Great experience to fly Delta India Mike from TLS to ATH. The longest single sector I ‘ve done in the a/c (~1100nm). Interesting upgrade on avionics (standard 4), though the effect on our operations is expected to be small.
At TLS I had the chance to meet my flight test buddy Nunzio who showed me around Airbus.
Glad to have been invited to join the Flight Operations Department. A number of projects are currently underway. One which has been completed is the development of a Fuel Analysis tool which works on a database created by Daily Fuel Reports. The tool generates various statistics and trends on fuel for multiple a/c types and different flights useful for operational purposes.
Two of my July memorable flights:
Back to Canada after more than 2 years of absence. Got to take care of some general business, plus got to fly in a Cessna 340 for an FTE check ride plus my dear Piper Cub out of WOFC – definitely one of the things I miss most from my ‘previous life’…
One go-around and two diversions in the same day.
Actually night IFR with TSRA, gusting winds, and icing conditions…
Six days in Vienna Austria for the completion of the difference course between 42/72-600 and 42/72-500. Going back from glass cockpit to EFIS and gauges is a huge lesson. Already completed a short line training and started flying the 42-500.
New Year, New Goals, New Challenges. Pretty much the same Dreams…
Reviewing Aviation papers for one more year. I have the feeling that AI has affected paper/abstract submission among other things. Wondering whether AI will be doing all this work in the near future…
Storm Adel swept across Greece last week and regional turboprop operations are significantly affected. Had to perform my first diversion as due to some unexpected delays we found ourselves being blocked by thunderstorms all along our approach path. We (PEF VPA) did our best to avoid and approach but this was not possible and decided to divert. Very good experience.
I have been flying the ATR72-600 for almost 1 year. While I feel very comfortable in the aircraft, I still have lots to learn on it. In the mean time I was glad to learn that I was selected to fly the ATR 42-500. While the types are similar, the -500 version contains conventional instruments compared to the -600 glass cockpit. Also, the 42 has the capability to operate from shorter runways thus from certain islands that the -600 cannot. Overall -500 has a more difficult operation but I feel it will be a valuable experience, especially when I am particularly interested in flying different a/c types.
Below a comparison from the two cockpits.
aeroscience 