La Ciencia y Arte del Vuelo

Tan solo piensen en todo lo que conforma la aviación: Ingeniería, medicina, arquitectura, diseño, física, matemáticas, meteorología, construcción... Todas estas se clasifican en la aviación como aerodinámica, meteorología, navegación, factores humanos; son ciencias complejas y extensas que convergen en, más que una profesión, una pasión y vida.
Todo lo que conforma la aviación son maravillas tecnológicas creadas por un conjunto de conocimientos y técnicas científicas aplicadas a la invención, perfeccionamiento y utilización de técnicas para la solución de problemas que afectan directamente en la vida cotidiana.
Ya sea un avión, barco, automóvil, es un conjunto de ideas y sueños que incontables personas tenían y se lograron por la unificación de cada una de esas ciencias.

El Transbordador Espacial: La maquina más compleja jamás hecha es un testigo de eso. Todos los sistemas; 2.5 millones de partes, incluyendo 370 kilómetros de cable, mas de 1,060 válvulas y conexiones, funcionando a la perfección para poner al Shuttle en órbita a 28,000 kilómetros por hora a 600 km de altitud; para que después de un poco menos de dos semanas, entre a la atmósfera y aterrice en la pista como un gran y elegante planeador. La definición pura del arte de la ingeniería y perfección.

Volar en un avión con más de 200 pasajeros a 900 kilómetros por hora, 37,000 pies de altitud con menos de 50 grados centígrados bajo cero. El avión, diseñado y construido por los estándares más altos de seguridad y la tecnología más moderna. Todo planeado cuidadosamente. La cabina de vuelo: Lugar en donde se centra todo para el piloto. En donde la información le es mostrada por diversos sistemas de medición y proyección, para planear y efectuar un vuelo eficiente y seguro; cuando el pasajero, quien lee el periódico desde la comodidad de su asiento mientras disfruta de un delicioso y relajante te, espera ansiosamente a llegar a su destino para reunirse con su familia.

Todo ese conocimiento y estudio se aplica en ese mismo vuelo. Todas las ciencias y profesiones unificadas, para que el piloto, a través de los controles e instrumentos de vuelo, comience con la carrera de despegue, aplicando potencia; La cual es generada por otra maravilla tecnológica: La turbina. El avión despega, asciende como un ángel nostálgico a más de 3000 pies por minuto. Se vuela por encima de las nubes, para disfrutar de un glorioso atardecer.

Cualquier cosa es testamento de la complejidad, convicción, persuasión (o como le quieren decir) del hombre y el mundo moderno. Son cosas con las que soñamos y nos inspiran. Cosas de las que pensamos y nos sentimos nostálgicos, emocionados y desafiados.

Pilot Training in Mexico: A Reality Show

The story reflects various student pilots experiences in both Mexico and the United States. It's a story to show the differences in paperwork time required, efficiency and training quality of both countrys. The flight hours required and time in the flight training can vary. Everything depends on an infinate number of factors, such as financing, student performance, weather, flight school administration, airplane, instructor availability, etc.

Let me write a story about two guys: Bob and John

Bob and John finished highschool in Mexico the same year and wanted to become professional pilots. Bob decided to do his PPL/CPL flight training in Mexico and John in the United States. Bob and John did some research about flight schools, fleet, training programs, housing and costs, to make a good decision on what school to choose.

John found out there are two kinds of flight schools in the US. They operate under Part 61 or Part 141 training requirements, both of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). You can read about them in this site.

John began to read flight school articles in pilot maganzines and the internet. He also found out there are 'flight academys' operating under Part 141 training requirements and it was structured with an airline training style program with Standard Operating Procedures, a good structured ground school, simulators and a modern single and multiengine fleet. He also found a Part 61 flight school with a good fleet of airplanes, a self-study program with little ground school. It was also cheaper than the flight academy. He decided he would enter a Part 61 flightschool, because he would also have to pay for housing and pay the license conversion course in Mexico. John had many schools to choose from and after making a good list with pro and cons, he finally chose one. Let's name the flight school: "Flying Circus Training Centre".
It had four Cessna 172s, four Piper Archers and two Piper Seminoles. The installations were ok and there was a great pilot shop nearby where he could buy all his charts, books, training kits with pilot bag and of course, a cool uniform. He also had to buy a good headset for his flights.
After waiting two weeks for his Visa, John flew to the city where the flight school was and as soon as he got to the flight school, he got his training schedule and began studying for his Private Pilot License training. John also had to make an appointment with an Aviation Medical Examiner to get his Class 3 medical certificate. It took no more than a three days to get an appointment and undergo the medical examination. The Class 3 medical certificate is 5 years valid. TSA has to approve the training to foreign students as well and that takes about 2 weeks.

