For the aviation fans

[The Ouzo]

12 minutes ago, Long Wheel Base said:

I got that video and another by someone else in the same plane, the other video you see the fire truck a lot more and that thing had been waiting there for a while. Makes me wonder if they were expecting it? Not normal for the fire trucks to be on the taxiway next to another live aircraft like that. 

also wondered why the fire truck was there so quickly in the vid posted here.

[Bateleur1]

On 5/16/2023 at 1:59 PM, Long Wheel Base said:

I got that video and another by someone else in the same plane, the other video you see the fire truck a lot more and that thing had been waiting there for a while. Makes me wonder if they were expecting it? Not normal for the fire trucks to be on the taxiway next to another live aircraft like that. 

They did declare an emergency as the landing gear could not  retract after takeoff.  So the fire trucks were waiting on stand by.  That boogy knocked quite a dent into the fuselage.

 

[SwissVan]

Interesting link to SR71 Blackbird story from one of the pilots

 

Sorry if I posted it before, but think it’s well worth watching again.

Now to download the book “Sled driver”

 

[Spokey]

This topic seems to have slowed up a bit. I have been busy recently after bringing our aerie out of Biggen from the 36 month check.Top pic is over Paris followed by Final into Le Bourget. Following is Final into Nice 04L then out of Nice passing Monaco. Then a bit of the Alps poking through on the descent to Geneva followed by a HUD shot over Turkey and finally a fine dusty desert view over Iraq late afternoon.

[Bateleur1]

@Spokey if you ever stop over for a day or two in Munich, drop me a message and we can meet up for a drink or something.  Love your pics.

[SwissVan]

Sometimes i forget what a nice place our little airport is, picture from the airports homepage. My office roughly where the red arrow is pointing

 

[SwissVan]

On 9/23/2023 at 3:55 PM, Spokey said:

This topic seems to have slowed up a bit.....

Yup, sadly this applies to many topics and chit chat

[patham]

3 hours ago, SwissVan said:

Yup, sadly this applies to many topics and chit chat

Who would have guessed? Oh wait, I think we all did.

[Spokey]

12 hours ago, SwissVan said:

Sometimes i forget what a nice place our little airport is, picture from the airports homepage. My office roughly where the red arrow is pointing

 

Wow, this is pretty. I really like Switzerland. We were due to have 4 days in Geneva middle of the month but we ended up dropping the boss off and heading to Nice.  We had planned to stay in Montreaux. Anyways, I like Nice too, though on this occasion we stayed in Juan les Pins in Antibes.

[SwissVan]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:44 PM, Spokey said:

Wow, this is pretty. I really like Switzerland. We were due to have 4 days in Geneva middle of the month but we ended up dropping the boss off and heading to Nice.  We had planned to stay in Montreaux. Anyways, I like Nice too, though on this occasion we stayed in Juan les Pins in Antibes.

We get all sorts here, lately we have had quite a few heavier birds like GV's and Globals

Today seems to be a real allsorts day on the apron

 

 

 

[Ed-Zulu]

On 9/25/2023 at 11:44 PM, Spokey said:

Wow, this is pretty. I really like Switzerland. We were due to have 4 days in Geneva middle of the month but we ended up dropping the boss off and heading to Nice.  We had planned to stay in Montreaux. Anyways, I like Nice too, though on this occasion we stayed in Juan les Pins in Antibes.

Hi Spokey, I've always wondered about the logistics of your movements on a South African passport in your job, yes it's an assumption.

How do you overcome it on a green passport or do you have another type of travel document in your position?

[Spokey]

On 9/27/2023 at 3:07 PM, Ed-Zulu said:

Hi Spokey, I've always wondered about the logistics of your movements on a South African passport in your job, yes it's an assumption.

How do you overcome it on a green passport or do you have another type of travel document in your position?

Hi There. I also have a UK passport. I leave and enter UK on the SA one and the rest is on the UK apart from UAE. My UAE resident visa is in the SA one for various reasons. US crew visas are in the UK one. Traveling as crew is easy around Europe. Some countries will require visas on entry, like Turkey, although in this case only for stays of longer than 5 days. Our company has a full time employee to assist with travel documents. Post Brexit travel as a passenger if entering “Euroland” it is a lot more tedious, especially France. However the majority of our crew change outs are through Dubai which is super easy with a Res Visa.

 

[Spokey]

Flew last week from Ibiza to the Mid East. Over Crete the turbulence was a bit crap, fine for an ex freight dog but with the lunch service in full swing we climbed to non standard FL470 from 450. Still bumping along we tried FL490 knowing that we would be unlikely to maintain our M.88 at that level. Was very impressed to see the aeroplane settle at M.87 at Cruise thrust. Not a bad ground speed too considering the roughly 10kt drop in TAS at that altitude.

[Spokey]

Perhaps of interest. Back to Paris from Marseilles. Dodged a little weather for a 1700 landing into Le Bourget. This is I believe, my favourite Bizz Airport. Always a thrill if doing a parallel approach with a “Heavy” going into Charles de Gaulle next door! The controllers are relaxed and in my opinion very good. It is busy airspace. The Museum at the airport is well worth a visit with some examples of crazy weird French jet designs from the ‘50s. I did not manage a visit this time but can perhaps dig out some pics if peeps are interested.

[Spokey]

Recently flew from Newark in New York to Kuwait. Just two pilots at the flight time was around 11 hours. We were 12 hours 50 from Kuwait to Newark due to the headwinds. 13 hours plus and we are supposed to use 3 crew. It screws us all up as we only have 3 pilots so the poor bastard off duty has to come out and then it extends all of our duties. I do not have a good relationship with FDP, Flight Duty Periods. You can operate with in the regulations and be more tired than just getting the job done in the first place.
Anyways…….this is sunrise east of the UK after take off at 1900local from New York.

[Spokey]

This is somewhere over Turkey. We set up the below camera in order to see a company colleague who we were passing. They turned to a different route and we passed this fellow, around 8000 feet below us. We cruise at M.88 so typical TAS of 510 kts at FL450. Ground Speed in this instance was over 560Kts.