Flying around Christmastime can be Dangerous
On 16/12/2011, in The lighter side, by steve
This must be the ultimate Christmas yard decoration…
The site is near the Oak Creek Bridge on St. Michael’s Road [MD 33]. The folks who
own the property always have eye-catching displays celebrating various ‘holidays’ through
the year… this year they have certainly outdone themselves!
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A Classic with Winglets
On 02/12/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Brussels Airlines, Belgium’s main carrier operates an interesting mixed fleet out of Europe’s capital. It is one of the few European companies that fly a winglet version of the Boeing 737 Classic, the 300 series. Airliner World has been invited to see how they fly.
Brussels Airlines rose from the ashes of Sabena after its bankruptcy in 2001. The new company was first set up with the trading name SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA), based on the former Sabena subsidiary Delta Air Transport (DAT). SNBA later merged with Virgin Express and the name was changed to Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines is currently part owned by Lufthansa and a member of the Star Alliance. Today the airline operates 32 Avro Jets (a mix of BAe 146-s, AVRO RJ85-s and 100-s), 4 Airbus A319-s, 5 Airbus 330-300-s serving the African destinations and 5 Boeing 737-300-s and 4 400 series, inherited from Virgin Express.
Our contributor joined a flight from Brussels to Naples that was operated by OO-LTM one of the Aviation Partners winglet equipped Boeing 737-300. This interesting project started in 2005 when Virgin Express was contacted by Aviation Partners – Boeing to propose the winglets for the company’s B737-300 Classics. Virgin Express made a historical decision since up to then no other operators retrofitted the type, only New Generation B737-s were equipped. Time has proven that the decision was right as the winglets bring remarkable benefits in daily operations. Using winglets result in an average 5 % fuel saving but also enhance aircraft performance: because of the reduced drag, less thrust is needed for the same take-off performance. This is particularly useful at very noise-sensitive airports like Brussels. In practice this meant that the company could de-rate the CFM56 engines at 20 kN, making take-off-s much quieter and also extending the lifespan of the engines.
Today all but one of the B737-300-s are equipped. (The exception, OO-VEN is modified with 2° drooped flaps as are all the 400-s because the winglet modification was not possible on this 300 and not available yet for the 400 series.)
Our aircraft OO-LTM (c/n 25070) was delivered in 1991 to another Belgian company, TEA Trans European Airlines then it was taken over later by EuroBelgian Airlines. From 1996 it has been flying in Virgin Express colours and finally from 2007 – following the merger with SNBA – adopted Brussels Airlines’ logo.
I met the crew of the flight Captain Frank De Paepe and First Officer Gregory Claes at Zaventem National airport in Brussels. The cockpit crew was supplemented by three cabin crew, Ms Brigitte Favaretto, Ms Agnes Mier and Mr Constantinos Triantafyllos. On this Saturday, the aircraft which is able to carry 142 passengers was about half full.
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Island hopping with Travel Service
On 18/11/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Summer months are of crucial importance for all airlines but they are even more so for those in the charter business. Airliner World was happy to accept the invitation of one of those charter companies, Travel Service Hungary – an affiliate of its owner Travel Service A.S. – to check how their operations are conducted from their Budapest base.
The Czech company was founded in 1997 and became one of the fastest growing Central European charter operators. In 2008 the company transported 2.8 million passengers using a fleet of 18 aircraft. The company has 2 Boeing B737-500, 12 B737-800 (of which OK-TVJ and OK-TVK were delivered brand new), 2 Airbus A320 and two B737-800 on wet lease. They have been present in Hungary since 2001 and operate about 32 medium and long haul flights a week from Hungary while employing 21 full time pilots at that base.
