Navigator Class

First time in Manchester Airport

2012-02-17T17:29:00.002Z

Awful rainy weather.

Refueling had just finished

Some interesting traffic seen there: Emirates A380, Virgin B747, Qatar A330 and Monarch A320 with new billboard livery.

Flying with TAM, TACA and LAN

2012-02-08T01:35:00.001Z

From: GRU To: LIM, Jan 20, 2012

Flight: JJ8066

Departure: 08:30

Arrival: 10:40

Aircraft: Airbus A320-200 PR-MAR

Cabin: Economy (22B)

Last holidays I decided to visit Peru. After spending two days at São Paulo it was time to move to Lima, the capital of Peru. I chose TAM for my trip although their fares were quite expensive (GRU-LIM-GRU for 995.74 USD).

The aircraft was an A320 with a retrofitted cabin and equipped with TFT screens under the overhead bins as part of their IFE system. TAM also provides free earphones. Since I spent most of the flight sleeping, I missed seeing the Andes before our descent to Lima.

Their onboard service for this flight consisted of a hot breakfast after take-off served on a disposable tray. Two options were available: scrambled eggs or a hot sandwich. Knowing very well aviation eggs, I opted for the sandwich. Then, they proceeded with their sales service and before landing they distributed peanuts and more drinks to the passengers. The aircraft was full and cabin crew were kept busy during the entire flight.

-o0o-

From: LIM To: CUZ, Jan 25, 2012

Flight: TA011

Aircraft: Embraer 190 N983TA

Cabin: Economy (24A)

N983TA

The main puporse of this trip was to visit Machu Picchu, one the New 7 Wonders of the world. Cuzco is the nearest airport.

Our flight was delayed almost 2 hours due to poor weather conditions at Cuzco.

It was my first time with TACA and also flying the E190. This type of aircraft is very very comfortable and in many ways reminds a smaller A320 but with a 2-2 configuration and smaller overhead bins. The wing, the number of canoes and configuration of flaps and ailerons are almost an exact copy of the A320.

PTVs were available in all seats which is surprising for an aircraft specifically taylored for short-haul flights.

Embraer 190 PTV in Economy Class

Take-off @ LIM

Larcomar shopping center - Miraflores

Miraflores

During the short flight (about one hour of flight time) TACA presented us a very nice service with a hot sandwich and option for an amazing variety of beverages including whiskey and vodka. Plain water was fine for me.

Hot sandwich

Breathtaking approach to Cuzco,

And a couple of photos taken at the airport.

Peruvian Airlines B737-200

The B737-200 is still a very common type in Peru.

LAN A319-100

-o0o-

From: CUZ To: AQP, Jan 30, 2012

Flight: TA014

Aircraft: Embraer 190 N982TA

Cabin: Economy (11A)

We decided to buy the return flight to Lima with a stop in Arequipa since it was cheaper.

My seat was next to an overwing emergency exit with extra leg room and I was instructed by a Flight Attendant to read the safety card carefully. Of course I did it just before he told me. The technique for opening the window is no different from the A320.

This flight didn't have any kind of onboard service so I was enjoying my window seat and the beauty of the Andes seen from above.

Take-off @ CUZ

Approaching Arequipa...

I don't know what fault is this, but it's huge!

And our E190 after arrival at Arequipa.

LAN A319 CC-COU

Arequipa - Rodríguez Ballón Intl Airport

-o0o-

From: AQP To: LIM, Jan 30, 2012

Flight: TA099

Aircraft: Embraer 190 N988TA

Cabin: Economy (19F)

We had to wait almost 3 hours for our flight to LIM. Arequipa lies in the Andes mountains (2335 m) and is surrounded by some big volcanos.

The terminal is very small but it has a large observation deck, so I spent some of the time watching the traffic.

LAN

Star Peru

Ejercito del Peru

And finally our Embraer arrived...

N988TA

Boarding time! Going back to Lima.

Flaps down, leaving Arequipa

Take-off!

Strange circles on the ground

In the middle of the desert you can see some vegetation in this valley

As this flight was a little bit longer, we had the same type of service I described in the LIM-CUZ leg. However the sandwich was much more tastier than the previous one.

TACA catering

Speed brakes up as we approch Lima

Downwind for Lima Airport

Final approach rwy 15

Arriving at Jorge Chávez Intl Airport

Overall, it was a great experience flying with TACA. They have modern and comfortable aircraft, efficient cabin crew and nice catering. They are part of AviancaTaca Group and soon will join Star Alliance.

-o0o-

From: LIM To: GRU, Jan 31, 2012

Flight: JJ8225/LA2767

Departure: 00:05

Arrival: 08:20

Aircraft: Boeing B767-300ER CC-CXC

Cabin: Economy (45L)

This was a codeshare flight operated by LAN, a great opportunity to fly the B767-300. The only B767 I flew until then was a very old BRA B767-200 originally delivered to TWA.
At the check-in I asked for a window seat. I was told that there was only one window seat available but it was in the last row without more explanations. I thought that those seats wouldn't recline because of the bulkhead. But for me it was more important to have a window to lay my head and sleep than the ability to recline the seat. In fact, with regular economy seats I never use full recline - not even half - because after some time you start feeling uncomfortable with the lack of lumbar support.

To my surprise, when I saw my seat I realised it was a high comfort/ crew rest seat used by crew members on long haul flights! Even the curtain that ensures privacy was there although not used during this flight. I couldn't have more luck! A supper with two options was served (I chose the pasta) and we had some light to moderate turbulence during the flight.

This B767 from LAN Airlines is pretty new since it was built in 2007 and already came with the B777 interior design which is much more appealing and provides more space for hand luggage in the overhead lockers. However, the blended winglets were a retrofit.

Delta B767 seen from CC-CXC

PTV after take-off. Wrong destination inserted in the Air Show!

Descending to São Paulo

CC-CXC @ GRU

Unfortunately, as holidays were coming to an end, my final destination was Lisbon, not São Paulo. After waiting 8 hours at Guarulhos Airport for the TAP flight I was airborne again but this time enjoying Executive Class service and wonderful Recaro lie-flat seats. The airplane that took me back to Lisboa was the Airbus A330-200 CS-TOH with Star Alliance livery. It was a smooth flight.

Now I'm back to work and to my studies!

Mont Blanc

2012-01-16T00:15:00.001Z

While cruising to Venice onboard A319 CS-TTM, I could enjoy some breathtaking landscapes over the Alps.

Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. Can you find it?

Leaving the Alps scenary

Earth sure is a beautiful planet. Specially when seen from up there!

Our inflight magazine UP dedicates this month's issue to the Alps and winter sports.

Copenhagen - Fall 2011

2011-12-21T01:15:00.002Z

Copenhagen has been a frequent destination for me lately. I like the city though for the tourist it's a rather small city.

Finally, I could see the Little Mermaid (which is really little) and pay a visit to the Dansk Design Center.

Dansk Design Center

Interesting spots

Little Mermaid

Another perspective of "Little Mermaid"

Halloween's theme at Tivoli

Next time and when days get longer, I pretend to climb to the Round Tower Observatory.

These last weeks I've also been busy with my PPL license. VFR Communications and Paper II (Aircraft Systems and Powerplants, Operating Procedures, Principles of Flight, Performance, Mass and Balance, etc) are already done!

I would like to wish all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hamburg

2011-10-30T16:18:00.002Z

I haven't been to Hamburg perhaps since more than two years ago. I can't even remember. The hotel remains the same near the airport and you need to catch the train to go to the center. We arrived late on Friday and it was time to experience Hamburg's nightlife.

Next day, lunch in a restaurant nearby Binnenalster lake (Jungfernstieg station) and then the usual promenade. I could see the new iPhone 4S at the big Apple Store you have there.

The geyser

Due to its streams, canals and rivers, Hamburg has more bridges than Amsterdam or Venice.

When I went back to the hotel, I thought it was too early to fall asleep despite the 3:55 am wake-up (2:55 am - Lisbon time). So I decided to go to the airport (a 7 minutes walk) and see if there was anything interesting there.

To my surprise, I found that Hamburg (Fulsbuttel) Aiport has an Observation Deck and it was there that I spent a couple of hours enjoying the aircraft movements.

The observation deck was crowded and I learned that not only you could find people trying to say a last goodbye to their friends and relatives before their departure, but also many aviation enthusiasts and plane spotters!

One of those enthusiasts had a bag with a big Aeroflot logo which made me remember the t-shirt I bought in Moscow. Really nice!

At Hamburg Airport, you can mainly see Lufthansa, airberlin and lots of charter and regional movements.

airberlin A321

Edelweiss Air A320

At a point I was about to ask one of the spotters if the A321 was the biggest aircraft to operate regularly at Hamburg Airport since I could only see narrow-body aircraft types. It was when I saw the impressive Emirates' B777-300 landing!

Recife and Oceanair

2011-10-26T22:27:00.000+01:00

October 2007

LIS-REC-SSA-LIS

These were some of the last flights we did for BRA before their demise. They had problems with their B767 fleet (one of the airplanes was even older than our TriStar) so they chartered us.

LUZ708 was the callsign of the transatlantic flight to Recife. We had a really nice layover in Recife and then we were moved to Salvador flying with Oceanair (now called Avianca Brasil).

Our Hotel @ Recife

Boa Viagem beach

26-10-2007
Flight: REC-SSA
Aircraft: MK-28 (oh well! just an ordinary Fokker-100...)
Reg. Number: PR-OAI (ex-AA)

DC-8 @ Recife, a classic airliner of BETA Cargo

Efficient check-in and nice passenger's terminal at Recife. However, our flight was delayed one hour and a half. When we arrived, our aircraft was departing to Maceió and we waited until it returned to Recife again.

It was my first time flying in a Fokker-100 (ups!) MK-28... The guy from Oceanair tried to convince me these were different designations for different aircraft! As some of you might know, Fokker-100 has a very bad reputation in Brasil due to several accidents and incidents with TAM, so Oceanair decided to "change" its designation to the public.

Oceanair's "MK-28" had a 2-3 seat configuration with a total of 20 rows that makes a capacity of 100 passengers. This flight to Salvador had a 100% load factor and my seat was in luck the 15B over the wings. Very nice pitch for your legs and very comfortable airplane.

Fast turnaround and then taxi to runway 18 for take-off. The sound of those Rolls-Royce Tay is very particular. I knew that Fokker-100 didn't have slats, but I didn't know it could take-off even without flaps extended!

