Do you like gladiator movies? Commander Ramon Vallès does not immediately catch the reference to the very politically incorrect scene of the hilarious Land as you can in which Captain Oveur (Peter Graves) maliciously asks the question to a child guest in the cabin of his plane. He answers yes, he is a Ridley Scott fan. But it’s the same, Vallès (Piera, Barcelona, 60 years old) is the pilot that one would want to have holding the controls when things get bad up there and the turbulence makes you remember the Lord’s Prayer, the creed and even the sailor’s salve. Extroverted, friendly and a great communicator, Ramon Vallès is known and greeted by everyone he meets on the way to the interview. “What a great guy!” is heard behind him. An airline pilot with 30 years of experience, he is very active and popular on social networks and now publishes the book!Welcome aboard!, your commander writes to you (Geoplaneta, 2026), subtitled “Everything you always wanted to know about flying.”
Ask. There are clouds and wind, oops. Would we fly today?
Answer. My goodness, so much! Even with the fishing fleet moored in Cantabria we fly. In fact, I’m flying to New York in a few hours.
P. This from Álex Grijelmo: pilot or aviator?
R. Aviator. Pilot is used for other transports, but aviator is for an airplane. Aviator, without a doubt.
P. And airplane or airplane?
R. Plane, airplane sounds old, right?
P. Is there any aviation character that you admire? I imagine not Icarus.
R. No, no, my references are those who have faced situations for which they were prepared, like Sully, the real character who inspired the Tom Hanks film.
P. In his book he talks about cases in which things went wrong, the Andes tragedy, the Germanwings tragedy.
R. Yes, like Los Rodeos, which remains the largest air disaster, these are absolutely exceptional cases that deeply shock me: as a commander my obsession is always to do well for the safety of the passengers, our main objective. You take three hundred people from one place to another and you cannot fail them. I am very interested in these cases to study how they could have been avoided. I believe a lot in investigating to protect. Be that as it may, the figures show that flying is very, very safe, and increasingly so. A piece of advice: if you are afraid of flying, don’t feed on catastrophes.
P. Everyone can have a bad day.
R. Yes, but we take a lot of precautions so that the bad day does not get on the plane, and we know how to deal with it thanks to experience, maturity, and flight hours.
P. How can we help?
R. Know the emergency instructions, always wear your seat belt, as in the car, that protects you.
P. You say things that are so obvious but that we sometimes forget, such as that you, pilots and crews, are the first ones interested in everything going well.
R. Of course, because we are also up there. Unlike doctors, for whom the patient is something external, we are inside there. We’re all on the plane. As my wife, Margarita, says, the important thing for everyone is to re-enter through the door of the house.
P. Are you interested in military aviation?
R. No, not at all, I don’t like wars. I am impressed by the technological capacity of military aeronautics, what lies behind it, but only that. I think that if military aircraft did not exist there would be no wars. On the other hand, it is a way of flying that often goes to the limit, and that, in civil aviation, for which safety comes first, does not exist. Here a top gun You have to change the chip.
P. An airplane that you would have liked to fly? The Concorde?
R. No, it was a deficit and minority plane, only glamour, it consumed what is not written, a nonsense. I’m not a fetishist at all. The Jumbo maybe. But I am a chico Airbusalways Airbus.
P. Do you read aerial literature? Do you know James Salter?
R. I’ll look for it; my aeronautical readings are usually technical.
P. You are not an aviation romantic.
R. I admire what the pioneers did with those gadgets, but I am a practical, very earthly person, I admire close people, from the present, who have marked my life, my mentors, with whom I learned to fly.
P. What was exceptional about you on board?
R. Having taken Fitipaldi. Some marriage request, which I have been asked to make. I really like taking care of the relationship with passengers. Being a commander of an aircraft is not just about flying it. You are responsible from tip to tail.
P. What have you seen that was especially beautiful from the cabin?
R. The Aconcagua. I like mountaineering and I would like to be able to climb it sometime. Greenland from the sky is amazing, the northern lights, the arrival in Los Angeles…
P. A friend who is very scrupulous about cleanliness tells me to ask her if the planes are hygienic.
R. Reasonably. Use does not have to involve dirt at all. There are minimum maintenance requirements that are met, and people do not come down with itches.
P. Are airplanes and birds enemies?
R. Birds can scare you if they are large or many and collide with the radar on the nose or depending on which part of the engines.
P. Superstitious?
R. No, although I never fly without my medal of the Santo Cristo de Piera. I don’t even do it on April 28, its day, when I’m always in Piera.
P. He doesn’t talk about the famous sex on the plane.
R. The 10,000 meter Club thing, now. Everyone has their challenges. As long as you don’t bother or offend the other passengers, you’ll see. I think there are better places to have sex.
P. Have you had any Emmanuelle-type cases?
R. Young people from the famous drunken tourism are recorded, you see them. I don’t like it, call me carca, but I think you have to have a little decorum.
P. On the other side, fear.
R. Today whoever has the firm purpose or the need to overcome it can do so. But you have to take the means, treat yourself. We have to fight it. It’s very irrational.
P. You think you’re trapped up there and can’t escape.
R. Don’t worry, you distract yourself, get rid of negative thoughts, read, listen to music and let us do our work. Control is not up to you, fortunately. The pilot will take you and bring you, we know how to do it.