On a beautiful Sunday morning in July at Budapest-Ferihegy (ICAO:LHBP, IATA: BUD) Terminal 2B I met one of the airline’s young captains Peter Buliczka and his crew getting ready for an interesting trip. The flight’s first stop will be at Heraklion, Nikos Kazantzakis airport (ICAO: LGIR, IATA: HER) Crete then we will fly on to Rhodes (Rodos) Diagoras (ICAO: LGRP IATA: RHO) before heading back to Budapest. Some time ago the airline would have operated two separate flights to these two destinations, but because of the falling demand this summer travel agencies struggled to fill these flights every week.
Captain Buliczka introduced me to the entire crew: the captain will be assisted by First Officer Attila Lanc in the cockpit, while in the cabin the usual crew of four will be supplemented by two young trainee flight assistant colleagues under the supervision of Purser Zoltan Koltai.
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There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky…
On 21/04/2011, in The lighter side, by steve
We have all seen pictures of witty sentences painted on aircraft fuselages or bombs and rockets but more often than not, we quickly forget them and when we too could insert a witty remark, they prove impossible to dig up from our memories. Krisztian, one of our contributors, has now provided a nice collection of such witty sentences coming mainly from the military. But they are true and applicable also in a non-military context.
Enjoy!
“AIM TOWARDS ENEMY.” – Instructions printed on US Rocket Launcher
“When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.” – U.S. Marine Corps
“Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.” – USAF Ammo Troop
“If the enemy is in range, so are you.” – Infantry Journal
“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” – General MacArthur
“You, you, and you panic. The rest of you, come with me.” – U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.
“Tracers work both ways.” – U.S. Army Ordnance
Click here to read the full article
Spreading my wings
On 15/04/2011, in The lighter side, by gabesz77
Airport Blagnac (LFBO), Toulouse, France. A historic place. This is where the first Concorde took off on 2 March 1969 commanded by Andre Turcat. The biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 flew for the first time also from here on 27 April 2005. These days, Blagnac is Airbus’ main base, all new-born aircraft built in Toulouse take to the air for the first time from here.
This time, there is an A320 rolling on taxiway Sierra. On board is a very enthusiastic little troop whose hard work over the previous six days is about to bear fruit. In the left seat is our Technical Captain, in the right seat your’s truly! I am being honored by being part of a “delivery flight”, the taking home of a freshly produced Wingair airplane.
For most of the team the story started already on Wednesday. The technical acceptance (requiring 8-10 hours of work per day) and delivery test flight as well as the official certification of the aircraft have been completed. I joined the others only on Monday, arriving late in the evening from London on an EasyJet flight. I dropped my gear at the hotel, went to our favorite restaurant to grab a bite and afterwards took a nostalgic walk around the inner city. I sought out the places I discovered and came to like a year earlier when we were there for the type conversion course. Toulouse is a livable town. It is characterized by little streets, nice red brick buildings, special micro-climate, the nearness of the River Garonne, a navigable network of channels and extremely friendly people.
Around nine this morning we are going out to the aircraft plant. The Delivery Center is housed in a dedicated group of buildings about the size of Terminal 2 at Budapest Ferihegy airport. At the reception a three dimensional computer generated graphic shows the facility on a big TV screen, complete with the aircraft waiting to be handed over. There are 3 round satellite buildings around the main concourse enabling the simultaneous hand-over of 11 aircraft. Of the A320 alone 470 units are produced per year which means that on average 1.3 aircraft will be in hand-over every day.
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Freight dogging with TNT Airways
On 26/01/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Sure they can…!
A large majority of Air Traffic Controllers are usually busier during the day than during a nightshift. There are however a few radiotelephony callsigns which are always associated with night operations. One such call sigh is “Quality”, the official ICAO callsign of TNT Airways which sounds familiar to all ATCO-s on night duties. Our contributor Heading370 travelled to Liege Airport in Belgium to join the crew of TAY47R to find out how a typical short haul cargo flight is operated by the company.