He studied hard, completed ground school, his 40 hours in the 172, passed the knowledge test and checkride in four months. When John went through his checkride, the FAA Designated Pilot Examiner made sure John had all the documentation needed for his PPL and gave him a temporary license right after passing checkride. John received his license within three weeks of passing his checkride. Flying Circus had a good schedule for its flight students so that they could fly with continuity. The majority of the flight instructors cared about the students excecuting all tasks, maneuvers and procedures with excellence and professionalism. Flying Circus also rented its airplanes so that John could fly anywhere he wanted to. John found out there are good services for pilots and he could get any information for his flights pretty quick. If a chart wasn't valid anymore, he could go to the pilot shop and buy the current chart. That way, he would always fly with updated information. John continued his Commercial Pilot License training. After completing the course, requierements and tests, he got the Multi-engine Commercial Pilot License with an Instrument Rating. It took no more than 10 months to complete it. He liked the way Flying Circus prepared its students with a good training syllabus and encouraging them to complete tasks with excellent skills. He also was happy with the maintenance of the aircraft in which he flew, knowing that his school would always comply with the mandatory inspections established by the FAA and in case he had any unforecasted situation he had been trained to deal with it properly.
John flew back to Mexico, satisfied with what he had experienced and more important than that, confident of his abilities as a commercial pilot.


Bob began his research by reading mexican aviation magazines and on the internet in aviation forums. He found out there are only two or three flight schools with a good number of aircraft (2 Cessna 152, a Cessna 172 and a rented Piper Aztec), good facilities, simulators and instructors. He made a list and chose "Triple Ace Flight School".
Before he could begin with his flight training, he had to make an appointment for his medical examination. He called the SCT (Mexico's transport authorities) and got an appointment in one month. After getting the unnecesary paperwork for the medical examination, he got his Class 2 medical certificate with a validity of 2 years. He had 90 days to get his training permit. Triple Ace Flight School did all the paperwork for the permit, but it took Bob a month and a half to finally get it. He could now begin with his flight lessons. Ground school went pretty good and he got all his books and training supplies from a exaggeratedly expensive pilot shop in another city. The only pilot supplies available in Mexico are imported from American companys. Everything's in english and the textbooks contain the US flying procedures and structure. The navigation charts were outdated for his visual flights and he couldn't get any information from flight services on the internet.
Triple Ace only had two flight instructors and there were too many students, so they couldn't fly continuously. After completing his "checkride" with the instructor he had flown with many hours before, Bob now had everything for his PPL. He had to undergo medical examination once more, because there's a 90 day limit to do all the paperwork required for the Mexican aviation authorities. It took him more than a 10 months to get his PPL. Triple Ace didn't rent its airplanes and Bob couldn't find any flight school that rents planes so that he could rent one and fly with his friends and family; and more important than that, to gain experience and self confidence.

He continued his CPL training at Triple Ace and went through the same process of unnecesary medical examinations for paperwork. Bob completed his CPL course after 16 months without having a good training program and syllabus. The Mexican Civil Aviation Authorities (DGAC) don't provide Practical Test Standards, nor training/education materials. It is slow, inneficient and old. The only thing Bob had to do is the newly implemented International Center of Civil Aviation Training (CIAAC) professional exam to get a professional pilot's degree. When he passes the exam, he will get his CPL. It's a new requirement to get a CPL in Mexico. Quoting the Mexican Professional Association of Pilots,

created the Comission of Professionalization; which worked together with the Technical Committee of Professionalization created by the Communication and Transport Ministry and the Public Education Ministry; in which made the commitment to contribute that all member and non-member pilots of Mexico obtain their Professional Degree.

To obtain the Professional Degree is not only an established requirement in the Law, but it is to recognize that our pilot profession demands a high academic level and safety to benefit the society, as any profession commits and obligates itself to it.

