3lke Blogt: Sabena Flight Academy (SFA)

oki, guys, u all noticed that my blog is acting strange...some people can't read the stuff i wrote, others have the colors blue and white mixted up etc etc...so i decided to make another blog. I copied and pasted some articels to the new one, but I didn't took the time to upload all the pictures again, i'm sorry for that...

This is my new link: http://3lke.blogspot.com/

hug

3lke

G’day guys,

Some boys of India who’re living just across my bedroom thought it would be funny to scream everybody awake at 0615 in the morning, so I thought by myself, ‘rise and shine’ it will be a beautiful warm/hot day.

The little piece here below I wrote already on the plane, but I didn’t had internet access till now to put it on the blog. I’ll just copy and paste it.

Hi all,

I’m writing this piece in the plane to Washington D.C.  The screen in front of me says that we already travelled 2221 miles, we’re 37000 feet (11277m) high, our speed is 805km/h and we have a head wind of (38 km/h).

But I’ll start with the beginning.

0600: waky, waky time. For the first time in a couple of weeks I’m wearing my uniform again. It feels good :-p After a quick breakfast my dad kicks my two huge suitcases in the trunk of the car, and off we go. I’m the first to arrive at the SV4 – who’s not hanging there anymore - in the departure hall of Brussels airport. My grandparents arrived a bit later J At 10.15 everybody’s there and we’re checking in our luggage. We say goodbye to our supporting teams. We receive the last hugs and kisses we will get in 6-7 months. Just wave and smile….

At the security check I’m ‘beeping’ just like I predicted. My shoes, it’s always the same story. The security picks me out the line, and I’m getting searched.
Finally we board the plane –United B777-  and 5 minutes later, we start to taxi. It’s a long trip, still 3 hours to go, it will be a total of 8 hours and some minutes. I already saw 2 movies, and one of them was the newest movie with Will Smith, Hancock. Djeez, I never saw a bad movie with Will in my life, so I was very, very, very disappointed in this one. Come on, Superman with an alcohol problem? *rolling eyes* They should fire Vince Gilligan, the one who wrote the screenplay. Oeps, battery is almost flat, time to go…

8 hours and some minutes later we land at Washington D.C Dulles. We have 3 hours to get our stuff and find the gate for our next stretch. From Washington DC to Phoenix Skyharbor, a trip from 5 hours. I didn’t know so much about that part of the trip because I was already sleeping before we took off! I remember that the plane started to taxi and that’s it.

• The first week here is actually pretty boring.
•  Briefings, and briefings and more briefings!
• We also bought the Chevy Van of prom 5.  
• That car is awesome.
• We start flying on Tuesday.
• It’s hot over here!

Sorry, this time the writing is a bit all over the place, but I don’t have that much time…

Hug

3lke

The examinations are finished!!! I already started packing and the paperwork is almost done. (tip for the following proms: from the moment u recieve ur I-20 form, start doing the paperwork! Don't wait till the last 2 weeks, because u will be in trouble!)

Monday we - Laurent, Stephen, Tom and me - have to be under the SV4 in the departure hall in Bxl-airport at 0930. Apparently the A/C isn't there anymore but I'm sure we'll find eachother ;-)

What's the program in the states?

1. Piper Archer: PA-28
phase I: exercises up to first solo + solo check = 15 hrs
phase II: exercises up to first solo cross-country + x-country check = 20.5 hrs
phase III: exercises up to VFR navigation + VFR nav. check = 45.5 hrs

2. Diamond Star DA-40
phase IVa: night flight, basic & advanced instrument flying + BIF check + IR (NDB & VOR) check + final DA-40 IR check = 58hrs

3. Diamond Twinstar DA-42
phase IVb: multi-engine flying (VFR & IFR) + ME CPL (A) skill test = 25.5 hrs
phase IVc: ME IR acclimatization training JAA + ME IR (A) skill test = 5.5 hrs

I'll try to take some pictures of our departure and I'll write again when I'm on the otherside of the world.

Cya all!

3lke

btw: nope, I'm sorry I do not know what is happening with my blog, with the white vs blue background...if anybody knows what's going on, pls contact me :-)

Little note in between...

Finally!!!!!!!! I got a departure date! The half of the half of my class that are not in te states (including me) will leave this little country the 27th of October :-) The other 4 will come the 3th of Nov.

I'm glad that I can skip this winter...I'll be back when the sun (normally) starts shining again.

grtz

3lke

Hi folks,

pfiew, damn, it's almost 3 weeks that I didn't write on my blog, that's a record, no? I'm sure, ya all mist me very much *angle face*.
Good, what's up in SFA-PROM-7-Land? Prom 7A are enjoying theirselves in the big sand box of Arizona and Prom 7B, including me, had their first exams.

Principles of flight: Why a piece of metal can fly and mostly doesn't fall out of the sky.

Flight planning: How not to get lost in the big blue sky.

Performance: How to calculate the performance data and why a computer is 100 times better in it.

General Navigation: How to use a pooley, and the 101 reasons why they don't use it anymore.

Radio Nav.: On which frequencies my navigation instruments work, and why I don't give a sh*t about it as long as they work.

