captainchris

11/10/2026

Instagram and Facebook is where I share the views from my office window. ✈️

Sunrises at 38,000 feet. Cockpit views. Moments from 45 years in the skies.
But behind almost every photo here, there’s a story.
The people. The places. The setbacks. The lessons. The moments that shaped a career I first dreamed of at 12 years old, sitting in the jump seat of a Boeing 727.

Those stories don’t fit in a caption.

And let’s be honest, most of us are here for a quick dopamine hit. Scroll, double tap, on to the next one. I do it too.

But if you’ve read this far, you’re one of the few who actually reads my captions.
And Substack might be just the place for you.

This morning I published Episode 1:
The Spark — When the Captain Said “Of Course You Can”
It’s the story of the day a 12-year-old boy with a bowl haircut asked three pilots a question that changed his life.
And here’s the difference.

On Instagram, I post whenever the mood takes me.

On Substack, people have paid to come along for the ride. That feels like a promise. A social contract, if you like.

So every Sunday, a new free episode. From paper rounds and building sites, to flight school, to the dispute that forced me to leave Australia, to becoming a Captain at 30.
Forty-five years in the skies, one Sunday at a time.

If you’d like to tag along, the link is in my bio and in my Highlights under Substack

Welcome on board. ✈️

Captain Chris

08/10/2026

I post here and on Instagram everyday. Images and videos of my Aviation Life. Most people who watch my videos are here for a quick dopamine fix, they watch 7 seconds, double tap and scroll on the next one, only a few read my captions (like you reading this) If you want to know more about my story and what's behind the videos and images, I'm starting a collection of Stories and yarns about my 45 year career, which I hope will Inspire, Educate and Entertain. If you like a good yarn, then head over the Substack and subscribe to see more.

Airline Captain with 45 years and 30,000+ hours mainly flying Airbus airliners. Inspiring the next generation of pilots, helping nervous flyers feel calm and sharing life from the flight deck. Author of “Calm at 38,000 feet”. Click to read Captain Chris | Aviation Life on Substack. Launched a da...

08/10/2026

Airline Pilot for Private Jet Pilot? Two very different worlds.

Ever wondered what it looks like from the cockpit of a private jet?

Well, wonder no more! Here’s .challenger.pilot bringing a Bombardier Challenger 300 into Toronto Pearson Airport on a typically snowy Canadian day. ❄️🇨🇦

Watching videos like this often makes me wonder how different my life might have been had I swapped the airline world for private aviation.

After 45 years of flying, I’ve enjoyed the benefits of airline life. A regular salary, a published monthly roster, a degree of stability and, of course, the privilege of flying some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated aircraft.

But business aviation offers something different.

The variety of destinations, the smaller airports, the flexibility and the possibility of waking up one morning with absolutely no idea where you might be flying the following day.

There’s a certain romance and adventure to that lifestyle which I’ve always found appealing.

Of course, there’s a trade-off. Corporate flying can be extremely well paid, sometimes considerably better than the airlines, but particularly in the freelance and contract world, the work and income aren’t always guaranteed. And being on call at short notice isn’t everyone’s idea of fun!

Stability and predictability versus variety and adventure.

I’ve spent most of my career enjoying the former, but I do occasionally wonder whether I missed out on a little of the latter.

Perhaps there’s still time to find out! 😉

If you enjoy seeing what life is like at the controls of a business jet, give .challenger.pilot a follow. There’s plenty more where this came from.

And here’s a question for my fellow pilots and aspiring aviators: Given the choice, would you rather fly the big jets for an airline or explore the world in a private jet?

07/10/2026

Cathay Pacific Cargo Queen of the Skies Boeing 747 arriving to JFK from ANC

07/10/2026

Most mornings, I walk out of the front door of my townhouse in southwest France and wander two doors down to the little sports bar/café.

I order a coffee, say bonjour to the locals, sit down and start reading.

For years, that meant the news. Then it became social media.

More recently, though, I’ve found myself spending that time on Substack — reading about people’s lives. Where they’ve come from, where they’re going, what they’ve learned along the way, and the advice they’ve picked up through simply living.

And somewhere between the coffee and those stories, something occurred to me.

I’ve been flying for 45 years.

That’s 45 years of aeroplanes, airlines, airports, people, mistakes, adventures, extraordinary places and moments I probably didn’t realise were extraordinary at the time.

And I have a lot of stories.

For years I’ve told them in cockpits, hotel bars, briefing rooms and around dinner tables. Now, perhaps, it’s time to start writing some of them down.

Everyone on social media seems to tell us the same thing: it doesn’t really matter how perfectly you start.

What matters is that you start.

So today, I did.

I published my first Substack post.

As I say in the opening line, I’m not a writer.

But I’m pretty sure writing is something you can learn by writing.

I still don’t know exactly what this Substack will become. Aviation stories, life lessons, travel, people I’ve met, mistakes I’ve made, things 45 years of flying has taught me… probably a mixture of all of them.

And perhaps that’s the point.

I don’t need to know where it’s going yet.

I just needed to begin.

Today I started. ✈️☕️

If your interested in a coffee ☕️read, you can find me on Substack under the name: captainchris1