Channel Z tonight (Kanaal Z, Canal Z):
Vanavond in het journaal o.a.:
Aantal studenten in pilotenopleiding stijgt explosief
Het aantal jongeren dat zich inschrijft om lijnpiloot te worden in ons land, is op een jaar tijd meer dan verdubbeld. De vliegscholen kunnen de aanvragen nauwelijks bijbenen. Deze zomer smeekte de Belgische luchtvaartsector nog om nieuwe piloten, en blijkbaar krijgt hun oproep ook gehoor.
http://www.kanaalz.be
Guess where they filmed? ...Good guess, @ SFA. And they did some interviews with students of our promotion. Maybe me, maybe not :p.
Update: SFA and 2 future pilots including a 25 year old one on the news ... .
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
day 12 - 02 okt 2007
The train.
Only 3 weeks ago I started with the ATPL program, hunting my dream. And when I make a comparison between my life before the start of the training and now, it's more than a day-and-night difference.
Take for example the daily trainride between Leuven and Brussels. I remember the feeling I had every time the train passed the lightning of the short final of runway 02, with a plane making his final corrections for a touchdown on that runway. Or the noise when a plane passed just over the train ... it was always with the feeling I belong up there, above the clouds or at least in that plane instead of in the train and later on at my desk, in front of a computer. I've always been motivated to do my work as a webdesigner, but now I realize every morning that this was the right decision I made. And even with the sometimes very difficult courses, almost all evenings filled with studying, no income anymore and a less secure future, I feel myself at ease at night, just before I go to sleep.
When I was a kid, I used to spent some time at my grandparents place, playing in the garden or watching tv. They live under the final route for that runway 02, which they use when there are northern/easterly winds. And every time I heard a plane arriving, I ran outside (when I was watching tv) and looked at it as it was gliding in the air, just as long as possible. Even now, if the weather is good and I hear a noise of a plane, I tend to have a quick look or step outside to see what kind of a big bird will touch down in a few moments. Realizing that one day I'll be sitting in front of that plane, maybe even seeing my grandparents house ... priceless.
There is something like human performance and limitations, we learn about that :-), but motivation realy can move the borders of the limitations.
Time for some basic navigation exercises, about great circle traks, rumb line tracks, convergency angles and earth convergency, HOORAY :-)
Only 3 weeks ago I started with the ATPL program, hunting my dream. And when I make a comparison between my life before the start of the training and now, it's more than a day-and-night difference.
Take for example the daily trainride between Leuven and Brussels. I remember the feeling I had every time the train passed the lightning of the short final of runway 02, with a plane making his final corrections for a touchdown on that runway. Or the noise when a plane passed just over the train ... it was always with the feeling I belong up there, above the clouds or at least in that plane instead of in the train and later on at my desk, in front of a computer. I've always been motivated to do my work as a webdesigner, but now I realize every morning that this was the right decision I made. And even with the sometimes very difficult courses, almost all evenings filled with studying, no income anymore and a less secure future, I feel myself at ease at night, just before I go to sleep.
When I was a kid, I used to spent some time at my grandparents place, playing in the garden or watching tv. They live under the final route for that runway 02, which they use when there are northern/easterly winds. And every time I heard a plane arriving, I ran outside (when I was watching tv) and looked at it as it was gliding in the air, just as long as possible. Even now, if the weather is good and I hear a noise of a plane, I tend to have a quick look or step outside to see what kind of a big bird will touch down in a few moments. Realizing that one day I'll be sitting in front of that plane, maybe even seeing my grandparents house ... priceless.
There is something like human performance and limitations, we learn about that :-), but motivation realy can move the borders of the limitations.
Time for some basic navigation exercises, about great circle traks, rumb line tracks, convergency angles and earth convergency, HOORAY :-)
Monday, October 1, 2007
day 11 - 01 okt 2007
Short message: after the weekend a cloudy (but not rainy) mondaymorning, basic navigation in the morning and instrumentation in the afternoon. Lots of changes in the runway-in-use configuration today: first 25L and 25R in use, then 07L and 07R in use (very rare, since planes have to land over the city of Brussels and without Instrument Landing System, only with heavy Easterly winds and/or works on the crossing runway 02-20) and in the evening (with rain and still wind comming from the east) landings again on 25L and 25R. Low clouds, we saw 3 planes making a go-around ... impressive, you hear the engines on full throttle just before they want to touch down (but are still too high or flying too fast). And landing with tailwind is actually a no-go, but since there is this stupid diversion plan to reduce noise, they HAVE to use both the 25L and 25R runways instead of the 07L and 07R runways (with landings over Brussels City).
We don't see the morning arriving heavies (the continental 777 ...) anymore, looks like their schedules have changed :(.
We don't see the morning arriving heavies (the continental 777 ...) anymore, looks like their schedules have changed :(.
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