Mountainous Moon

An amazing moonrise at flight level 280 over the Alps while flying from Lisbon to Milan Malpensa in Airbus A320 CS-TNR. By now we have briefed and are ready for the CAT III B no DH ILS approach to Milan's runway 35L. Touchdown RVR is at 450m so, if required, reversion to a CAT II approach is still an option. It's that time of year...

Layered Sky

Milan - Malpensa to Lisbon in Airbus A321 CS-TJE

Peeking Peaks

Milan - Malpensa to Lisbon in Airbus A321 CS-TJE

Onset of Day

From Porto to Paris Orly in Airbus A320 CS-TNH

Sharklets!

A320 CS-TNS during the turn-around in Sal (Cape Verde). This chartered flight from Porto and back was my first chance to experience one of TAP's few Sharklet retrofitted A320's. Besides increasing fuel efficency by reducing wing tip vortice induced drag, the Sharklets also make the airplane look a whole lot better which, I guess, is always a commercial advantage. The C-17 in the back also has wingtip extentions which serve the same purpose. Those are, however, called winglets instead of Sharklets which is an Airbus trademark.

Outside In

City of Lights

An amazing view of Paris from FL360 shortly before starting the descent towards Luxembourg in Airbus A319 CS-TTC. Can you spot the Eiffel tower?

Crepuscular Radiation

Spectacular crepescular rays shooting through the broken Stratocumulus clouds over Munich's airport. Airbus A319 CS-TTG on a long final for runway 26L

Ice Vortex I

What do you get when you put a cold atmosphere, jet engines and a heavy Boeing 747-8 together? This! A violently twisting and turning contrail. As the water vapor produced in the engines combustion chambers meets the cold atmosphere, it instantly condenses into water droplets (if its cold enough, the vapor will change directly into ice crystals in a process called deposition) thereby creating a contrail (condensation trail). As the contrail meets the powerful but invisible wingtip vortices of a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8, it makes them visible and the result is amazing. From Porto to Paris Orly in Airbus A319 CS-TTH looking out for wake turbulence.

Ice Vortex II

What do you get when you put a cold atmosphere, jet engines and a heavy Boeing 747-8 together? This! A violently twisting and turning contrail. As the water vapor produced in the engines combustion chambers meets the cold atmosphere, it instantly condenses into water droplets (if its cold enough, the vapor will change directly into ice crystals in a process called deposition) thereby creating a contrail (condensation trail). As the contrail meets the powerful but invisible wingtip vortices of a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8, it makes them visible and the result is amazing. From Porto to Paris Orly in Airbus A319 CS-TTH looking out for wake turbulence.

Crack of Dusk

The setting Sun escapes between cloud layers shortly before the approach and landing at Porto inbound from Zurich in Airbus A319 CS-TTQ.

Cross Jet

Much like a migrating bird, the subtropical jetstream moves south in the winter thereby affecting the portuguese latitudes. It also intensifies in strength and is often accompanied by moderate clear air turbulence (CAT). Here, the powerful jetstream calls for an almost 20º drift correction in order to fly the required track to LIDRO waypoint where the standard arrival to our destination begins. With a true airspeed (TAS) of 416 kts, a drift correction of this magnitude requires a serious crosswind which in this case blows at 146 kts. Airbus A319 CS-TTN from Lisbon to Funchal at FL330.

Crossing Traffic

High altitude crossing in the early morning while flying from Porto to Paris - Orly in Airbus A319 CS-TTQ.

Barcelona by Night

Night falls on Barcelona seen off the nose of Airbus A319 CS-TTG enroute from Venice to Lisbon.

Filtered Sunlight

An awsome December sunrise greets us in the climb out of Porto towards Paris - Orly in Airbus A319 CS-TTN.

Local Instability

Hot industrial smoke pierces the overcast and rises in the cold morning air as we descend towards Paris in Airbus A319 CS-TTN. High atmospheric pressures have materialized low visibility weather conditions and we are set up for a CAT III B approach in Orly.

Organized Chaos

Three crossing traffics, each separated by 2000ft, shoot by as we navigate in the opposite direction. This is RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minima) airspace which means that we will have a minimum vertical separation of 1000ft (about 300m) with the aircraft passing above and below us. This allows for more airplanes in the same airspace but before operating here, several strict requirements need to be met. A319 CS-TTU from Porto to Zurich.

Cloud Monsters

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability creates some late afternoon "cloud monsters" as we cruise by in A320 CS-TNU from London-Gatwick to Porto.

The Glory of the A321 Pilot

The shadow of Airbus A321 CS-TJG in the climb out of Funchal with 199 Lisbon bound passengers on board.

Gateway

Not much of a photograph, but interesting nevertheless. Dense fog engulfs Paris Orly where low visibility procedures are enforced due to an RVR (Runway Visual Range) of 275m. We are performing a CAT III B ILS approach to runway 26 with a regulatory DH (decision height) of 20ft. This shot reveals where the fog is disrupted by engine exhaust and wake turbulence from the aircraft on the glidepath and effectively making visible an otherwise invisible ILS.