Human Performance: Why you better don't smoke, scuba-dive, and drink to much coffee as a pilot.

Powerplant: Why turbines kick propellers ass.

Psycho: Why antisocials are not the most enjoyable people to fly with and why sleep is very ver very very very important for a pilot.

Electrics: How many electric wire is going in a ship? (inside sfa joke)

Airlaw: Why a Medium aircraft has to wait 2 minutes before it can take off after a heavy one, and how come some ATC'ers doesn't know that rule.

Meteo: 1000 reasons why u better avoid flying in a CB.

Communications: Where you learn that 'wiskey' isn't a drink and 'tree' doesn't have anything to do with the green stuff in ur garden.

Instrumentation: Gimbal lock isn't a special kind of dance style

Mass and balance: To avoid to look stupid like these guys...

grtz

3lke

You know you are a pilot when, ...

- you say ‘check’ way too much

- reading the METAR/TAF text is easier to you than reading the newspaper.

- Your profile pic on facebook is you over or around or in cockpit of an airplane.

- tree isnt green, fife isnt a musical instrument

- before you go on a road trip, you look up the different airports along your route and destination

- When you are going on a road trip traveling west (In the U.S) you start planning extra time for the trade winds

- Instead of getting songs stuck in your head you get VOR idents _ _ ..._._._

- You know the length of every runway within 200 miles of your present location

- You start drifting over to the left when driving your car and press the accelerator pedal to 'get back on centreline'

- You type ‘121.5’ instead of 911

- You hang out with a guy and a gust of wind suddenly blows to you. Immediately, you report loudly, "Windshear! Go around!"
- You feel nothing when others scream out in a roller coaster. You only mutter "sink rate" when you begin to descend on the steep section of the track.

- When you reach for the mixture after putting the parking brake on in your car.

- you perform checklists in your car

- You begin to ease back the stearing wheel on your car as your speedometer approaches Vr.

- you hate it when the air hostess says something wrong about the plane you are travelling in

- you don't read ppl as a shortened version of people!

- when you want ur car to give how many NM coverd insted of miles or km

- six packs are instuments for you not abs

- you can subtract or add 30 or 45 easier than any other number

- You might be a pilot if you use the fact that you're a pilot as a pickup line.

- you may be a pilot if... your friends no longer invite you to watch a movie with an airplane in it, because you will start telling them why the loop in a C-172 is impossible

- if the numbers "45/180" mean anything to you

- you wonder if broken items in your car are "required equipment"
- you wonder if that girl in the tower is as hot as she sounds

- you often mix up the words "highway" & "runway"...

- you have a love-hate relationship with your GPS

- you say “forward and aft” instead of “front and back”

- you hate clouds with a passion

- You try to fit in that you are a pilot in every conversation with someone you had just met

- When turning a corner, you say "Clear Left" and wait for your pax to say "Clear right" before moving...

- your bumper sticker says " I M NOT DRIVING FAST, I M JUST FLYING LOW

- when pulled over by traffic police, u take out your pilot licence when asked to show your driving licence

- You pre-flight your car before you get in it, yell clear prop before you start it, do a break check once you start driving, and say clear left, right and straight before you turn

- on road trips you look at fields you drive by and rate them by how well you could land on an engine-out

- you have ever thought about/tried to tune-identify-select the station when changing the radio station frequency in your car

-  u store any quality FAA reading material in your bathroom for that special time when duty calls.

- When your desktop background is a picture form airliners.net

- When everyone but you couldn't be happier because its a beautiful warm sunny day outside with light winds, and your mad because the cloud ceiling is 1000 feet.

- when you refer to training your kid to drive aroudn the block as doing circuits

- You have ever caught yourself riding the center line on the highway.
- You are annoyed with your car's GPS because it doesn't have a "direct to" function
- You have ever wanted to turn to the right and accidentally floored the accelerator.

- When your mate says he is going to take his new car "for a spin" and you ask what recovery technique he prefers.

- Half of the photo albums on your Facebook profile are dedicated to airplanes or airplane-related environments.

- if your headset is in the top three most expensive things you own

- you refer to your car's cruise control as the auto throttle.

- You might be a pilot if when making a phone call you say 'Their name, your name' and then you're quiet and wait for them to say 'Your name, their name, go ahead'

- if you only use VOR charts because you cant understand Interstate maps

Howtideloe everybody!

Today I had the FNPT II simulator check. Yes, yes I passed. Not that everything went perfect though...Normally I would have started the check at 1300, but I got a mail the day before that it was scheduled too 1500. Good for me, more time to prepare and reread the appraoches. At 1530 I'm still waiting in the briefingroom and nobody's there. The checks where again a bit delayed and eventually I started at 1700. With also a bit more stress because of the waiting. The first hour it went great, and I told myself that everything was good and I started to relax a bit. I better hadn't done that, because 2 second after I thought it, I made my first mistake. But eventually everything was oké in the end and I'm happy that I can go to the next fase...well, after I pass my ATPL exams...

Hugs,

3lke

Y'all,

The 29th of September my theoritical exams will start. So, I suppose you all can understand that it's pretty buzzy overhere. My room is literally a rubbish dump, with ATPL books, files, papers, empty bottles and clothes everywhere. I never clean while I'm studying for my exams, so I think I'll have to live like this a little longer.

