Planes and stuff

Haven't been these days to the aiport and been missing some interesting traffic, like yesterday's 2 Sata's A310 in a row. Anyway, a good oportunity to remember a fantastic take-off I got from one of these birds last year (and also more than time for this Week's Photo....) And some more pics of that day, for CS-TKN... Taxiing on taxiway Alpha. Entering runway 05.... ...and like I said, fantastic and powerfull take off!

I know that Christmas day has already passed speeding heading next year but, better late than never... Hoppe you all had some great Christmas season and keep up with spirit for the New Year. or if you prefer something more classic...

These last days we've had some unsuall night-stoppers at Madeira, due to weather conditions not only in Madeira but also in the rest of Europe. Last Sunday, Primera had to divert to Porto Santo and then it came a few hours later to Madeira but, probably due to flight limits of the crew it stayed for the night, departing Monday morning. Monday, Luxair arrived about 3 hours later and stayed also for the night, departing this morning. Unfortunately didn't get any night shots of these birds so, decided to share a couple of very unusual night-stoppers... The first and only time we had a KC-10 around here and it ended up staying a few more days than expected due to a technical problem. The C-130 was one of the new J versions for the US Coast Guard. As far as I know it was also the first and only time we had these around here. We had the regs. 2005 and 2006 from USCG, scales related to the presence of a USCG ship that was in Funchal port. US military traffic is more the Laj

Christmas Week... A good pic for this week would be a spotting pic of Santa's sleigh... Unfortunatelly that's a registration I haven't caught yet.... So, meanwhile a little bit of the Christmas spirit on aviation.... You can see some more HERE This Year didn't notice many Christmas stickers or liveries...only one from Thomson but, as far as I know, hasn't come here...

Like I said, the day I took the panning pic had some interesting traffic. This Britannia already with Tui colors wasn't one of the most interesting although it had some diferent titles (Fritidsresor) and a funny little toon near the front door. Actually, back then, it was rather interesting as Britannia was changing its livery from the old dark blue stripes to the Tui Fly blue, which at the time was still interesting... The other point of interest here was the unusual spot that provided a photo not good for uploading to the usual plane pics sites but with a fantastic view of the lining up at runway 05...you better don't miss the turn... Anyway, some times you get some unwanteds in front of the plane, like this f#%k1ng light pole... ...but if you're really in the mood, you can allways get rid of it....LOL

A few days ago submited this shot to a friendly Airplane Photography contest that is beeing made at Aviação Portugal , a portuguese aviation forum. The theme was pannings and this is one of my best,  and even more of an already gone airline wearing some older colors. Anyway, noticed the rest of the traffic for that day and it was quite an interesting day, specially from this perspective, a few years after.... For the next posts I'll share some of the pics of that day. For now, the panning...

Well, looks like the weather yellow alert was proving right regarding the traffic at LPMA. The TP1609 just diverted to Porto Santo and it looks like the cargo plane is already there... On their way there's 3 Easyjet's and 1 TAP (besides all the other traffic after those)...lets see what will they do... Current METAR for LPMA: LPMA 151000Z 23016KT 5000 -SHRA BKN013 FEW018CB 19/17 Q1003 RERA RS23014G25KT 0523014G27KT

Just seen Top Gear's first episode from the 14th season. Fantastic, as allways! But...if they liked that road in Romania, then they should try the road between Serra d'Água / Paúl da Serra / Santa, here at Madeira... It would be rather interesting to see them around....lol And yes...the Aston Martin is also my fav....

Last week I saw at 9G's , a Military Aviation Forum that I belong some fantastic shots of the Apache, taken by a foreign member of the Forum. Remembered this photo I took at Paris Air Show 2005. It was the first and only time I saw and photographed one of these fantastic machines live. This shot is nowhere near the fantastic pics the other member took but anyway is definitely a memory worth sharing...

Já tinha dado a minha 50-500 como avariada e encostado a mesma, à espera de enviá-la para o Continente, para reparação. No entanto, ontem decidi experimentar algo que ainda não tinha feito: limpeza dos contactos com spray limpa-contactos (numa cotonete). Deixei a coisa a descansar durante a noite e hoje, apesar de não ter ido ao aeroporto, fiz montes de fotos durante o dia nas mais variadas distancias focais e com as mais variadas definições de abertura, velocidade, etc... Tem funcionado a 100%... Sinceramente, não acredito que o limpa-contactos tenha resolvido nada. Estou mais inclinado para que seja qualquer coisa interna que, com os balanços do transporte deixe de fazer o devido contacto ou qualquer coisa no género mas, até ver, vou manter a lente por cá e continuando a utilizá-la.... (espero que não volte dar chatice precisamente naquele avião..."o tal" que eu queria mesmo fotografar, seja ele qual for....)

Just a few moments ago, noticed the OO-TCJ was departing from LPMA and remembered that Thomas Cook usually puts some nice Christmas stickers on its planes during this season. Haven't really seen the plane today, so don't know if there is any sticker on this plane this year... Cheked the usual sites and didn't find any recent pics... Anyway, a good oportunity to remember the last 2 Thomas Cook planes that came to Madeira with the Christmas stickers.... One was the same OO-TCJ ... And the other, OO-TCI ...

Well, time for another Eyes on... This time the highlight will be of my own. Just put a slide show on the right for my photos at photobucket. You can see a full window presentation HERE It's the best way to have acess to all the pics I've published here with the tags and search option. Enjoy...

Last Saturday gave a ride to someone to the airport and decided that was going to wait for the Aigle Azur. When I got there, noticed that the afternoon Air Berlins (3) hadn't departed yet and the best was that 2 of them had new livery. Most of the times I see Air Berlins, they're "wearing" old (and ugly) colors... The other good news was that runway 23 was in use. It allways (almost always...) provide some great background for the afternoon take-offs. The reasons to choose this pic in particular for Photo of the Week? Well, first of all it's the last good pic I took with my Bigma....and looks like it will remain so for a while...I was having some ocasional problems with the lens but after this shot, looks like the only solution will be the repair shop...(... hope it is a solution and not a very expensive one...) Anyway looking at the bright side...it's the first time I got an Air Berlin with new livery from this position and caught the letering under t

Read today at Skyliner-aviation that the D-AHFX , with the very nice South Sardinia / Cagliari livery was ferried to receive the regular Tui painting. I know that these kind of liveries are flying comercials, paid for a contracted amount of time but, in this case, is a big loss in the world of aviation liveries specially considering that the regular Tui livery is quite bad... The new Yellow/red Tuifly liverie is rather "flashing" and it isn't that bad but the regular "boring blue" Tui livery is quite awfull... Anyway...good bye Cagliari...

Just got THIS photo rejected at Airliners... Looks like it's not good enough for them...well...too bad, I still think it's a very nice photo and one of my best. Probably not just looking at the quality but overall, it's definitely one of my best...

Yesterday (Dec.1st) was a National Holliday. It was Restoration Day, celebrating the day we kicked the spanishes out, after 60 years under their domain. You can read some more on that HERE Anyway, took the day to relax nearby my place going in the morning for some cofee and taking my daughter to play on a nearby park. After which, the day was so beautifull that we decided to go to the Lido area. Lido is a known beach/pool complex at Funchal, nearby my place with a garden/park area around. It's a nice place for a walk or just to be there sitting and relaxing and also a nice place for kids to play around. ...and definitely weather isn't the same of the days...pretty sure that going to the beach wasn't one of the things people used to do on a December holliday....