The 39-year-old has flown safely for more than 14,000 hours and is a veritable young "old" captain. Rushing into the sky every day and overlooking the earth is the daily life of his life.
Promoted to Captain Airbus A320 at the age of 27, Captain Airbus A330 at the age of 28, Captain Airbus A330 at the age of 31, Instructor of Captain Airbus A330, and now piloting the Boeing 787 aircraft of Juneyao Airlines, this young man who is always eye-catching has never stopped exploring the unknown. This year, he brought his own novel "Straight to the Clouds", becoming one of the few civil aviation captains in the world to publish novels during his tenure.
Xie Kun has flown safely for more than 14,000 hours
Childhood dreams
I didn't become a grown-up career
"Childhood dreams may not become a career when they grow up, but careers can achieve dreams." Life is not so perfect, but full of fun".
Xie Kun actually did not think that he would engage in flying, and becoming a pilot was really "hitting by mistake". A native of Changsha, Hunan Province, he grew up in an artistic family, and almost all of his family worked in Hunan Radio and Television. The literary and artistic teenagers who have studied art since childhood and yearn for an unrestrained life have been working hard for the art examination. "It was also a coincidence that a group of people went to participate in the physical examination of Zhao Fei, and the result was only 2 in the whole school." Xie Kun recalled that before going to college, he knew almost nothing about civil aviation, and after entering Beihang, he still thought about changing majors. With the deepening of his studies, he gradually adjusted his mentality and accepted that if he came, he would be safe. After another 2 years, he finally decided that he would continue the flight path firmly.
After graduating from university in 2005, Xie Kun went to China Southern Airlines, and this work was 14 years. The young man who has just entered the society is full of vitality, full of curiosity about everything, listens to the teachings of his predecessors, never skimps on energy and physical strength to complete the work at hand, and soon he is "upgraded" from a student to a captain instructor. Unwilling to mention how much hardship he has paid, the modest Xie Kun always emphasizes that he is lucky to catch up with the good times of the rapid development of civil aviation.
Xie Kun's work photos
People who are optimistic about life must work positively, and people who are enthusiastic about work must have a rich and colorful life. For pilots who fly intercontinental flights, flying all night on weekdays is inevitably reversed day and night, and it is easy to be tired of jet lag, but Xie Kun always shows a cheerful side. He will frequently post funny stories on Weibo and WeChat circles, will pack his bags on the ground to travel around the world's towns, will try to read history through the ruins of broken walls that have existed for thousands of years, and will taste the bittersweet and bittersweet of life from the customs and customs of different regions. When he traveled north and south, he did not forget to bring a familiar "old friend" - a sketchbook, and drew a number of pen drawings closely related to what he saw.
Xie Kun's pen drawings
In 2017, Xie Kun registered and created a personal WeChat public account and began to try to record his experience and state of mind at that time. After several times of self-expression, he slowly got used to observation and thinking, constantly found the value of life from work, and experienced the meaning of work in life.
He said: "'What has been' is experience, 'past' is life. The more places you have been, the more life you have lived in the past becomes full. Looking back, everything is one thing, one hundred and one. ”
The pilot experience provided creative inspiration
Early pilots were heroes of the mechanical age, not only because they flew into the sky and proved their ability to manipulate machines beyond most people, but also because they could tell others about the experience of seeing the world from the air. The feeling is hard to describe, but the listener is instinctively drawn.
The Frenchman Saint-Exupéry was the best writer among pilots. His "Night Voyage", "Wind and Sand Stars" and "The Little Prince" are all about the life of pilots, which can be said to be the reflections and actions of his life. From the 1930s to the present, his works have been sold worldwide.
The pilot's experience also provided Xie Kun with creative inspiration. Like Saint-Exupéry, he explores the soul with his writing. In his essays, he will mix the professional operations during the flight with the joys and sorrows of life, and depict the vivid stories of civil aviation people through his personal experience of the industry. The flying life in his eyes is not only a cold operation procedure, but also an unexpected warmth and endless hope.