TNT opened their European hub at Liege Airport in Belgium in 1998. They had several reasons to choose this airport. The company was looking for a location in the vicinity of the Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt-London area with excellent road connectivity and the future opportunities for expansion combined with unlimited number of night flights at an uncongested airport. That’s exactly what Liege was able to offer and made it a number one choice for the company. TNT Airways, the airline of the group has been created in 2000 and now operates a fleet of 42 aircraft. Every night an average of 40 aircraft serve 63 airports in 26 European countries from the Liege hub. The company also operates flights to New York JFK 5 times a week and flies to Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong three times a week. TNT Airways employs about 500 people in Liege including 250 pilots.
TTNT Airways’ fleet consists of 4 Boeing B747-400ERF (payload 117 tons), 2 Airbus A300B4-200F (payload 43 tons, operated by Air Atlanta), 5 Boeing 757-200SF (payload 25 tons – operated by Icelandair and Gestair), 12 Boeing B737-300SF including 2 QC (payload 17 tons), and 19 British Aerospace BAE146-200/300 including 2 QC (payload 12 tons).
Using the QC models the company can offer passenger charters as well besides its usual cargo operations.
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Going supersonic
On 19/01/2011, in The lighter side, by gabesz77
While preparing for this afternoon’s Luton flight I noticed on the Significant Weather chart that strong north-easterly winds were blowing at high altitudes almost everywhere over Europe. Added to this, the weathermen were forecasting severe turbulence too. During an extra thorough briefing we went through all the options and even considered flying the complete route at Flight Level 200 where things appeared to be more manageable.
There was some shaking and buffeting after take-off and we encountered a lot of icing too but both disappeared once we reached our cruising level and the flight progressed normally.
Flying over Germany we noted that the wind had picked up considerably, at places it was reaching 130 knots. This was a headwind slightly off the nose and we thought about how big a help this will be on the return trip, assuming of course that it does not change speed or direction significantly. Calculating swiftly we concluded that it should be possible to break both our individual speed records! Our calculations showed that for 1000 km/hour we would need a ground speed of 539 knots and to reach the speed of sound, we would need 575 knots (taking the air temperature into account).
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Night run – impressions from a charter flight
On 12/01/2011, in The lighter side, by gabesz77
It is 8.30 in the evening but the briefing room is not empty. We are getting ready for a long trip. Destination: Palma de Mallorca, the capital city of the Balearic Islands. We are the opening flight of the season for Ecotours, the Polish travel agency. We discuss the weather… convection thunderstorm cells have risen all over Europe but they are collapsing as night sweeps over the continent and will not pose any danger. As we board the crew bus that will take us to the airport, it is raining hard already.
The inbound flight, aircraft Papa-Alpha, arrives on schedule. A few funny remarks are exchanged with the incoming crew as they leave for their well earned rest and the passengers are starting to board already. The tour organizer must have known something, we have a full house. 180 guests are expected on board. I type our route into the flight management system: two thousand two hundred and nineteen kilometres… a long leg by any measure. A bit of confusion arises with the seating in the passenger cabin but the girls master the situation in no time at all and we can close the doors.
We push back and start the engines. As soon as possible we signal with a thumbs up to the ramp engineer that everything is OK. Why should he be soaking out there longer than necessary? I release the brakes and we taxi on the tarmac that is more a collection of repaired potholes than concrete. There are pools of water everywhere… In a little while we reach the taxiway where the pavement conditions are much better. Almost as an afterthought the tower issues our clearance:
“Wingair2010 wind zero-one-zero degrees six knots, line-up runway two-niner, cleared for take-off.”
I set the throttles to Flex and read aloud: “Manual flex fifty-six, SRS, autothrust blue.”
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Christmas greetings from the K9 unit
On 22/12/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
We got this nice picture from Chris, our contributor on security related subjects. These dogs are experts at everything from finding bad guys to rescuing people trapped under collapsed buildings. In this festive season they too will take a break but still stand by for the call for help, whenever it might come.
It is the time of the year…
On 21/12/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
Many years ago by this time of the year most of us will have sent our Christmas cards and some of the addressees will even have received them. For some others, the card would come only after Christmas and in extreme cases, even only in the New Year. The postal services of most countries were simply unable to cope with the mountains of cards being sent during the festive season.
