I got spotted ! Twice, as far as I know, but there could be more. If you read my blog regularly, you already know about spotters – if not click here to read more about sportters. When I was flying more, I used to periodically check the spotters databases like airliners.net and airframes.org to see some of my take-offs and landings had been captured and published.

As of today, I found only two pictures, but they’re both good, so good indeed that it is possible to recognize me in the cockpit. The first one has been taken in Bern (LSZB), during my initial IFR training. I flew an ILS approach to runway 14, with circling to runway 32 – there is no approach to runway 32, because of the high surrounding grounds.

If you click on the picture to see the full-size version, you’ll even be able to recognize which brand of headset I use.

The second picture was taken in Les Eplatures (LSGC), on runway 24 with a DA40-TDI. I’m not sure if the picture was made during take-off or landing. From the flaps setting, I guess it’s from take-off. Another hint suggesting a take-off is that the nose-wheel is slightly right of the runway centerline… and most of my landings are slightly left (I still fight against that tendency).

This is not my best profile, but I really like this photo. It gives a good impression of speed, and the framing is excellent. Don’t you feel familiar with this picture ? A little “déjà-vu” feeling ? That’s probably because I used it as the starting point to design the PlasticPilot logo.

There have been hours of Photoshop, and several variants in between, which I won’t expose here, but the one decorating the header of this blog is the final result of this process. I hope you like it, and if you’re really a fan, you can buy the PlasticPilot.net Tee-shirt from my online store, together with other photographic tee-shirts and mousepads.

I tried to contact the photographers who made these pictures – their e-mails are in the databases – but none of them sent me an answer. So guys, thank you for spotting me, and if you recognize yourself, feel free to contact me.