Mensagens

A mostrar mensagens de abril, 2010

Leituras...

Nunca mais tinha falado em leituras mas, embora o ritmo tenha abrandado em relação a outros tempos, ainda continua a dar-me imenso prazer, sentar-me calmamente (e silenciosamente, de preferência) a ler um bom livro. Decidi dar uma atençãozinha hoje ao tópico da literatura, devido ao facto de ter "esbarrado" ontem com o Blog " Aterrem em Portugal ", extensão cibernética de um livro muito bom que li há tempos, sobre a interessante temática da queda e aterragem em Portugal de aeronaves beligerantes, durante o período da II Guerra Mundial. (Ver AQUI info sobre o livro). Decididamente, recomendados...tanto o livro, como o Blog. Se repararem, coloquei ao lado (direito) um elemento sobre a minha leitura actual, com a capa e link para informações sobre o mesmo. (ideia tirada do blog do colega da Madeira Spotters, Outras Escritas ....outro blog interessante de seguir) Entretanto, em termos de leituras, desde que a última vez que por cá falei nisso, já li o " Fúri

The Nordic ones

Imagem
Still on the last April, 21st traffic (It was a very nice day, like I already said....) It's now time for a couple of Nordic ones and some really nice catches they were.... It was the first time I caught Viking Airlines with the colorfull tail ( Last time I caught this plane , it was still looking a litle bit "pale"....) Also, it was the first 700, I photographed from Primera...(from the side, it looks rather "short" )

PoAF Celebrations

Some more info added to the PoAF Celebrations: - Rotores de Portugal - Static display Check: Celebrations INFO

C-295 by the afternoon

Imagem
The day of the CS-TKN's premiere in new colors was definitely a very nice day of spotting, specially considering it was a Wednesday (usually a "dead day", regarding traffic). Jorge even commented it looked like a Monday (busiest day, at LPMA)... Anyway, another of the pearls of that day was the PoAF C-295 16702. It had been there in the morning (or lunch time...) but I hadn't caught it and was returning for a quick stop at Madeira, before proceding to the mainland. It was the first time I had the oportunity to shot it on the afternoon, with a better light... After some time with some people around, it taxied back to runway 05. Time to try to get everything we could get...moved to another location to shoot it entering the runway....... .....and then while it back-tracked the runway, run into the car and hurried to another location for the take-off...

CS-TKN New Livery

Imagem
Last Wednesday was the first time we had a Sata A310 with the new livery at Madeira ( CS-TKN ). Couldn't manage to get landing but heard it was a bold one...with tail wind, windshear and a very smoky breaking to avoid backtracking to exit "Charlie"........ It departed positioned so the ground rotation was very fast, before departing from runway 05. That livery looks really great on that plane. Noticed the Q200 on the back? I guess that these are the two Sata planes were this livery looks better. That day, we had at Madeira one plane of each fleet of Sata, in the new livery, plus the ATP (CS-TGL) that is still awaiting it's tail rudder... and we could almost get them all togheter in the apron....

New Photo of the Week - C-135FR - the Top of a Great Week

Imagem
Despite all the mess created by the vulcano ashes of the Icelandic vulcano (I could copy/paste the name of it but it's definitely unpronounceable...) this was a great week regarding air traffic at Madeira, with lots of interesting and diferent stuff. The Cherry on Top of the Cake was the French Stratotanker that visited us last Friday, staying on night-stop, specially for a military aviation fan like myself (although I'm definitely surrended to airliners...) But there was many other stuff, like Sata's A310 with the new livery (CS-TKN), that visited us twice, the PoAF C-295 and the C-130 which made quite a low pass to compliment the French that had just arrived, the hybrid XL/Miami Air, the Smartwings, the OE-LNP in Austrian livery, the HLX Haribo and many other more regular but still interesting traffic... Spend a lot of fuel this week on trips to the airport, on everyday of the every but it's defnitely Great to have this kind traffic. Anyway, now it's time to s

Merlin Evacua Tripulante do Navio Srtoombank

"Hoje, dia 24 de Abril, pelas 12H30, após um pedido de socorro, a Marinha solicitou à Força Aérea um meio de resgate vertical para evacuar do navio “STROOMBANK”, de bandeira holandesa, um tripulante que apresentava sintomas de ataque cardíaco. De imediato foi accionado um EH-101 MERLIN, da Esquadra 751, da Base Aérea Nº6 (BA6), no Montijo, que rumou ao Aeródromo de Trânsito Nº1 (AT1), em Figo Maduro, para receber uma equipa médica do INEM. O EH-101 descolou do AT1 pelas 13H30 em direcção à zona de operações, a 60 quilómetros a oeste de Viana do Castelo, e pelas 14H30 recuperou o tripulante, de nacionalidade indonésia, que recebeu a bordo os primeiros cuidados médicos. Dada a grave situação clínica rumaram até ao Aeroporto do Porto, em Pedras Rubras, onde já os aguardava uma ambulância com uma 2ª equipa médica para transportar o doente até ao hospital. Pelas 16h50, o EH-101 aterrou no AT1 para deixar a equipa médica que operou nesta evacuação, tendo finalizado a sua missão pe

