Merry Christmas to all.

And don't forget that a good chart reading and analysis is half approach done. ;)

Not all Christmas end well.

Dakota Talks session 2

Next Saturday at the Portuguese Museu do Ar in Sintra will take place the second session of the Dakota Talks.

Just to remind the Dakota Talks are meetings alongside the Douglas DC-3 Dakota exposed in the museum on witch the most varied guests talk about the theme proposed and not forgetting the main theme that is the Dakota itself. Last session the theme was the introduction of the restoration of the exposed aircraft taking place by a group of volunteers with the technical support of the Portuguese Airline TAP and the Portuguese Air Force. In this session we invited a group of people that in common have the fact of having worked with this precise aircraft when it was property of the Portuguese Aviation Authorities as a runway and radio aids calibrator. Surely many stories will be relived and I bet there will be some funny ones.

If you have the opportunity don't forget to make us a visit and enjoy this precious moments of pure aviation history.

Tail strike and Go Around Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-900

LAM flight TM-470 Disappeared during flight now found in Namibian National Park

Last Friday an Embraer 190 from the Mozambique National Airline, LAM performing the flight TM-470 from Maputo to Luanda, Angola failed to land at the predicted time and its location was unknown. Authorities from Mozambique, Angola, Botswana and Namibia went on a journey to search the lost aircraft following the predicted route. Unfortunately the worst thoughts were confirmed and flight 470 was found crashed and burned in the Namibian National Park of Bwabwata east of Rundu yesterday morning.

The Embraer was a new aircraft in LAM's fleet with about a year and 2900 flight hours and it is part of a strategy of the airline to get modernized and improve procedures and practices to become a recognized safe airline to travel. LAM is registered in the Black list of the EU of airlines that cannot fly into the European airspace but recently it reached an agreement with the Portuguese TAP to carry TAP passengers from Maputo to Johannesburg and TAP instead of flying directly to the South African city started to fly to the Mozambican capital city.

From this accident no survivors were found and the authorities stated that the passengers were 10 citizens of Mozambique, 5 Portuguese, 1 French, Chinese, 1 Brazilian, and a passenger not listed yet and the crew. The Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Portas confirmed that the Brazilian citizen had dual citizenship of Brasil and Portugal.

My sincere condolences to the families of all the passengers and crew.

Mid Air Repair, Gladys Ingles

Airbus A400M demo during Dubai Airshow

Dreamlifter lands on wrong airport

What if you see a huge Boeing 747 Dreamlifter approaching your local airfield? That's right yesterday a few people around Col. James Jabara Airport saw a 747 landing on their runway. Apparently the aircraft was heading to the McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita next to a company that makes large sections of the 787 model for Boeing Company.

Wichita Eagle, Jaime Green

How big was the error?

Although the plane belongs to Boeing Company it is operated by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and the company refused to give answers about the subject and referred inquires to Boeing that said: "We are working with Atlas Air to determine the circumstances".

Wichita Eagle, Jaime Green

After a closer inspection to the aircraft and runway Boeing engineers along with a new crew calculated that the required runway length was assured and a take off was possible. After that the aircraft departed from Col. Jabara Airport to its final destination.

Introduction - Landing

This post it's just an introduction for the next one and a good thing always to remember that "Landings are Mandatory!"

Flying Rule No. 4

Passenger falls out of airplane at 2,000 feet into the ocean

Two days ago this was noticed by the Independent journal. An US Pilot said that a passenger supposedly fell of an airplane while flying at 2,000 feet above the ocean near Miami. A LIVEATC recording registered an unknown pilot saying "mayday, mayday, mayday. I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I'm six miles from Tamiami."

The pilot was questioned by the controller to confirm the loss of one passenger and the pilot confirmed saying: "That's correct sir. He opened the back door and he just fell out of the plane."

US Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue have been searching the area with no results to confirm that the pilot's call was legitimate. The number of passengers on board and the departing airfield were not yet confirmed at the time of the broadcast of the Independent and the veracity of the story is yet to be confirmed.

independent.co.uk

Still the Dubai Airshow

As I have mentioned earlier on this Blog Dubai Airshow is known for some record breaking sales and this year's edition is no different from others.

