I do have a trip scheduled to Warsaw… what I pity I was not on KL1369 two days ago! As I said in another article, I am one of the few air travelers who does check the life west (under your seat you know), follows the safety briefing and confirms the nearest exit (may be… Continue reading A taxiway will do… KLM 737 takes-off from Taxiway B in Amsterdam
Tag: Amsterdam
Only heroes and luck stop terrorists today
It has been a long time ago since the media last brought us news concerning the airlines and terrorism. Until Flight 253 of Delta Airlines departing Amsterdam bound for Detroit came in the news. Second day of Christmas brought us back to reality. If you want to know what happened, you can read all the… Continue reading Only heroes and luck stop terrorists today
Aerodrome control towers of the world – Schiphol, Amsterdam
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has had four control towers in its history, with number three and four doing service simultaneously these days. Number four is a strange looking creature, sitting out in the fields and watching over the airport’s fifth runway. However, this article is about tower number three, the tall, torch-like edifice on the… Continue reading Aerodrome control towers of the world – Schiphol, Amsterdam
Visiting an office with a view
Familiarization flight with Transavia One of the countless drawbacks of 9/11, a few of you may have realized, is that even for air traffic controllers it has become increasingly difficult to visit a cockpit of an airliner, indeed most of the airlines adopted a closed cockpit door policy. I used to take every opportunity to… Continue reading Visiting an office with a view
Is the training of air traffic controllers better?
One of the surprising and possibly unexpected early recommendations coming out of the investigation of the recent Air France Airbus 330 crash is that training in certain basic piloting skills and the handling of unusual situations must be strengthened and improved. Excuse me? Have we already reached the stage where the pilots of a sophisticated… Continue reading Is the training of air traffic controllers better?