After lift-off we passed over Boa Viagem beach and it would be an one hour flight until Salvador. While up there, we witnessed a fantastic sunset.

Oceanair's cabin crew served us a milk bread with melted cheese and I asked a "Guaraná" to drink. Everything was free of charge.

I took a safety card as a souvenir of this nice flight where you can see the MK-28 designation!

After this we would immediatly board our L-1011 CS-TMP for our red-eye flight to Lisbon.

This awesome photo by Carlos A. Morillo Doria illustrates our departure.

The Golden Roundtrip to Mount Pilatus

2011-10-20T02:20:00.000+01:00

Zürich, September 2009

Geneva and the Alps from the air

2011-10-18T15:33:00.002+01:00

Smooth flight onboard CS-TNP cn 2178 "Alexandre O'Neill" from Zurich to Porto.

Alps

Geneva - you can even see the famous geyser of Lac Léman

Tribute to Transbrasil

2011-10-14T02:53:00.000+01:00

Transbrasil was one of my childhood airlines. Flew many times with them and made my personal collection with their onboard stuff... Too bad they are gone! Click on the tail to visit the tribute page.

Starway 711P - Part II

2011-10-10T02:31:00.003+01:00

5 May 2008

XLF "Starway" 711P

Part I

When I started writing about this operation the intention was to put focus just in the last flight, but I found that I also had some nice photos from the previous days that were worthy enough to be shared. That's why this post was split in two parts.

This is the list of all the flights operated by my crew. Another crew was involved in this operation doing more flights for these airlines.

So what's so special about XLF711P flight? Well, let's get first into the departure airport - Charles de Gaulle.

F-RAJA from Armée de l'Air

My first sighting of the impressive An-225 Mriya

Concorde F-BVFF displayed @ CDG

Nice tail line-up with our aircraft included

"Ed Force One"

CS-TMP

F-BVFF + Ed Force One

CS-TMP waiting for its flight back to Lisbon

XLF711P would be a position flight back to our base and I was also convinced that it would be my last flight with LUZair. I had the luck to be part of the crew that was off duty - even without passengers, in these flights one crew should be responsible for safety and pre-flight checks, engaging and detaching the evacuation slides, etc. This meant that I was free to fully enjoy the aircraft in this supposed last flight. I could choose my take-off and landing seats other than boring cabin crew jumpseats. So I asked the captain if I could take-off and land in the cockpit. Quite original, having 310 available seats in the passenger's cabin, han? :)

While our airplane was getting prepared for its flight, I took some pictures of MD-80 F-GMLU in an all white c/s that was parked near us. This MD-80 belonged to Blue Line where my friend Jonathan Zaninger worked as a cabin crew member just until they went out of business one year ago...

F-GMLU

I'd like to express my sympathy to all dedicated workers of this airline that lost their jobs.

Life goes on and it's time to get into the cockpit and start our taxi for take-off.

Again the An-225

Fokker 100 F-GNLI

TAM & XL

CDG's prominent control tower and TAM's MD-11

Cleared for take-off!

CDG

Passing over Orly Airport

Somewhere near Orly

I spent the whole flight in the cockpit and I really had some amazing sights...

Spacious cockpit!

Cruising FL370 @ M.84

Developing Cumulonimbus cloud

In front of us, a small and sluggish TAP Airbus. Overtaking was a matter of minutes!

Beside overtaking Airbuses, cruising at 84% the speed of sound means that CDG-LIS is a really short hop and soon we started our descent to Lisbon.

Ota AFB - deactivated

Alverca

Lisbon Airport

Lisbon Airport and "Vasco da Gama" bridge

Benfica Stadium

Costa da Caparica

Bugio lighthouse

On final RWY03

Parking next to a FedEx A300

Automatic Positioning and Information System helping our L-1011

End of Starway 711P flight

(you can see the callsign that gives name to this post in the post-it)

As I was leaving the L-1011, I was already getting nostalgic and taking lots of photos...

Fantastic design...

CS-TMP reg. under the wing

My crew...

APU line maintenance

Rounded wingtip

Main landing gear

I really thought my ACMI adventure and L-1011 flights were over. However this was not my last flight. A few days later I would fly again for Air Méditerranée and for TUIfly Nordic.

Starway 711P - Part I

2011-10-09T02:18:00.000+01:00

May 2008

Let's go back in time, to wonderful ACMI days. I really miss them although I couldn't imagine having again my days and life planning completely "leased" to an airline. It was the right experience at the right time. Perhaps, the best year in my life that I won't repeat ever again. Back then, I wanted to explore the world and stay away from home and school, flying with my favorite airplane.

We started this operation flying for Air Méditerranée and ended up with XL Airways France. We spent a few days based at CDG while doing flights to Palma de Mallorca and Fuerteventura. Here are some photos at CDG airport:

Iron Maiden B757

Angry passengers dealing with big delays pointing their fingers to us while we were passing through the Terminal despite it was not our airline's fault - after all, we were there to "save" their holidays. Well, I must say it was the usual scenario for our kind of operation but in the end everybody was happy to finally reach their destination. We even had some portuguese passengers on board.

Palma de Mallorca:

Spanair A321 @ PMI

PMI airport

One photo of our TriStar @ PMI, remembering the days when several charter airlines used big TriStars to cross Europe skies flying nordic and british tourists to warmer destinations in the south:

CS-TMP @ PMI

TriStar's main landing gear (left side)

Europe Airpost B737

To be continued...

Nice reflection @ Aeroporto da Horta

2011-09-13T17:42:00.001+01:00

Aircraft: A320 CS-TNS

Flying the A380 with Emirates

2011-09-13T01:11:00.002+01:00

Flight to Dubai
When I planned my last holidays in Thailand, no doubt it was an excellent opportunity to fly the A380 choosing Emirates for that purpose. Despite having direct flights from London to Bangkok with British Airways or even a Star Alliance flight with Thai Airways, as an aviation enthusiast I wanted to try the A380 and enjoy the experience of flying with a Middle East airline. So an extra stop at Dubai was mandatory. The 2nd leg DXB-BKK the airplane would be a B777-300ER, also a first for me.

I took a TAP flight from Lisbon to London/Heathrow (TP356, CS-TJG) and then moved from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 for my Emirates flight. Everything was easy with Emirates: online booking (I even pre-selected my seats), check-in, etc.

At the gate you had complimentary magazines and newspapers even for the class I was flying (Y/CL). I picked up a very interesting issue of "The Economist". I was able to see my EK A380 parked side by side with another A380 from Singapore Airlines. It would be the aircraft registered A6-EDL (cn 046).

The boarding was organized by aircraft zones which worked pretty well and has to be done for an aircraft this size. My seat was the 76A - right side window near the trailing edge of the wing, in the main deck.

My boarding pass

Seatmap from SeatGuru (click for larger image)

My last time flying in a 4 engined aircraft was 3 years before when I went to Luanda in a TAP's A340 (CS-TOA). From the window I was amazed with the huge area of the A380's wing. It's not only the span, but also the root chord. In fact, contrasting with the A330 and A340 which have an impressive wing aspect ratio of about 10, the A380 has a much lower figure due to its mean chord.

Carrying with me a small Nike bag I was comfortably installed in my seat. I believe the load factor was near 100%. The main deck cabin was spacious and the ceiling was very high. Every seat has a PTV installed ran by the awesome ice entertainment system of Emirates.

PTV / ice "Welcome"

Soon after boarding, we closed doors and started our flight to Dubai. After engine start-up, the huge flaps were set for take-off and they do a very loud sound while in transit to final configuration. During our taxi to the runway, cabin crew was busy distributing refreshing wipes and dinner menus while many overhead bins were still waiting to be closed. The bins were "drop down" style and sometimes happened that female flight attendants had to wait for help to close them as most of the time they were heavily loaded. But it seemed to me that the A380 taxies at a very, very slow speed (probably due to its big inertia and to prevent break wear) so cabin crew had plenty of time to finish their before take-off procedures.

On the PTV I had the chance of seeing several views provided by exterior cameras. Take-off was powerful and those GP7000 were in fact very silent even at a high regime. You still got to be amazed with how easily the A380 flies, doing sharp turns in the air.

As I was leaving one of my favourite cities in Europe without paying a visit to it, I was playing with ice system and realising that even if I lived 3 lifes in a row I wouldn't have enough time to see or listen to everything that was available for you!

When we reached cruise altitude, cabin crew started hand serving an insane amount of special meals, so passengers with regular meals had to wait a little bit for the trolleys. Options for the meal were "Chicken in coconut sauce" or "Fillet of cod". I was happy to have chicken served.

Every single Economy passenger was served a large tray!

"Chicken with coconut sauce"

After the meal I explored as much as I could the experience of flying the A380.

What you see from left to right it's not the horizon line but the A380's wing!

Flap track fairings and winglet

Sunrise - this is one of the most spectacular exterior cameras available

Mood lighting

Particular aspects of the A380 and Emirates' service

The A380 is a very comfortable aircraft from a passenger's point of view. The only thing I disliked was the air conditioning vents (permanent and non-adjustable) above the side seats of the main deck wich directed flow right over passengers in those seats. Although it was not a problem for me, Emirates option for "drop down" style overhead bins can also be questioned as they are hard to close for the majority of passengers and cabin crew. I think most airlines flying the A380 opted for the "normal" type, like Air France:

Before boarding I was worried about my iPhone's low battery, but that was until I found that every seat was equipped with a USB socket so I could charge the battery!
The Mood Lighting System is also very nice. I hate those usual bright aircraft ceiling lights. The Mood Lighting System was running all the time, including during meal service.
No doubt the A380 is a very silent aircraft, however not as silent as I thought it would be.
The cabin crew call button is placed in the PTV's command. You also have buttons above you but most passengers (if any) won't reach them while seated.
While having a 3-4-3 configuration in economy, aisles are wide so you can have a nice cabin walk to stretch your legs during flight. The regular toilets are also bigger than usual and nicely equipped.
When on final approach we can really feel the main landing gears going down.
Cabin crew give "Cabin Ready" status in the LCD Attendant Panels by zones.
For the main deck (399 Economy seats) you will only find two minimal floor level galleys. There is another galley accessible through a lift.

