boeing 737 and 767 automation and systems, building simulators, evaluating flight schools, and making a mark at GE, among others throws light on where his heart is: the skies. He holds one US Patent application. You may find him on twitter @TheFlyingEnggnr, and may learn more about him and his work at www.TheFlyingEngineer.com
Ajay: Based in Central Jersey, Ajay is a career professional why flies between 40,000 and 60,000 miles a year. He’s an avid oenophile, and uses his Elite status to travel to wine-centric places. And he uses all of his allotted baggage when he flies back.
Moondog: Originally from Cape Cod, Eric currently lives in Beijing, where he has spent the bulk of the past 10+ years. In addition to China, he has lived in India, Hong Kong, and the Philippines during the course of his career. As much as he dislikes Beijing’s horrible traffic and various varieties of pollution, he enjoys working in China and doing his small part to contribute to its continued development.
Shasi: A Computer Science graduate student, Shasi is equally passionate about his number 1 hobby – aviation and traveling. Hailing from Chennai, India, having studied in Singapore, done a semester abroad in Europe and currently in the United States, he has enjoyed traveling to more than 30 countries and is fluent in over 5 languages. He flies often within the US and regularly on the India – US routes. His preferred airlines are Jet Airways and Etihad. He loves taking regular beach holidays and his favorite beach destination is Phuket, Thailand.
Etoile: is based in Auckland, New Zealand. He spent a number of years as a travel agent and still maintains a keen interest in the airline industry, even though at the moment, as a part time student in full time employment, he doesn’t get travel as much as he used to.
Keyser: Based in New Delhi, Keyser is lawyer who spends close to 200 days a year on flights & in hotel rooms. He holds top tier status in Starwood, Hilton, Priority Club, Taj, Jet Airways & Kingfisher Airlines. His work related travels take him to Asia, North America, Europe & the Middle East on a regular basis.
YuropFlyer: Based in Switzerland, YuropFlyer used to travel the world for a living. Now all travel is for leisure only. He is still reasonably young and always ready to jump into the unknown. He prefers Star Alliance and Emirates, but is generally fine with anything that flies and/or provides free alcohol. A notable exception is North American carriers, which he avoids like the plague. A terrible photographer, he specializes at producing blurry, unsharp, wrong-colored pictures, if any. Except for the Southern Sahara and the Arctic/Antarctics, no region on the Earth has managed to keep him away. Whether traveling First Class and splurging in 5*, or booking ultra-cheap economy class tickets and staying in hostels, YuropFlyer looks forward to travel all the same.
GuyFromBOM:: GuyFromBOM is a holder of Bachelors in Business Management with International Business (Greenwich, UK). He is originally from Mumbai, but has lived in Dubai & the UK for a while. He is a former Jet Airways JetPrivilege loyal, who now feels blessed for having switched over to Kingfisher.
AJ: AJ is financial services professional based in Mumbai, India and is the resident bean counter at his place of work. He travels within India and also in Europe and Asia on work, and would go to any lovely place for a vacation. On last count, he is 15 countries old (as of June 2011). Live from a Lounge, his blog, talks about his views of the good,bad and ugly of his travel experiences, where you’d read a lot about airlines and hotels from India, and then those from Europe and rest of Asia. AJ also has been invited to write for CNN’s travel buzz website CNNGo Mumbai. You can read his articles here. AJ is present on Flyertalk and Milepoint with the handle A2A, and you can reach him on email at aj[at]livefromalounge.com or follow him on Twitter.
J Thilak: Based in India, Thilak is a IT Executive currently working with a Global Manufacturing Major. He travels mainly for leisure. Apart from his obsession with anything related to flying, he spends most of his downtime in reading. He has lived on the West Coast of the USA and in South East Asia, and passively observes the development of commercial aviation in his part of the world.
IvoryFlyer: A real estate developer with a creative side, Amit is based in Chennai. His passion for air travel dates back to his early childhood. He travels about 100,000 miles a year and flies most often on Jet Airways, British Airways & Cathay Pacific. His preferred hotel chains are Hyatt & Hilton, and while he has been to over 32 countries and has many favorite places, he is most at home 37,000 feet up in the air.
Alex Gralton: Alex Gralton is an Aerospace Engineering undergraduate and a very keen aviation enthusiast. Studying at Southampton University in the United Kingdom, Alex is set to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in 2012. Favorite hobbies of his would be leisure flying in light aircraft and flight simulation; but in general anything involving planes! Currently working part time in the security and construction industries, but his long term career aspirations are to become a commercial pilot.
NoWindowSeat: NoWindowSeat is a traveler and frequent flyer for more than 15 years, currently mainly with Oneworld airlines. Traveling both for business and pleasure, he has landed on all 6 inhabited continents and been to almost 70 independent countries around the world. Antarctica and North Korea are on the “to do” list.
Jordan Oates: Jordan Oates is an 18 year old student currently studying in the UK. Being born and raised in Florida but having British parents he travelled between the two countries up to six times a year and has collectively flown across the Atlantic nearly 130 times. Jordan first started to love aviation at four years old, when he first sat in the cockpit of his dads Mitsubishi MU-2, ever since he has gained his JAR-PPL (A) on the day of his 17th birthday and completed nearly 80 hours of flying. Jordan’s career goal in life is to become a commercial pilot after University.
Armagebedar: Armagebedar is a Tokyo salaryman on the weekdays, but travels the skies (and rails) of Japan, Asia, and the world for business and (mostly) for pleasure. He is an ANA Mileage Club Diamond Superflyer member and a Priority Club Platinum Ambassador, and is as easily found in a first class lounge as in the middle seat of an LCC aircraft.
Lilius: A 33 year old Swede spending his time between the quiet forest in Sweden and the noisy streets of Mexico City. He found his love to aviation in his first flight as a 26 year old in a cramped charter cabin. He is inspired by reading about aviation and hope to inspire by writing. Pastimes include dreaming of traveling as a living in South America one day, among other activities.
Above & Beyond: He started his aviation career at the age of 17 training in the USA, completing both JAA/FAA licenses at the age of 18. He then got his first type rating on the B737-300/900ER at the age of 19 and landed his first flying job at the age of 20. He holds 800+ hours on type. In addition to flying, he has experience as a baggage handler working for popular European carriers and also loading cargo for DHL. He runs an aviation page on Facebook to help pilots of all levels.
Superguy: Superguy hails from the Baltimore area. His love for travel began as a teen with his first flight on the old USAir in 1990. Since then he has traveled many places throughout the world for business and pleasure. He enjoys finding ways to make the process of travel a better experience. Having experienced all the tiers in United’s Mileage Plus program (except for GS), Superguy has a well rounded perspective. He is current a United Premier/Silver and will be changing his travel style due to recent changes in the program.