If you are curious how the ATPL exams work:
SFA will give you 3 papers.

Paper 1: The groups and dates. A prom is mostly split in two because otherwise there'll be to many people going too the States in one time. The groups are divided based on the marks/points of the progress checks. On the paper you find also the dates you will make your exams. Those dates will change at least 2 times, before you have your 4 real dates! And, you only got 4 days to make 15 exams. (Nobody said becoming a pilot is easy)

paper 2: The paper with the subjects that you will have to know for the 4 days, and how many time you will get. 

paper3: A paper with the Do's and Don't's for the exams.

How the rest works at the examinitiondays, you will hear in a couple of weeks.

For the rest, Prom 7A will leave too The States Tuesday, the 16th of September. Enjoy guys!

Hug,

3lke

Hi guys/girls,

What do you do when the runway lies in your backyard and you don't know what to do in the evening? Simple, you cook - read: warm up some leftovers - and go and sit in front of the runway to see all the beautiful birds come closer and closer too you and eventualy land gracefully on the threshold. And off course I made some pictures between two bites of 'what-ever-I-ate-that-evening'.

3lke

G'eve/day,

I was luckey that I wasn't scheduled for a simulator session, because today I had some other plans. KOKSIJDE AIR DAY. Weaponed with my little camera - yes, the one with the bad attitude that only wants to work if it feels like working and if there isn't to much x-wind - I walked from A/C too A/C with my 3th eye - the one at the back of my head that never blinks - always looking up to the sky for just incase the pilot of the seaking, mirage or falcon would do a special trick to show off his skills. The pilots, risking their lives, for our amusement.

3lke

G'day folks,

Because I don't have so much to report, I'm gonna annoy you guys a bit with some quotes and aviation jokes. Probably you already heard them, but too bad, then you'll hear them a second, third or fourth time.

If you have other aviation quotes or jokes to share, pls don't forget to subscribe them in the 'reaction' box.

Enjoy,

3lke

* The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.

* The average pilot, despite the sometimes swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring. These feelings just don't involve anyone else then the bird he flies.

* Sign seen at refueling point: WARNING: Do not operate any radio transmitter within 100 metres of the pumps. If your life is not worth anything..... the fuel is!

* ATC called up a flight one day and asked:” What is your position now?”
Back came the reply: ”I’m a First Officer now, but hope springs eternal!”

* And sometime ATC gets the opportunity to fire back. During a busy period, an irritate captain called up and said: ”We’ve been waiting twenty minutes to take off. What the hell will happen here in a year or two when traffic doubles?”
“Then you’ll have to wait forty minutes, won’t you?”

* Tower: "November 2115L, are you a Cessna?"
2115L: "No, sir...I am a male Hispanic."

* Tower: "AF33, you are three miles to touchdown, helicopter traffic now one mile ahead of you; reduce speed to 90 knots"

AF1733 ( sounding a little miffed): "Sir, do you know what the stall speed of this here C-130 is?!"

Tower (without the slightest hesitation): "No, but if you ask your co-pilot, he can probably tell you."

* While taxiing out in sequence behind a Lufthansa airliner at Frankfurt, a C-130 crew noticed an orange "Remove before flight" streamer hanging out of the Lufthansa nose wheel well (their nose gear locking pin was still installed). Not wanting to cause too much embarrassment by going thru the controller, the 130 crew simply called the Lufthansa aircraft on the tower frequency: "Lufthansa aircraft, Herky 23." No reply.

They repeated the transmission and again there was no reply. Instead, the Lufthansa pilot called the tower and asked the tower to tell the Herky crew that "the professional pilots of Lufthansa do not engage in unprofessional conversations over the radio."

The 130 pilot quickly replied, "Frankfurt tower, can you please relay to the professional pilots of the Lufthansa aircraft that their nose gear pin is still installed?"

* In an attempt to keep the passengers from standing or moving around before taxiing was completed, the purser of a SouthWest flight said over the PA:

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Our pilots FLY much better than they DRIVE so please remain seated until the captain finishes taxiing and brings the aircraft to a complete stop at the terminal..."

* One day, the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee.

Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said: "What a cute little plane. Did you make it yourself?"

Our hero the Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like that and I'll have enough parts for another one."

* This flight instructor got bored on the cross country flight back to the departure airport and decided to surprise the student by pulling his throttle all the way back and saying: ”Well, I simulated an engine failure, what are you going to do?” Without much hesitation he pushed the throttle back in and continued the flight. “Why did you do that ?” asked the flight instructor. “I simulated fixing it” ,replied the student.

 * The only thing worse than a captain who never flew copilot is a copilot who was once a captain.

* Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"
Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"

* Cessna 4321: Jones Tower, this is Cessna 4321, student pilot, I’m out of fuel.
Tower:  Roger Cessna 4321, don’t panic and reduce airspeed to best glide speed. Do you have the airfield in sight??!!??
Cessna 4321: Uh....... Tower, I’m on the south ramp and I just want to know where the fuel truck is.