Then the Internet and electronic cards came in and the problem was solved. Not only can we send cards until the last minute, we can also be sure that they will arrive on time. We also have a much larger choice and the animated cards can really be special.
Some say that sending electronic cards is a terrible social faux pas but I do not agree. In the modern age where we re trying to conserve the environment, replacing paper cards with electronic ones is simply the right thing to do.
Click on the stamp below to see your card! Be prepared to do a bit of interactive help!
Classifying Homo Sapiens Traveleris
On 15/11/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
I don’t know about you but whenever possible, I like to be at the airport early. Once you are through security, airports can be such fun places! I am not talking about the shops and restaurants, they are there to take your money while in fact there is much better fun close at hand… and it is free. It is watching the constant ebb and flow of people, the endless variety of humanity that, watched closely, will give you a profound experience of togetherness and fun. When waiting for a flight, we all are the same (well, business lounges apart…), will go through the same doors, have the same experience… but before getting there, people constitute a live movie, a live podcast and watching them beats any shop or restaurant and most Hollywood movies too.
Writing about people, about passengers in an air traffic management blog is appropriate. After all, we all have dedicated our lives to serving them according to our own means and capacities. They all belong to Homo Sapiens but they can still be categorized into distinct sub-genres and, perhaps not unexpectedly, they come in standard shapes and sizes that bear easy cataloguing no matter which airport you are at.
Let’s now see what my watching session came up with one early evening waiting at Vienna airport recently.
The first thing that strikes one is that we no longer dress for flying. True, there are places in the world where you can go to the opera in blue jeans but there used to be a time when taking a flight was an occasion to put on our best Sunday clothes as if we were going to the opera (where blue jeans were still a definite no-no). But no longer. Passengers milling around wear everything from formal to casual and below… I wonder how many of them know (or cares for that matter) that ages ago, there was an airline in the US, called Eastern, which actually published in their timetables the color of the upholstery in the plane so that passengers could dress accordingly. I am not joking… And if there was a change of equipment and a lady found herself wearing the wrong color skirt? “Mrs. Jones, please hurry changing the color of your skirt, you are delaying the flight!”.
It is also noteworthy to observe that practically everybody, men, women even kids, seem to be hauling a computer of some kind. Yes this is the digital age but still…
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Jeppesen Honors Miracle on the Hudson Pilots with a One-of-a-Kind Commemorative Chart and Binder Set
On 08/11/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
For more than 75 years Jeppesen has made it possible for pilots and their passengers to safely and efficiently reach their destinations. Today this pioneering spirit continues as Jeppesen delivers essential information and optimization solutions to improve the efficiency of air, sea and rail operations around the globe. Jeppesen is a subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, a unit of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Jeppesen not long ago presented “Miracle on the Hudson” pilots captain Chesley Sullenberger and first-officer Jeffrey Skiles with a specially designed approach chart and engraved Jeppesen chart binders to commemorate the remarkable ditching of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009.
Entitled “Hudson Miracle APCH,” the one-of-a-kind chart includes several light-hearted notations that honor the famous water landing that saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew on board the flight disabled by bird strikes. In the “briefing strip” section of the chart, instructions include: “After water landing, oversee evacuation of ALL SOULS from airplane. Float via HUDSON RIVER to RESCUE point. Once everyone is SAFE aboard rescue boats, secure passenger list and double check cabin. Captain is last to exit. Give THANKS.”
The chart documents the historic five minute flight with a unique graphic, beginning with departure from LaGuardia Airport, followed by a “Cooked Goose Transition” point and “Hudson River Approach,” which is then followed by “Splash” and “Rescue” points on the water. The humorous chart also salutes the career achievements of the crew of flight 1549, including Sullenberger, Skiles, and veteran flight attendants Sheila Dail, Donna Dent and Doreen Welsh.
