First flight in 2014

Posted on 1 February, 2014 by Stan | 11 Comments

It has been a while since my last flight, the meteorology was not the best one, so I had to wait long to get airborne… Then maintanence on the piper had to be done so I´ve decided to fly again the club´s Reims 172.

I have purchased a second Gopro, this one is the latest model Gopro Hero3 Black+ and the difference between the White and this one is huuuuuge! The quality of the picture is much much better than of the White model. They shouldn’t be selling this model (white), as it is realy bad.

Today there was a very nice visitor to the Tenerife North Airport; the Beechcraft B-200 Super Kingair, privately held, was resting on the ramp. The plane was there already for a couple of weeks.

Beechcraft B-200 King Air, reg. N537EM

My today´s flight was scheduled with the club´s Reims 172 (the european version of Cessna 172). The last time I flew Cessna was 13 months ago… So why not to try it out again, to enhance my flying experience?

Reims 172 Skyhawk II, reg. EC-JGP

I have polished the windshields and have installed my 2 Gopro´s; of course, that the cheaper version was installed outside on the vertical stabilizer ;-). Using a lot of duct tape to secure it on the plane. I have spoken to the maintenence guy and they are going to install there an adhesive, which will offer a better views and will be easier and quicker to install, as it won´t be necessary to clean and polish the surface, etc…

Gopro Hero3 White on the Rudder

The new Gopro Hero3+ was installed inside and connected to the Intercom to record the ATC communications, which worked perfectly.

GoPro Hero 3 Black+ installed in the cockpit of the Reims/Cessna

Here you can see the connection between the camera and the Intercom to record the ATC communications. To see, what do you need to connect it, you can read more in my previous post.

Gopro connected to the airplane´s intercom

Having 2 camera will force me to get a better editor and spend even more time editing the videos… 😉 The views are realy nice. This one was taken with the camera situated outside (Gopro Hero3 White):

Cleared for take off RWY 12

Over the clouds

Unfortunately the battery died, so it wasn’t possible to record the landing… Inside, the Black+ made these pictures. I have to admit, that I preffer the look from Cessna/Reims, as the windshield is in one piece and it is not divided in 2 like at the Piper:

Take off roll

Over the clouds

Besides this I took a lot of pictures above the clouds with my Iphone. The countryside gets so nice and green in the wintertime here in Tenerife:

San Andrés

Playa de las Teresitas

Santa Cruz de Tenerife & Pico del Teide

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Anaga

I have edited a 3 minutes long video of this short local flight with the 2 cameras on board. More staff will be comming 😉

December Flying in Canaries

Posted on 1 January, 2014 by Stan | 2 Comments

Flying in Canaries is possible the whole year, also in december. The only thing is, that due to weather conditions, sometimes you have to have patience in the weather in the case there is fog and clouds until they disappear. Luckiy it is not necessary to scratch the ice ;-).

Mostly in the winter months there is more rain in the north part of the island, where the aeroclub is situated (at 2.078 feet). Therefore it is sometimes difficult to depart in the early morning hours. It is neccesay to delay the flight and to wait and hope, that the sun warms up the air so the clouds (mostly stratus and cumulus) disappear to go ahead with a VFR flight.

Waiting for the weather improvement

On this occasion the weather on our arrival around 9 a.m. was not the best one, some very low clouds were covering the runway, so no VFR conditions were available and LVP (low visbility procedures) has been activated as well…

The time on the ground has been used efectively to polish the windscreen and windows; I love to have a good visibility and the images are pretty much better!

Preparations for the flight in the hanger

The theory worked today and after 2 hours the weather has improved and we were able to go ahead with the flight.

Today’s route was scheduled from Tenerife to La Gomera and back, with a complete round trip and some low passes at La Gomera airport (GCGM) and the former island’s airport “El Revolcadero”. The weather on route was fantastic and the wind was calm.

Route Tenerife – La Gomera – Tenerife

After departure we have followed the coastline heading south, continued to the west to La Gomera. I flew several times to La Gomera, but never came closer to the capital San Sebastián de La Gomera to see it from the air. Today it was the moment to explore how the area looks like from the air… The coastline is impressive, there is a lighthouse situated on the small cliff. I loved how the coast does look like; this part of the coast with its lighthouse remembered me at the coast of Ireland…

Lighthouse at San Sebastián de La Gomera

Harbour at La Gomera and Naviera Armas ship

We have completed the island tour and continued to the east back to Tenerife North airport (GCXO), where we have landed on the Runway 12. It is very nice to land this on the RWY 12 in the winter time, as the grass gets nice green. Following Air Europa’s 737 we have proceed to the parking.

