a letter to a pilot who never replied,

Hello M — ,

Whether you will be reading this whilst still at your layover in Beijing, or maybe you will finally open it in a different land, know that it has been composed while both of us share the same night sky.

I am wondering whether I should be introducing myself through these lines — in fear this email might end up in the junks, I must uphold with rules of conduct.

This email is not dedicated for potential business collaborations — I am sure you get so many of sorts, especially with your recent surge of followers, nor is it a scam attempt at spamming you with any ads.

In fact, I come to you from Instagram. One day, as many things in life, you just popped in my feed, and I have observed your meticulous lifestyle, as any other of your many fans, I’ve relished in the exquisiteness of details you seem to have a particular knack for.

Aviation has been one of my closest domains at heart, not that I had dreams of accessing it, I am as clumsy as one can get. My best friend though is an accomplished cabin crew who’s been with a Middle Eastern airline for almost a decade now. Every time I go back home to Morocco, I experience the plague of first-time air travelers, the anxiety that comes with the slightest bump or turbulence. Then I assure myself that flying is one of the safest routes humans could ever hope to use, much safer than driving a car itself.

That meticulous editing, eye to detail and fineness in your videos is inherent, it is in fact bound to be in your art form, because you have been trained for years to spot and dissect, to possess a sight that renders machines willing to obey your hand command. (I’ve noticed you fly Boeing, I might be mistaken, but that control wheel is definitely not an Airbus feature, correct me if I am wrong.)

And maybe, it’s the exposure to long, long hours at the cockpit, trapped and straddled in the beauty of the divine. I kind of envy the many sunrises and sunsets you must have witnessed, apart from your focus during takeoff and landing — I am sure your heart must have fallen for those incredible views. It’s impossible to remain cold and sterile of all inspiration when faced when such wordless landscapes.

Unlike you, my day job here in Beijing, and living here as a Moroccan holds little way of daily interest. But I find it my job really to find the absurd, the beautiful and the divine in the little moments scattered around a busy schedule. Isn’t it our duty even, to compel the mind and the heart to find solace in the ordinary.

I am not sure if you are a fan of long form of texting — sadly, our Tiktok/Instagram influence made us a short-attention species, but in the off chance, I do find maybe a captain might want to sustain attention for a little bit longer. You might call me a hopeless romantic, but I am really still attached to long form, letter writing.

In a different world, my email would have been sent by a dove rather than a code, and instead of flying aircrafts for a living, you might be just a step away from creating one.

Feel free to ask me back any questions, and if you read this while you’re in Beijing still, we might even celebrate Eid with coffee and why not, a proper Beijing dish. I happen to know a place or too…or if it stays here in the digital, I will be glad if this becomes a sort of pen-pal spark!

(a mysterious follower)

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