This particular last aspect, and knowing that Emirates serve large trays for everybody, makes the EK A380 a difficult aircraft for cabin crew. And you notice that when you have to wait at least 15 minutes to have your drinks served after having the tray placed in front of you (fortunatelly the tray already has a sealed cup of water) and wait more than one hour for crew to remove the trays from passengers.

Aspects like flap noise, double red beacon at the top of the chubby fuselage, galley lift, cabin size, wing root chord, "drop down" bins, Open/Close buttons to assist door opening made me remember the good old L-1011.

Flight to Bankok
When I arrived at the amazing Dubai airport (I saw several EK A380s lined up!) I had to walk a long distance until I reached the gate of my next flight. The B777-300ER registered A6-EBW was already there getting prepared.

After flying the A380, I must say the B777 did not impress me at all. I had another window seat (40A) but I did not have the USB socket and the ice system installed was not as good as that in the A380. Despiste being a -300ER, the cabin seemed a little bit worn out. The only thing that caught my attention was the very spacious aft galley, in fact the biggest one I ever saw.

For lunch I chose "Chilli lime fish" a meal that was, as in the first flight, very tasty. Some minutes before starting our descent to Bankok I was tempted to ask for the "Instant cup noodle soup" that is available in this flight at any time, according to the menu, but I didn't want to bother the cabin crew.

Landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport was pretty smooth and it was the second time I landed there, the first one being with "my" LUZair's L-1011.

Photos of the return flights
For the return it was surpring to fly again the same A380 (A6-EDL) in the BKK-DXB leg. For this flight I selected the seat 81A. It has to be one of the best Economy Class seats of EK's A380. You can enjoy your window while having emergency row's leg space and avoiding the "double excuse" situation. See the seatmap posted earlier in this post.

TAP codeshare @ Suvarnabhumi!

ML 4 door area

En route Air Show

The second leg (DXB-LHR) was flown in a different A380, this time the A6-EDI.

A6-EDI @ DXB

ML 3 - such a big door!

ML 3 station and toilets

PTV - seat 68B

@ Dubai/DXB airport

Still at the gate - view from tail camera

Main deck/Economy Class cabin

Another perspective of the same cabin

Nice Airbus detail on ML 5 door. The Arm/Disarm lever is very similar to the L-1011's

Emirates logo found on a rear toilet bulkhead

After these two A380 flights, it was a shock to get on board a tiny TAP's A319 bound to final destination - Lisbon.

Overal impression
I loved the experience of flying with Emirates. Whether you fly the A380 or the B777 you have a very good product and service for long haul flights. The A380 it's an amazing aircraft!

White in the dark

2011-09-07T22:22:00.004+01:00

Last flight before holidays!

All night long LIS-RAI-LIS...

PGA @ LIS

whitejets PR-WTB @ RAI

CS-TNU tail @ RAI

4 years of flight!

2011-09-05T03:19:00.001+01:00

Time flies at the same speed airplanes do... When I joined Luzair in the summer of 2007, I never thought I would stay this long in this job. I never thought to move to another airline a year later. But things just hapenned. The facts are: I have a good job, I like what I do and airplanes are my "office".

Also, it seems it was yesterday that I was writing in this blog about having passed Satellites and in June, after another term, I finished my degree in Aerospace Engineering. I huge achievement for me... And finally I got permanent at my current airline! The airline where I grew up. The airline that made me fascinated by airplanes. The airline where my father worked.

Now it's time go back with my Private Pilot Licence :)

The only bad thing is that summer is now ending without having truly started...

Red and Green - Out of the Blue - Part II

2011-07-05T21:35:00.001+01:00

Three years with these colors!

BSc

2011-07-01T02:58:00.003+01:00

T-minus 3, 2, 1, 0. It's a pass!

2011-02-22T08:45:00.023Z

Winter Term is over... And I did it!

While flying all over Europe I kept my mind busy over astrodynamics and satellite attitude control subjects. I had to miss the midterm exam about astrodynamics due to lack of time to study and I was afraid of having wasted an opportunity to pass this course. In January I did the 2nd exam about the Restricted 3-body problem, Space Environment, Interplanetary Trajectories and Attitude Dynamics and Control of Satellites and I was only able to get a 8.7/20 grade since Rigid Body Dynamics it's not my favorite subject and once again lack of time to study (work, work, work...) prevented me from reaching a higher grade.

In the beginning of February we had the opportunity to repeat the two exams. Since minimum grade in each one was 7.0/20 and since "repeating" the midterm Exam was mandatory for me, I had two choices:

- study for the two exams trying to pass Exam1 and get a higher grade in the second one;

- assume the 8.7 grade in the second one (without repeating it) and study to get a nice grade in the first exam.

The choice was obvious... Time available was not that much and Astrodynamics is a fascinating subject for me. I was confident enough I could easily pass Exam1 while having an average >9.4 in the two exams, even though I missed all classes about the 2-body problem and my colleagues' marks in the midterm exam were quite bad. How could a subject which only involves the knowledge of the ellipse geometry, one trajectory equation and two laws of conservation (Energy and Angular Momentum) be that hard? Of course there are many other details/definitions and many ways of doing the same orbital maneuver.

This choice was a win since I had a 14.4 in Exam1 and a final grade of 12 in Satellites.

Rendez-vous was one of the maneuvers studied and it also the name of one of Jean Michel Jarre's greatest hits which inspired me during my study.

Now I'm only two courses away from finishing my Degree (BSc) in Aerospace Engineering! This term I will fall again bellow Kármán line and return to the winged craft theme. I will have Aerodynamics and Flight Testing to do. While Aerodynamics is the continuation of Fluid Mechanics - which I had last year - Flight Testing is a complete new subject to me.

Finally, I take this opportunity to show our "morning star" - Venus...

and the rise of the most beautiful star we know as seen from 38000 ft above Earth's surface.

And don't forget next Thursday (if weather permits) we will have the final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery as STS-133 mission will take place.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-29T18:59:00.007Z

Bye 2010!
...and one last picture of my last flight this year.

BCN-LIS / CS-TTO / "Antero de Quental"

6 degrees below zero @ Frankfurt

2010-12-03T18:25:00.007Z

Walking through the streets of Frankfurt under light snowfall; everything is white; you need to stop at Starbucks and drink some coffee to get warmer; while at Starbucks you start listening "and since we've no place to go... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!":

You realise it's almost Winter and Christmas Time! And it's so beautiful to see...

Airbus A320-214 CS-TNV "Grão Vasco"
Frankfurt Airport

euroAtlantic @ Brussels Airport

2010-11-01T19:36:00.003Z

31-10-2010

euroAtlantic B767 flying for Brussels Airlines

B767-300ER CS-TLO

It departed some 20 minutes later operating flight BEL203 to Banjul via Dakar.

Returning from Budapest

2010-10-30T19:03:00.006+01:00

September 2010

Adding a new destination to the blog...

Control Tower @ Budapest Airport (Ferihegy)

MALEV B737

HA-LOE

CS-TTD "Amadeo de Souza Cardoso" #1 engine

PSU - Passenger Service Unit

Reaching Spain?

Business Class

Nice view over Madrid - Barajas Airport

Madrid

Tervetuloa!

2010-10-26T07:02:00.003+01:00

October 2010

I'm again in Helsinki. I arrived yesterday in the early morning after another easy flight. I can only remember the first time I dealed with finnish passengers when I was at Luzair. We were doing flights to Air Finland(*) between Helsinki and Bangkok or Phnom Penh and before those flights I was afraid they would drink alot and give us some hard working hours. But the Finns are in fact one of the most civilized passengers I ever saw. Yesterday, more than 95% of our passengers were Finns.

This time I was assigned to work in Business Class. During boarding I could remember some words in finnish and tried Tervetuloa with some nice looking girls. They smiled and replied kiitos! Other passengers would reply obrigado in portuguese. I really had some fun during boarding.

After a very long sleep I left the hotel and walked through the very same places I was a year ago. But this time alone and with much colder temperatures. However I'm still amazed with the beauty and fascination of this city.

Today I'm going to visit Kiasma and I will leave tomorrow afternoon. The weather forecast indicates a maximum temperature of 4ºC for today! Brrrrr Unfortunately, no snow...

(*)Now they have really nice colors on their planes!

Helsinki - day 1

2010-10-15T00:03:00.019+01:00

September 2009

More than a year has passed since I was in Helsinki and promised to tell you about that stay in this blog. It was really a nice 5-night (long) stay with my friend António and also with a very nice crew.

Let me see what I still remember....

We arrived at the hotel in the early, early morning and after check-in the crew dediced to wait for the breakfast that was to be served in less than one hour. After that we were all tired and went to sleep already with daylight.

When we woke-up we were hungry and went out to eat something and get a little glimpse of the city. The weather was far from sunny but at least it was not too cold. The first thing we saw was the Kaisaniemi park nearby our hotel.

Then we found a McDonalds at Helsinki's Forum shopping centre. After "lunch" we continued our way down Mannerheimintie Street on foot until we reached Helsinki Market Square (Kauppatori).

Kauppatori

Near Helsinki Senate Square we found some brazilian guys who talked to us.

Helsinki Senate Square

Helsinki Cathedral

Uspenski Cathedral
(Eastern Orthodox)

We had dinner at an italian food restaurant (which in finnish they say ravintola) and returned to our hotel. Before sleeping we were already planning the following day!

Crowne Plaza - Helsinki

Kiitos (for reading this post!)

Previous posts:

Copenhagen: take-off @ Kastrup

2010-10-12T03:49:00.008+01:00

Last month I had two night-stops at Copenhagen. The first one gave no opportunity to get out of the hotel because we arrived late in the night and departed the following morning.

I came back as a passenger so I could take these photos:

A319 CS-TTA "Vieira da Silva" @ Kastrup

Nice reflection on the jetway

After take-off

View from seat 3F

Over the clouds...

And finally I could enjoy a nice hot meal and have a rest until arrival at Lisbon

The second night-stop I had more time to visit the city but I was so tired that I just slept all the time at the hotel. I really wanted to visit the Dansk Design Center, but it will have to wait for another opportunity.

Copenhagen was the hightlight of last Up Magazine issue (September).

I AMsterdam

2010-10-10T16:05:00.016+01:00

I arrived in a rainy saturday night but that was not impeditive to have some fun in the streets of Amsterdam and do some bar-hopping. We even found a portuguese guy who recognized our language in one of those bars and we paid him a shot (was it a B52? can't remember).

