@Subflyer

Captain on A320 for some low cost airline. All opinions and views are my own. Porto/Berlin.

 Occasionally aloft
Joined October 2011
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943Media
Its getting dark in the morning. It was off to London Gatwick this morning. I got a warning about possible fog, so took more than enough extra fuel. We didn’t use any of that and arrived half an hour early back home. Darkness lifting. Sunrise. Hope there is no troll under that
View out of the window, with some towering clouds im the dark below a barely lit sky, with some orange color at the horizon.

ALT View out of the window, with some towering clouds im the dark below a barely lit sky, with some orange color at the horizon.

Same view, but the sun will rise in a few minutes and the now fairly low stratus clouds are already clearly visible.

ALT Same view, but the sun will rise in a few minutes and the now fairly low stratus clouds are already clearly visible.

View straight ahead, and our taxiway leads us under a high bridge connecting two terminal parts, high enough that even a 747 or A380 can taxi below that.

ALT View straight ahead, and our taxiway leads us under a high bridge connecting two terminal parts, high enough that even a 747 or A380 can taxi below that.

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Once again in Madeira. And insane for the first time the red light in the window of Jet2. Our ground staff told us it’s their standard lighting. For me as a German that’s funny, because a red light in a window means a lady from the oldest profession is waiting for customers…
Setting sun on our way to Madeira. Screens show normal cruise picture, the ocean is cloud covered.

ALT Setting sun on our way to Madeira. Screens show normal cruise picture, the ocean is cloud covered.

A jet2 737 being pushed back behind our wing. Every passenger window glows red.

ALT A jet2 737 being pushed back behind our wing. Every passenger window glows red.

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Microsoft breathing a sigh of relief now that it has the second-worst Copilot
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Another interim report by the BFU to the Vietnam Air runway over run on take off in Munich has been released. It shows brake applications by the PF throughout the take off run of up to 27%. It is not a final report, but it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. bfu-web.de/EN/Publications/I…
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Last day for a week. We started with the fire brigade cleaning the apron while we boarded, a stair lost hydraulic fluid. Sunrise. Clouds behave like water (Pyrenees) Shadows.
A yellow airport fire truck in front of the aircraft, spraying water out below the truck from ports all around it. Showing blue lights, while one of their colleagues observes from the outside.

ALT A yellow airport fire truck in front of the aircraft, spraying water out below the truck from ports all around it. Showing blue lights, while one of their colleagues observes from the outside.

Some light cirrus clouds over the sunrise-colored horizon.

ALT Some light cirrus clouds over the sunrise-colored horizon.

A cloud surface below higher mountains but apparently flowing over others like water from one overflowing basin into lower levels.

ALT A cloud surface below higher mountains but apparently flowing over others like water from one overflowing basin into lower levels.

Clouds above us throwing shadows on France below us.

ALT Clouds above us throwing shadows on France below us.

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On the way back we were planned surprisingly low, in FL310 (31.000ft) instead of the usual FL390. As a result our cruising speed was very low, making for a relaxed slow flight.
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Well, that had to happen at some point. Had a little fun at work this morning. Forecast in the morning for Madeira was fine, low winds, uneventful like yesterday. That changed during the flight. Second attempt worked. First aircraft on the stream. youtube.com/live/yO6who9FCQY…
Flightradar24 Track of the first approach, go around and second approach in Madeira.

ALT Flightradar24 Track of the first approach, go around and second approach in Madeira.

The ocean on the way back. It’s full of white caps on top of the waves, showing there is quite a bit of wind at ground level.

ALT The ocean on the way back. It’s full of white caps on top of the waves, showing there is quite a bit of wind at ground level.

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B-Roll.
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After a week off I got called out from standby for a flight from Porto to Malpensa. Nearly no clouds over the whole route, nice and calm and I could finish the day with a stadium overflight on my visual approach into Porto. A very rare guest in OPO The Alps. Toulouse.
An Indian Air Force C17 military transport plane seen from behind and left. It’s completely grey, with an open door behind the wings and landing, a small white push-back-truck is connected at the front.

ALT An Indian Air Force C17 military transport plane seen from behind and left. It’s completely grey, with an open door behind the wings and landing, a small white push-back-truck is connected at the front.

The C17 has pushed back and we taxi past on its right side. From this point we can see the black „INDIAN AIR FORCE“ behind the cockpit, the orange white green round military marking on the side behind the wings and the Indian flag on the tail.

ALT The C17 has pushed back and we taxi past on its right side. From this point we can see the black „INDIAN AIR FORCE“ behind the cockpit, the orange white green round military marking on the side behind the wings and the Indian flag on the tail.

A view into an alpine valley with just very small cumulus clouds over the mountains on the other side of the valley. The valley floor is green, while the mountains are fairly grey, there’s no snow on the mountains.

ALT A view into an alpine valley with just very small cumulus clouds over the mountains on the other side of the valley. The valley floor is green, while the mountains are fairly grey, there’s no snow on the mountains.

The airport of Toulouse with the Airbus factory on the right side of both parallel runways, the the extension of the factory on the left side and a bit closer to us. Behind that is the terminal area for normal passengers. Just behind the airport is the city of Toulouse.

