Mensagens

A mostrar mensagens de fevereiro, 2010

Smartlynx....

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Just a few hours before the sky falling over Madeira, around mid-night the night was very nice, a little bit cold but nice, just perfect for getting the Smarlynx with full livery....or so we thought... Despite last pics of this plane beeing with full Smartlynx livery, after arrival we saw that after all, the livery was already gone....it was now another flying fridge...who would have guessed they had changed after last pics.... Fortunatelly the parking changed to a more photogenic place.... (Thanks Alex!) Arriving... TAP's CS-TTS was also preparing to push-back.... Had my wife and daughter in the car, which was parked in a unload/load area of the departures, so hurried out of there after and didn't even noticed the ATP from Sata without the rudder.... From that night, you can check the other guys photos: Alex Maio, (soon) Jorge Abreu, HERE Paulo Olim, HERE

New Photo of the Week - Madeira....

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For the first time, the Photo of the Week is not aircraft related... I guess no explanations needed.... Just a word of friendship and support for all that lost their related or belongings in this fatidical weekend.... Donations for the victims can be made to the BANIF account: International Transfers through IBAN: PT50.0038.0040.50070070771.11 (code Swift BNIFPTPL ) You can check the Banks page on this HERE ---------- //---------- Após a tragédia que se abateu sobre a Madeira, o Banif disponibilizou uma conta de solidariedade para com as vítimas do temporal da Madeira. Assim, pode realizar a sua contribuição para a " Conta Solidariedade para com as vítimas da Madeira " através de: Depósito na conta nº 00 / 50070070 Transferência Bancária utilizando o NIB: 0038.0040.50070070771.11 Transferências Internacionais através do IBAN: PT50.0038.0040.50070070771.11 (código Swift BNIFPTPL ) Ver página do Banco AQUI

Still the Weather

What started for me as a morning with a slight anoyement due to rain and wind is now a true nightmare... Fortunatelly I have no problem at all at my flat, although living in Funchal, one of the areas most hit by the storm.... But the images and the news I've been seeing on RTP-Madeira are simply unbelieveble....it's a nightmare. 30 People are already confirmed dead and some more missing. Just seen some images of my work place area and it's amazing the destruction and damage of the area.... Don't really know how I'll be able to get work at 8am next monday, with all that destruction of roads and everything else.... Anyway, for now the worse is for all that lost its cars and houses and even those that lost their family....

Weather....

Just yesterday, A.Luís commented on my snow post how the weather at Madeira is quite a box of surprises... You couldn't be more right. After a real summer day, yesterday...this night started raining and bad weather. The island in now on Red Alert, with airports closed, no sea connections and lots of floods, cars taken away by the water, bridges collapsed, rocks falling and lots of mud everywhere with many landslides... On my side, a perfectly good day to stay at home (which is the recommendation of authorities). We still have internet and phones but the cell phone network is dead for now... Haven't really felt any really bad effects of it but looks like the area of my brothers houses is getting it real bad.... Let's hope everythings works out fine....

Snow up high

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This morning, at the door of my daughter's kindergarden noticed that the remains of yesterday's snow were still visible up high in the mountains.... Not an usual view at all....

New Photo of the Week - Back to Tallinn

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Last Friday night Smartlynx made the first flight of its operation from Tallinn. Arrived after mid-night around half an hour late (which isn't that bad...) Anyway, was expecting it would be parked in front of the terminal balcony....well, it didn't.... They parked it on A09, behind a "bunch" of TAP's and ladders and other stuff from Ground Force... Also...it's strange but many airlines still don't get the importance of spotting and spotters to free marketing... With so many liveries and a new livery widelly announced on its website, was expecting some interesting livery....well...it wasn't... It was a white "fridge" with a blue tail....nice... :( Anyway took the time for some TAP night shots, together with Paulo Olim, from Asas Madeira Blog.... Will share them later, on another post. For now, the Smartlynx shots.... For the Photo of the Week, a diferent shot, with an overview of the ramp while Smartlynx takes off, from runway 23,