However it seems Amsterdam night life is not that great anymore... A bar magnate who owned 85 cafes and bars comitted suicide due to unpaid bills to Heineken and many of them closed....

Next day we had a nice lunch (for me it was some kind of pancake), we had a walk through the city,

Amsterdam is almost all about sex!

and then I suggested to my friends (that were there at that time) to visit the Sex Museum. It was really a good time we had!

Marilyn Monroe @ Sex Museum

Before everything closed at 6pm I went to Kalverstraat street and Magna Plaza. A sweatshirt from Energie brand caught my eye. But I saw the price and went away. Then I started to think to myself:

"Come on Andre, you know you would never buy such a costly piece of clothing when you lived from your monthly pocket money... but now you earn your own money and you don't even spend it all most of the months"

So I went back to the store and I did buy the sweatshirt.......

@ Kalverstraat street

"you are not igual" @ Desigual

And finally a nice view from my hotel room during sunset. Next day I had a long journey until Copenhagen with a stop in Lisbon!

@SID with "Gil Vicente"

2010-08-27T18:28:00.002+01:00

Aeroporto Intl Amilcar Cabral

A320 wing

The moon...

CS-TNN "Gil Vicente"

TAP Portugal beautiful tail

A320 cabin

@RAI with "Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro"

2010-08-26T04:04:00.004+01:00

Aeroporto da Praia

CS-TNT

Dense smoke at Moscow II

2010-08-18T18:42:00.001+01:00

Here are a few more pictures I took the day I departed from Moscow.

Leaving the hotel

Arrival at the airport terminal

It looks like LVO due to the smoke...

Transaero, a growing Russian airline still operating these classic 747s

Can't go outside...

2010-08-06T18:02:00.007+01:00

and it doesn't seem to get any better at Moscow...

Red Square and Kremlin will have to wait for another opportunity...

Dense smoke at Moscow

2010-08-06T03:43:00.010+01:00

Due to several forest fires, Moscow has been covered with a dense smoke/smog blanket.

While passing 10.000ft during our descent to Domodedovo Airport we started to notice an intense smell of burning wood in the whole cabin of our Airbus which scared some passengers that thought there was something wrong with the aircraft!

Visibility is also severely affected as you can see in the following photos taken outside the terminal of the airport.

Despite of the air being somewhat unbreathable I hope to go to the Red Square tomorrow...

Air condensation from the A/C

2010-07-16T09:46:00.008+01:00

It happens very often in these summer days...

A321-200 cabin

Some passengers think it's smoke!

Moscow!

2010-07-13T01:55:00.014+01:00

It was just a night stop. Not much time to see what everyone should see when going to Moscow. But I will certainly be back there: I will eat borsch soup again; I will walk through the Old Arbat and see the Kremlin and Lenin's Mausoleum; I will buy an Аэрофлот t-shirt and maybe an old airline pilot's hat.

But for now, some photos from the hotel...

WTC

Hotel lobby

Hotel lobby and its curious c(l)ock

And from Domodedovo Airport

From "Aeroporto da Madeira"

2010-07-06T19:04:00.008+01:00

Some photos...

"Rotores de Portugal"

CS-TTG "Humberto Delgado"

CS-TNT "Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro"

and the formation of "Rotores de Portugal"

A Star Alliance Member ™

2010-06-29T07:43:00.004+01:00

Last night @ Praia (RAI)

And finally D2-TBG from TAAG

Cumulonimbus

2010-06-26T16:55:00.006+01:00

Large CB en route to Zurich

and finally (and safely) at Zurich Airport.

Hard day of work due to French Air Traffic strike

2010-06-25T02:27:00.007+01:00

Delays, slot restrictions, cancelled flights, angry and hungry passengers...

Took these photos today

CS-TKN with new livery @ LIS

and CCM at Orly

Nice engine detail

This blog doesn't pretend to be some kind of "spotter's blog". In fact, many of my aviation stories are yet to be narrated. I just don't have time to post other things than photos across European airports while I'm trying to conciliate my studies with flying...

Harry Potter @ Gatwick

2010-06-22T00:38:00.008+01:00

Virgin Atlantic is using G-VLIP to promote a new attraction at the Universal Orlando Resort theme park.

I just spotted this aircraft yesterday at Gatwick!

and later that day at Funchal, Strategic A320

and Luxair B737.

Geneva Cointrin Intl Airport

2010-06-19T01:14:00.004+01:00

Oneworld livery from Iberia

and a rare DC-8 (private jet).

Copenhagen

2010-06-17T02:15:00.007+01:00

April 2010

A walk through the city... Little mermaid was moved to Shanghai Expo.

Brand new CS-TNV "Grão Vasco"

Next time I plan to visit the Danish Museum of Art & Design.

A340-600 from Lufthansa @ MUC

2010-06-15T18:15:00.003+01:00

June 2010

Impressive aircraft!

Nightstop @ Paris/Orly

2010-04-26T01:11:00.006+01:00

TAP 3-1 Iberia

CS-TNV & Pico Island

2010-03-20T22:08:00.019Z

Today, I completed TAP's medium haul fleet, flying the A320-214 CS-TNV "Grão Vasco". This aircraft was the latest addition to the fleet and the only one that was missing in my logbook.

From the current fleet, I have flown a total of 19 A319's, 17 A320's and 3 A321's. CS-TNA, CS-TNB, CS-TNE and CS-TNO, now phased out, also make part of that logbook. As a passenger I can add A330-223 CS-TOE and A340-312 CS-TOA.

CS-TNV it's just about the same as the other new A320-214s recently added to the fleet.

Matrícula: CS-TNV
Modelo: A320-214
MSN/CN: 4145
Nome: "Grão Vasco"

A320-214 CS-TNV

The other remark of the day was 'my' first landing at Pico, a small Island at Azores archipelago, dominated by its impressive volcano, the highest mountain of portuguese territory.

I remember how fascinated I was by volcanos in my childhood and when being a volcanologist was an option in mind.

First, some pictures of the really small terminal of Pico Island Airport:

and now from the huge and beautiful mountain!

After take-off, I managed to take some pictures from the air... Amazing sight!

One thing I have to do in life is definitely to climb this mountain!

CS-TMW

2010-03-17T21:38:00.004Z

Picture taken at Sal Airport (Cape Verde) the day TAP completed 65 years old!

Brussels from the hotel room

2010-02-01T17:18:00.009Z

I was sick and outside were some -9ºC. Had to stay in...

Boulevard de Waterloo

... and I got to say Brussels is one of my favourite european cities!

Old metal @ Stockholm

2010-01-19T01:32:00.006Z

17/01/2010

B747 'Classic' from Iran Air

In the middle of this worldwide financial crisis, it's surpring to see these three-men cockpit gas-guzzlers still flying!

Man, it doesn't show signs of stopping!

2009-12-19T21:03:00.019Z

5 hours delay at Milan (Malpensa Airport) due to heavy snowfall!

Beautiful scenario although passengers were not that happy...

A319-111 CS-TTR 'Soares dos Reis'

An Air France A320-100 which was already due for departure

Wings covered with snow:

The cargo door is opened, also covered with snow

And... more snow... all over the windows!

And finally some kind of artistic shot...

Obviously we had to go through a complete de-icing procedure before departure which took some 15 to 20 minutes more.

The weather outside was really frightful and I had a cinema to go with some friends. But since there's nothing we can do... let is snow, let it snow! As I arrived at 1:40am at Lisbon I had my cinema plans ruined that night and my LHR flight cancelled today.

Now I will enjoy a couple of days off! (No! damn it! I have to study for my college exams...)

Warsaw & Frankfurt

2009-12-09T23:30:00.008Z

These are photos of this week.

First from Warsaw. The weather there was cold although bearable. What really bothers me is the rain. Nevertheless, staying at the hotel room is not an option!

nice Christmas tree!

This one was taken inside the Mall near our hotel (Intercontinental)

And finally one photo taken today at Frankfurt International Airport...

Milano & CS-TNT

2009-11-29T23:38:00.017Z

The weather forecast was not that good: rain and low temperatures. And I would only have one afternoon to visit the city. I also knew Milan was not an impressive city but anything would be better than staying at the hotel's room, so I put a warm (and heavy...) coat in my luggage.

While arriving to the hotel, I noticed the weather was really dull and every single store seemed to be closed as it was Sunday.

I thought I would be alone with the idea of getting out of the hotel and see some spots of Milan but, for my surprise, the girls of the crew decided all to come with me!

We took the subway from our hotel (which is near to the Central Station) to Duomo. The Square with the Gothic Cathedral is a really nice site.

And finally, the devil (not me!) wears...

... Prada!

Yep... this is definitely a city where people really care about fashion! Rome is so much nicer and historical...

We took some kind of lunch near the Duomo and then saw some clothes stores (some of which seemed to be like real discos by the type and volume of music one could ear). Then, with no more daylight, we returned to the hotel to take a rest for the next day of work.

We would fly the most recent aircraft delivered to the airline, CS-TNT, which (then) entered in service just a couple of days ago. Although we arrived the day before at Malpensa Airport we would now depart from Linate which was also a first for me.

Some data about this new aircraft:

Matrícula: CS-TNT
Modelo: A320-214
MSN/CN: 4095
Nome: "Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro"

A cabin shot...

Some signs that this aircraft entered in service a few days before

And finally... arrival at Lisbon!

With the arrival of "Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro" it's time to say goodbye to CS-TNA "Grão Vasco"...

LIS-HEL

2009-10-06T21:29:00.024+01:00

September 2009

LIS-HEL, departure @ 22:35LT

Aircraft: Airbus A320-214

It was a smooth and an uneventful flight. I was designated to work at economy class although I generally prefer to work in business.

Passengers were served a dinner, a service very similar to those of other TAP 4-hour flights, except for the fact that they have a medium tray (2/3) instead of a small one (1/2). Medium trays are much more easier for us (cabin crew) to handle and to store back in the trolleys.

At 5:05LT (UTC+3) we landed at Helsinki in the middle of dense fog.

Then we arrived to the hotel which fortunately is in the city centre and had breakfast before having a rest after this night flight.

Our hotel marked with an 'A'

Going to HELsinki: pre-departure post!

2009-09-05T11:20:00.010+01:00

Until today I never made a bid to go anywhere so I've earned many points to spend. The original plan was a stay at Moscow together with my friend Avelar, but burocratic issues with visas lead us to Helsinki instead.

