Airbus delivers 7000th unit!

This is something that doesn't happen everyday Airbus delivered past December an A321 to US Airways but not just an ordinary A321. This was the 7000th aircraft from the manufacturer and in less than two years Airbus delivered to it's clients more than 1000 airplanes.

Well done Airbus!

photos: Flightstory.net

EverJets is cleared for take off

EverJets is the name of the newest business jets company in Portugal. The company is part of the Ricon Group and has a fleet of two Embraer Phenom 300.

The company is based at Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport at Porto and hopes to bring a new dynamic to aviation in Portugal.

May the Sky be Your Home and wish you the best landings.

photo: Lapa Gonçalves - Fórum Aviação Portugal

Up to the sky!

At the end of last yerar finally I arranged a flight to regain proficiency after a few months without flying. Flight plan filed aircraft filled up and inspected and there I was lined up again on runway 35 of Cascais Airfield, LPCS. Seconds later I was in the air again, what a feeling and how I missed all this. Leveled at 1000 ft and headed to Cabo da Roca the westernmost place in Europe. Our destination was Santa Cruz airfield for some touch and go and another training maneuvers.Santa Cruz is a small village in the west coast of Portugal that became very popular in the 70's and 80's due to the proximity to Lisbon and high quality beaches some of them are used in surf kite-surf and windsurf competitions. Santa Cruz aerodrome is very small and it is between some houses and trees in one threshold and some greenhouses one the other and all this obstacles are very close to the runway witch gives a certain level of difficulty during landings. The runway has a landing distance of 534 meters witch are enough to stop a Cessna 152 but with all the obstacles that I've mentioned the approach must be very cautious.

Tourist pilots are very welcome and this is really a good place for a weekend or vacations, the airfield is very close to the beach and to several facilities like hotels, camping parks and rooms for rent.

Photos credits: http://portugalfotografiaaerea.blogspot.com/

We've departed from Cascais, LPCS, and headed to the westernmost point of Europe witch is Cabo da Roca the view of this area is breathtaking because of the contrast land/sea with Peninha Palace at the top of the mountain the beach on one side rocks on the other and the lighthouse for ship guidance.

After passing this we have followed the shoreline to Santa Cruz, LPSC,  passing through Ericeira a small village from where the Portuguese Royal Family embarked heading Brasil in 1910 right after we became a Democratic Republic.

Passing Ericeira and our destination was already at sight due to the amazing flying day. We reported position to Lisbon Information and requested to contact local frequency. After the first contact to confirm possible traffic in the vicinity of the aerodrome we headed west to about 1 mile of shore to perform some checks and train my proficiency lost during the days back in Somalia.

A few minutes later another voice was heard in the frequency looking for traffic in the surroundings of the aerodrome. It was a Pitts S2 from Aerobática that was at that time practicing some aerobatics at Santa Cruz. After the first contact we went in a formation flight for a few moments and at the end we performed a low pass in formation to Santa Cruz Runway. What more can I say than AMAZING!!!

After this brief moment the Pitts headed out to Cascais and I started to perform some touch a go maneuvers as requested to practice various situation and get used to this singular runway because of it's size and because of the obstacles in the thresholds.

At the end of this flight My personal evaluation is very positive because after a few months without flying I was not so bad as I thought but there was space for improvements. The flight instructor that flew with me was very helpful and told me some details that can be and should be improved, also made some suggestions of things that I can do in my future flights.

Merry Christmas!

And remember that The Sky is Our Home!

Stunning F-35 Shots

From Flightstory.net

All photos (c) Lockheed Martin

Blackshape Prime - Sirius Magazine Trailer (GoPro HD)

Here is a footage of the presentation of the Ultralight aircraft Blackshape Prime, one amazing machine.

Synthetic Vision on an iPad

Not perfect but almost there!

Aviation Blogging and Gadgets

That's what this blog is all about. In a single word is Aviation but following the title of this post it is a Blog and also has some gadgets. You don't think so? Well I have been watching this blog statistics and I have found that already 137 views were from the Apple's iPad. Great!
I don't have one, and I really regret about that not because I want to consult or post in my Blog outdoors but because there are a huge number of applications that can be very useful for pilots.
Here is a footage of AvWeb.com in YouTube relative to the Jeppesen applications for iPad witch I think are amazing and with great capacity. This can be a good revolution in aviation specially about charts and flight navigation.

House cleaning

You might already noted that this blog had some changes in the look. Well I hope that you like the new look as I do and just to complete the new look I only have to say that the picture in the back is a FSX picture from an EC-135 in the region of Madeira with the scenery Wonderful Madeira almost real I should say.

S is for Souda Bay

Past three months the Portuguese Navy Helicopter 19Th Detachment Fénix Flight went on a mission in the Aden Gulf against piracy aboard the Portuguese Frigate N.R.P. "D. Francisco de Almeida".

The mission took about three months but we have been in the area of operation just about two months and the rest as passed in transit from and to Portugal. Our journey started at August the 15Th and lasted until November the 15Th the day of our return to our home base near Lisbon.

During the transit to the operation area the ship and helicopter detachment spent most of the time training for the upcoming mission, training procedures and means of operation related to the type of mission and to maintain the qualifications of both aircrew and ground crew up to date.

Our first stop was in Greece on the beautiful island of Crete at a military base near Shania known as Souda Bay. Because of maintenance issues I had the opportunity to visit Shania Airport and Military Air Base operated by the Greek the American and at that time and because of the Libya operations also used by the French and the Italian. Well a pilot among airplanes what more can I ask for this Christmas?

Here some pictures of my stay in Crete. Some are images air to ground from the helicopter and other of the air base, hope you enjoy them.

From this position to the bottom Photos by: Roberto Cachaço

Phoenix in the Cave

Somewhere near Somalia

Before leaving checklist!

Of course besides being a helicopter maintenance technician in the Portuguese Navy I'm still a civilian pilot and continue to look for a flying job witch is becoming a huge task almost with epic contours due to the number of low time pilots in the same situation.

As I'm going to be out for a considerably long period of time I have tried to fly as close as possible to the day of the departure to the mission.

Today was the day.

Here are some pictures of the flight from Cascais to Portimão.

Going out!

Some of you know that in a short time I'll be going to the Aden Gulf participating in the Ocean Shield NATO mission. This mission comprehends in the protection of ship convoys that are being attacked by Somali pirates and the Portuguese Navy as part of the NATO will participate in this effort to protect these ships from any threats.

On board the Portuguese frigate "Dom Francisco de Almeida" - a dutch navy M class frigate - will be the Fénix Flight Detachment witch I'm part of.

I will try to maintain contact and updates, specially for the spotters and enthusiasts that love the Portuguese Navy Lynx, so stay tuned!

See you soon.

Boeing 747-8 Freighter saved the longest for last - certification testin...

After a 17 hour flight it's done! The Boeing 747-8F Freighter is fully certified and ready for the costumers.