Pilot's view AIR14

Everyone related to aviation in Europe knows by now that AIR14 at Payerne Switzerland was one of the greatest Airshows of the year but how about seeing it from a different perspective like a pilot's view of Swiss A330 or a Patrouille Suisse F-5.

Here is the video.

Safe Flight SCx AoA System

Safe Flight Instrument Corporation presented on Airventure Oshkosh 2014 their new Angle of Attack indicator, here is a video from AVWeb with a small presentation and practical demonstration of the product.

New Lightspeed PFX

New Noise Reduction systems from Lightspeed. Here's the PFX.

Innovations of the future available now!

Probably all pilots remember those futuristic helmets used in several movies like Star Wars Blue Thunder and others.

With the passing of the years we came to know that some of that technology was no longer science fiction, instead of that it was a well known and documented reality in the military with projects like the Apache helicopter and the Eurofighter. Helmets became part of the aircraft systems and an important tool for pilots to fly and control the aircraft weapon systems at the same time creating the new pattern of Look and Shoot.

Now a company called Aero Glass presented on this year edition of Airventure Oshkosh a Augmented-Reality Glasses a product that has so much of innovation in general aviation that realy seem to be from the future. Their first model was based on Google Glasses but the limitation of only one screen to one eye made Aero Glass change project to other model from Epson.

Here is a video with the explanation of the product from AVWeb.

747 the end of an era?

So it says an article of the Brazilian publication Aero Magazine. According to this news magazine the long range intercontinental routes for the Queen of the Skies might have it's days counted, specially in the Pacific that for now is the area of the world where the 747 flies more in log range and ultra long range connecting mainly the US to Singapore, Japan and several other countries in Asia.

According also with Aero Magazine Japan Airlines retired their 747 fleet in 2011 and All Nippon Airways retired their last 747-400SR used in shorter domestic routes with high PAX demand, on March this year.

Other airlines are referred for leaving the 747 operation such as Air New Zealand Cathay Pacific Philippine Airlines and more recent Delta Airways. The same article justify this strategy of airlines as they are now switching the four engine 747 for two engine aircraft with long range capabilities such as Airbus A330 for shorter ranges and the Boeing 777 for long range and ultra long range. Beside the loss of cargo and passenger capacity on each flight the return per PAX is higher due to the lack of two engines that witch require more fuel and more maintenance.

Some airlines like United Airlines claim that the 747-4 fleet will be replaced gradually with the entry of the new 747-8 more fuel efficient and wit bigger capacity.

For now there are 51 orders for the 747-8 intercontinental, the passenger version and 69 for the 747-8f the cargo version including a new order by Cargolux, first B747-8 operator that claims that there is no other plane with the same cargo capacity in the market.

Aero Magazine also says that specialists claim that the tendency for airlines will be to operated twin engine aircraft for economic reasons an issue that can compromise not only Boeing but also Airbus with it's A380.

Another Flying Day!

The early morning was somewhat sunny between some clouds and the TAF wasn't the best for a good flying day.

But after all the day wasn't so bad at all so I took the chance to spread the wings and go for a ride once more. This time we went from Cascais airfield, LPCS, to the north passing Ericeira, Santarém, Ponte de Sor the to the south passim Montemor o Novo, Alcácer do Sal, Santo André and return via shore line and VFR tunnels to Cascais.

70th. anniversary of Operation Market Garden

Yesterday was the 70th. Anniversary of the Operation Market Garden in WWII. This operation was the biggest para-drop in history and the objective was to regain control of the Netherlands.

The Douglas C-47 Sn: 43-15037 was among all the Dakotas involved in such huge effort to bring troops to fight against the Nazis. This very same aircraft is now passing through a restoration for static display with dual paint scheme. On one side the last paint scheme as it was when it stop flying in 1979 operated by the Portuguese Aviation Authority, at the time D.G.A.C. Direcção Geral de Aeronáutica Civil. On the other side and interior it represents the CS-TDE of the Portuguese Airline TAP and this particular registration was chosen because it was TDE that flew for the first time between Lisboa the capital of Portugal and Lourenço Marques, nowadays Maputo the capital of that Portuguese colony those days, now Mozambique.

250 and counting!

To a professional pilot 250 hours TT is a thing from the past and now the logbook is measured by the thousands. But remember that one day you were a humble low houred pilot trying to gain experience and try to keep that way, always learning. Safe flights!