Mark Webber learns to fly-with help from QF.

[Nigelinoz]

Mark Webber learns to fly | Red Bull | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce gave some further details: "Qantas will provide mentoring support with one of the airline's training pilots and time in the Qantas flight simulators.

Nothing against Mark-I think he's a good F1 driver but am I alone in asking why he needs QF to help him with his hobby? I have had quite a few
flying lessons and I bet if I asked QF for a few hours in the sim they would tell me where to go,(and rightly so) so why does Webber deserve it.
Yes I know he's a QF ambassador and all but surely he has enough money of his own to arrange his own flying training.
Admittedly the article doesn't say whether he has to pay for the sim time and mentoring.
What do others think,am I being mean spirited and unfair?
Cheers
N'oz

 

[samh004]

Appears it’s mainly just PR, sure, he’s going to learn to fly, but I would think it’s unlikely we’ll be hearing from our captain, Mark Webber, in the future on a domestic (or international) flight. What a pay cut that’d be for him.

 

[Nigelinoz]

I take your point Sam but the question I was asking was whether I am being unfair in asking why
he should be given access to QF facilities,I admit that there is no suggestion that he is being given
access at the expense of others,I'm not suggesting that but just asking why Webber gets time in the
sim and access to a QF training pilot just because he's a QF ambassador.
I don't want to be unfair to him,just asking what others think.
Cheers
N'oz

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I would say good on him, if i had the opportunity again i would jump at the chance.. i did a day in the 747 sim in the mid 90's, one of the best times I’ve had..

Got to get some sort of perks for publicly pushing the Qantas brand

 

[ftm]

A few hours in the sim is cheaper than a return flight to London in First and much cheaper than the fees QF would pay to have him associated with the brand. So in the scheme of things, I don't think it is that significant.

Could he afford to pay for lessons? I'm sure he could. But if Qantas can generate public interest through helping him learn to fly, then that's got to be a good thing for the publicity that they are paying him to generate.

 

[Robert K]

Has he always been an ambassador? or is this a new thing?

Why does qantas need an ambassador anyway? Do people fly qantas because Travolta and now Webber are loosely associated with it?

 

[ab156]

Mark Webber learns to fly | Red Bull | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

am I being mean spirited and unfair?
Cheers
N'oz

Yes. Who are you again, where can I see you with qantas logos all over you? Don't see qantas getting any publicity for giving you time in the sim. He is one of the airline ambassadors, of course the PR is worth the expense.

What next, do you want to replace Travolta on the pre flight safety video (... actually, that may not be a bad idea )

 

[david-au-2000]

Id be very happy to sit down in a Qantas plane and see Mark Weber instead of John Travolta on the safety video!

 

[elbarto]

Anyone who's followed Mark Webbers career would know that he already had experience flying Red Bull Racing F1 cars and Mercedes sports cars. His favourite places to fly them are Valencia Spain and Le Mans France.


Sent from my iPad using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[harvyk]

Companies provide perks to their VIP's all the time... I don't see how this is any different... Rather than give Mark some footy tickets (who knows, QF may also be giving him that as well), they are letting him have a play around with some equipment... Nothing overly special about that...

 

[Nigelinoz]

Oh well it seems that the majority opinion is that I was wrong,well I'm nothing if not flexible so I concede that
I got it wrong,I guess it's not that big a deal after all.
Thanks for everyone's contributions.
Cheers
N'oz