For me it's a great opportunity to have a break in so many flights and hours I've been doing latelly. It will be a week without airplanes: yeah, I agreed with António not even to think about planespotting at Vantaa ahaha!
I also have some kind of fascination for nordic countries and I'm really hoping to have a good time knowing Helsinki and its people. We already did some homework and we now have some ideas on what we should visit there.
Maybe we will also pay a visit to Tallin in Estonia.

We will be departing this evening and we will keep you updated during our stay! Now I'm going to pack my things :)

(May 2008, landing at HEL, my last mission at Luzair)

Long time, no post

2009-09-01T23:19:00.006+01:00

Hey guys :)

Sorry for not giving too much attention to this blog in the last months but time has been lacking!

Time goes by so fast for those who work! I just cannot believe I started working more than 2 years ago. It seems like it was yesterday and my life changed so much since then. I think I grew up as a person.

For many friends and relatives it was really weird to see a future engineer becoming a Flight Attendant. I did things my way and I don't regret it at all.

But planes are not everything in life. I still love what I do but these days I've been feeling less enthusiastic about airplanes. And of course the good old Ten Eleven was really THE plane and not a banal Airbus. On the other I'm enjoying the other good side of my job which are the people we know everyday.

So many stories are yet to be narrated and many of them from the time I worked for Luzair. It's so sad for me to realise that they stopped flying almost a year ago. I've got so fond memories from the time I spent there and I'm really hoping they will soon regain wings, now with a 2nd hand Boeing 767.

Last months I've been flying a lot and time to write here has been nil. Also, soon I will try to finish some old projects of mine which were halted when I started working and I'm also in the process of getting my PPL license! It's just crazy to be involved in so many things at the same time but I really need new challenges and I'm confident I will succeed :)

Nevertheless that does not mean the blog will end. Just pay a visit to it at least once a month and a new post may show up.

Finally, I would like to suggest you to pay a visit to the blog of one of my best friends which will spend a time enjoying Florida skies and beaches! Maybe I will join them in my holidays!

Cya! :)

(yes, I think I will be writing in english from now on!)

Operação 'Air Finland'

2009-05-12T19:52:00.042+01:00

Março de 2008

O plano de voo inicial sugeria uma aterragem em Abu Dhabi, após um voo-posição com a duração de 6h55, a partir de Lisboa.
Complicações à chegada, supostamente com autorizações de aterragem, desviaram-nos para a cidade de Al Ain no Emirado de Abu Dhabi, onde acabaríamos por ficar baseados. Afinal, em termos de operação era irrelevante um ou outro local: serviria apenas de escala técnica para reabastecimento de combustível e troca de tripulações para os voos que seriam realizados entre a Suécia, Finlândia, Cambodja e Tailândia.

Assim que nos aproximamos do Dubai (na altura, ainda a caminho de Abu Dhabi) e com a cabine vazia de passageiros, alguém alertava os restantes colegas, com muito entusiasmo à mistura, para as seguintes vistas magníficas que podíamos apreciar a partir do nosso veterano Lockheed.

The World

Ainda se consegue distinguir o impressionante Burj Dubai

Palm Jumeirah & Burj Al Arab

Palm Jebel Ali

Depois de algum tempo de sobrevoo a baixa altitude, estávamos finalmente em direcção a Al Ain. A aproximação a este aeroporto é verdadeiramente impressionante pois mais parece que vamos aterrar no deserto, no meio do nada!

Finalmente, alguma vegetação já na final curta

Aterragem...

Airbus A300 de operador desconhecido

Aparato militar

Terminal de passageiros de Al Ain

G-OBYB da Thomsonfly, aparentemente avariado

Ficámos a descansar no Hotel Hilton de Al Ain que tem uma torre com os habituais quartos de hotel e umas tantas 'vivendas' junto à piscina. Por confusão ou falta de atenção por parte dos responsáveis do check-in do hotel, eu e outro colega de cabine acabámos por ficar naqueles que seriam as melhores habitações individuais com dois andares, o que deixaria o nosso Cmdte surpreendido quando soube de tal sorte!

Não costumo ligar muito a hotéis. Desde que os quartos sejam limpos, tenham um ar condicionado que funcione e condições razoáveis de isolamento acústico e solar, por mim até um quarto exíguo como aquele em que fiquei no hotel Íbis em Charles de Gaule, serve perfeitamente. Mas de facto, não posso negar que as condições com que me presentearam foram as melhores que tive até hoje!

Os meus aposentos

Uma cozinha própria! Dá Deus nozes a quem não tem dentes: não sei cozinhar!

Mas como nem só de boa vida vivem os tripulantes do segmento ACMI, havia que trabalhar e, no dia seguinte, iniciámos a operação para a Air Finland fazendo AAN-BKK-AAN-HEL, tendo a minha tripulação ficado com a parte oriental da rota. A primeira perna entre Al Ain e Bangkok seria novamente um voo-posição, desta vez com a duração de 5h18.
Mostro, de seguida, algumas fotos desse voo.

O B767 ainda empandeirado

Pouco depois após a descolagem do aeroporto de Al Ain

Um imenso deserto...

Oportunidade também para mais umas fotos à cabine do CS-TMP...

... tendo uma delas entrado no Airliners.net.

A magnífica asa do L-1011 com uma flecha acentuada de 35º medida a partir de 1/4 da corda e que lhe permite um voo de cruzeiro a 90% da velocidade do som, apesar de actualmente estar limitado a M.86 (este sim, um valor de utilização mais frequente) por imposições do espaço RVSM.

Aqui provavelmente já a sobrevoar a Índia

Com o pôr do Sol iniciámos a nossa descida para Bangkok envoltos num cenário de cores, nuvens e relâmpagos verdadeiramente assombroso.

Escureceu muito rapidamente, ainda antes de aterrarmos. A percepção no vídeo não é a melhor mas fica a tentativa de mostrar algums dos relâmpagos...

Aterrámos completamente de noite em Bangkok, no aeroporto Internacional Suvarnabhumi, um dos mais impressionantes em que já aterrei até hoje.

Lembro-me de ter visto durante a final curta, o L-1011 cargueiro da SkyEyes Airlines lá estacionado!

Durante a rotação, abastecemos o catering para receber os nossos passageiros e alguns tripulantes da Air Finland que foram incansáveis em agradecer-nos o facto de os termos ido lá buscar, pois estavam 'presos' em Bangkok devido a uma greve interna que afectava a Air Finland.

Durante o carregamento das refeições entra um tailandês eufórico e a dizer em boa voz "Portuguese airplane!", respondendo eu "yeah" seguido da justificação do local "I saw the flag on the nose of the plane... Ronaldo!!!"

E lá vão os jogadores de futebol como o Ronaldo e o Figo construindo a popularidade do nosso país lá fora , enquanto eu tentava disfarçar as dores fortes e agudas de não poder desembarcar naquele aeroporto e visitar aquela terra!

Já com os passageiros embarcados, descolámos para um voo tranquilo novamente em direcção a Al Ain. Contráriamente aos meus receios iniciais, os finlandeses revelaram-se passageiros muito ordeiros e civilizados e sem grande apetência para o álcool.
Em Al Ain, outra tripulação da LUZair rendeu-nos para fazer a perna "europeia" enquanto o avião reabastecia para mais umas 4/5 horas de voo.

De volta ao Hilton, mudança de quarto, desta vez para a torre do Hotel (só se pode ser sheik por um dia...). Algumas vistas do meu novo quarto.

Curiosa a iluminação do caminho no monte à nossa frente...

Ao pequeno almoço, o Sr. encarregue de fazer as omoletes a pedido, com aspecto indiano, topou que comunicávamos entre nós - tripulação - em português, e qual não foi a sua alegria em poder falar português connosco! Era um indiano de Goa a trabalhar nos Emirados Árabes!

Como a greve na Air Finland prolongou-se, a nossa companhia foi contratada para fazer mais um voo, desta vez até Phnom Penh no Cambodja - outra cidade em que gostaria de ter tido a oportunidade de desembarcar... A diferença relativamente ao voo anterior seria a de que teríamos passageiros nas duas pernas, aqueles que já vinham de Helsínquia/Estocolmo, e os que regressariam a casa. Voltámos a ser rendidos em Al Ain, descansando lá essa noite e ficando à espera de ordens para regressar a Lisboa, posicionados numa qualquer companhia...

Acabámos por ficar praticamente dois dias no Hilton de Al Ain, em tranquilidade absoluta, trabalhando para o bronze debaixo do sol árabe e aproveitando a piscina e o mini 'aqua-parque'. Os nossos colegas 'europeus' regressaram a LIS no próprio CS-TMP, a partir de Estocolmo.

Havíamos de regressar num final de tarde, fazendo 2 horas de estrada até ao aeroporto de Abu Dhabi onde iríamos apanhar o voo LH623 da Lufthansa num espectacular e moderno A330-300 com matrícula D-AIKD. Ao contrário do D-AIKB em que tinha voado por alturas do Hajj, este A330 já se encontrava retrofitado com um sistema individual de entretenimento em classe económica. Em termos de amenities foi sem dúvida o melhor avião em que voei até hoje, com a cabine em mint condition.

Durante o taxi-out, tive a oportunidade de avistar o L-1011 CS-TEB da euroAtlantic que ali estava por causa de uma C-check efectuada na GAMCO e que se prolongou indefinidamente devido a uma reparação complexa que teve de ser levada a cabo por motivos de corrosão. Dentro de poucos dias, também ele estaria de regresso a Lisboa.

O nosso voo até Frankfurt contemplou ainda uma paragem no Bahrain. O serviço de bordo da Lufthansa, contrariamente ao avião, deixa um bocado a desejar para um voo daquela duração. Não falo da prestação profissional dos colegas de cabine, mas sim daquilo que nos é oferecido. Este voo serviu apenas para reforçar a impressão com que já tinha ficado no JED-FRA que tinha feito também na Lufthansa, cerca de dois meses antes. No regresso a Lisboa, novamente num A321-100 (D-AIRA), foi-nos servida exactamente a mesma bandeja com queijos, fiambre e pãezinhos, incluindo também um pacote de sumo de laranja.