XL Germany by Night

Imagem
Yesterday afternoon noticed at the Madeira Airports traffic page a flight that wasn't there earlier: a XL Germany flight. Was arriving in the night but, with a couple of diferent liveries, was well worth to keep an eye on the registration and it really payed: it was D-AXLI, the Miami Air / XL Hybrid! Don't know if it has been here before but I never had got it... After dinner, the trip to the airport was really worth it. The most usual spotters were around, so it was also very nice for some chat during the spotting. Love those polished metal parts... ...and the fuselage is shining and also quite reflective. Notice the all fuselage, since the tail reflected on the inside of the engine? Ready for push-back (Funny name for the plane)... This one is probably my favorite, with the lights, the guys moving around and the bright shinning reflections on the fuselage... I know that this last one has some rather strange colors on the TAP's tail (the pic's over-exposed..

Air Force Celebrations at Madeira

Imagem
This Year's Air Force Celebrations will be carried through in Madeira. Info isn't much yet, but finally looks like there's a general program. Further info will be posted here (can be accessed by clicking on the Program image, on the right) May.24th.2010 - Schedulle of events, with dates, locations and times - HERE (Including Rotores de Portugal Display at Madeira Airport and Air Show at Funchal Bay....)

New Photo of the Week - 1 Year of regular posting

Imagem
Like I said, on the last post, yesterday made one year that I started making regular posts in this blog. Lot's of Gb are stored, many of them I haven't even shared and definitely don't remember all of those but one of the interesting things I find in this hobby is exactly going through old files and find some hidden treasures, from time to time... This was made out of random pics, not really my favs or my best....just a small sample...enjoy...

1 Year!

Imagem
Today, António Luís, well known among the Portuguese Air Enthusiasts for its Military Aviation Blog, Pássaro de Ferro ,  is celebrating the first aniversary of its personal blog, Latitude 40 . Like I already said, congratulations on that mark and I hope you can share your thoughts for many more years... That fact made me go and look for how long I've been maintaining this blog and, curiously...it's also celebrating a Year, since I started posting on a regular basis. (The actual first post was just an experience post, made more than 3 years ago and then I let this asleep for about 2 years before the real startup...I guess it really doesn't count...) Anyway, you can find that first regular post HERE . Curiously (and unfortunatelly) one of the planes highlighted on that post has already gone (and one of its crew with it...)...that's aviation, like everything else in life... Aviation has had a primary highlight in this blog and will continue to be so, although I do

First Summer Travel Service

Imagem
Yesterday, while checking the Airport's page , noticed that a Travel Service was coming in the morning. There are a few planes on the service of Travel Service that are really worth the trip to the airport so, this morning had the usual early wake and right after went checking the registration... At first, when I discovered the registration, it didn't rang any bell...didn't know that registration, so went to search some pics and then I realised that the OK-TVC that used to bear the amazing O2 special livery had changed its reg. to HA-LKE.... I only had caught that plane once, in some night shots that can be seen HERE And now, besides the new registration, the plane was also bearing the usual Travel Service logos, over the special livery...Great!! Hurried to the airport and as I had very litle time to be at the airport, decided to go for the Terminal Balcony. Would allow me more shots and with more warraties of not screwing the pics... It landed in runway 23...

Domestic flights Premiere

Imagem
Last March, 28th Transavia France made its premiere on domestic flights to Madeira. It started the (Paris) Porto - Madeira - Porto (Paris) route. A local newspaper stated that the first flight would be received by the Fire Dept. water canons so I decided to go to the area behind the apron...there would be plenty of days to photograph regular landings but a water canon "bath" is allways something special.... I got late and when I arrived at the area behind the apron, noticed that there wasn't going on any kind of movements from the Fire Dept. and realised that there wasn't gona be any "bath"... Though of going for the landing but by then, the plane was already coming into final...no time for the landing...stayed there just for the record...planes slowly taxiing aren't really my favorites.... Landed on 23.... Lots of people on the balcony but at that time, TAP's A330 was preparing to depart to Caracas, which also brings a lot of people to the airpo

Taking the oportunity

Imagem
Some times, as a photographic spotter, I look at other photos that get famous and think that if were there I could also get that fabulous shot... ...but sometimes, I just look at some pics and think: "on the exact second!" Even if I would be there, most probably wouldn't get that shot...would just stare or would click a couple of seconds too late or some other reason... This pic is one of those that even if I were there, I probably wouldn't get.... http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6822572 (Copyright, as stated in the pic, Brenden ) Congratutalions for this shot...

Back in time...

Imagem
There are some planes that allways have been on a special place of my imagination since I can remember. Many of them I'm pretty sure I'll only see them in photographs or videos... But very recently I had the oportunity to be near some of those beauties...some (the protected ones) were looking great, some (the ones on the outside...) weren't looking that good but, it was still a great oportunity to finally be side by side and apreciate the details on those old birds.... I'll be sharing from time to time some pics. For today, the Catalina... Allways had an interest in hidros and the Catalina has a pretty amazing look, and some great stories, since the times of WWII....

Site da 201

Imagem
Deparei-me agora com o site da Esquadra 201... http://www.wix.com/esquadra201/site Esperemos que seja um projecto a continuar e desenvolver.... (Copyright Força Aérea Portuguesa)