What John had to do after his flight training in the US, is a license conversion course. Before November 2009, a pilot with an FAA CPL could convert his license in two weeks. John must choose one of three flight schools to complete the course. The required ground school lessons are based on what type of flight school, Part 61 or 141, John had attended. In John's case, Part 61, approximately 300 hours of ground lessons. 120 ground lesson hours for Part 141 schools. That’s for american flight schools. What about canadian or european flight schools? You get subjects that you have studied already. It should be enough to get subjects as ATC, Mexican air law, AIP content lessons; meaning learning the differences of oparations and procedures in Mexico. The required flight lessons are randomly told by the director of pilot licensing in the DGAC: "Well, you need 13 hours". 10 hours in a Cessna 152 that you flew in the private pilot course and 3 hours in a multi-engine aircraft that had little to no availability because of the high quantity of students. Why 13 hours? To “demonstate” that you already can fly on a plane flown many hours before and done maneuvers and procedures that aren’t required and practiced in Mexico? After completing the conversion course, John must do the CIAAC's professional exam.

The conversion course is known to be unnecesary and it's said it works to "compensate" the bad ground school teaching in the United States. What do they mean by 'bad ground school teaching' in the US? You follow an organized and updated training Syllabus and Practical Test Standards. You must pass the knowledge and practical tests established by the FAA of greater level compared to Mexico’s. The conversion course is a waste of time and money.

The professional degree was tipically obtained when completing more than 1500 total time (The same required for the ATPL) and it wasn’t a requirement for the CPL. Having a CPL and necessary ratings, demonstrates a person is capable of executing a safe flight with an airplane. Mexico is the only country that requests the professional degree and it seems it was only made so that the CIAAC and DGAC get more money from students who want to obtain their CPL. It’s a form of abuse as many ministries do in Mexico.

The problems will indeed continue if there's no change in the mexican aviation regulations and laws. Especially the pilot's licensing and certification regulations. How do they want to improve aviation in general if they don't change regulations and don't make things more efficient? They haven't changed since the 1970s. The FAA downgraded Mexico to a lower category. What did the DGAC change? Nothing. They just showed irrelevant and documents of "improvements" made in aviation safety. Everything must be improved from the beginning: With education and training. The DGAC must change. It must not continue to patch regulations and laws. It must totally reform them to get a higher level of aviation culture that is not corrupt, efficient and, most important of all, safe.

There's tons more to be said, but I'll end this here.

Long time, no writing

A new post since December 2009. One and a half years to be precise. So, what has happened since my last post? Not much.

First of all, I didn't pass the Studienkolleg. Sad, but true. Anyway, as Steve Jobs said: "Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." It's a line from his speech given at Stanford University in 2005. I watched the speech some time ago and I liked it. You can watch the speech here.

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle".

That said, I had to make up another plan for my career. I flew back to Mexico the 22. December 2010 for Christmas, etc. and to go through the inefficient and unnecesary process of my private pilots license revalidation. In Mexico, you must go through this process every 2 years. So, I checked the regulations for the requirements and made an appointment for my Class 2 medical examination. What do I learn after having the examination? The Class 2 medical certificate in Mexico is now 1 year valid. And the Class 1 certificate? 1 year as well. Is there any logic in that? No, they need more money. More examinations, more money for the medical and transport authorities.
After three awesome flights with a Cessna 172N (practicing emergency procedures and high performance maneuvers) I finally got everything for my revalidation.

I got the new license the 16. February 2011. Great! Two more years with a valid private pilot license.
I flew to Mexico City in March to meet some friends. Actually, I met new pilots and amazing people who also are passionate about flying and aviation. On both flights I had the opportunity of seating in the flight deck's jumpseat. Those were my first jumpseat flights in an Airbus. Awesome airplane. No doubt I'll fly an Airbus in an airline some time...
On April, I flew to Toluca for the Aeroexpo 2011. It was pretty good! There were many stands and airplanes in display like a Cirrus SR-22, the new Beechcraft King Air 250, a B350i, an Embraer Legacy, etc. I spent most of the time in the EnElAire stand because my pals were there. They host an internet radio aviation program every tuesday and thursday at 7:00pm CST. You can listen it here (It's in spanish).

So, what's my new plan? I decided the best thing I could do is start my Commercial Pilot License training, followed by the convalidation process in Mexico (More to that in a future post). There are great opportunities now in Mexico for pilots and the airlines are hiring. I returned in April to Hamburg to finish the glider pilot license course. I've only flown three days, but there will be more glider-flying in the coming days!