For a start this was the first day and the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad announced a deal for 56 new Boeing 777s equipped with new generation GE engines with a value up to US$25.2 billion and the agreement to become the launch costumer for the 777-8X program expected to enter in service at the end of this decade. Adding to this considerable order Etihad also ordered 30 Boeing 7878-10 Dreamliners.

Photo: Boeing Company

On the other side the local-based Airline Emirates broke the order value record by placing orders in a total of US$99 billion between Airbus and Boeing orders of new aircraft for its fleet. The major deal was with Boeing and a deal for 150 Boeing 777X- also purchase rights for 50 other units. Emirates also made a deal with Airbus for 50 A380 maintaining the title of largest Airbus A380 operator in the world.

Photo: Devesh Agarwal

FlyDubai the local low-cost airline also placed some orders for 111 Boeing 737s and 738s in a total value of US$11.4 billion and Qatar Airways was other major buyer during this first day of Airshow with a letter of intention of US$19 billion for 54 Boeing 777s

FlyDubai

Bangaloreaviation.com

This first day was record breaking day mostly because of the middle east carriers let's wait for the next days and see what happens.

Dubai Airshow 2013

And its on going the 2013 edition of the Dubai International Airshow from today until November the 21st. Dubai Airshow is always a most waited Airshow for aviation industry as it is one of the largest and amazing airshow there is. Normally the largest amount of sale contracts are held in Dubai during the event and no I am not talking about an order of two or ten aircraft, I'm talking of hundreds of aircrat in a single order and this year will be no exception.

You can follow all the event in http://www.dubaiairshow.aero/

The new Boeing 737 MAX

Boeing is presenting throughout the world the new Boeing 737 MAX a new version of the top sales commercial airplane and claim 14% less fuel consumption and 8% lower operating costs. Let's wait and see this upgrades up in the sky.

Introducing the New Boeing 777X

On a day full of aviation business news maters to present the new Boeing 777X as it is now playing a major role on Boeing's strategy to beat the new Airbus A350.

Pertnear Airstrip

The Dakota Talks

Last Saturday a new aviation event took place in the Portuguese Air Force Museum the "Museu do Ar" situated in the Portuguese Air Force Base No.1 located in Sintra. The event called "Dakota Talks" was advertised here on this Blog in a previous post was promoted by TAP Portugal airline along with the Portuguese Air Force and the Vintage Aero Club. Both TAP and the PoAF are well known to all of you and the Vintage Aero Club is an organization created recently with the purpose of organizing volunteers to work in the preservation of aeronautics historical items such as aircraft for museum preservation.

The first project of this group is the restore of a Douglas Dc-3, C-47 in this case now with the registration CS-TDA and this is not a real registration, the last active registration of this aircraft was in fact CS-DGA and was registered for the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority as a transporter and radio aids and runway calibration aircraft.

The now called CS-TDA prior to the beginning of the restoration process Photo credits: Filipe Cardoso

The CS-TDA came years later after the aircraft had been bought by TAP and painted with a "vintage" paint recreating the first Dc-3 in service with TAP. More recent news are that this aircraft will be restored as TAP's Dc-3 CS-TDE. Why CS-TDE instead of the TDA? The TDE wasn't the first Dc-3 operated by TAP but was the first to fly the called Imperial Route connecting Lisboa to Lourenço Marques, actual Maputo in Mozambique at that time a Portuguese colony.

 The real CS-TDA - unknown author

 The CS-DGA exposed and painted as CS-TDA and being restored to become CS-TDE: Photo credits - Don Gilham

 The front section of CS-DGA exposed and painted as CS-TDA and being restored to become CS-TDE: Photo credits - Luis Tavares

The Vintage Aero Club with the background and essential support of TAP Maintenance and Engineering and the Portuguese Air Force is working to assure a perfect restoration to recreate the TDE of the maiden flight of the Imperial Route in 1946.

