Don't get Suckered in!

There are two films out this weekend, both of which had screenings in Leicester Square earlier this week.
Sucker Punch Has had some pretty damning reviews http://is.gd/cDrlW6 but the promotional budget has been huge with posters and flat-screens pumping out it's (admittedly striking) imagery all over London. It's virtually at saturation point. Now I like Zack Snyder, and I loved 300 but I'm approaching this one with caution. I will probably see it at some point, as I have an unlimited Cineworld pass, but in the wake of the opinions of a consistently accurate film reviewer it's not high on my list of must see films.




If you are planning a cinema trip this weekend, I urge you to see past the pretty posters (and they are pretty) and go and see something else instead. Duncan Jones who can be found on twitter under the name @ManMadeMoon releases his second film Source Code this weekend and it's brilliant. With all the best elements of Quantum Leap, Groundhog Day, and 24, this film is clever, brilliantly paced, drip feeds the back story of Jake Gyllenhaal's confused helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens, masterfully.

You can see the first five minutes of the film
HERE but you really should go and see the whole thing. You won't be disappointed.

Sympathy for the Devil

I'm feeling a little conflicted. I have spent this week doing things I wouldn't normally approve of, but I haven't really had a choice.

First of all I flew as a passenger with a certain Low-Cost carrier (lets call them AirLeary) who I vowed never to travel with. I would never have booked the flight myself, but the reason I was flying in the first place was to operate flights on behalf of the alternative (lets call these guys Green Air)- whose Cabin Crew are on strike (which I will come to) so there was no other way to get there.

The flight was a short 40 minutes, and (whilst I would never choose to fly with AirLeary) try as I might, I can find nothing to complain about. The flight departed on time, the aeroplane was new and clean, the cabin crew smartly turned out and professional, and since the seats had no pockets in the back, I had enough room for my knees.

Actually I think this is one area that they have absolutely right. No seat pockets means no space for an inflight magazine, or safety card so magazines are handed out only to people who ask for one. It keeps the magazines in much better condition, and must keep the aircraft weight down as you don't have to carry so many. The safety card is now stuck to the headrest in front of you and therefore never gets bent or crumpled. It's position means that you are almost forced to give it some attention, and while this is a little intrusive, for just 40 minutes it was tolerable. I would still not fly with them if I had an alternative, but for a short flight, they do job fine.

And so to the strike-busting. I don't know the details of the strike, it has not been well publicised in the UK as we have our own high profile flag carrier with cabin crew problems. From what I gather, though, the dispute centres around extra working extra hours, at more unsociable hours, for less money. This is not a workforce who went to their employer with unreasonable demands and threw their toys out of the pram, these are people who feel they are being treated unreasonably and unfairly, and they have my sympathy. And yet I am in effect crossing their picket line (there was no one actually picketing but you get my point).

So how do I justify this? Well, I work for a charter airline. A significant proportion of our money is made from chartering our aircraft and crew to air operators who, for whatever reason, cannot provide the service themselves. Sometimes it's due to a "Tech" (broken) aeroplane, sometimes, it's a regular arrangement for an independent travel agent, sometimes a football team playing in Europe, sometimes it's down to industrial relations.

I have a certain amount of discomfort knowing that I am playing a part in the deterioration of aircrew terms of employment which have been under constant attack for a long time now. However, the cabin crew are making their point very well. They are causing Green Air disruption and embarrassment, and imposing a financial penalty on their employer by having them pay for charter companies, which is not cheap. Despite this Green Air has a duty to it's passengers not to cancel flights willy nilly, and is making an effort to get the job done even using other people's aircraft. I hope the Green Air passengers acknowledge this and that there is a job for the Crew to return to when the dispute ends.

I wish them all luck. To the airline that needs to keep ticket prices competitive so that they manage to keep their passengers. To the Cabin Crew whose mortgages and living standards depend on fair wages and conditions. I hope you reach a reasonable and amicable conclusion, and also, since it was obvious what I had been doing at your base, thank you for not taking your frustration out on me During my flight home in uniform tonight.

- Blogged by a mercen-air-y

A Quick Distraction

Just putting the finishing touches to the second part of the snow blog, but I thought I would share some of this week's Spanish sunsets with you.

Contrail catching the sun over the French Alps, Monday night.



Sunset over Barcalona



And a little later over Alicante



The following day, sunset over the Atlantic




Last night approaching Tenerife- I haven't seen a Moon (top left corner) like this for a long time - Oh for a proper zoom lens!



Mount Teide on Tenerife to the left of the view, and the island of La Gomera on the left.







- Blogged from my iPad

It's Snow Joke! Part 1- the Aeroplane

*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*❄*❇




❄*❇*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*✾*✶*❄*✈❄*❇*❅ ✈*

So, here is a blog about my recent experiences of snow at work, but First please accept my apology for the inevitable bad pun in the title.

Ice and snow on the wings of an aircraft can cause serious problems, not so much because of the extra weight it adds to the airframe (although this can be a factor) but because as it sits on the upper surface of the wing, it can change the wing's shape (and of course it is the airflow over the specific shape of the wing that gives an aeroplane Lift).

As a result, an plane must be de-iced before you go anywhere, but a very specific, non-corrosive acetate based de-icing fluid must be used. At airports in the UK, it is applied with a de-icing rig- a tanker which heats the fluid to about 80°C while a chap braves the cold at the top of a cherry picker arm to hose down the wings and tail. This will melt the ice, and depending on the conditions give you further protection from frost and snow for a time specified in a complicated table (essentially, the colder it is and the heavier the snow is falling, the shorter the time before you have to get de-iced again). However these rigs are expensive prices of equipment and not used for most of the year. As a result most airports are equipped with only one or two units. Expect to have to wait for your turn!
A great image of de-icing from Jpgmag.com



And a Video here.

