Category: The lighter side

Light stories about delivery flights and other happenings

Flying around Christmastime can be Dangerous

This must be the ultimate Christmas yard decoration… The site is near the Oak Creek Bridge on St. Michael’s Road [MD 33]. The folks who own the property always have eye-catching displays celebrating various ‘holidays’ through the year… this year they have certainly outdone themselves!  

A Classic with Winglets

Brussels Airlines, Belgium’s main carrier operates an interesting mixed fleet out of Europe’s capital. It is one of the few European companies that fly a winglet version of the Boeing 737 Classic, the 300 series. Airliner World has been invited to see how they fly. Brussels Airlines rose from the ashes of Sabena after its… Continue reading A Classic with Winglets

Island hopping with Travel Service

Summer months are of crucial importance for all airlines but they are even more so for those in the charter business. Airliner World was happy to accept the invitation of one of those charter companies, Travel Service Hungary – an affiliate of its owner Travel Service A.S. – to check how their operations are conducted… Continue reading Island hopping with Travel Service

There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky…

We have all seen pictures of witty sentences painted on aircraft fuselages or bombs and rockets but more often than not, we quickly forget them and when we too could insert a witty remark, they prove impossible to dig up from our memories. Krisztian, one of our contributors, has now provided a nice collection of… Continue reading There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky…

Spreading my wings

Airport Blagnac (LFBO), Toulouse, France. A historic place. This is where the first Concorde took off on 2 March 1969 commanded by Andre Turcat. The biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 flew for the first time also from here on 27 April 2005. These days, Blagnac is Airbus’ main base, all new-born aircraft built in… Continue reading Spreading my wings

Freight dogging with TNT Airways

Sure they can…! A large majority of Air Traffic Controllers are usually busier during the day than during a nightshift. There are however a few radiotelephony callsigns which are always associated with night operations. One such call sigh is “Quality”, the official ICAO callsign of TNT Airways which sounds familiar to all ATCO-s on night… Continue reading Freight dogging with TNT Airways

Going supersonic

While preparing for this afternoon’s Luton flight I noticed on the Significant Weather chart that strong north-easterly winds were blowing at high altitudes almost everywhere over Europe. Added to this, the weathermen were forecasting severe turbulence too. During an extra thorough briefing we went through all the options and even considered flying the complete route… Continue reading Going supersonic

Night run – impressions from a charter flight

It is 8.30 in the evening but the briefing room is not empty. We are getting ready for a long trip. Destination: Palma de Mallorca, the capital city of the Balearic Islands. We are the opening flight of the season for Ecotours, the Polish travel agency. We discuss the weather… convection thunderstorm cells have risen… Continue reading Night run – impressions from a charter flight

Christmas greetings from the K9 unit

We got this nice picture from Chris, our contributor on security related subjects. These dogs are experts at everything from finding bad guys to rescuing people trapped under collapsed buildings. In this festive season they too will take a break but still stand by for the call for help, whenever it might come.