Passengers embarking on CS-TDE, unknown author

What are the Dakota Talks? The Talks project is a form of the VA Club present the updates of the restoration to those interested in following the group's work and most of all a space of conversation and sharing of stories all related with the Dc-3. The first session was subordinated to the theme of the restoration of the present CS-TDA and presentation of the project. A board of speakers was invited to the event as TAP CEO Dr Fernando Pinto and from the Portuguese Air Force the Lieutenant General Mimoso de Carvalho and Colonel Coutinho Bernardo director of the Museum. The board was completed with Mário Rodrigues head of the Interiors and Composites workshop of TAP M&E and José Lacerda head of Painting workshop of TAP M&E. TAP CEO Fernando Pinto marked this restoration as the beginning of a partnership between TAP and the Portuguese Air Force in the responsibility in preserving the Aviation History so that with the memories of yesterday we can live the future. TAP CEO also remembered the importance of the Douglas Dc-3 in aviation and the innovations applied  in this model that came to be as standards to aviation until today something comparable now to the actual days of commercial aviation with the application of composite materials in a large scale. Lieutenant General Mimoso de Carvalho thanked for the event that brought and pretends to bring more and more visitors to the museum and also thanked the volunteers for their work in preserving such a distinctive aircraft to a condition that will be possible not just to admire its smooth exterior lines but also its interiors as they where in 1946. General Mimoso de Carvalho remarked the positives of the partnership between the two entities and stated that it is a must to the Museum to have a hangar dedicated to the Portuguese Airline. Plans for the expansion of the Museum are in the General's mind and in the pretensions of the PoAF but the budget restrictions create the need of a more careful planning and management of the financial resources. The PoAF has many aircraft that are stored waiting for restoration a space at the museum but since its transfer to Sintra, a much bigger space than the old installations in Alverca, the museum haven't stop growing and growing and now space or the lack of it is a limitation again. An example of this is the C-54, a military version of the Douglas Dc-4 that is stored in Alverca exposed to the elements. This aircraft is of major interest for both PoAF and TAP as it flew under both brands. Its restoration is urgent but first a covered space is needed to keep it and restore it. Mário Rodrigues and José Lacerda from TAP M&E were invited to talk more about their participation in this project and all the work done by their workshops for the support of the volunteers work. As a book was passing through the assistance Mário Rodrigues talked about the restoration of the seats and the transformation of a configuration of 2 seats on each side to TAP's configuration of 1 seat in one side and 2 in the other. Mário also explained the work done to the manufacture of totally new floor panels for the rear of the aircraft as the old ones were in a very poor condition to accept visitors inside in safety. Mário at first said that the restoration was a mad idea but now even he is a strong supporter and an enthusiast of the project. José Lacerda presented all volunteers with a nice surprise that was one of the Emergency Exit windows almost fully restored and in mint condition. Nice one José! He is being constantly challenged by Carlos Tomaz to bring the exterior the real 1946 paint that was... No paint at all apart from one blue stripe on each side of the fuselage with TAP brand under cockpit windows and the Portuguese Flag covering the entire rudder. José suggested the paint and polish of the aircraft with a paint recreating that metallic effect instead of leaving the aircraft in bare metal because of aging that probably would have left its marks. Fact is that José left that Emergency Exit window in bare metal on the outside and the results are as good as new leaving all presents surrendered to that shiny effect wondering how would it be if it was all in that condition.

From left to right: Carlos Tomaz TAP A320 Captain and Vintage Aero CLub, Mário Rodrigues TAP M&E Interiors and Composites, Dr. Fernando Pinto TAP CEO, Lt. General Mimoso de Carvalho PoAF, Col. Coutinho Bernardo PoAF Museum Director and José Lacerda Painting workshop TAP M&E Photo: Celia M. Rocha

Carlos Tomaz an A320 Captain for TAP is the responsible for the creation of the Vintage Aero Club and he is the one acts as a connection between all entities also was the presenter of the first Dakota Talks. Carlos started this first session presenting the guests and explaining a bit more about the Talks.

