Nice

I was going to post a video of the approach and take-off from Nice, but the camera decided to focus on the windshield wiper instead of the greater world so the best I can manage is this rather stunning view of the coast from Nice to Monaco, taken a few minutes after takeoff.

I haven't tampered with the colours at all, what you see is exactly what I saw... I never tire of views like these.

New Year, New start

Or something like that...

Lots of exciting things expected to happen in the next 12 months and having taken a suitably refreshing break from writing I thought I'd give it another go.

Let's start with a picture, one of many more to come.

Sunrise over the English Channel, on a (very) early morning departure to Greece. We left a cold, overcast, somewhat wet London for 4 hours of clear blue skies and a generous tailwind...

Happy Holidays

Haven't posted much because I haven't flown much this month. I passed the check, then flew to Delhi and back, then flew to Abu Dhabi and back, caught a cold, flew home to London (in the jumpseat), started suffering from the cold ... and I'm still suffering. I should have been back in work last week but the drugs I'm on aren't compatible with flying so I'm stuck at home for Christmas this year, which is a pleasant surprise despite the agonising headaches.

Here is my Christmas card for the year, once again appropriate to my position and mood. Happy Christmas wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

S.

Pictures - 7

More pictures... Busy few weeks preparing for some big changes.

Kota Kinabalu

Brunei

Queueing in Singapore

Queueing in Singapore again, different day

Pictures - 6

In the box of tricks again, fighting multiple system failures and, ironically, volcanic ash.

Some more pictures from the last few months...

Flying through a rainbow.

Singapore A330 landing on parallel runway in Singapore.

Sunset east of the Philippines.

Taipei.

S.

Pictures - 5

Not really in a blogging mood these days, so here are some pictures to look at.

A glimpse of paradise 38000ft below.

Battling a rather strong wind at max altitude - notice how close the high and low speed limits are.

Another sunset. They just make me hungry.

Pictures - 4

Some more pictures, mostly the sky this time. The weather is getting much better making airborne photography a possibility again.

Sunset on M758.

A rather amazing tunnel like effect in the atmosphere.

Traffic 3000ft above.

Mount Kinabalu.

S.

Mt. Kinabalu

Today was probably the nicest day I have had so far weather-wise. We departed 10 minutes early for the short hop to Sandakan in a completely totally clear sky, with only a hint of morning ground fog. The view of Borneo and Mt. Kinabalu was spectacular ... and typically I left my camera at home.

My mobile phone is equipped with a "camera" so I used it to try and capture as best I could this unique moment of seeing the mountain completely clear of cloud. I'm afraid the pictures don't really do justice to the savage beauty of the scene.

Mt. Kinabalu taken from the South, on approach to Kota Kinabalu.

And again taken on departure from K-K with the harbour in the front.

A few hours later I was landing in drizzly wet and comparatively chilly (17°) Shenzhen. Visibility was just 3000m and we broke out of cloud at 500ft AGL. The mandarin ATC was just as spooky as it was last time I flew to China a few months ago.

The clouds had built up to obscure the mountain for our second arrival into KK but the airfield was still clear and we executed a light-aircraft style visual approach over the water. Proof that flying big jets isn't always about autopilots and fancy automatic landing systems.

S.

Happy Holidays

I quite like flying around big holidays, the knowledge that I'm bringing families and friends together makes the job that much nicer and as my family and close friends are all very very very very far away being in an aeroplane is the next best thing.

It's quite interesting how a tiny detail can make (or break) someone's day. I swapped my regular pilot cap for a more festive alternative and the amount of smiles it created was truly amazing. Rampers who usually rush about took a few seconds to give me a thumbs-up from outside, the cabin crew had something to gossip and laugh about and the passengers were most amused. If everyone did a little something to make others smile the would could be such a nicer place.

A Christmas card I made very quickly for you all. Took the picture today en-route to Singapore, the aeroplane wanted to wear the hat too.

As the card says, happy holidays where ever you are...

S.

Pictures - 3

Some more pictures...

Pahang river

Kuching

In the queue...

En-route somewhere...

Pictures - 2

Have been flying around in the jumpseat, officially observing, since about a week. The first flights were interesting but watching other people fly is getting tedious. Sometimes they'll have me do the radios or pre-flight setup, other days there's barely a word exchanged and the day feels very long.

Some pictures...

Kuala Lumpur at night.

Final approach to Kuala Lumpur.

A 777 coming straight at us, 1000ft below.

Pictures

As promised...

A family of giant cumulonimbus (cumulonimbi?) forcing us off the airway. The tops were a good 6-8000ft above us.

A Singapore 777 trying to race us, 6000ft above.

More clouds, in the most amazing sunset ever. Pity we were pointing the wrong way - it was difficult to take pictures.

S.