The long winding road to Kenya Airways maiden direct flight to the US has finally ended in what will go into records as one of KQ's greatest success story.
Kenya Airways has picked on 65-year-old Joseph Kinuthia to lead the four pilots on the Dreamliner, as the first Kenyan to fly directly into the United States from Nairobi.
In his more than 40 years flying career, Captain Kinuthia has flown powerful personalities including former President Daniel Arap Moi and Pope John Paul II but has never flown planes into New York.
In an interview with Chams Media, Kinuthia stated that he has flown for more than 25, 000 hours. He says he had been selected to pioneer the 15-hours-long flight due to his vast experience, given he is the senior most captain at KQ.
"I was proposed to be the first one to fly to JFK because I am the most senior pilot in Kenya Airways today. I have been there since 1978. And I will be retiring in the next few months so the company thought probably I should be the one flying," he told Alex Chamwada in an exclusive interview.
Kinuthia started his flying career aged 21, and terms the trailblazing Nairobi-New York flights as "a fascinating challenge".
He has only been to New York City as a visitor, but not while flying a plane, and has been training with his colleagues on flying to JFK using a dummy route on the simulator.
"I will be the captain to take off from Nairobi to cruise level then the other captain takes over through the cruise level before as I take a rest. I will the take over two hours to landing to prepare," says the delighted Kinuthia.
The Dreamliner Kinuthia shall be flying has a global database which he says "has everything".
"It has got anything whatever you have anywhere, you have it. You build a mall somewhere, it is on the database. It has the hills, Mt Kenya and everywhere you can think about," stated Kinuthia.
In just a few hours, @KenyaAirways will make a historic maiden non-stop flight from JKIA, Nairobi to JFKIA, New York.This is a great opportunity for the country to not just grow the tourism industry but to spur investments as well #KQDirectFlight #KQNBONYC https://t.co/efSiNvqP0X
