Meet Harley Meneses, commander of widebodies at Latam with 14,000 flight hours
With more than 14,000 flight hours as a pilot, Geraldo “Harley” Meneses, 52, from Manaus, has already been with Latam Airlines for almost 30 years, a company he joined in 1996 and where he accumulates the positions of pilot of Boeing 787, 777 and 767, and is also Director of Operations. The executive position does not remove Meneses from the cockpit and the experienced commander was also on the company's inaugural flight to Los Angeles, last Wednesday (2).
Born and raised in the Vieiralves neighborhood, in the center-south of Manaus, it was also in the capital of Amazonas that Harley started his career in 1989. His first experience took place this year, when he joined as an air taxi pilot in a regional company, headquartered in Eduardo Gomes International Airport.
With more experience, seven years later he was hired by LATAM as co-pilot of Fokker 100 aircraft. Airbus A320 and currently in command of widebodies (double-aisle aircraft) that carry out LATAM international flights.
In addition to fulfilling his passion for flying, the manauara de Vieiralves also juggles his time as Director of Operations for LATAM Brasil, leading a team of more than 1,900 pilots.
Even with so much experience, Meneses understands that the flight to Los Angeles was an important milestone in his career. “It is a very special moment. In addition to inaugurating a new destination for the company, Los Angeles is the city where I lived for a while to study English and, more than that, where I celebrated my honeymoon with my wife”, recalls the captain.
