Landing into the sunset…

Posted on 27 January, 2022 by Stan | Leave a comment

A couple of days ago just the perfect combination of weather and time of the flying met to take this picture.

Most time of the year at Tenerife South Airport, runway 07 is in use. It’s also the preferential runway at the airport.

Sometimes, when the wind is blowing from the westerly direction (caused by weather systems above the Atlantic Ocean), the runway in use changes to 25.

So mostly if you land just before the sunset on the westerly direction, the sun blindes you during the approach and the landing. It makes no sense to take a picture because you would only see something overexposed on it.

On this landing I was thinking the same. It makes no sense to take a picture. However, I’ve noticed that the sun was already a bit under the horizon so I took out my mobile and just took some shots.

And I’m pretty happy with the result, even though it’s not 100% sharp and we were still lining up with the runway’s extended centerline…

Yeah, definitely like sunsets and also the golden hour! 🙂

First flight in 2022

Posted on 10 January, 2022 by Stan | Leave a comment

Happy 2022!

So, my very first flight in 2022 was on a glider Let-23 Super Blaník, reg. OM-7182.

Hangar at Ocova aerodrome (LZOC), Slovakia

We had to move by -5 degrees all the gliders to get ours out… But the glider was washed a couple of days ago and it’s main landing wheel froze and it didn’t wanted to move… Fortunately the were able to arrange a heater and “de-freeze” the wheel, so we could get the Blaník out.

Remember the field from the summer, it wasn’t so frosty like now 😀

Towed the glider to it’s position on the runway and went up for 2 circuits.

No heating, only my ski clothes to warm up…

We did 2 short circuits…

Usually don’t fly with so cold conditions, but it was nice. Something different. A new experience. I’ll be back, but most probably in the summer…

Wish you all safe flying in 2022!

El Volcán de Cumbre Vieja, La Palma

Posted on 29 December, 2021 by Stan | 2 Comments

First time that I was able to fly over the volcano at La Palma after a long time.

Even if the volcano is not active anymore, it still looks pretty hot.

Difficult to find the words to describe this…

Something we really don’t see every day. Let’s hope it’ll sleep again for a long long time…

Merry Christmas!

Posted on 24 December, 2021 by Stan | 4 Comments

Merry Xmas to all my followers, to all those who already joined me for a flight and all those that will join me as well

Many thanks for all your support this year, will try to keep posting images from around the Canary Islands in the future as well.

All the best, Stan

PS. It was a bit hot when I put my sweater on to make this picture some days ago lol :-D.

La Gomera and Gran Canaria

Posted on 16 December, 2021 by Stan | Leave a comment

The cold front has passed. The wind is calm. The visibility is great..

So couldn’t resist to share these 2 images of our neighbors islands La Gomera and Gran Canaria.

Enjoy!

The “Death Grip”

Posted on 30 October, 2021 by Stan | 8 Comments

It’s been a while since my last post… In the coming weeks I’ll post some updates about the news from the last months… 🙂

If you ever wondered what the expression “Death Grip” means, here is the visual answer for this :-). When I took this image, this expression just came through my mind, so here it comes!

However, in aviation this means that the pilot is squeezing the yoke very hard while flying the airplane. This happens to a lots of pilots, especially when you fly a plane for the first time, or you don’t feel very comfortable.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Chased by a Shadow

Posted on 6 May, 2021 by Stan | 2 Comments

Not every day you get chased by a shadow and not every day it tries to shoot at you… Definitely not a picture you can take every day 😀

Flying above calima

Posted on 18 February, 2021 by Stan | Leave a comment

First, what is actually calima. Calima is (mostly) hot, dust and sand laden wind blowing from Sahara from easterly direction. This wind causes a lot of respiratory problems, brings dust, the visibility drops and sometimes this causes problems in the aviation (like in the year 2020, when the airports around the islands had to be closed during several days).

I was flying today (again) around Tenerife and as we wanted to stay above this calima layer and get some better visibility, we have climbed up to 6.500 feet where we broke out of the sand and were flying above it in the nice, clean air…

You can see it in the next photographs.

All the best, and stay safe!

Landing into Tenerife North — Pico del Teide from the north side

Crewfie with my VIP passenger

Posted on 7 February, 2021 by Stan | 2 Comments

Haters would say it’s Photoshop… 😀

After having received so many memes with Bernie Sanders, I’ve decided to make my own… Looks like Bernie was freezing a little bit even if we were flying around the warm Canaries… 😀

Here is the result…

Sunset flying around Tenerife

Posted on 5 February, 2021 by Stan | 6 Comments

Flying at sunset is magic. The almost setting sun illuminates the landscape at a different angle, and makes it unique.

Here are some images of Tenerife made just couple of moments before sunset.

I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed the views when they were taken.

Safe flights and happy landings!

Stan