CS-DDJ

2009-05-06T01:05:00.005+01:00

É verdade que o blog já está a ganhar teias de aranha... Não que faltem voos, estadias e muitas fotografias por partilhar, grande parte ainda do tempo do Lockheed. As últimas semanas é que têm sido bastante intensas e com pouco tempo disponível.

Por enquanto, deixo apenas uma fotografia que sem qualquer tipo de legenda ou comentário, e ainda que sem grande qualidade, tem um significado especial para mim!

Type 'A' emergency exit

2009-03-17T01:16:00.006Z

Jeddah, Dezembro 2007

110 pax / 90 s

Arlanda

2009-03-07T17:03:00.004Z

Março 2009

Ponta Delgada

2009-03-03T15:40:00.007Z

Uma passagem rápida pelo Aeroporto João Paulo II

SATA Internacional CS-TKL

Asa do Airbus A320 CS-TNM "Natália Correia"

SATA Air Açores CS-TGN

CS-TNQ - a nova máquina!

2009-03-02T15:11:00.014Z

Matrícula: CS-TNQ

Modelo: A320-214
MSN/CN: 3769
Nome: "José Régio"

Entrou ao serviço da TAP Portugal dia 16 de Fevereiro mas ainda cheira a novo. A cabine impressiona pelo branco imaculado e as bagageiras com um novo formato, fecham-se com a força de apenas um dedo!

Novo modelo do PSU com luzes individuais de leitura do tipo LED

Finalmente, o CS-TOF visto a partir do CS-TNQ @ OPO

Sem dúvida, este novo A320 é uma mais valia para a TAP e para os seus passageiros!

FNC-OPO

2009-03-02T15:06:00.005Z

No Airbus A320 CS-TNB "Sophia de Mello Breyner"

Cloudy skies @ FNC

CS-TNB @ FNC

F-100 CS-TPF @ OPO

RGB

2009-02-27T16:34:00.005Z

CS-TMP

De volta a Fiumicino...

2009-02-04T10:35:00.008Z

Fevereiro 2009

... com um dos meus novos companheiros de viagem... CS-TTR "Soares dos Reis", um dos últimos A319 entregues à companhia.

O tempo é que desta vez já não estava tão bom...

In the blink of an eye: Rome

2009-02-02T18:09:00.017Z

Janeiro 2009

Ciao Roma!

Não foi a minha primeira estadia em Roma mas foi a primeira vez que saí à cidade. Ao contrário das vezes anteriores, conseguimos juntar 3 elementos da tripulação (todos vindos de charters...) e aproveitar o transporte gratuito até ao centro da cidade apesar do tempo ser escasso para grandes roteiros. O tempo estava frio mas com um fantástico céu azul, a contrastar com o cinzento e a chuva de Lisboa.

Desde os tempos do Ciclo que as civilizações grega, romana e egípcia exercem em mim um certo fascínio. E apesar dos italianos serem ainda mais latinos do que nós (com todos os defeitos que tal característica comporta) adorei passear pelo meio de ruínas do antigo império romano que vão surgindo aqui e acolá. A primeira vez que estive em Roma, nem me lembro que idade tinha. Sobram apenas os registos fotográficos como este.

O nosso primeiro ponto de visita acabou por ser, como seria natural, o Coliseu. Peço desculpa pela qualidade das fotografias seguintes, mas foram tiradas com o meu telemóvel e não com a máquina compacta que uso habitualmente.

Piazza Venezia...

O Panteão...

A cúpula do Panteão.

E para terminar em beleza, a Fontana di Trevi já com o sol posto.

O largo acolhedor onde está instalada a fonte.

Antes de regressarmos ao hotel, comprámos para o lanche uns paninos que traziam umas fatias de presunto divinais.

Às 19 locais apanhámos o transporte de volta ao hotel pois o despertar seria bem cedo às 4:05am (3:05 hora de Lisboa...). O trânsito a esta hora estava infernal levando a que a viagem de regresso demorasse cerca de 40 minutos. Mas foi um passeio bastante agradável na companhia de excelentes colegas!

Os voos, esses... tranquilíssimos! E infelizmente com poucos pax.

Último voo...

2009-02-01T19:07:00.023Z

Depois do regresso de Dakar, não esperava voltar a voar pela LUZair. Em breve começaria uma nova etapa na minha vida e estava ainda a terminar um manual para a companhia.

Na noite de 17 para 18 de Maio, estava precisamente num último esforço para terminar esse manual até que (julgava eu) vencido pelo cansaço (após algumas noites a dormir muito pouco), decidi deitar-me, talvez perto das 2 da manhã. E é precisamente nesse momento que recebo uma chamada/convocatória para uma última missão. Ainda tentei explicar a minha situação mas a companhia precisava mesmo de mais um tripulante. E eu próprio queria ir voar... uma última vez no L-1011.

Não sei onde fui arranjar forças, mas às 4h30 lá me apresentei no aeroporto para uma jornada que seria bem longa. Esperava-me um Lisboa-Helsínquia-Chania-Helsínquia-Lisboa, tudo de seguida, numa operação para a TUIfly Nordic (BLX).

Seguimos posicionados para HEL num voo com a duração de 3:52. Numa tripulação reforçada de 13 elementos, calhou-me a posição E8, a última a ser atribuída. Sentia já uma grande nostalgia em todos os meus passos dentro do avião. Por imperativos de calendário estes seriam seguramente os últimos momentos enquanto tripulante de cabine na LUZair.
Neste voo havia uma novidade: estavam a ser largados dois novos colegas.
Os briefings na LUZair costumam ser inquisitos em termos de questões relacionadas com salvamento, uma filosofia herdada da Air Luxor. O saber responder às questões sobre procedimentos de emergência é obrigatório e conta para a avaliação contínua do tripulante, além de que obriga o tripulante a estudar e a manter-se actualizado ao longo do tempo.
No caso destes dois colegas era ainda mais importante pois estavam a ser largados. O natural nervosismo que demonstravam fez-me lembrar o meu voo de largada (4 de Agosto de 2007) e os colegas que me acompanharam nesse dia. Sorri ao lembrar-me das incidências e semelhanças, confiante de que também eles seriam capazes de superar essa prova.

À chegada a Helsínquia, já com luz do dia, deparámo-nos com um tecto de núvens denso e espesso que só se dissipou segundos antes da aterragem.

Segue-se o vídeo da aterragem e algumas fotografias durante o taxi-in e o turnaround em Helsínquia.

Embarcámos catering e passageiros e seguimos rumo à Grécia. Das incidências do voo já não tenho grande memória. Lembro-me que apanhámos turbulência forte no regresso a Helsínquia (a mais forte que senti a bordo do L-1011) e que enquanto estive sentado nesse período, aproveitei o tempo para conversar com um dos novos colegas e introduzi-lo à companhia.

Esgotados, regressámos de novo posicionados a Lisboa. Às 3 horas e 25 minutos do dia 19 de Maio de 2008 sucede aquela que provavelmente terá sido a minha última aterragem num L-1011. Os novos colegas foram largados e foi com alguma emoção que me despedi da companhia nas chegadas do Aeroporto de Lisboa.

Enquanto tripulante, contabilizei um total de 382 horas de voo e 95 aterragens no CS-TMP, tendo sido o voo mais longo um AMS-FOR com a duração de 9h15. Estão todos guardados num logbook pessoal que mantive actualizado. Foram 382 horas de puro prazer e que me permitem dizer valeu a pena, valeu bem a pena!

Amanhecer

2008-11-22T01:45:00.006Z

... à chegada de Luanda, num A340-300 da TAP.

Gosto do facto de se conseguir distinguir a asa no exterior.
Esta é mais uma foto deste voo.

In the blink of an eye: Madrid

2008-10-25T22:17:00.008+01:00

Julho 2008

Parque del Retiro

Milhas longínquas

2008-10-16T22:40:00.005+01:00

... longínquas no tempo.

A asa de um L-1011 da TAP ao amanhecer, num dos vários voos LIS-GIG que fiz no passado, durante a década de 80. É uma (bonita) silhueta, igual àquela que tantas vezes aqui aparece da asa do CS-TMP da LUZair. Mas esta não era do CS-TEG (anterior matrícula do TMP quando pertencia à TAP) mas sim de um dos 5 L-1011 que foi originalmente entregue pela Lockheed à companhia de bandeira.

24 anos separaram a data do meu primeiro voo em L-1011 e a data do meu voo de largada no mundo da aviação... num L-1011! Ainda fui a tempo :)

Entre Madrid e Recife: "A revolta dos argentinos"

2008-10-12T14:41:00.044+01:00

Novembro de 2007

Embarcámos à noite no voo TP728 com destino a Madrid, no A319 CS-TTK "Miguel Torga". A nossa missão seria agarrar no CS-TMP no dia seguinte e seguir até Recife numa operação para uma companhia de bandeira argentina.
Da tripulação da TAP fazia parte um antigo colega da LUZair que conseguiu colocar-nos a todos em C/CL embora, como era natural, tivémos apenas direito ao serviço de Y/CL com a box de sandes fria.

O voo foi curto e pela primeira vez aterrei em Madrid/Barajas. Lembro-me de fazer frio e apesar de estar desfardado acabei por vestir o pullover da farda visto ser uma peça de vestuário absolutamente normal e discreta.

A tripulação dividiu-se em dois taxis e ficámos no hotel Auditorium bem perto de Barajas, um dos mais impressionantes em que fiquei hospedado. Descemos todos para o lobby do hotel onde estivémos a conversar até tarde ao mesmo tempo que matávamos a fome com Club Sandwiches.
Noite bem descansada no quarto e o dia seguinte foi passado a ver televisão e o tráfego do aeroporto de Barajas em aproximação através da janela do quarto. Infelizmente o centro da cidade ficava longe e o taxi ficaria bastante caro como demonstrado no curto percurso aeroporto/hotel, suportado pela companhia. Precisávamos também de estar descansados para o longo voo transatlântico que descolaria apenas à noite.

Tráfego em Madrid: A310 da Air Comet

Auditorium / vista do quarto

A340-600 / Iberia

Descobri que era possível ver o nosso CS-TMP estacionado no aeroporto a partir do hotel!