Once airborne, most modern aircraft tend not to pick up much ice, and if they do, it happens in specific places. The leading edge (front) of the wing and tailplane are most likely to be effected, and aircraft are not allowed to carry people unless they have the ability to clear that ice. On jets, some hot air is usually taken from a "bleed valve" in the engine, and directed along ducts in the wing's leading edge to melt the ice. On Turboprops (modern passenger aircraft with propellors, but more about exactly what they are in a future post) there is less spare power and heat available from the engine, so they tend to use "de-icing boots". These are hard wearing strips of rubber tubing along the leading edge which use bleed air to inflate and bulge, thus cracking any ice formed which then gets blown off in the airflow. I know what you're thinking, because the first time I had it described to me I thought it sounded dodgy too, but I have used boots on Dash 8 aircraft, and they are extremely effective.
This picture from Judith shows the boots on the wings and tail of a Dash 8



Of course the aircraft anti ice systems are not just used at this time of year. The higher in the atmosphere you go, the colder it gets- usually in quite a uniform fashion (you lose about 2°C per thousand feet) so even in the height of summer if you fly through a cloud at altitude you are likely to need some help from the de-icing system.

There are also some small operational changes that pilots will use when the weather outside is frightful. Lowering flaps later on the taxi out to the runway can help prevent snow and ice getting into the control surfaces. After you have landed and blown snow and ice everywhere with reverse thrust, the flaps might be left down longer during the taxi to stand, so that anything blown onto the flaps can fall off.
But assuming that everything else is running smoothly at your airport and you have made it aboard your plane, the most you are likely to notice is the de-icing rig and (probably) the extra delay as you wait for it to arrive at your aeroplane.


- Blogged from my iPad

Day Trip to Malaga

Malaga has always been a popular destination for visitors from all over Europe. The Phoenecians, Greeks, and the Romans who named it Agripina (which is why your luggage has the code AGP printed on it)
For more information about the history of the area have a look at
http://www.malagainformation.com/history.html but Im going to talk a little about flying there.

It is easy to get blasé about flying to Malaga as its a route that I fly often, but the last hour of the two-and-a-half hour flight is actually one of the most interesting approaches that I am lucky enough to fly.
The first view of Spain you get as you leave the Bay of Biscay behind you is the Cantabrian Mountains as you cross the coast at Santander. Quite spectacular at this time of year with the first snow starting to settle (this photo is looking West towards Gijón)




The high ground along the North Coast soon becomes flatter as you approach Madrid and although there is a ridge to the East of the capital city, it was (unusually!) foggy this morning and I didn't get a decent photo. South of Madrid, aircraft are sent to the 'MAR' radio beacon (somewhere near Osuna) to line up with the runway, and you can see the ground start to get higher as you approach the south coast. On my first flight here, I was surprised at just how mountainous the area is, but the Sierra Nevada are just East of Malaga, and the highest peak, Mulhacén, reaches 11,400 feet.






On a clear day (today was a bit hazy) you can see beyond Spain and the Mediterranean and catch a glimpse of the Atlas mountains in North Africa. (Must get a better camera for this...)





North West of Malaga as you join the ILS (Instrument Landing System) that lines you up with the runway you fly over large reservoirs that supply the area with fresh water. Over the last 5 or 6 years these have been slowly drying up, so it's nice to see them full again this winter.





(yes, the bonfire smoke (on the right of the picture above) is the same plume in both pictures.)



The line of the runway takes you over the lowest part of the high ground. The descent is slightly steeper than usual and has specific height and distance checks to keep you clear of the various ridges, which are all now equipped with wind farms!





The airport is situated in the centre of the low, flat ground and surrounded on three sides by high ground, it's not as extreme as somewhere like Innsbruck or Chambery, but it's quite stunning so if you fly there any time soon, do take the time to look out of the window!
Being in a valley like this means that the prevailing wind is heavily dependant on time of day. In the morning the warmer air is over the sea, which rises and draws air down the valley- so the earlier you get there, the more likely you are to use the North Westerly runway. As we arrived this morning the land was warming up and reversing the air flow, so we were able to go straight in from MAR to land in a South Easterly direction- which can cut up to 10 minutes off a flight time.





Directly ahead here you can see the main runway and taxiway, to the left of that, the new runway being built which should be ready for next summer.
Welcome to Malaga- I can recommend a great Kareoke bar, but that's quite another story!


- Blogged from my iPad

Political thought for the day

My greatly missed Australian Uncle used to quote this a lot. It sums up pretty well how I feel about right wing politicians at the moment (and I'm quite happy to be identified as a pig)

"One evening last October, when I was far from sober
And dragging home a load with manly pride
My feet began to stutter and I fell down in the gutter
And a pig came up and parked right by my side

Then I mumbled, "It's fair weather when good comrades get together"
Till a lady passing by was heard to say,
"You can tell a man that boozes by the playmates that he chooses"
Then the pig got up and slowly walked away."

The view from my office window

This is what I saw at work today.
Minehead



Lanzarote



Racing home



A sunset sequence (sorry if you were on the ground this evening, you would have missed this as the low cloud got in the way)














And Birmingham through a gap in the cloud





I hope you enjoy these. Seeing this at work sort of makes up for being in a hotel away from my family tonight. Sort of.


-Blogged from my iPhone