Along with the commemorative chart, the pilots were presented with a special Jeppesen chart binder, engraved with the famous fortune cookie advice kept in Sullenberger’s flight bag: “A delay is better than a disaster.” The items were presented by Mark Van Tine, Jeppesen president and CEO, during the 2010 Gathering of Eagles fundraiser dinner and auction held during the EAA AirVenture fly-in and air show in Oshkosh, Wisc. The EAA Young Eagles event raises funds and awareness for youth involvement in aviation.
You can read about the history of Jeppesen here.
To visit the Jeppesen web site, click here.
A lesson in loyalty and independence
On 17/09/2010, in The lighter side, by steve
The company behind Roger-Wilco, BluSky Services Group, has in its logo the image of a Siberian Husky serenely looking out over snowy peaks. Since BSSG is an aviation consultancy (with in house multimedia and graphics expertise also), a lot of people have asked why the logo shows a husky so prominently instead of an aircraft or some more imaginative rendering of what we are doing. The company slogan “Quality, reliability, integrity…” does give you a hint…
The truth is that the husky has in fact been real, our companion for 12 years and he died the year BluSky Services was established. He flew west after having supported us in some of the most difficult periods of our life, both private and professional, but he left his spirit behind to carry both BSSG and Roger-Wilco forward.
This is the true story of Cyrano, the Siberian Husky, BluSky’s mascot and one time security chief.
I guess at some point all parents face this dilemma: the kids want a pet and the parents are not sure (or worse…). We were no different but our kids were persistent and persuasive. They aimed for a dog and promised to take care of it like no other kids ever did. Although we had our doubts in the end we relented, convinced that a pet would do only good for everyone. But it had to be something special, a race that was like no other.
Siberian Huskies are known for their loyalty, crew spirit, intelligence but also for being fiercely independent. Treats that we though would be a good combination for an aviation family.
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Smooth cruise – The WizzAir experience
On 17/06/2010, in The lighter side, by heading370
Editor’s note: This article dates from 2007. We are now an economic crisis later but the essence of the story is still the same. What is more, WizzAir, operating 30 aircraft, is still with us and hopefully will remain for a long time to come.
WizzAir, the largest low fare – low cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe launched operations in May 2004. They concentrate primarily on the lucrative markets of the newest EU member states where air travel is going through some really dynamic expansion. This policy has lead to the opening of routes to Eindhoven for example. The company operates these flights from Budapest, Hungary and Katowice in Poland. The author, who is an Air Traffic Controller at the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center (MUAC) was happy to join the crew of the Eindhoven-Budapest-Eindhoven flights at the end of March.
On the ramp at EHEH
Eindhoven is still a relatively quiet airport where the atmosphere is quite relaxed and hassle-free. It is shared by civil and military users the biggest operator – apart from the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (The Royal Air Force of the Netherlands) – is Ryanair. Also Transavia and a few Turkish charter companies fly there regularly and on a typical day the airport handles about 20 arrivals.
After some really helpful co-ordination with the company’s operations control, crew rostering section and the Head of Training, Captain Gabor Lezsovits, I was ready to board HA-LPD, (c/s number 1902) an Airbus A320-200 that operated as WZZ228B.
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Never leave your lunch in the plane – but if you do, take duct tape with you!
On 17/03/2010, in The lighter side, by royalbird
During a private “fly-in” fishing excursion in the Alaskan wilderness, the chartered pilot and fishermen left a cooler and bait in the plane. And a bear smelled it. This is what he did to the plane….
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kulula… what?
On 01/02/2010, in The lighter side, by royalbird
kulula.com is a low fare airline in South Africa. They are apparently bent on making type certification as easy as possible. Gentle reminders of all important items are available for the crew at all times except in flight. No cheating! Want to see more? It is worth it…
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I was a passenger on the A380
On 14/01/2010, in The lighter side, by andrase
Although Singapore Airlines is expecting to welcome its one millionth A380 customer in February (just 15 months after the inaugural flight), it is still not every day that you get to meet someone who has enjoyed this new travel experience. Our contributor Andrase is such a person and he sent us this report.