CS-TMP @ Barajas

O embarque do voo LUZ502, com destino final Buenos Aires, seria o mais complicado que tive. Estávamos a substituir um Airbus A340 da companhia que nos fretou devido a uma greve de tripulantes e os passageiros de Executiva não gostaram do facto de não terem disponíveis as ammenities pelas quais pagaram.
No início rejeitaram o avião esperando outra alternativa que obviamente não existia a não ser ficarem em Madrid. Primeiro todos queriam sair, depois já só saíam alguns que tentavam a todo o custo demover os que queriam ficar para terem mais força numa possível negociação com a companhia fretadora. Nesta confusão entre saír e ficar, o tempo foi ficando curto para a descolagem pois o aeroporto de MAD encerra às 23h. Após o Cmdte ter dito pelo PA que o aeroporto estava fechado, tinha a económica toda de pé e de bagagem na mão a gritar em coro "QUEREMOS SALIR" tendo eu assumido erradamente que queriam sair do avião. Com a cabine num caos absoluto e nós tripulantes perdidos sem saber o que dizer, apesar de várias vezes me ter deslocado à executiva para inteirar-me do que se estava a passar, não tive dúvidas que o voo seria cancelado apesar do Cmdte ter anunciado também que estava a tentar uma autorização especial de descolagem. Pouco depois é que me apercebi que o "queremos salir" significava "Queremos salir para Buenos Aires" estando instalada uma verdadeira batalha Económica vs. Executiva pois foi impossível esconder que eram os passageiros desta última que estavam a empandeirar o voo. No meio de toda aquela confusão e com passageiros sem perceber ao certo o que se estava a passar, claro que havia uns que ainda tentaram sair a correr do avião com a bagagem de mão atrás. Tentei evitar a todo o custo que desembarcassem pois isso significaria procurar a bagagem de porão e retirá-la também do avião fazendo atrasar ainda mais uma partida que já estava dependente de uma autorização especial.
Havia, em particular, um brasileiro que algumas colegas depois durante o voo me garantiam ser um actor pornográfico (!) que estava assustado e com medo de voar e que tentou desembarcar duas vezes. Tentei sempre acalmá-lo e até lhe disse que aquele avião já tinha sido da TAP o que acabou por ser pior emenda que o soneto já que o passageiro confessou ter tido sempre experiências traumatizantes com a TAP. Mas com muita tranquilidade lá consegui convencê-lo a ficar. Quando o Cmdte conseguiu autorização de descolagem e os pax de executiva decidiram finalmente prosseguir todos no voo - já com a garantia de um elemento da companhia fretadora que foi ter à última da hora ao nosso avião fazer um comunicado via PA explicando a situação que se estava a passar e que os passageiros seriam posteriormente recompensados - lá saímos com toda a gente a bordo. E foi impressionante ver como uma cabine num estado caótico ficou toda arrumadinha com a bagagem acondicionada nas bagageiras e passageiros sentados em menos de três minutos! (ufff... tanta confusão para nada!)

Deixo aqui a versão de uma passageira que esteve nesse mesmo voo:
- Aerolíneas Argentinas

O Google permite estes achados curiosos!

Ironicamente acabou por ser um voo muito calmo e com os passageiros tranquilos a quererem dormir. Ainda bem que foi um voo nocturno, exactamente por essa razão. Sou daqueles que prefere claramente voar à noite seja como tripulante ou como passageiro. Fui apenas interrompido por um passageiro que escrevia uma reclamação e que me pedia mais folhas. Ingenuamente, fui buscar o nosso livro de reclamações mas assim que o passageiro viu o logótipo da companhia recusou-o de imediato "Não, não! Não é com vocês que eu quero reclamar, vocês não têm culpa nenhuma do que se passou". Como foi reconfortante constatar que ainda há quem saiba fazer uma análise correcta da situação em vez de disparar irracionalmente contra tudo e todos... Pediu ainda um Whiskey que foi prontamente servido com um extra de simpatia da minha parte.

À chegada a Recife - escala técnica para reabastecimento - desembarcou apenas a tripulação que seria rendida por outra tripulação nossa que estava já em REC para pegar no avião e fazer REC-EZE-REC. Nós ficaríamos a descansar em Recife até que os colegas regressassem de Buenos Aires para voltarmos a ficar com o avião, desta feita num voo de posição até Lisboa.

Só tivémos direito a descanso mínimo, pelo que, sem tempo para mais, fui basicamente dormir a Recife! Algumas vistas do quarto.

Quando os nossos colegas chegaram de Buenos Aires foi então a vez deles descansarem em Recife e nós levarmos o avião vazio para Lisboa. No aeroporto cruzámo-nos com uma tripulação da TAP que iria fazer o voo habitual REC-LIS e cujo A310 estava estacionado mesmo ao nosso lado. Acabaram por sair bem antes de nós.

A310 CS-TEJ da TAP ao nosso lado

Rolls-Royce #3

TPS de REC

Cerca de uma hora depois foi a nossa vez de rumar a Lisboa num voo absolutamente tranquilo, com o avião todo por nossa conta e a podermos fazer os nossos próprios cafés sem sermos interrompidos por nenhum pedido de passageiro!

Deixo aqui um vídeo da descolagem nocturna em REC que vale mais pelo bonito cantar dos Rolls Royce do que pela qualidade de imagem.

Durante o cruzeiro ultrapassámos um ou dois TAP como habitual, naquela que seria a minha última operação antes de "embarcar" na experiência que foi o Hajj.

Um fim de semana em Nova Iorque (II)

2008-10-10T20:03:00.048+01:00

Antes de mais, o título desta segunda parte podia ser também "You have to be roman catholic to get to heaven". Mas para não ter a NYPD à perna decidi manter o anterior!

Nova Iorque, 15 de Outubro de 2006
A manhã começou a estrear o novo equipamento fotográfico à luz do dia, a partir do local onde estávamos alojados.

Em destaque, o Empire State Building, o antigo edifício da Pan Am (agora com títulos MetLife) e o Chrysler.

World Financial Center

Caminhámos então em direcção a Exchange Place na esperança de termos uma boa vista para a estátua da Liberdade. Pelo meio, e mesmo no enfiamento da zona onde antes se erguiam as Torres Gémeas encontrámos este memorial. Acredito que os bocados de aço retorcido eram do WTC.

WTC memorial (?)

Mesmo em Jersey City, muitos prédios são construídos em altura.

E o melhor que conseguimos ver da Estátua da Liberdade a partir de Jersey City.

Apanhámos então o serviço PATH até à estação do WTC. Sinceramente, não estava nada à espera de "desembarcar" mesmo no meio do Ground Zero. É de certa forma arrepiante de repente vermo-nos no local onde tudo se passou. A estação do PATH no WTC foi reconstruída de forma provisória.

World Trade Center PATH station

Ground Zero

World Financial Center e à direita o novo WTC7 então inaugurado há pouco tempo

Depois da passagem pelo Ground Zero fomos a pé até à Brooklyn bridge. Algumas vistas de lá...

Brooklyn Bridge

Lower Manhattan vista da Brooklyin Bridge

ESB igualmente visto a partir da Brooklyn Bridge

Depois de Brooklyn, apanhámos o subway e subimos na ilha de Manhattan. Tínhamos como objectivo visitar o porta-aviões em exposição Intrepid.

Reuters

Intrepid

Infelizmente o Intrepid estava fechado para remodelações... Almoço e caminhada em direcção ao Rockfeller Center.

No caminho, uma fotografia particular. Isto é Nova Iorque!! (vale a pena ampliar)

"You have to be roman catholic to get to heaven" - a NYPD é que não parece muito convencida!

O buliço da cidade cosmopolita

Yellow cab!

Ao fundo, o Chrysler

Semáforo e a sinalética para peões referida na entrada anterior do blog

Ao Domingo, uma feira em plena 6th Ave cortada ao trânsito para o efeito!

E finalmente, chegámos ao impressionante Rockfeller Center.

Terminámos o nosso passeio por Nova Iorque, tomando café num típico Starbucks onde encontrámos como em muitos outros lugares, uma portuguesa residente que meteu conversa connosco!

Já pressionados pelo tempo regressámos ao nosso hotel para seguirmos de imediato para o aeroporto de Newark.

O nosso hotel - Candlewood Suites

Apesar de termos o tempo controlado, acabámos por atrapalharmo-nos na interpretação do diagrama de rede do PATH que tem um serviço diferente ao Domingo e fez-nos perder uns bons minutos à espera de um comboio que nunca passaria naquele dia.

Depois de conscientes do erro que estávamos a cometer, apanhámos o PATH até Journal Square e aí um taxi até ao aeroporto que nem ficou caro por sermos 3. Chegámos a EWR, já o balcão de check-in da TAP estava a fechar. Teria sido chato perder o avião embora com os nossos bilhetes ID não fosse catastrófico. Bastava mudar a reserva de refeição e tentávamos no dia seguinte sem mais problemas.

Mas tudo correu bem. Avião longe de estar cheio e ainda foi possível pedir dois lugares à janela mesmo que implicasse ficarmos separados, mas a fuselagem em conjunto com uma almofada é boa para encostar a cabeça e domir! Passámos as formalidades e quando chegámos à sala de embarque estava lá sentada a nossa tripulação. O A310 partiu atrasado de Lisboa e ainda estavam em limpezas.

TP106 EWR-LIS
O nosso regresso seria no Airbus A310-300 com matrícula CS-TEJ e com o Cmdte Melo Correia no cockpit como anunciado via PA.

Calhou-me o 8J, na primeira cabine de económica, mesmo ao lado do potente e impressionante General Electric CF6 da asa direita do Airbus A310. Se o voo tivesse sido de dia, teria preferido um lugar atrás da asa, para observar o movimento dos flaps e ailerons como aconteceu no A330. A última vez que voei em A310 foi em 2000 mas continua a ser seguramente o modelo de avião no qual tenho mais horas voadas como passageiro e é sempre um avião simpático, compacto e com uma cabine acolhedora.

Push-back prolongado e diferente do habitual em Lisboa. Motores em marcha e lá nos fizémos ao taxiway. Após alguns minutos parados no taxiway para a pista, o Cmdte decide falar aos passageiros, dar as boas-vindas e explicar que existia bastante tráfego para descolar e que naquele momento estávamos em nº 7 na sequência de descolagem pelo que a mesma estaria prevista dentro de 10 minutos. Anunciou ainda aos passageiros o nosso sentido de descolagem e que após a mesma os passageiros do lado esquerdo poderiam ver a ilha de Manhattan.