There is lot's to write about, but I wanted to write my current situation in this post. Anyway, it's a pilot's story ;)

Speedbirds and Maple Leafs!

Que tal como estan?

Some weeks ago I found a British Airways Captain Blog, who flies Boeing 777s all over the globe.
"The Flying Scotsman" is his Blog title. I found it thanks to Captain Doug Morris' Blog "From the Flight Deck". It is very cool to see how blogs are connected. It creates a net of aviation blogs I always like to read. They give me the motivation I need to continue my career and of course, I learn tons of new things.

Now studying in Hamburg for a german certificate (just one semestre to go), I am, have been, and will be totally concetrated on reaching my goal: To be an Airline Pilot.
I have a PPL and now I'm going to ground school for the PPL-(C), for gliders. Some of my friends have finished CPL training (with IR and MeR), but my goal is to fly for Lufthansa. It's a big goal for a guy born in Guadalajara, Mexico and it requires time and patience. If not training for a license or rating, I study everything aviation-related on the internet, books, etc. Nothing stops me from learning more and more to achieve that goal...

The Standard Instrument Departure

Hi, this post will be about Standard Instrument Departures (SID) or also known as Departure Procedures (DP). It has been a long time since I wrote about charts, so here it is:

Hamburg Runway 23 Departures (German AIP format):
The Jeppesen format is the simplest one, but I want to post different kinds of formats.
On the upper part of the chart, the transition altitude, variation and the airport frequencies are published. The transition altitude is 5000ft. That's standard for Germany. The variation is 1° East. More about transition altitude and variation later.
As we can see, the chart shows a top view of Hamburg and it's departure procedures. It may seem confusing at first, but it's very easy to understand and interpret a SID chart. The lines point to different Fixes or Navigation Aids. Those Fixes or Nav-Aids are the points where we finish the departure procedure and continue flying on an Airway. The departure names are designed with the Navigation or Fix of the departure followed by a number and a letter. For example IDEKO2B: IDEKO is the departure fix and 2B is the number and letter that indicates this departure is from runway 23 at Hamburg. Every runway (and some airports) has the same departure fixes and that's why they assign a number and letter.
We can see some Restricted Airspaces between the fixes IDEKO and ULSEN. Maybe there are some military bases over there or something important. ED-R 31 extends from Ground Level to 14500ft Mean Sea Level.
Our Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) is 2100 feet, on a radius 25 NM from the HAM VOR. This chart is on a scale of 1:1 000 000, meaning that 1cm in this chart equals to 1000000cm (or 10km) in reality.

So how do we fly a departure?
When making the flight planning and routing, the departure fix or nav-aid is selected. In this example I will choose the BASUM9B (Basum Nine Bravo). Remember that this chart only shows departure procedures from runway 23.
As we take off, we must fly direct to the FU NDB (350.5), or 5.5 DME from ALF (115.80), on the track of 229° to intercept the 235° Radial from HAM VOR (113.10). As we reach 38.0 DME from HAM VOR, we make a left turn to intercept the 208° Radial from LBE VOR (115.10) and fly to BASUM. BASUM is 60 DME from LBE VOR. Our Minimum Altitude on this departure is 4000ft and you can see the 4000 written parallel to the lines.

There are two pages for each departure on the German AIP. This is the second page of this runway departures:
It explains the route to follow of the departures. Shows instructions such as climb to 5000ft and contact Bremen Radar. It also shows remarks for the different departures.

Well, I think I've told everything there had to be explained. I hope you didn't get bored reading this.

Goooood bye.

Jumpseat en CRJ-200

Moin! I'll write this post in spanish. It's about my first jumpseat flight on an airliner and it happened someday in April 2008...

Foto por Victor Garciamontes, Airliners.net

Todo empezó cuando un Capitán de Alma le dijo a mi tío que lo invitaba a volar en cabina a Puerto Vallarta y de regreso. Mi tío le comentó que no podía, porque tenía mucho trabajo y entonces le dijo si invitaba a un "sobrino", osea yo, a volar y respondió que sí. Le habló a mi papá y me dijo justo cuando me levanté.

Emocionado me bañé rápido y me puse el uniforme. Fuimos al aeropuerto a la Terminal 2 en Guadalajara y nos encontramos con el Capitán. Lo saludamos y me despedí de mi papá.
Subimos al segundo piso de la T2 a la sala de los briefings (donde se comentan los planes del vuelo y se coordina con la tripulación. Esperaramos a que llegara el avión de otro vuelo y estuvimos platicando con otros capitanes y sobrecargos.