Flying over Porto Santo

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These were on the "bucket" since last November.... They were taken on the day of the activation of AM3 during a couple of passes over Porto Santo, for some aerial shots of military LPPS (AM3) and...of course, the rest of the island. Indeed a fantastic oportunity given by the Air Force to be present at such an event and my baptism on the new C-295, after beeing already "baptized" on the C-130 and the C-212 (next stop...the EH-101..LOL) The island is rather small and this is pretty much everything in one shot.... Approaching the beach (with around 9Km of fantastic golden sand...) The bubbled window provided some great views and quite a diferent framing...looks like you're outside the plane... Vila Baleira Hotel and Aparthotel Luamar... Overview of the Colombo's Resort and Pestana Hotel, backed by Ana Ferreira's Peak. On top right, the Golf. Pestana Hotel.... Overflying LPPS at mid-altitude, approaching AM3 The AM3, with a the Alert Merlins and anoth

CS-TKO first night shots...

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Last Saturday went to Santa Cruz. The Sata's newest A320 was in night-stop. An event quite rare, here at Madeira (although this week happened a few times). So, before leaving to Funchal headed to the terminal's balcony for a few night shots.... The wind was blowing quite hard but got a couple of records for the colection... Don't know if it's the painting but the nose seems diferent...longer...not an A320 nose...(just my impression, of course...)

New Photo of the Week - By the bridge

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These last days got a few traffic (still unpublished) that got me thinking about the choice of this week's photo... The nominees are: Icejet's Do.328, the first night shots (taken by me) of Sata's newest A320 and TAP's A330 from runway's 23 treshold bridge (a place I rarely go)... and the Winner is: Avatar!....ooops...yes...right, was talking about planes... Anyway, decided on the A330 shots for one reason: After talking with A.L. for quite a long time about making some spotting together, yesterday was the day. We practically spotted just the A330 and not much more but, it's a start... Weather at Funchal and the Expressway was awfull, with lots of fog (it was fog even at my place....which is very, very rare as it is not much higher than sea level.) Curiously, at the airport, the weather was rather nice, with good visibility and no rain. As we missed the landing, decided to go to the place where we could be the nearest to the plane without being on the

Merlin for Lunch

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Yesterday morning went to the airport for some shots of Icejet's very nice Do.328. Not long after arriving, Jorge called my attention for the incoming Merlin on final to runway 23! WOW!! It's been quite a while since I last caught a Merlin... Jorge lended me its 50-500 as I was with a 18-200 and they weren't making photos easy... I was on the terminal balcony and they landed quite far away on runway 23, before taxiway Bravo and then taxied into a parking also far from the balcony... I already missed shooting with a sharp great lens like the 50-500...but must admit that, at first, when I started shooting, everytime I pressed the shutter, expected the lens go black....(the problem that mine had) and took a few shots to loose that impression. Anyway, a great bonus! (It got parked at least after lunch....don't know when it left)

Down to 05

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Today had planned on going for the lunch traffic....a few Air Berlins, Primera and Eurocypria and with luck, the Easyjets take-offs... Wake up with a really nasty weather, raining a lot and very very dark and cloudy....definitely not a good day for photo spotting....stayed at home...traffic wasn't landing at LPMA, anyway...(due to visibility). During the morning got an email from Jetphotos . One of my recently uploaded photos was on Top4 of last 24Hours. It's allways nice when your photo gets that much visibility... This one was taken about a year ago, after another pic from Rui Freitas , that showed a diferent angle. Tryed some places and really enjoyed the result of this one. The feeling I have, looking at it, is of a dive into runway 05. (actually it's pretty much a regular approach with some optical ilusions of size and height. The runway looks even smaller and the plane even higher.

New Photo of the Week - 2 Years....

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Last Sunday, we had a Madeira Spotters (and air enthusiasts) dinner. The guys remembered something that I had forgotten completly...(time really goes fast): Yesterday was the second aniversary of Tony Silva's death ... He was one of Madeira Spotters founders, that passed away too soon and definitely one of those persons that were missed around as the great guy he was. So, this week's photo is dedicated to him as the B732 was one of its favorite planes...