Descolámos finalmente na pista 22R com uma corrida bastante curta, a demonstrar a força do A310. Volta pela direita que me permitiu ver também do meu lugar a ilha de Manhattan e distinguir claramente o Empire State Building e o Chrysler. A subida não foi contínua (provavelmente devido a tráfego ou à própria SID) pois estivémos algum tempo a sobrevoar a uma altitude relativamente baixa e passámos próximos da vertical da uptown.

Tal como no voo de ida, foi distribuida antecipadamente a ementa!

O filme do voo era a animação Over the Hedge. Ainda tentei vê-lo mas estava mesmo cheio de sono e cansado além do facto do sistema audio do A310 ser de fraca qualidade e o som sair distorcido. Por isso encostei-me, fechei os olhos e tentei dormir.
O lugar 8J tem um ligeiro incoveniente: o vacuum flush dos lavabos do A310 é bastante ruidoso e existe um lavabo mesmo atrás.

Cruzeiro suave e sem grande turbulência. A meio do voo, enquanto abria e fechava os olhos ainda consegui ver luzes em algumas ilhas do arquipélago dos Açores. Volto a adormecer mais um bocado e acordo definitivamente perto do nascer do sol.

Descida para Lisboa abrupta com o avião a tomar uma atitude bastante negativa e com recurso, durante algum tempo, aos spoilers. Ao alcançarmos a costa portuguesa, sobrevoámos a Ericeira pelo que a aterragem seria na pista 21. Entrámos na "sopa" com chuva à escorrer pela janela. Contudo, sem grande turbulência na final. Aterragem perfeita: bastante suave! Os reversers foram apenas armados e lá fomos para o nosso stand numa das placas remotas.

Um agradecimento especial aos amigos que me desafiaram para este fim-de-semana e que foram os autores das fotografias. Valeu bem a pena!

Prometo em breve largar os plásticos alados e voltar às histórias em aviões a sério - o pássaro de ferro CS-TMP!

Um fim de semana em Nova Iorque (I)

2008-10-10T15:13:00.078+01:00

Recupero e reescrevo um antigo report sobre a viagem que fiz a Nova Iorque há quase dois anos atrás.

O pretexto para a mesma era a compra de uma máquina fotográfica digital por um amigo meu, que ficava bem mais em conta comprada em Nova Iorque. Juntámo-nos 3 amigos de longa data com facilidades de passagem na TAP e organizámos uma viagem que seria bem mais do que a simples compra de uma máquina fotográfica. Acabou por ser mais o agradável que se juntou ao útil, do que o contrário!

No meu caso, o bilhete de ida e volta já com taxas incluídas ficou-me por 128€. Como sempre somos os eternos 'penduras' com este tipo de bilhetes pois estamos sujeitos à disponibilidade de lugares. Contudo, as perspectivas para o voo de ida eram praticamente seguras com cerca de 70 lugares livres poucos dias antes da realização do voo. No regresso é que seria mais à justa. Mas aventura é aventura e quem não arrisca...

O plano de festas seria sair num voo ao início da tarde de uma sexta-feira (dia 13 de Outubro de 2006) e chegar a Lisboa segunda-feira bem cedo!

O check-in para o voo TP103 LIS-EWR com saída às 12:45 decorreu sem problemas sendo a nossa aceitação no voo imediata tendo em conta o número de lugares disponíveis. O avião seria um Airbus A330-200 com matrícula CS-TOE e nome de baptismo "Pedro Álvares Cabral", o segundo deste tipo entregue à TAP em Março desse ano. Calhou-me o lugar 35H a meio da última cabine de económica e do lado direito do avião. A cabine era ainda aquela correspondente à versão Swissair, entretanto já alterada para uma versão de maior capacidade total de passageiros.
Descolámos da pista 03, volta pela direita e seguindo à vertical do rio Tejo seguimos em direcção ao Atlântico tendo o Air Show ficado disponível pouco após a descolagem, em cada um dos monitores individuais instalados nas costas das cadeiras. Estes aviões foram sem dúvida uma lufada de ar fresco na TAP em termos de conforto colocando tanto o A310 como o A340 a milhas!

O meu lugar!

Outro pormenor raro de se ver a nível de conforto era o botão de ajuste lombar da cadeira idêntico àquele como reclinamos a mesma.

Durante o voo, o sistema de entretenimento permite escolher o visionamento de um de vários filmes a passarem ao mesmo tempo. Optei por ver o filme "The Good Girl" com a Jennifer Aniston mas sem dúvida que o melhor entretenimento a bordo é ter dois grandes compinchas a bordo com quem falar!

O serviço de refeição foi antecipado através deste menu, tendo eu optado pela primeira hipótese de escolha.

Exactamente a meio do Atlântico!

Air Show com a informação de voo

Winglet

E finalmente avistámos a costa leste!

Devido ao tráfego no aeroporto de EWR, fizémos uma descida aos S's demorando o percurso uns 30 minutos extra.

Em volta, num dos contornos dos S's

E já na aproximação final.

Flaps full

Finalmente, aterrámos na pista 22L de EWR. O movimento em EWR é de facto considerável e assim que livrámos a nossa pista ficámos ainda uns bons minutos no meio entre a 22L e a 22R à espera que o tráfego (maioritariamente Continental) descolasse nessa última pista para a podermos atravessar em direcção ao terminal.

Tráfego para descolagem em EWR

Após o desembarque, um novo mundo para mim. Um aeroporto bem iluminado e com ar muito clean. Passámos a alfândega sem grandes problemas e finalmente estávamos nos EUA para uma aventura de fim de semana. Apanhámos um autocarro à saída do terminal B até à Penn station do serviço PATH. A tarifa do autocarro era $1.25 e atenção "no change" o que para quem só levava notas, só o facto de sermos 3 minimizou o "prejuízo".

Da Penn Station fomos até Hoboken onde julgávamos ficar o nosso hotel "Candlewood Suites". Afinal tivémos de ir até "Pavonia / Newport" embora "Exchange Place" também ficasse perto. O serviço PATH cobra $1.50 por viagem e sem dúvida o melhor é carregar um METROCARD.

Sexta à noite fomos jantar a um McDonalds em Manhattan próximo da 33rd Street, e ainda deu para ver os Nova Iorquinos todos a saírem para a noite. Percorremos Broadway e fomos ao Empire State Building comprar os bilhetes para o dia seguinte de forma a poupar tempo e cortar na fila que certamente iriamos ter pela frente.
Voltámos para o hotel já quase nos nossos limites.

Primeiras impressões de Nova Iorque: gente "estranha" com noções de estética e moda completamente diferentes da nossa, carros enormes, muitos taxis amarelos. Os corpos danone europeus são claramente substituídos por corpos McDonalds :) E muitas bandeiras pelas ruas e edifícios a promover o sentimento patriótico americano.
Os semáforos para peões são peculiares. Em Jersey City a sinalética é através de "WALK" e "DON'T WALK" (e acho que em alguns cheguei a ver também "EXPEDITE WALK"). Em Nova Iorque / Manhattan é diferente: temos um peão branco para andar e uma palma da mão vermelha para parar que pisca quando o sinal está prestes a mudar.

No dia seguinte, de manhã cedo, acordámos com esta vista a partir do nosso hotel.

E lá metemos os pés ao caminho! Para chegar a Manhattan basta uma estação de metro com percurso em túnel debaixo do rio Hudson. Ficam então umas fotos de Sábado que teve como ponto alto a subida ao 102º andar do Empire State Building que já fica na spire do mesmo.

Um forma inteligente de se poupar espaço no estacionamento!

Uma primeira visão à luz do dia do ESB

Macy's

Times Square

O subway ($2 cada viagem) com linhas por cima uma das outras

À americana!

"Vertical City" / "Supertall"

ESB

Na entrada do lobby comigo por detrás das plantas

Por acaso, mais do que as torres gémeas, sempre tive um fascínio em vistar o ESB, fascínio esse induzido ainda na infância por via de um antigo livro que me tinha sido dado com o título "Ver por dentro - Viagem ao interior das coisas"

Lobby do ESB - a auto-proclamada 8ª Maravilha do Mundo!

ESB's facade

A subida ao topo do ESB é faseada sendo necessário mudar de elevadores. Estrategicamente, planeámos a nossa subida por forma a coincidir com o pôr do sol. Após 45 minutos de espera na fila, subimos em primeiro lugar ao 86º andar com um observatório a céu aberto onde se fazia sentir um vento forte. Até ao 86º andar são $16 e para o 102º são mais $14. O elevador até ao 86º andar é expresso e bastante rápido. Demorámos à volta de 40 segundos a subir e sentem-se as diferenças de pressão a atacarem nos ouvidos. Li posteriormente que atingem uma razão de subida na ordem dos 1000ft/min.

Vista do observatório - 86º andar

East River

Lower Manhattan @dusk

Flatiron Building

Vista em direcção a Uptown com o Central Park (o pulmão da cidade) visível

O edifício Chrysler, visto do ESB, com a sua cúpula de aço iluminada. Foi construído um ano antes do ESB e era na altura o maior arranha céus... Tão pequeno que parece, visto do ESB...

Elevador que transporta turistas até ao 102º andar

E é hora de subir ao 102º no pináculo do ESB. De assinalar o excelente humor do operador deste segundo elevador que já devia levar uns bons anitos naquilo

102 - been there!

Com o sol já posto e o vidro a proteger ficou dificultada a tarefa de fotografar o momento. De qualquer forma fica aqui uma imagem possível!

E já no fim da visita, como curiosidade, uma caixa de ar (?) no interior do arranha-céus.

E este sábado terminou com esta fotografia em New Jersey junto ao local onde se situava o nosso hotel, na marina de Newport e já com o novo equipamento fotográfico.

A segunda parte desta viagem segue dentro de momentos!

Winglet

2008-09-02T21:39:00.007+01:00

Num voo LIS-OPO, avião CS-TJE, há alguns anos atrás...

Ponte Vasco da Gama e o sol prestes a nascer!

In the blink of an eye: Funchal

2008-08-28T17:35:00.013+01:00

Agosto 2008

E porque nem sempre um aeronauta está a longínquas milhas de casa...

2008-08-22T02:21:00.007+01:00

... aqui fica um olhar do último eclipse lunar a partir da janela do meu quarto :)

16-08-2008

In the blink of an eye: Hamburg

2008-08-22T01:53:00.010+01:00

Julho 2008

Bonita cidade!

Rathaus