ALT The airport of Toulouse with the Airbus factory on the right side of both parallel runways, the the extension of the factory on the left side and a bit closer to us. Behind that is the terminal area for normal passengers. Just behind the airport is the city of Toulouse.

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Sven-Hajo Sieber retweeted
Scott Bateman MBE
@scottiebatemanSep 2
The South African Civil Aviation Authority has released a statement that it looking into the data regarding the Airlink flypast. A very neutrally worded letter, as you would expect. It seems all may not have been as it seemed to many.
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After 5 consecutive working days flying to Madeira (with a few off days in between) it’s off to Boavista today. Which means we have to go through passport control twice, and won’t see any land except the Canary Islands halfway through. 11t of fuel, we burn 8,3, FL380 M 0.77.
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Sven-Hajo Sieber retweeted
Scott Bateman MBE
@scottiebatemanAug 30
I posted yesterday about the Airlink flypast in Cape Town and like many professional pilots, I was aghast. The reaction to this flypast has been fascinating. For some, it was spectacular. A moment of national pride, flown by experienced South African aviators and apparently carefully planned, rehearsed and approved. I understand that. But here’s why so many professional aviators are uncomfortable with what we saw. Aviation is extraordinarily safe precisely because we question ourselves. We debrief. We challenge. We report. We investigate. And sometimes, even when something was legal, authorised and went exactly as planned, we still ask… Was that really a good idea? That isn’t negativity. It isn’t disrespect. And it certainly isn’t an attack on South African aviation. It’s mature safety culture. The lead aircraft reportedly cleared the stadium roof by around 40–50 feet. Hundreds of professional aviators around the world have looked at those images and expressed concern. That deserves more than “nothing to see here”. Perhaps the eventual conclusion will be that everything was conducted entirely within the approved parameters. But a mature safety culture should still be capable of saying: we planned it, we approved it, we flew it, and with hindsight, perhaps the margins were tighter than they needed to be. Because aviation didn’t become one of the safest forms of transport by defending everything that worked. It became safe by relentlessly examining the things that nearly didn’t. And this is wholeheartedly one of those times. Every time pilots challenge something, file a report, admit an error or question an accepted practice, somebody flying tomorrow is a little safer because of it. That’s why professional aviators can sometimes sound overly cautious. The flypast fun police!! We’re not trying to take the spectacle out of aviation. Quite the opposite in fact. We’re trying to make sure everyone gets to enjoy it again tomorrow.
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Last day of the block, my 3rd Madeira in a row (planned was only one). And here we are waiting on a slot as there’s quite a bit of bad weather close to the Portuguese coast. And the clouds in Madeira made it impossible to land on 23, so we managed to land first on 05.
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After the first survived (airport) standby in months, today was a regular duty. Lightning on my way to work in the direction I had to fly. And then it looked like this after departure: Sunrise. Rainbow.
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Last day of the block. The phone rings at 3:30. „Sven, we need you“. Darn, it was a nice dream… Anyway, off to Split and back with a colleague I hope gets his command very soon. The Croatian cost is a true boating paradise. These are not clouds, it’s Sand from the Sahara.
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An early morning departure, with quite a bit of fog in the valleys. Not because it’s cold, just because it’s very humid with a dewpoint around 20°. Later on we had the sun in our face, but with the absolutely fabulous Airbus sun visor and a coffee it’s bearable.
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Passing over Germanys 17th state. Or the Island of Mallorca on our way to the neighboring island of Menorca. It’s a short flight from Porto, just around 1:40. It was a bit more exciting than thought, grounding the plane for repairs after we returned.
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Sven-Hajo Sieber retweeted
Erik
@CaptainErik13Aug 2
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Flying a nearly new A320 today, delivered in May. There’s a few changes, much larger overhead bins, no lights on the nose gear and new LED matrix lights in the wing fairing.
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Da wären tatsächlich die dahinterstehenden Regeln interessant, und was überhaupt erfasst wird. Frag mich wie da Portugal dasteht, hier ist es ja fast wie ein feuchter Traum der CDU, drei unbezahlte Karenztage, danach nur 55% des Durchschnittlichen Gehalts (steuerfrei).
Thomas Mayer
@ThomassorxJul 26
Europa – dieselben Werte, aber sehr unterschiedliche Ergebnisse. Diese Grafik hat mich ehrlich überrascht. Nicht wegen der Zahl selbst, sondern wegen der enormen Unterschiede innerhalb Europas. Während Arbeitnehmer in Spanien durchschnittlich rund fünf Wochen krankgeschrieben sind, liegt Italien bei weniger als einer Woche. Deutschland bewegt sich dazwischen. Eine solche Statistik erklärt natürlich nicht alles. Arbeitsbedingungen, Altersstruktur, Gesundheitssysteme und nationale Regelungen unterscheiden sich von Land zu Land. Trotzdem frage ich mich, warum die Unterschiede inzwischen so groß geworden sind. Denn jedes System setzt Anreize – und über viele Jahre prägen diese Anreize auch das Verhalten einer Gesellschaft. Für mich geht es deshalb nicht nur um Krankheitstage. Es geht um eine grundsätzliche Frage: Wie kann Europa seinen sozialen Zusammenhalt bewahren und gleichzeitig wettbewerbsfähig bleiben? Ich habe den Eindruck, dass wir über diese Balance in den kommenden Jahren noch sehr intensiv diskutieren werden.
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