Carlos Tomaz presenting the Dakota and explaining some issues regarding the rear part of the aircraft as the baggage compartment and the completely new toilet built from a closet. Photo: Celia M. Rocha

This was the first of the Dakota Talks and second edition is already under preparation ad planned to take place in the 7th. December.

A small glimpse of some of the work done during the restoration process so far: Photo Celia M. Rocha

Questions from the audience: Photo Celia M. Rocha

More questions from the audience: Photo Celia M. Rocha

The volunteers of the Vintage Aero Club present at the event.

Have plans for next Saturday? No? So if you live near please stop by at Museu do Ar in Sintra at 3 PM for the first session of the Dakota Talks, an interesting meeting where the Vintage Aeroclub will bring to all the presents a glimpse of its work and the history of the Douglas Dc-3 in Portugal and TAP will be relived so those magnificent memories of those golden days of aviation won't be forgotten.

For the first Talk the Vintage Aeroclub invited TAP CEO Dr. Fernando Pinto and Mário Rodrigues and also José Lacerda both from TAP Maintenance and Engineering a company who has been a well good support to the volunteers of the restoration as for the technical support to some parts of the restoration.

If you like to know more about Vintage Aeroclub and our volunteer job on the Dc-3 please read our blog here.

Red Bull's Air Race 2014 season practice

Things are getting warm for the new season of Red Bull Air Race, here is a training flight of Peter Besenyei

Happy Halloween!

R.I.P. Glen Dell

It's a very sad moment in aerobatic aviation the South African pilot Glen Dell died today of burns sustained after the crash of his aircraft.

Red Bull Air Race Glen Dell Official Photograph

Dell was an experienced pilot and with a very large career in aviation from flying helicopters in the South African Air Force passing through aerobatic aircraft and as a Senior Captain in South African Airways.

Mário Pereira photo

I had the opportunity to be with Dell here in Portugal during Porto's Red Bull Air Race in 2008 and to me the memories of that time was the simplicity and the sympathy of Mister Dell. Surely the skies are poorer but persons like Glen Dell are those who make us all dream and believe in aviation. 

Is this the fate of aviation industry?

Sometimes I think that some posts of this blog can one day turn against Me because of what I write, but there are certain things that cannot pass for Me without being marked and posted here, that's the main purpose of this Blog.

Today in a Facebook Group of Portuguese pilots a friend posted and advert for an airline flying in Indonesia and quoted that the advert was only for those with their pockets full of cash. Read the following part of the advert and understand why is that.

No flight time requirements No minimum age requirements Price and Payment Plan: Assessment: to be issued shortly and to be paid to the TRTO directly B767 Jet Orientation Course, American FAA B767 Type Rating Course and B767 additional training to proficiency: $20,000 to $25,000 USD depending on pilot's proficiency to be paid to the TRTO directly. Airline Conversion Course and one thousand two hundred fifty (1250) hours as a Boeing 767 First Officer: €44,500 EUR. €5,000 EUR is due after program acceptance and once program agreement has been signed and €39,500 EUR is due upon completion of the B767 training to proficiency course. No salary while attending the program. No VAT / taxes are to be added to the above costs. Pilots are responsible for their living expenses at their home base but receive assistance from the airline to locate housing. During overnights while on duty, airline covers hotel expenses, meals and transportation. Basically you pay to fly! Great huh?

Airbus widebody family flight with the A350 XWB, A380 and A330

Happy Birthday TAP Portugal

Sixty seven years ago the first flight of TAP departed from Lisbon Airport heading for Madrid, the aircraft a Douglas Dc-3 with the registration CS-TDF.

Happy Birthday TAP for 67 years of high standards in safety and a remarkable service.

From: forum.voaportugal.org

Boeing 787-9 First Flight Live!

http://www.newairplane.com/787/787-9/

Ryanair Starts operation from Lisbon

It is true the last major Airport in Portugal mainland will receive Ryanair on next November. For now the low cost airline will operate four routes from Lisbon, connecting the Portuguese capital to London, Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels.

