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!"

Pic of the Day

Qantas 'Connie' Super Constellation Takeoff with flames (1080p HD)

An amazing view of a Connie taking off.

SHORTS- Why Can't You Use Phones on Planes

Here's a small view of the apron of the Portuguese Navy Helicopter base at Montijo

Starting to prepare...

It's now time to prepare myself for the Multi Engine and Instrument Rating verification to renew my flight license. In about a week I'll be at the controls of a Tecnam P2006T beeing evaluated.

Flying Legends Air Show 2013 DVD Trailer

Flying Legends Air Show 2013 at Duxford DVD is pre-order available. Here's a Trailer of what you'll find inside and it's pure music to Me.

Pic of the Day!

Look out it's Me preparing for a landing with a different landing gear. What a day! Thanks Daniela for this amazing Birthday present. Love You!