On final RWY 12 at GCXO

Following Air Europa to the parking

I have tried to “squeeze” the whole trip into a 3 minute “short” “fast forward video”. Hope, you´ll enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed the flight!

Flight to Fuerteventura

Posted on 15 August, 2013 by Stan | 4 Comments

My last flight was to Fuerteventura. I like to fly there, because I spent living for 2 years on the island, love the beaches, the nature, it is very quite, and I enjoy the views from the bird’s perspective while flying.

Our route: Tenerife-Fuerteventura-Tenerife

My friend Daldo flew the first leg: Tenerife Norte to Fuerteventura. We have departed via visual E point (above Tenerife’s Las Teresitas beach), and have requested 5.500 feet. As there was calima (winds blowing from Sahara, normally with very poor visibility and hot air), by the temperatures of around 30 degrees we have been keeping an eye on the engine’s temperature to be sure everything is working fine. The problem by calima is, that there is inversion, so the temperature increases with the increasing altitude, so we have to take into consideration so the air cools the engine as it should.

Established on 5.500″ with practically no wind, the engine parameters were fine and we were able to continue on course.

Lining up on runway 12 at Tenerife North Airport

After approximately 1 hour we have reached the south of Fuerteventura and have requested to maintain below 1.000 feet, as well notified to make a low approach over the Punta de Jandia’s airfield, which I believe was used in the II. World war.

Punta de Jandia’s airfield at the south of Fuerteventura

Here is a short video of the low pass, in the video you can see that it was a little bumpy.

After the low pass we have continued along the coastline direction Morro Jable/Jandía.

Punta de Jandía

As you can see, arriving at Jandía, the white beaches are giving us a very warm welcome; with their longitude of 15 kilometers they stay on our left until Costa Calma.

Beach and Lighthouse Jandía

Continuing the coast line, we have reached lightouse La Entallada, one of my favourite places on the island…

Lighthouse “Faro La Entallada”

After another 15 minutes flight we have reached the Fuerteventura airfield, and Daldo have managed to land smoothly with some crosswind on the runway 01R.

Seconds before touchdown at Fuerteventura airport, RWY 01R

On the stand we have checked, whether our Gopro was still attached to the airplane, and luckily it was!!!

Gopro Hero placed on the wing

We have walked to the operations (it is nice that you may walk without having to pay expensive handling costs as for example in Lanzarote) and after that to the terminal to pick up our car we have hired previously. We have decided to go to a place called Casillas del Ángel, some 15-20 minutes from the airport, to taste the local speciality which is goat’s meat at the Restaurante el Labrador. Unfortunately they had no more goat’s meat (which would cost around 15€/plate), so we took as alternative escalope (for around 7-8€/ plate) with french fries (home made) and some home made tortilla, which was really tasty. The portion was huge, so in our stomach there was no more space left for dinner :-).

Short stay on a beach called “Playa Blanca” near Puerto del Rosario and back to the airport, return the car, pay the landing fees at the operations and walk to our Piper to make a outside check and all preparations necessary for the flight (including switching on our Gopro, should be a part of the plane’s checklist as well, lol).

I was flying today the second leg; Fuertevetura – Tenerife North. We have be cleard to taxi to the holding point of runway 01R, where we made the engine run-up and waited for the departure clearence.

Holding short of RWY 01R at E10

After departure we have continued on the runway heading below 1.000 feet until Corralejo in the north part of the island, to see the beaches and the volcanos as well.

Playa de Corralejo

Leaving the island Isla de Lobos on the right side we have continued our climb to 4.500 feet heading Tenerife North airport.

Isla de Lobos

After some 50 minutes we have reached Tenerife.

Heading to Tenerife or to the sun?

Descending over capital city Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Landing on the runway 30.

Now our Piper can rest to be ready for our next adventure trip 🙂

Piper P-28A Cherokee Archer II, reg. EC-JMT

Safe landings!

Fly with Stan – Sharing (not only my) flying experiences…

Sharing (not only) my flying advetures

Tag Archives: Tenerife

First flight in 2014

December Flying in Canaries

Flight to Fuerteventura