Members of the Hong Kong section got together at the end of June to celebrate the end of the Rotary Year with a hybrid (in person/zoom) fellowship meeting.
Those present in person enjoyed a guided tour of the Hong Kong Aviation Club’s flight simulator and their hangar led by IFFR Member Hogan Loh. He is a member of the Hong Kong Aviation Club, an IFFR Hong Kong Member, and formerly Chief Flying Instructor for fixed-wing aircraft and a fixed-wing aircraft examiner. He has licences to fly both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
The 18 members and three partners then adjourned for dinner, following which another 7 members who could not be there in person joined the meeting by Zoom.
I was invited to join and to share the IFFR New team structure, and to talk about what’s been happening and what’s planned for next year. IFFR Hong Kong member Hazel Ip, who was in Shenzhen , China, shared how she and her company helped ordering medical supplies to and shipped them 6000 miles to Poland from where they were transported over land by local Rotarians to Ukraine. And we then heard from young IFFR member Matthew Shum who is currently in Sydney, Australia completing his flight training there and who hopes to return to Hong Kong soon.
The main speaker for the evening was Ms. Ting Ting Lo, a Cathay Pacific 2nd flying officer who gave an interesting presentation on “a day in the life of a pilot” preparing to fly from Hong Kong to Singapore. This focused on the necessary “soft skills” needed to ensure the discipline and the demanding duties to a pilot. She also gave an impressive insight into how applying her professional discipline and experience to daily life management helped her in decision making , stress and crisis management , focus and strategy.
It was my pleasure to be able to participate in the induction of 3 new members of the Hong Kong section, TingTing Lo, CP Dr. Jimmy Lau and Maggie Ching. This took membership of the Hong Kong section to 98. Winnie Chan, a friend of Ting Ting and a pilot for Hong Kong Express will also shortly be joining – member number 99. Since then, they have smashed the 100 member level, with 102 members as at October 2022.
Finally, those present received their IFFR 2022-23 souvenir: a wooden pen to symbolise wishing members prosperity by signing more contracts and business deals with it in the post-pandemic era.
In addition to their fellowship meetings, the IFFR Hong Kong section have been having fun with flying simulators, reaching out in service, to get a next generation of young-people interested in a career in aviation. Read about that here.