Hi all,

Yesterday I was struggling with a full headwind and by occasion x-wind when I was riding my bike towards my next 2 simulator sessions, mission 13 and 14. Before I arrived at the parking lot I heard already a heavy noise blowing my way. Listening to the sound of it, it couldn't be a little avro or a bigger 737,... No, it was a fully grown 747 who was testing his engines. I wasn't that surprised to see a 747 next to the parking lot, because there are often planes testing their engines, but moreover because it was one of the slinking fleet of Kalitta's 747's. The last time I saw such a large Kalitta bird was on May 26, one day after the crash on rwy 20. Quick I putted my bycicle inside and shot a couple of pic's of the enormouse beast that was already taxiïng back to the ramp. While putting my camera back in my flightcase, I wished the big boy a save flight and went inside with a big smile, hoping that one day I also will be able to control one of the most beautiful inventions in human history, an aircarft.

Save landings boys and girls,

3lke

Btw, JDC would say: "A pilot's life is one big struggle against the wind!"

Damn right, he is.

G'day my dear blogreaders,

I guess u're all anxious to know what I have been doing up to now.
My days consits out of the simulator DA42 and to prepare for those sessions. Tomorrow I have mission 11.

Below this paragraph u will see the "what-do-I-have-to-know-and what-will I-have-to-do-for-mission-11"-sheet.
At the top of the paper, you have the "nice-to-know-stuff" and the lesson objective. At the leftside you have the list with the topics u have to review, prepare and know. U can see that the things I have to know for this next session are to be found in the IFR manual of Sabena. Mostly I like the Sabena manuals, because they are clear, well illustrated and good explained, however, I don't have so much good to tell about the IFR manual. It's a chaotic thing, with not enough examples and badly explained. I don't know what my fellow collegues think about that manual, but that's my opinion anyway.
Good, to go further. Under the 'Homework' box, you have the 'completion standards'-box. For example in the beginning of the sessions u are allowed to fly 200 feet below or above your altitude, but now we are only allowed 100 feet difference anymore.
At the righthand side you have the exercises u have to do in the air, the ATC clearance and the Wx information.

As you can see, I have to perform a ILS approach in Gateway. I did it before, but together with the instructor who gave me vectors to fly, what is much easier off course. But i'm pretty sure I'll be tomorrow on my own.

Save landings,

3lke

Hi Guys,

Normally I don't say a thing when I add a link on my blog, but this time I will.

Prom 6A left to The States the 7th of July and they have a foto gallery with already 3 albums with pic's.

http://picasaweb.google.com/PROM6A

Enjoy,

3lke

Y'all

JAF 3897/8 EBBR-LICJ  LICJ-EBBR  OO-JAN

Brussels - Palermo  /  Palermo - Brussels

Today I had my second observation flight, and just like my first flight it was with Jetair. This time I had the privilege to join the crew of the 737-700, OO-JAN, to Palermo, Sicily.

I arrived before the crew and asked for a copy of the flight plan. This time I was glad that I understood what was written on those papers. When the capt. arrived we checked the flight plan, weather and notams and he took the time to explain something when I had a question.

When we arrived at the plane, the capt. started the walk around, the FO did the cockpit setup and preparation and I was glad to hear the sentence 'Do u know how the FMS works?' After giving the FO a postive answer I climbed on the left hand seat and started to fill out everything on the FMS ,which the FO checked afterwards off course.

When the Capt. entred the cockpit, I was banished back to the jumpseat, we asked push back and taxi clearance and a couple minutes later we where airborn.

The flight was peacefull, the crew pleasant to talk with, and the food good. I could not have wished for more.

And Palermo is Beautiful with a capital letter! I'm sorry I don't have so much pictures to show you guys but believe me if I say it. The weather overthere was also nice, so it was a bit of a disappointment when we where back in Brussels. Clouds, clouds, and some more clouds, wind, and a way to low temperature for this time of the year.

Like on my first observation flight I had a great time and I really can't wait to take place behind the yoke myself.

Happy and save landings everyone...

3lke

G’morning/noon/evening y’all,

Waauw, where to start, where to start…maybe just with the beginning? No?

Between the last time I wrote something on the blog and now, I had four FNPT II sessions and a practical communication course. 

Tuesday the 1^st I had my second sim session and the 5^th, I had two sessions to fly as PF (pilot flying) and two sessions as PNF (pilot non-flying). Four sessions in one day, let me assure u that it was a long, long day. Yesterday, the 9^th I had my 5^th session. If you are wondering what we have to do in the beginning of the FNPT II sessions:

The first 2-3 sessions are VFR sessions. Those sessions we have to do visual by looking outside and only occasionally inside to the instruments, just to crosscheck of everything is still ok. The first sessions are more ‘familiarization’ sessions to get use to the airplane and to learn how the Garmin 1000 works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin_G1000 (Don’t you just love Wikipedia?) 

We have to do every time the cockpit preparation and all the flows and checklists. The first sessions are just ‘basic flying’, and I find it a lot easier then BFC. (for now on!)  The 3^rd and the 4^th are more precise flying and with take off’s and landings, patterns to fly etc. From session 4 we already have to intercept the ILS, and do off course the ILS landing.

