Mensagens

A mostrar mensagens de julho, 2009

Vacations...

Haven't been updating lately but, hey...a guy deserves some vacations now and then.... Anyway, haven't forgotten planes...(how could I??) A couple of nights ago, made a premiere on my colection with some White A320 night shots. Other traffic I'm getting, includes a Swiss small bird in transit to Ponta Delgada, and some shots of PoAF Aviocar (not very good...unfortunately). Also a couple of days ago, took some shots of PoAF EH-101 Merlin after its arrival. They went for a rescue mission of some guy that went into a rock for some fishing or so and got stuck when the tide went up... Also just the other day, managed to get, for the second time ever, the arrival of CS-TKO, Sata's new A320 just by pure luck.... Traffic as also included a stop of a PoAf Falcon 50 during lunch time and a few shots of NEOS, nothing really special but anyway its diferent traffic than the one we usually have at Madeira... The big catch should be on the 1st of August with the shedulled arrival of

A few night-stopers

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These were taken on a quick stop on the airport's balcony last Saturday (actually it was already Sunday...19.Jul.2009) Not usual, even more with a kid, had to take a few shot before getting her quite steady, she just kept getting in and out and waving to someone, getting the shots completly blured... And a couple of bizjets...

Base Aérea Monte Real - Livro 50 Anos

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Já se encontra em pré-reserva o livro referente aos 50 Anos da BA5 - Monte Real. A pré-reserva e outras informações poderão ser efectuadas para o mail livroba5@gmail.com O livro será apresentado no dia 26 de Julho Livraria Arquivo, em Leiria. Mais informações acerca das comemorações dos 50 Anos da BA5, podem ser encontradas em: http://kiakprojects.com.sapo.pt/

South of Sardinia / Cagliari

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This morning (16.Jul.2009) HLX flight was made by "South of Sardinia / Gagliari" special livery D-AHFX. It has already departed to Hannover and will be back in the afternoon. Didn't get it in the morning and probably won't be going to the airport in the afternoon, either. Just caught this plane a couple of time and the first time the pics turned out nothing special. So, here a couple of shots of the second (and last) time I got this plane, back in March. In sunny days, late afternoon light at LPMA, is very nice for shooting... Landing on runway 05 Taking of from runway 05, over the columns

EdA's A310 at Madeira

Yesterday was the big miss of the month (and probably the year) for me. There was an A310 from Ejercito del Aire (Spanish Air Force) training some touch & Go's here at Madeira. It should be related with the visit of the Kings of Spain, in the end of the month. Maybe they'll be coming with that plane...anyway I won't be around then so even if they come in the A310 I'll miss it again.... Jorge Abreu managed to get it and has already a couple of pics online: http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=860347 and ilustrating the spotting report at our (Madeira Spotters) webpage, HERE .

Palma Inácio

Morreu ontem Palma Inácio, resistente anti-fascista, ficou conhecido por algumas das suas espectaculares acções contra o regime de Salazar. Entre os entusiastas da aviação, ficará sempre conhecido pelo desvio que fez do Constelation CS-TLF , em 10 de Novembro de 1961, no voo Casablanca-Lisboa. Após a largada de alguns panfletos sobre Lisboa, o destino seria Tânger... Detalhes acerca do período de voo deste desvio, conhecido como "Operação Vagô", poderão ser encontrados em dois excelentes livros, nas palavras do comandante desse voo, o Cmdt. José Marcelino. Um desses livros, considero ser uma obra de referência na aviação Portuguesa: Histórias com Asas (Memórias dos Pilotos da TAP dos tempos do Hélice) O outro é um livro biográfico acerca da vida do Cmdt. José Marcelino, igualmente um livro bastante interessante, acerca de um Comandante presente em tantos momentos importantes da nossa aviação: A Vida que Eu Quis - TAP264 Penso que o local onde mais facilmente estes livros p

Asas de Portugal - Reims 09

Um videozinho feito no interior de um dos Alpha Jet dos Asas de Portugal, aquando da recente deslocação ao festival em Reims: Copyright PoAF

New Photo of the Week - Aeronaval spotting

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This Weeks Photo is one of those you can't get acepted in any aviation photography site. Anyway, it's one of my favorites: TAP's just landed on runway 05 and it's vacating through taxiway "Bravo", while far away, Costa Serena cruise ship is passing by, after leaving Funchal. On that day, there were a few more nice catches but the only other aeronaval spotting photo I managed to took was this Condor take-off, right in front of Costa Serena...

Back to the Moon

Esta foi retirada do Público Online mas achei extremamente intressante: Vejam em: www.WeChooseTheMoon.org 40 anos da missão Apollo 11 Site permite seguir a viagem à Lua em tempo real 13.07.2009 - 13h00 PÚBLICO Na quinta-feira celebram-se os 40 anos da ida do Homem à Lua. O foguetão com os astronautas Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong e Ewin Aldrin (mais conhecido por Buzz Aldrin) partiu do Centro Espacial Kennedy, na Florida, EUA, a 16 de Julho de 1969. No próximo dia 20, o site WeChooseTheMoon.org vai recriar, em tempo real, a missão Apolo 11, que levou os americanos à Lua.O site inclui vários vídeos e fotografias e vai transmitir as gravações das comunicações dos astronautas. O foguetão com a equipa da Apollo 11 descolou da Florida, EUA, às 13h32 UTC (9h32 no horário local). A tripulação alunou no dia 20 de Julho, às 20h17 UTC. Desde o lançamento até à alunagem, a missão durou quase 103 horas – e é esse o tempo que um cibernauta terá de passar no site se quiser acompanhar toda a viagem

4 Years Ago

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Four years ago (Jul.11th.2005) I went to the airport and made some nice catches but I guess that, now, the most meaningful was this Excel , linning up for take-off on runway 05. It's now a little bit of history: Old colors, before the XL.Com times and before they shut and the extra luck of getting the beacon on, which gives extra color to the photo, taken on a grey day...