Apart of all the problems involving this low cost carrier it is known that there is a great probability if not 100% sure that there will be an increase of passengers to Lisbon and hopefully representing an increase in tourism. However the new route operated by the budget carrier will affect directly the Portuguese Flagship Airline TAP that will now have a strong competition in four of its most profitable routes in Europe. The Portuguese airline is now undergoing a possible privatization process as the last one was canceled after the only interested failed to fulfill all the requirements, and now this new "boy in town" can represent a set back when negotiating  TAP's value.

Bombardier CS100 first flight

Today the new CS100 from Bombardier made its first flight and Bombardier company already remarked the low noise emission of the aircraft during take off and landing proving to be a well built product and looking into the future of aeronautics.

The CS100 sets in the 100 to 149 seat capacity range and will compete directly with Embraer E-Jet models and others.

This first flight was also the first flight of the new Engines by Pratt & Whitney, the Geared Turbofan Pure Power engine is also part of the aircraft certification program.

The maiden flight departed from Montreal-Mirabel International Airport at 09:55 AM Local Time and landed in the same airport at 12:25 AM after a series of tests during flight reaching a maximum altitude of 12500 feet and 230 knots during this first flight.

Expedition E350 - Stalls, Spins & Slow Speed Stability

Here is a video promotional of the Expedition E350 where you can see some stalls and spins with respective recoveries all the wing has markers for you to follow the turbulent air building and the response to the controls. Enjoy!

Pic Of The Day!

Landing - Ukrainian Style

Emirates Executive | A319 Luxury Private Jet | Emirates

Emirates unveiled its Airbus A319 Luxury Private Jet for their new product to the luxury market that prefer the comfort of a business jet instead of a already luxurious First Class. Here is a quick tour.

Peter Chandler visits the A350 XWB cockpit

Amazing Aircraft video

Wolfe Air Reel from 3DF on Vimeo.

Is there a seat for Me?

According to Aviationnews.eu Boeing is predicting a pilot shortage all around the world for the upcoming years.  Since last year that the so called recovery of the commercial aviation is news all around the world but this growth seems to be slow.

According to Boeing the market will require:

498,000 new commercial airline pilots

556,000 new commercial airline maintenance technicians

Distributed as follows:

Asia Pacific – 192,300 pilots and 215,300 technicians

Europe – 99,700 pilots and 108,200 technicians

North America – 85,700 pilots and 97,900 technicians

Latin America – 48,600 pilots and 47,600 technicians

Middle East – 40,000 pilots and 53,100 technicians

Africa – 16,500 pilots and 15,900 technicians

Russia and CIS – 15,200 pilots and 18,000 technicians

In fact here in Portugal with the end of the regional flights to Bragança, Aerovip is struggling with two Dornier DO228 and a Shorts 360 that pass more time on its hangars than flying and generating income. The flight school of the same business group, Leávia reduced the number of flight instructors as it doesn't has enough students to keep up. The only good news around here is that TAP Portugal, Portuguese flag carrier is expecting at least two new Airbus A330 to increase its capacity for long haul routes and there are rumors that the expansion of the fleet wont end with this two new aircraft. A good thing as the new aircraft will need new pilots and the company already is operating at its personnel limits. Wait and see.

Pic Of The Day!

A very good aviation picture but a very sad moment. Óscar Rodrigues a Portuguese Spotter recorded this moment of three Canadair firefighting aircraft were refilling their tanks for another go at Serra do Caramulo fire here in Portugal. The aircraft belong to the French "Securité Civile" and came for a help to this year's fire season as for all the rented airplanes and helicopters weren't enough to face all the fires. Only this summer the forest fires already took the lives of 5 firefighters and several houses burned to ashes.

Photo: Óscar Rodrigues

Lighter Aircrafts thanks to new baggage containers

Air France has completed the renewal of its 3,650 long-haul baggage containers. The new units are now built of composite fiber materials and claim to be 11 kilograms lighter than the previous ones bringing with this decrease in weight a better performance to the airplanes and less CO2 emissions with the same cargo. Being lighter these containers are easier to move providing a gain in time in operation.