Because I’m…euhm…'not that tall’… I always had a problem to fly ‘normal seated’. I use four pillows to sit a bit comfortable and ‘higher’, but higher also means further away from the rudder pedals and the instruments and controls. I couldn’t reach the rudders, and going full throttle was impossible. My four first missions where quit an adventure, especially if I had to taxi. I kind of had to lay half down in my seat to reach the rudders, and giving rudder to centre the ball couldn’t be done either. In session five, my instructor seated me lower (it is now IFR flying, instruments, so I don’t have to sit higher anymore to look outside) and he putted the two big pillows behind my back. It was the first time in …well ever, that I sat ‘normal’ and flying is a lot easier now. Even my erratic movements – which I had enormous in BFC – aren’t there anymore and the painful shoulders because of the forced seated flying are gone as well. 

From now on, it will be kind of difficult to write every week something on my blog. I don’t think it will be that interesting for you guys to know how many times I crashed the plane, or landed in the water, messed up the pattern or totally screwed up a navigation flight, so I’ll write only if I have something really interesting to tell.

I want to say too :

Prom 10: Welcome to SFA and good luck!
Prom 6A: Enjoy Arizona and don't forget to write us by occasions...if you have two seconds time by the pool...

Prom 6B: Good luck with the exams
Prom 3: (they are almost finished) Enjoy and succes with your careers and many happy and save landings!

To the selections candidates who're now following the physic course / doing their selection tests: Good luck and study well! It is worth it! And don't forget to say 'Hi' if you see me :-p ( Some of u still own me a fanta :-p )

The 23^rd I have another observation flight with jetair, to Palermo, Sicily.  I’m really looking forward to it. 

Cheers,

3lke

Little note:

Thx everybody for the mails and the nice comments about the blog. I'm sorry that I'm late again but the computer at home isn't working. I hope I can update tomorrow or Wednesday... or maybe Thursday...unless there will be heavy crosswind, in that case make it even Friday...and in case of CB's, X-wind, and heavy rainfall I'll see you guys in the weekend

Cheers,

3lke

G'day all,

Thursday I had my first FNPT II / DA42 session together with my fly-mate Stephen. The first session is a familiarization session so it was quite relaxed.

First we did the flows, checklists, briefings and we also got a bit more explanation about the G1000. Once airborn, we made some exercises on straight and level flight, turns, climbs, descents, effect of controls and the instructor even made a looping which ended in a stall.

It was a VFR flight so I had to order myself to look constant outside instead of inside, which is kind of strange if you only flew on instruments till now.

Enjoy the pic's,

Save landings,

3lke

My first scribble in my Logbook.

Ladies and Gents,

Like I said, Friday was our last day of groundschool. It went so fast. Almost a year ago everybody of my Prom was stressing for the entry examinations and now 27 week later we're done with the theory. And we finished with something fun! Xavier Coetermans, our instructor (Gen. Nav) booked the full flight sim (Avro) for us and everybody could make a little flight and landing. I was in the last group, and when the group before me came out of the sim they looked like 4 little boys who just had received the best present ever in their whole life. And maybe that wild guess is not even far from the truth! They all wore a smile on their face that went up to their ears and even their eyes where like bright shining stars. Smiles of pure joy.

Two of my group weren’t there in time. Pascal and Diaz decided that they wanted to make a second flight in the jumpseat, and they accompanied John and me. John flew first, and when it was my turn he looked like he never ever wanted to leave his place. To bad, the girl wanted to fly also :-p

I only have one word: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!! That’s the right word, isn’t it? The word u use when you actually mean ‘there are no words to describe the feeling that you feel’ or ‘there are no words to say how awesome, amazingly fun something is”
It was (awesome)³³³³³³³. And just like the group before us, we were smiling. I felt like I was in love again, with butterflies everywhere. I smiled the whole way driving back to Ghent, I even smile right now, typing this little blog-part. I wonder what I will feel when I will start flying for real. I mean, it was only for a couple of minutes but even the coolest, most superb amusement park attraction can’t beat the joy of flying. Paul Huyghe was right. This isn’t a beautiful job, it is THE MOST beautiful job!

Xavier thanks!!!!!!!

Full flight sim: Avro(tje)

John flying with Xavier in the left seat

 3lke flying

The Three jumpseaters (from left to right: Diaz, Pascal, John)

Diaz in the left seat

John in the right seat

Pascal in the left seat

Me in the left seat

Groups pic

And last but not least...an unpaid pic of Xavier :-p

Cheers everyone,

Happy landings,

3lke 

source: http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-10-odd-uses-...

Planes are perhaps the hardest things to get rid off. That is why, with a little creativity and a small budget, one can cleverly reuse them. Some already ahead and created some of the coolest, oddest or funniest hangout.

This is a house built by Bruce Campbell out of the Boeing 727 - he got a trendy, one-of-a-kind villa in the woods.






“Cosmic Muffin” is the most unusual boat, made out of a rare and historic aircraft - the Boeing 307 Stratoliner “( dating back from 1937).









The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was fitted with a luxury interior, including a bedroom, and named The Flying Penthouse after being used in World War II. It was originally owned by Howard Hughes which he bought in 1939.