Ahí conocí al Primer Oficial y la Sobrecargo del vuelo, muy buena onda los por cierto. A la 1:00pm caminamos hacia el poderoso CRJ-200 y ví lo de costumbre en plataforma: ERJ-145s de Aeromexico Connect y CRJs de Alma. Abordamos el avión y mientras el PO (Primer Oficial) hacia el chequeo exterior, el capitán ya estaba sentado haciendo la preparación de cabina. Yo estaba admirando el CRJ por dentro porque nunca me había subido a uno. Caminé hasta atrás y me senté en un asiento. No estan tan mal y el espacio es suficiente para un vuelo corto.
Cuando entré a la cabina me dice el Capitán que me siente del lado del PO y me explicó unas cosas referentes al CRJ. Me dijo que subiera la intensidad de los displays y que programe el FMC (Flight Management Computer). Programé la ruta y el performance. Sí no hubiera sido por el CRJ de Wilco-feelthere (para el Flight Simulator 2004), no hubiera podido programar nada.

Cuando regresó el Primer Oficial y saqué el jumpseat. El jumpseat se saca del lado derecho (en dirección hacia la cabina de pasajeros)), lo desaseguras con un botón y lo mueves hacia la izquierda. El asiento es como los del cine que se baja y si no te sientas se regresa solo. Para asegurarlo introduces un tubo en un seguro rojo grande hasta que suene "click".
Me senté, y el PO copió la autorización con la ruta GDL-V14N-PVR a 16000 pies de altitud. Como despegamos de la pista 10 (en dirección contraria a Puerto Vallarta), con el viraje hacia TUITO (un fijo imaginario de navegación en la aerovía hacia PVR) ascendemos a buena altitud. Eso nos permitió ascender a 18000 pies. Me dijeron si despegan de la pista 10 también pueden ascender a 20,000 pies, volando por la UJ14N (una aerovía).

Yo listo con el cinturón asegurado, procedimos con los chequeos previos de vuelo. Los Checklists se leen rápido y se hacen para asegurar que todo esté listo en la cabina (switches, configuración del avión, etc) Iniciamos el pushback y encendido de motores. APU: on, APU Bleeds: on, PACKs: off, etc. Se presiona Start para que comience el encendido de un motor y se deja de presionar cuando el motor neumático de ignición de marcha a la turbina. Como al 30% de N2 (Compresor de alta presión o turbina), "Fuel: on" (se desasegura el throttle para ponerlo de Fuel Shutoff a ON) y hay ignición. Mismo procedimiento para el segundo motor y se hace el chequeo después del arranque. Rodamos via Golf y Alfa a la pista 10.
Se completan los chequeos ántes del despegue y ántes de nosotros, despegó un Cessna 152 de la escuela de vuelo Provuelo. El controlador nos dió instrucción de entrar a posición y mantener en la pista.

Nos autorizaron para despegar y cuando estuvimos listos, aceleraron al porcentaje de N1 (Compresor de baja presión, o Fan) indicado por el FMS y sentimos la aceleración creada por los dos General Electric CF34-3B1 con un empuje de 8,729 libras (38,83 kN) cada uno.
100 nudos en el indicador de velocidad, V1 (velocidad de decisión), Vr (velocidad de rotación), en el aire, V2 (velocidad mínima para un ascenso con un motor). En la carrera de despegue el avión se mueve mucho por la superficie de la pista, pero ya en vuelo el movimiento desaparece. Va uno flotando... casi mágico.

Ascenso positivo: tren de aterrizaje arriba y seguimos la salida por instrumentos GDL1A (Guadalajara uno alfa). Piloto Automático engarzado y el Capitán, siendo el PNF (Pilot Not Flying o Piloto Monitoreando), solicitó un viraje por la izquierda a la aerovía. En el ascenso por la izquierda pude ver el aeropuerto. Volamos directo al fijo TUITO y como despegamos por la pista 10, ascendimos a 18,000 pies. En el ascenso el PO programó la llegada VOR-DME 3 a la pista 22 de PVR en el FMC. Hubo una ligera turbulencia, pero divertida, en nuestro pequeño tiempo de crucero.

