The 5th round is starting on plasticpilot.net

August 20, 2011

I’m 4 years older than when I started this blog. If you’re a regular visitor you have noticed that my posting has became much slower over the last months. The times where I used to post daily are far away now. The best part of is to get new contacts in the aviation community online [...]

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AF447 – I’m a software engineer…

July 29, 2011

Apart from being a pilot, I’m a software engineer. I know some about the design of safety critical systems, even if it is more on the ground than in the air. When I read the latest update about the accident of the AF447 crash between Rio and Paris, something surprised me, as pilot. The stall [...]

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Upcoming aviation book – A Silver Ring

July 23, 2011

This post is a shout out for my friend and fellow Airplanista columnist Nate Carriker. His first aviation book called A Silver Ring will hit the stores on the 26th of July. Nate can’t remember not being crazy about airplanes and flying, nor can he remember his dad telling him about an Uncle he never [...]

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Dream Machines

July 2, 2011

This is a guest post from Sylvia Spruck Wrigley, the blogger behind www.fearoflanding.com. If you want to write a guest post as well, contact me. I know I’ll probably never even get to be a passenger in one of these, let alone pilot one. But it costs nothing just to look, right? Here are some [...]

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From light aircraft to wide-body airliner

June 19, 2011

Have you seen this video of Rod Machado talking about confidence and tenacity? I loved the part about how good instructors sweat only on the right-hand part of their face to not make students nervous. But this is not the topic of this post. In this video, Machado insists that everybody he knows who wanted [...]

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Seaplane over Oslo – part 1 on 2 (hopefully)

June 4, 2011

Few days ago, my friend Axel sent me pictures of his flight over Oslo in a seaplane. There are not many places in Europe where seaplanes are allowed. There is one aero-club in Como, Italy, where visiting pilots can get a seaplane rating. There is also a so-called hydro base in Biscarosse, France, and that’s [...]

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Did the Rio – Paris flight AF447 simply… stall?

May 29, 2011

There are lots of comments all around about the accident of the AirFrance flight AF447 from Rio to Paris. Mainstream media, aviation media, blogs and formus like pprune.org are full of theories. The elements published by the investigation body fueled more comments and speculation. To me this looks like a good moment to copy what’s [...]

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Ryanair vs. Volcano – What do you bet?

May 24, 2011

So, Europe has a new volcanic ash cloud to deal with. The communication of various companies and organization looks much more prepared that last year. Everybody looks prepared. EUROCONTROL even had an exercise 10 days before the actual eruption. They simulated the eruption of the volcano that’s now active to test their reaction procedures. We’re [...]

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Knees or buttocks?

May 19, 2011

If you’re as tall as I am, you already understood that post is about economy class seating. Long haul flights in economy class are no fun, but the pitch – the space between seats – is usually slightly more generous than on short haul flights. Paradoxically, a Frankfurt – Dallas flight can be more comfortable [...]

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You know you’re a frequent flyer when…

May 13, 2011

You know that you’re a frequent flyer when… You know where the emergency exits rows are located in any aircraft type you fly on You know why it is good to know where the emergency rows are located You can say in advance if a PA from the Captain on the ground is good or [...]

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