Let me share my experience of A380 travel by Singapore Airlines. SIA was the first airline scheduling daily service between London and Singapore using the 380.
At the beginning of November I travelled between that city pair and was lucky enough to be booked on the gigantic, biggest ever passenger airplane, the A380.
I was so excited when I walked through the checking gate and got my boarding pass. When I made the online booking earlier, I selected the upper deck. I was placed in the last section, just in front of the galley and the staircase, right behind the emergency exit to gain extra legroom. And extra legroom there was! Even if I had 2 meter or 3 meter long legs, I would have had no problem stretching them out straight ahead…
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Italian holiday
On 20/11/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
I hope that after the last three Fridays when I dished up a poem in “The lighter side” have not made you decide not to read the blog on Fridays… I really hope so because it is once again Friday and I have yet another poem for you… As befits its category, these poems are only remotely connected with air traffic management but they were all born in an aviation context. Waiting in a departure hall, sleepless high over the Atlantic Ocean or just seeing a 747 soar into the air… Anyway, hearing the name of the Italian airline Alitalia, you cannot fail to notice the inherent melody in it. You almost hear a gondolier in Venice singing the latest ad for the Italian carrier. Here is something then, inspired by an Alitalia flight.
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Flying with the Seagulls – Formation flying at EHHO
On 17/11/2009, in The lighter side, by heading370
In expectation of our arrival
Earlier this year I received an invitation to join Jimmy De Koning – an Air Traffic Controller at the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center – to visit his flying club, Seagull Formation and see what makes it so unique.
Seagull Formation, based at Hoogeveen airport in the northeast of the Netherlands, was founded in 1986 by former military pilots. At the beginning they flew Cessna 172-s, Morane Rallys and the Slingsby. In 1989 they received their first Focke-Wulf Piaggio 149D and throughout the years the number of the type increased to five. Following the old military tradition and classic training module of formation flying using this classic aircraft the founders of Seagull Formation created a display team which participates every year at several national and international air shows. The team demonstrates a number of training and combat maneuvers of the past to give an impression of how this aircraft was used by air force training personnel in the 50-s and 60-s.
The PFW 149D has its roots in post-war Italy and was produced by the same company that had great success with the Vespa motorbikes. Based on the earlier P148 (a 2-seater) designed by Giovanni P. Casiraghi the P149 – a 4-seater which first flew in June 1953- competed with other training aircraft like the Saab Safir and the Beech Mentor.
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In-seat telephones – more than you think
On 13/11/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
Friday again! Time passes fast… This time in “The lighter side” I would like to recount something that came to me on along flight with plenty of time to get bored with the on-demand movies and games. The only thing left was the in-seat telephone. Contemplating the little hand-set with its shimmering, welcoming lights so homely in the darkened cabin, it suddenly occurred to me…
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Night in the cockpit – Shooting star
On 06/11/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
It is Friday again and as usual, we bring you something from the lighter side. Have you ever had the opportunity to sit in a darkened cockpit in the middle of the night, over the ocean with clear skies? The view is nothing short of breath-taking. There are stars above you, in front of you and BELOW you all the way to the horizon… The aircraft is suspended in the middle of a velvet sphere, with billions of stars spread out all over it, motionless yet rushing towards the future. Then all of a sudden you see a shooting star…
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Impressions – time-warp in the departure hall
On 30/10/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
Those who travel a lot, and most of us aviation types do, know the feeling. Waiting in the departure hall for you connection, for your delayed flight, for zillions of other reasons. You can of course work, eat, buy presents but whatever you do, time always seems to slow to a crawl. Time is relative… Einstein was a genius for figuring this out all on his own, without an airport.