This Boeing 307, the Clipper Flying Cloud belongs to the Pan American Airways and has been restored for the National Air and Space Museum (the Smithsonian). The fully functional plane is the world’s only remaining Stratoliner.


This villa in South Africa really is not quite the real plane, though it gets credit for trying.

This is an airplane conversion serving as a museum and a house in the Russian city of Perm.



When you see an abandoned airplane, you naturally try to make the best of it. This is what some clever Romanians did somewhere near a national road - a functional restaurant in a deserted aircraft.


An aircraft turned into an yacht. Until the rescue team arrives, one can enjoy the sun and water on the wing of the plane.


The following Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest scandals in the mid 1980’s, involved in Reagan’s plan to free US hostages held in Lebanon. Long story short, the plane was shot down in southern Nicaragua and was eventually abandoned at the International Airport in San Jose. The current owners bought it for $3,000 and turned it into “El avion” - a restaurant, bar, coffee store, and a relic of the Cold War.

Hi all,

In my last post I wrote that I would start the FNPT II session this week...well, disregard it. There were again some schedule problems - welkom 2 avaiation - so, I don't think I will fly this week.

Friday, will still be the last Groundschool day - unless they will schedule us for Principles of Flight next week, because the last POF session was cancelled.

My dad send me the following pic's and I find them fun enough to post...

joy!

Cheers!

 3lke

Hi Guys,

I don't have much to report about this week...the next weeks that will come how ever will be more enjoyable...

Next week will be my last week of theorie - damn, those 26 weeks went fast!- ...and we will end with the subject Gen nav.

The 26th of November 2007 we started our first course with Xavier, subject Gen nav, and we will end our last course also with Xavier and Gen nav. How nice...

Next week we start also flying on the FNPT II Sim, DA42.
We received our dates for the exams, but they can be delayed off course if there will be...well yeah, delays :-p

I will have my first 7 exams the end of September, and the next 7 exams the beginning of October. A lot later then I had expected,...

Hug,

3lke

Saterdaymorning: newsarticel about the fact that SFA is been bought by CAE.

Saterdaynoon: All the students are buzzy chatting/calling eachother about 'how the hell this could happen without that we are informed etc ect..." 

Mondaymorning: We all got an sms from Catherine our CGI that we all had to go to the large classroom of prom6. When all the proms tried to find a place, Jack Waldeyer our CEO entered the room to tell us that he was very sorry that we had to hear it via the papers and that there had been a 'leak'...

Oké, guys get a grip...pls, don't spam my mailbox full with messenges that I didn't write an update for 2 weeks now. I have two very good and simpel explanations why I didn't made an update at all.

First one: Week 24 consisted only out of 2 half days. So, the chance that there would have happened something tremendous spectaculair, something extraordinary 'out-off-all-boundaries' funny, something that is even more interessting  then winning the World Cup, finding the missing link in the evolution, finding the last pirat treasure, climbing the mount everest without any oxygen, knowing what's inside pandora's box, or even finding back my red shoes with yellow pokadots and  purple shoelaces, is very very very very very very slim.

Second one: Week 25 was (very  very very very very very)²³ buzzy, and even today (Saterday) I had a whole day course. But yeah, we keep on smiling and as long as we can sing, isn't it? (Not that I can sing, it is just a matter of speaking, because if you want to hear me sing, I strongly suggest and advise you to go and get some very good earplug-thingies that are extra soundprove)

So...what's up for the rest? Well, NORMALLY, I only have 2 weeks of groundschool left. After that we'll start with the FNPT II (D42) simulator, then we'll have exams and I hope I'll be flying above the grand canyon or laying next to the swimmingpool at the beginning of September. (I sure hope everybody saw the 'normally'? I don't have 'flashing-neon-light-buttons' to surround the word, so I hope I made my point with the red color and the caps?)

Well, I hope that everybody is now fat and happy with the little update...
If not, well...to say it in pilot terms --> I don't give a sh*t!

Cheers! And cya next time...