Leituras

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Há dias, enquanto fazia as compras no Hiper, não resisti a passar na secção de livraria, para dar uma vista de olhos a ver o que havia. Após uma vista de olhos rápida a um ou outro título, deparei-me com o "Munique", de George Jonas. Foi o livro que deu origem ao filme de Spielberg, acerca da operação israelita, que se seguiu após o conhecido ataque terrorista nos Jogos Olímpicos de Munique. Li algumas páginas e apesar de não o ter comprado, ficou-me registada como a mais provável próxima compra, no que toca a literatura. Confesso que foi uma temática que sempre me interessou. A curiosidade em relação à temática e às operações da Mossad em geral surgiram-me com as primeiras leituras acerca da operação de captura de Adolf Eichman e espevitadas nestes últimos tempos, pela leitura dos livros do Daniel Silva e do seu "herói", Gabriel Allon que, com o desconto devido ao facto de serem apenas romances, têm o mérito de serem escritos com bastante conhecimento de causa e um

World Press Photo 09 - Funchal

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Just a while ago RTP-M was transmiting a small news report about the World Press Photo 09 Exhibit at Funchal. Definitely an exhibit well worth visiting, for sure. Last year I didn't regret... It'll be at Funchal until July, 23rd. More info locations and dates: World Press Photo 09 info

Remembering Maersk Air

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Was just browsing some old pics, thinking that a lot has changed since I started registering my spotting into photography. Lots of Airlines with which I grew are now gone and or bought by others and all are definitly with diferent colors and liveries. This one got it all, several liveries and bought by another company and gone (and later the company that bought it was also gone...) I'm talking about Maersk Air. The photos I have from them are from the first year I started photographing planes as a hobby, back in 2004 (and one pic from 2005). It doesn't seem too long but, like I said....a lot has changed... Even if back then it didn't seem to be something to remember, now this old livery brings a lot of nostalgia and a retro feeling. They also had this "snow white" livery.... Another registration with the regular blue livery The next was the last livery used before beeing bought by Sterling. Back then I tought it was an amazing livery, far better and more modern lo

New Photo of the Week - One for the smaller birds

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This week's photo will be dedicated to smaller birds. No special reason at all, was just browsing my photos, searching for some interesting photo when I noticed this one: It's a pic I really enjoy, I like the framing and colors. I also find the livery (specialy the tail) of this little bird a very nice one! Besides this one, on that day, also got a couple more pics of 2 litle birds with some meaning: This shot of CS-AYY must be one of my best and favorite bizjets photos. And on that day, also got the gone CS-DIR on one of its flights... Regarding the airliners, there were a few nice catches on that day, but as this post is dedicated to small birds, I'll just share this one, of last week's Photo of the Week , still on the old colors...

3 a.m.

Well, this one's not about planes...it's just other stuff.... Just a couple of night's ago my wife woke me up at 3 a.m., completely pissed, as she couldn't sleep with the loud noise of music coming from somewhere... Indeed the music was at a volume quite loud...specially at that time of the night... Convinced that it was coming from the bar under my flat got up and went there. It usually closes around mid-night and it's a coffee kind of bar, not a night club bar...so loud noise at that time isn't usual but... When I got there...it was completely dark and in silence but, outside the music was even more noticeable...followed the sound and found that it was coming from the apartment in the same floor as mine but from the next block: the brits...(at least they seem to be brits...they've rented the flat not a while ago...) Well, went up again into my balcony, when I got there...a few wine bottles in their balcony and the guy with the head into her lap. I was sti

My favorite bizjet

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Last Wednesday (June, 30th) made a very quick stop behind the airport. The apron offered me a rare sight: There was 4 bizjets. The usual local CS-DPA, Netjet's CS-DRK, another bizjet that I didn't get close enough to identify (but it seemed to me like a Falcon, from Heliavia) and the best: A Cessna 750 Citation X!!! That's my favorite bizjet (of course, I'm talking about the beauty of its design). It's just beautifull!! With low light, didn't even bother to photograph the others but that one I had to... The only other time I managed to photograph a Citation X was on April, 20th 2008: Curiously they were both brazilian registrations... Still hoping to photograph one of these birds on landing/take-off, some day...

June, 29th afternoon traffic

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Last Monday (29th, June) was one of those great afternoons of spotting. In less than one hour and a half, there was some real nice traffic, great light and the least usual runway in use (23). It was one of those days I was really happy with the results and considered it a well worth trip to the airport. The pics could be probably better (they allways can) but still took some of the best pics I've taken lately (in my opinion, of course) Runway 23, in the afternoon provides the light from the right direction and some great backrgound in landings and take-offs. My daughter wasn't beeing very "cooperative" in the landings, so ended up staying in a place not so good, with a lot of photos out of focus or with light poles and other stuff in front of the planes... Anyway, for the take-offs I went to usual place, behind the airport, which provides some nice backgrounds in runway 23 take-offs. Couldn't manage any good pic of the landing of this Travel Service with Oman colo