Air France claims to have saves about 8,000 tons of CO2 that result in a 2,500 tons of fuel saving. Impressive.

The new containers are fitted for the Air France long-haul fleet composed by Airbus A380, A340, A330 and Boeing 777 and 747.

B17 BATTLE DAMAGE THIS PLANE FLEW HOME IN THIS CONDITION TO THE 92ND BOM...

Since my early days that one of my favorite aircraft is Boeing B-17 most because of its smooth lines radial engines and an incredible toughness.
This video is about toughness of the Flying Fortress the Snake Hips returned in such a bad condition due to flak that it is amazing that it sill returned to home base.

Meanwhile in Brasil...

Today is almost a record day, a sad record I should say.
A Helicopter crash landed in front of Marginal Tiete, São Paulo, Brasil but once more with no fatalities to report.

EAA founder Paul Poberezny passed away.

A sad news for EAA community and aviation in a whole. Paul Poberezny EAA founder passed away this morning  at the age of 91 and after a long battle with cancer.

My sincere condolences to the family.

Another Cessna crash landed this morning in the US

This time was in Manassas, VA a Cessna 172 capsized when trying to land and came to a stop on the grass next to the runway. luckily no one was injured.

Cessna Crash landed at Boise Idaho

Today a Cessna crash landed at Boise Airport, Idaho, US. The front gear of the aircraft collapsed after landing causing the runway to be shut down until the Cessna was removed and the runway cleaned. One airplane had to divert and a few others had to circle to wait for their turn to land after the removal of the aircraft. Authorities state that the other runway was inactive as it was being painted new markings on it. Five people were on board but none were injured. Source: KTVB.com

Credtis: Troy Colson KTVB.com

Red Bird's Cessna 172 Diesel

In a time where economy of flight is so much in vogue simulator technicians from Red Bird have prepared a new idea by converting a 2002 Cessna 172 to a Continental Diesel Engine. According to EAA's President who by fact worked in Cessna in the past the savings are about 15% of fuel consumption and Diesel is getting an interesting alternative to 100 Low Led AvGas.

MEP IR ratings revalidation

As I mentioned earlier last week I had my MEP and IR renewal flight as my ratings expired so I had to perform flight with an instructor to asset my proficiency in these two ratings.

My choice was to fly in Leávia flight school now with a new look and more integrated under the 7 Air brand. The airplane was their Tecnam P2006T a quite small light twin with two GA certified Rotax 912s Engines that together come to a consume of fuel that shames even an old Cessna 172, so the flight hour price is very economic nad with a MTOW of 1180kg it is less expensive in landing rates also. Sure is a better choice than the School's old Piper PA23-250 Aztec but not the same thing. I just loved the Piper.

The flight was made in the ESP VOR area training several procedures as procedure turns holdings and DME arcs after that we proceeded again to Cascais, LPCS for instrument approaches a series of touch and go maneuvers with both engines and single engine.

The flight went really well and was very compensating to see the preparation stood out and made the flight easier. The Tecnam is a very capable aircraft for this mission and very easy to fly along with the Garmin 950 it is fantastic but... I still miss that amazing engine noise and "fight" with the Piper.

The CS-TDA former CS-DGA Dakota

Filipe Cardoso

What is this picture doing here at this time? You might remember that the picture is from the reopening of the Air Force Museum last year. Well for now I can not enter in more precise details but lets just say that a project of aviation enthusiasts is now giving it first steps. More at vintageaeroclub.org

Portuguese frigate Álvares Cabral returns from the Indian Ocean after 5 month mission.

The Portuguese frigate Álvares Cabral has returned today after a 5 month deployment in the Indian Ocean and the Áden Gulf commanding the European Union mission Atalanta to protect navigation in the area against piracy and protect World Food Program humanitarian convoys with food and medical aid to Somalia.

EMGFA.pt

The Portuguese had been at sea with around 200 people on board including the Helicopter Detachment "Playboy" on witch the Portuguese Navy Lynx tail number 19205 reached 4000 flight hours. To the "Playboy" My special "Welcome Home Boys!"