3lke

-when the hotelclock says it's midnight, your body thinks it's noon, your watch says 4 o'clock, and your wife on the phone tells you it's 10 in the morning and the gardner didn't show up at 9 and she has to pick up the kids at 11. Your wake up call is at 0300Z and departure at 1500L. 
(JC Baus)
- you wish that the road map showed 4pm shadow and local elevation (Dan Bayley)
- 121.5 replaces 000 or 911 (Dan Bayley)
- you have ever tried to convince a police officer that you were not speeding in calibrated ground speed (Ryan Domenick)
- the altimeter in your car just never seems to work (David Reeves)
- you can recite the phonetic alphabet as fast and in the same tone/tune as the regular alphabet (Steve Blatter)
- every time your friends see a plane, they immediately ask you what kind it is (Jimmy Foley)
- you can't help spelling license plates in phonetical alphabet Alexandre Aboukhater)
- you refer to your city by it's airport's ICAO call sign, not the real name of the city (Lauren Steere Schmidt)
- you get upset during TV shows and movies showing airplane scenes - because they just can't do it right (Lauren Steere Schmidt)
- you have wx brief on speed dial (Kyle Nutt)
- you cause accidents because you see a flag and turn your controls "into the wind" (Daniel Kelly)
- when chicks ask you how long you can keep it up, you respond by asking 'with IFR reserves?" (Jonathan Gabbert)
- you know squawk has nothing to do with birds (Rose Berman)
- you wonder what plane you could take off from the road your driving on (Luke Snowdowne)
- you understand that Zero is a number and Oscar is a letter (Trevor Nelson)
- instead of "what" its "say again" (Lee Khan)
- you hold your hand on the clutch in your car like a throttle on the aircraft
- during a casual talk about navigation and ground speed checks, you just start laughing when someone asks how long a battery lasts on your E6-B (Ellen Bunn)
- you have a license plate frame that says "My Other Vehicle Is An Airplane" (Michael Hollis)
- when sitting in the passenger seat of a car, you feel very uneasy about not having your own set of controls (Samantha Ringhand)
- you book your flights according to aircraft, not times (Ben Fluth)
- you've named a family pet Piper, Cirrus, or any other manufacturer/callsign (David Readout)
- you have stickers like "dome lights", "fuel pump" or "master power" switch under light switches and things around your house (Kieran Truefitt)
- you enjoy telling people that you are a pilot in completely unpilot related discussions (Ian Gilmartin)
- your headset is in the top three most expensive things you own (Kyle Bornhorst)
- you listen to the weather and have to convert the winds from mph (km/h) into knots, them determine if it would be a good idea to go flying (Ellen Bunn)
- your mate says he is going to take his new car "for a spin" and you ask what recovery technique he prefers (Mat Sansom)
- whilst discussing skiing holidays and the fun to be had on the slopes, you consider it funny to say "The only slopes I have done recently are glideslopes," only for the entire room to go quiet and look at you with a look on non-comprehension (Chris Jephcott)
- you're being asked in a marketing test what PPR means and your only answer is Prior Permission Required (Alexandra Kallay)
- you cannot score in football or soccer - because you like to keep the ball in the middle (Carol 'de Solla Atkin)
- your desktop background is a picture form airliners.net (Julian McNamee)
- you store quality FAA reading material in your bathroom for that special time when duty calls (Collin Tice)
- when pulled over by cops, you take out your pilot license when asked to show your driving license (Rajendra Pratap)
- you see somebody driving with frost / snow on their vehicle and you think "That idiot has Critical Surface Contamination" (Andrew Wettlaufer)
- you try to fit in that you are a pilot in every conversation with someone you had just met (Kevin Horne)
- the first date involves dinner and a movie . . .in another state (Ryan Goff)
- you know what a $100 hamburger is and have had them on may occasions (Ryan Goff)


- you've read the entire list, and laugh your ass off cause you've done half of it, and can see yourself doing the other half (Ellen Bunn)

If you have other ones, pls don't hesitate to add them in the comments.

Have a nice flight

G'day everybody,

 I don't have much to say about week 23, but pic's will tell you so much more.

21 May we had our final test of Performance and afterwards Tom Poelman our instructor bought us all a drink. Cheers Tom!

(pic's are from Stephen)

From Left 2 right: Richard, Jan, Chris, Kristian 

Tom Poelman and Robert

Byron, Pascal, Raph, Laurent 

Bertje, Me, Christian, René, Tom

John, Bertje

Sunday: my mum entres my room and says that there has been a crash on Zaventem. 2 minutes later I get an sms from Jan (prom student) that there has been a crash. I open my Messenger and I find 3 'offline' messenges from friends and collegues about the crash. 2 min later I get another sms about the crash. Everybody starts to talk to eachother on msn. This morning at school...guess what was the main subject to talk about?

BRUSSELS (AFP) - An American-owned Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed as it took off at Brussels airport on Sunday and broke apart, but the five-strong crew escaped without injury, airport officials said.

The jumbo jet came to rest at the end of the runway some 500 metres (yards) from housing in the Brussels suburb of Zaventem after the crash, which occurred at 1130 GMT.

Local residents have long campaigned to have this particular runway shut down, and said the crash was entirely predictable.

The plane broke into three pieces, and stopped just metres short of electricity power cables.

The massive four-engined jet belonged to Kalitta Air, airport spokeswoman Tru Lefevere said.

Belgian TV reported that the plane was carrying diplomatic baggage belonging to the US Ambassador to Belgium, including a car and papers. The US embassy in Brussels refused to comment.

The five-strong crew were all Americans, and the plane was bound for the Gulf state of Bahrain, according to another airport official, Jan Van der Cruysse.

No obvious cause for the crash was immediately apparent and an inquiry has been opened.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/belgiumaccidentair

In the noon, Jan and I went to get a look and Jan shot a couple of pic's.