"Flying is like your life and love, and there won't be something spectacular every day. Whether you can fly safely for a lifetime, the key lies in the bits and pieces you do every day. Xie Kun said, "For the co-pilot, the captain is the ultimate goal of their struggle; but only the captain knows that the profession of flying has no end, only a starting point." ”
"I don't like days that are too comfortable and quiet, and I prefer a constantly changing, passionate life." That's why in 2019, he took the initiative to jump out of his comfort zone and came to Shanghai alone to join Juneyao Airlines, and even to modify new models. However, just after adapting to the new environment, he encountered the epidemic crisis. "It's hard to judge right or wrong in the moment." Xie Kun believes, "Only by waiting until the day when you are really old and reminiscing about the past can you give yourself a conclusion." ”
A person can go through about 3 years of life from entering society to retirement. Standing at the threshold of 37 years old in his life, Xie Kun found that he had unconsciously spent the first life year after work. Looking back at his youth's ignorance of the world and the lightness of the years, counting the joys and sorrows and bittersweet and bittersweet experienced, he made up his mind to write a book to summarize the detours he had taken and give himself an explanation.
Woe to the blessed. Throughout last year, Xie Kun struggled through repeated quarantines. Unable to leave Shanghai to go home to accompany his wife and children, he hid in the isolation hotel and forgot to eat, writing a book. In less than half a year, he completed the first draft of 500,000 words.
Xie Kun said, "At least I have fulfilled this wish." There are many people who have ideas now, very few people who can put ideas into action, and even fewer people who can stick to their actions. ”
Xie Kun's paintings
"From landing to take-off, it's life"
The novel is not complicated, whether it is the setting of the plot or the expression of the language, it is very smooth. In the book, Xie Kun tells the growth history of a young captain. This is the precipitation of an excellent life after experiencing confusion, and it is also the spiritual journey of a sunny boy to grow into a brave man. "From anticipation to complaining to working with peace of mind again, this is a cycle of life." He said, "I hope that through a novel, a curious industry, and several twists and turns, it will resonate with young people in the workplace who are not willing to be mediocre and eager to fight back." ”
Xie Kun's life photo
The contradiction between the protagonist's artistic dream and ordinary work is the theme of the novel's focus, which was actually the author's own confusion. They also have flappy personalities and unique hobbies, and they are also engaged in the most rigorous and even stereotypical work. Xie Kun uses painting to relieve the fatigue of flying, and the protagonist uses music to dissolve the boredom of flight. "Not only me, but probably many young people can find their own shadow in it."
Above the sea of clouds, there are occasional bumps in the impact of the air current, but fortunately, everything is in danger. Just as the plane lands safely at the end of the novel, Xie Kun's characters look forward to the dawn in the dark night, hold the course in the chaotic clouds, and finally return to the solid earth through continuous self-examination and self-elimination.
"So my foothold is to do everything well in the moment." He said that he had planned to write about it at this point, but later felt that the theme should be built more. So he added a 20,000-word manuscript to join the discussion about professional beliefs. "If you have a job, it only proves that you have a salary that you can live with; but if you choose a career, you must establish a belief in the profession."
Compared with popular youth novels, Xie Kun no longer stuck to the dimensions of growth and love, but began to focus on the relationship between youth and the times. He deeply expressed the spiritual and cultural demands of the young generation, showing the duty and mission of contemporary civil aviation people who do not forget their original intentions: in the face of the modern society of materialistic desires, they still retain the pursuit of their careers, as well as their love and loyalty to the industry and the country.
Xie Kun at work (The pictures in this article are provided by Xie Kun himself)
"From take-off to landing, it is a duty; from landing to take-off, it is life." Only by keeping professional beliefs can we have a wonderful professional life. He wrote this sentence on the cover of "Straight to the Clouds" to motivate readers and motivate himself.
In the 16 years of flying, Xie Kun has safely maneuvered more than 2,000 take-offs and landings, but he has never had a moment to unload the burden on his body. He said: "There is no pressure without a sense of responsibility, and people without pressure are so empty." (Civil Aviation News of China reporter Hu Xijie)