But if you look around you, at the bustling mass of humanity, you can play with thoughts like where are they going? Why are some happy and the others tearful? What are they all hauling in their bags which are all different yet also the same as dictated by the cabin baggage rules? Why are some flying with this airline and others with that? Who is that girl with the long black hair, perfect figure and enchanting eyes?
Time is starting to speed up already. As we know from Einstein, when time speeds up, strange things can happen. Close your eyes and listen to your thoughts…
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Help for computer dummies…
On 16/10/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
I got this cartoon from the ATC training folks back when computers still had floppy disks. Some parts shown are obsolate, some are missing… where would the USB connector fit here? But the general idea is still sound…
Precision Approach Path Indicator – PAPI
On 16/10/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
PAPI is no big news these days but when it was new, it moved someone to create this cartoon…
Visiting an office with a view
On 06/10/2009, in The lighter side, by heading370
Familiarization flight with Transavia
One of the countless drawbacks of 9/11, a few of you may have realized, is that even for air traffic controllers it has become increasingly difficult to visit a cockpit of an airliner, indeed most of the airlines adopted a closed cockpit door policy. I used to take every opportunity to at least say hello to the crew and was always happy to take the jumpseat for an interesting landing. But those times are over I’m afraid, probably forever and I don’t even ask the cabin crew anymore as I know the answer will be a polite: Sorry it’s not possible…
A happy crew
In the past Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) had agreements with various airlines which offered us ATCO-s the chance for fam. flights to see the place where all that actions happen. One of my most memorable experiences goes back to 1996 when I flew in the cockpit of a Swissair MD-11 between Zurich and Montreal Mirabel. So I was particularly happy when we learned about the great new initiative: Transavia Airlines (commercially rebranded as transavia.com after the basiqair period) was willing to renew the nice tradition of familiarization flights for air traffic controllers, offering us Maastricht controllers a quota of 50 flights a year.
Needless to say I was amongst the first ones to apply and received a confirmation email the previous day that I will fly on the 8th of March with TRA5143 from Amsterdam to Alicante and back on the same day.
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Dream factories…
On 07/09/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
If someone said to you: Airports are dream factories. Would you believe it? If your reply is “yes”, you are like me, deeply in love with aviation and you do not need to read on. But if you respond with an unimaginative NO, read further and let me prove you wrong.
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Ferry flight fun
On 12/08/2009, in The lighter side, by heading370
Pilots and controllers come in all shapes and sizes. I have seen quite a few of them who started as controllers than became pilots and many of those who started their carrier as pilots but for some reason ended up in a tower or in front of the radar scope. But you hardly see people who can combine both professions: work as an air traffic controller while flying as a commercial pilot.
Flight preparations
I know one of those guys, and I was happy to accept the invitation to join him, my colleague from the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) for a short ferry flight.
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Built-in obsolescence
On 29/07/2009, in The lighter side, by steve
I have often wondered what it must feel like to buy yourself an aircraft. Not a small propeller bird but something bigger, like a Gulfstream or a Boeing Business Jet. While thinking big, why not a 747? One of the attractive aspects of buying a big aircraft is the fact that they stay current for such a long time!
Buy a car and six months later its shape is an embarrassment. Buy the cutest cell phone and four weeks later your kids will laugh you out.
Our office in Brussels sees new technology pass through it like water in a stream. Some times a project needs new equipment, at others we see something that we are sure will be useful for something some time… More often than not these latter succumb to built in obsolescence and end up in our museum of must-have-gadgets.
Cell phones are no exception. 
Our director of multimedia operations consumes the damn things at an enormous rate and each time he buys a new one, he is able to come with bullet-proof arguments in support for the change.
I tended to take a more laid back attitude towards cell phones. Having been there at their birth, I went through the various phases of evolution, none of which really caught my fancy.
My first cell phone was a bulky Motorola which I used until it literally fell to pieces. The world around me in the meantime watched cell phones shrink to the point where magnifying glasses were needed to make a call and human evolution was being pushed in the direction of spider leg thin fingers to work the minuscule buttons.
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