- your video library is full of aviation classics such as top gun, iron eagle, etc (Ashley Lemmer)
- you notice that all the ships on Star Trek actually have Nav Lights on them (Nathanial Beer)
- a nightmare is a dream about bad weather (Carol Cushman)
- you always dream you are flying (Ashley Lemmer)
- you don't think of weather as good, bad, or ugly, but rather as VFR, MVFR, or IFR (Jamie Hamilton)
- you blame the "crosswind" for every little thing (Matt Scheafer)
- you can tell you've gained some weight because your usual landing technique no longer results in the usual greasing it on the runway (Zack Scheidker)
- you call to pushback from the driveway and to taxi out to the street (Dustin Largin)
- you have white boards in every room and use them daily to randomly write acronyms to see if you still remember (Ashley Lemmer)
- you use the plotter on regular road maps; draw a straight line from point A to point B and find the appropriate roads closest to the said line (Ashley Lemmer)
- when a commoner asks for the WX, you always give it in METAR format (Ashley Lemmer)
- you never trust the weather person on tv, you always check AWOS or ATIS (Ashley Lemmer)
- you have ever answered your phone with your call (Joshua David Shackelford)
- you've ever been pulled over for driving on the centerline...and gotten away with it because you can explain (Jonathan Bullock)
- you've used "Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow" together and it wasn't sexual (Travis Rup)
- you include the compass direction when you give someone driving directions (Steve Andersen)
- you ask for Whiskey Delta Four Zero instead of WD-40 (Jamie Hamilton)
- you find something not working right in your car and you pull out the manual looking for the MEL to see if you can defer its maintenance (Andy Paluch)
- you constantly say "stand by" when someone asks you a question and you have to find the answer (Kevin Hathaway)
- you get in a car and wonder for a moment where the yoke is (Graham Widgery)
- when loading a car, you worry more about the weight of the load, rather than size, and how it will affect the performance (Rob Farmer)
- you want to buy a label maker to label broken things as "inop" (Jason Hanson)
- you attempt to do coordinated turns in your car, but end up either accelerating or braking (Malek Mezdour)
- you answer any request made of you with "roger" (Melanie M)
- you cringe every time on of your non pilot friends says "over and out" in the same sentence over the radio (Melanie M)
- you know the frequency and location of the local AM radio stations (Jonathan Thorne)
- you use 'disregard' and 'standby' in normal conversation (Sarah Pope)
- you remove ALL ice, snow, frost, and sometimes even dew from your car before using it (Jamie Hamilton)
- the smell of AVTUR makes you pause, inhale and smile (Tom Carter)
- you know the only real unit of distance is the Nautical Mile (Dan Bayley)

In week 21 we had a lot of flight planning and for once we didn’t need the computer so Xavier our instructor had a marvelous idea. We had only excersises to do, and why not make them outside in the sun, next to the runway? After a while I looked like a lobster, but we had a nice morning after all J

 This week we had 2 more briefings about the DA 42 from Mr. Solheid, and our last lesson of performance. I’ll miss perfo…oki wait let me say it in a different way…I’ll miss the jokes and stories :-p

For the rest, what do we do when we have a break, and prom 8 can miss their rugbyball?

Cya all next time,

 3lke

(ps: pic's are from Stephen)

- you would be more worried about losing your logbook than your first born child (Travis Rup)
- you reach into your pocket at a party and find a weight and balance printout (John Effinger)
- you do an instrument scan while driving (Dan Giacomini)
- you know that cumulonimbus is something that should be feared and respected (Travis Rup)
- you visually and verbally clear the intersection when the light turns green (Eric Smith)
- when giving directions, you give 270 instead of West (Adam Foote)
- you conduct a fuel drain test after getting gas in your car at a gas station (Greg Taylor)
- you see a UFO and think, "What a beautiful standing lenticular cloud!" (Jonathan Thorne)
- you play every video game with the controls 'inverted'... cause the default setting is WRONG, just wrong... (Tony Weaver)
- "affirmative" and "negative" replace "yes" and "no" in your conversations with your friends (Levi Oelrich)
- you avoid driving behind trucks and buses (Zafer Barutcuoglu)
- people avoid bringing up the weather for smalltalk with you anymore (Zafer Barutcuoglu)
- you see red lights up ahead while driving and use both feet to brake (Carol Cushman)
- while driving a car you almost pull on the emergency hand brake in an attempt to "add flaps" (Bryan Shirota)
- you set the radio in your car to the proper frequencies before driving anywhere (Jonathan Thorne)
- you start to find similarities between airplanes and the opposite sex and find airplanes the easier one to work with!!! (John Rushmore)
- the only books you own are jeppesen and other aviation materials (Ashley Lemmer)
- you know exactly what "Flying the Victor 181 from Gulf-Foxtrot-Kilo to Foxtrot-Alpha-Romeo" means (Eric Smith)
- you spell everything using the phonetic alphabet (Trevor Primett)
- people get confused when they look at your watch because it is set to zulu time (Nathanial Beer)
- you attempt to do coordinated turns in your car (Meredith Wills)
- when getting married you say "affirmative' instead of " I do" (Barry Hammarback)
- you pull back on the steering wheel of your car when you see a change in field elevation ahead (Emily Green)
- the first thing you do in the morning is look at the current METAR and TAF (Emily Green)
- you yell 'clear' before starting the car (Zack Scheidker)
- you've had a close call (while walking, driving, even flying) because you were watching an airplane (Zack Scheidker)
- you know the victor airway system in your state better than the highway system (Ted Henderson)
- whenever you get that glassy look on your face, you're thinking "Intake, Compression, Power, Exhaust" (Ted Henderson)
- you get turned on by the sound of an a/c engine (Ashley Lemmer)
- you would rather fly than to have sex (Ashley Lemmer)