En el T/D (Top of Descent) comenzamos el descenso y nos autorizaron a la aproximación final del VOR-DME 3 pista 22. Yo quería que hicieran la aproximación completa con el arco, pero si se puede ahorrar tiempo, mejor. En el descenso y aproximación yo leí el checklist al final de cada checklist siempre se debe de decir: "x checklist complete". Reducciones de velocidad, flaps 8 (en grados), flaps 20 y aproximadamente a 10 millas en final: tren de aterrizaje abajo, flaps 30 y full flaps. Se mantiene una velocidad de referencia y el CRJ es característico por mantener un ángulo debajo del horizonte en la aproximación (ver foto). El aterrizaje estuvo excelente. Efectuado por el Primer Oficial, utilizando solo una reversa porque la del motor izquierdo estaba inoperable.

Rodamos a plataforma y no me acuerdo que posición nos asignaron, pero como había cambiado PVR!! Le construyeron una terminal satelital hay más posiciones. Ahora se ve mas congestionado. Muchos aviones y de diversas aerolíneas y cuando bajaron los pasajeros me salí con el PO a hacer el After Flight y Before Flight Exterior Check al mismo tiempo. Solo sentí el calor y humedad por 20 minutos en Puerto Vallarta, pero no estuvo tan mala esa pequeña visita.

Después abordamos otra vez y me senté en el Jumpseat. Mientras abordaban los pasajeros, hacíamos los checks y esta vez el PF era el Capitán. Pushback y startup. After Startup Checklist y rodamos a la pista 22. Before Takeoff Checklist.
Despegamos y ese mismo feel mágico ya estando en el aire. La salida PVR1B (Vallarta 1 Bravo), pero el Capitán solicitó otra vez por la izquierda directo a la aerovía. Ascendimos a 17000ft o 15000ft no me acuerdo y pasando el volcán de Tequila, ya cerca del bosque de la Primavera, empezamos el descenso. Nos autorizaron a interceptar el Localizador (señal horizontal del ILS= Instrument Landing System) de la pista 10.

Derecho a la pista 10 ya desde la Primavera. Reducciones de velocidad, Flaps, Glideslope vivo y tren de aterrizaje abajo. Before Landing Checklist.
Aterrizamos muy bien otra vez, usando una reversa. Desalojamos por la pista 02, After Landing Checklist y rodamos a la posición via Golf. Se bajaron los pasajeros, metí y aseguré el Jumpseat y salió el Capitán a hacer el chequeo exterior. Me despedí del PO y de la Sobrecargo y tomé pocas fotos con mi celular, el cual ya no lo uso. Después me bajé del gran CRJ-200 y le dí mis gracias al Capitán despidiendome.

Fue una experiencia de nivel. Estuvo muy padre! Todavía me puedo acordar de muchas cosas. Espero que les haya gustado!

Nos vemos, Daniel.

München

Not posting much as you can see. Five weeks ago I planned a trip to München and booked a Lufthansa flight which was cheap. I then googled hostels in München and booked four nights in one. They are called Jugendherberge and there are thousands over Europe. I planned travelling on Thursday 15th of October, but the flights got expensiver and I booked for Friday 16th of October to the 20th. Done.

Then, a school-mate flew from Guadalajara to Hamburg yesterday and I picked him up at the airport. I waited for him to arrive and I thought he lost his connection and was flying on the next flight to Hamburg. I thought right and it appeared his luggage didn't arrive with him and we reported it to Lufthansa. As we finished reporting it, he saw his luggage on the bands. The Lufthansa guy gave us the thumbs up and we walked to the S-Bahn and got home.

The day after, today, I got up at 5 o'clock and got to the airport. As I tried to check in with the automatic machines, they went out of order. I just laughed and the guy behind me said “What did you do?” Nothing of course. The time for boarding was near and the system wasn’t online. When it was back, I successfully checked-in and got my boarding pass, but then I had to document my bag and there was a long queue to do it. When I was in the middle of the queue, my flight was already boarding. A lady was asking for passengers that departed at 7:30 and I was one of them. She told me to wait at the beginning of the queue and then the lady of the counter told me that I couldn't make it to my original flight, but she would change me to the next flight departing to München. I was happy and put me on the 11A seat (emergency exit of the A320). I was very happy! ? I have long legs, so I thank her. The weather was very poor: Low clouds, rain, poor visibility and very cold. Below (VFR) minimums as we pilots say.

I went through the security checkpoint and the metal detector beeped, don't know why, but I had no guns nor bombs or any stupid things. Probably it was the metal button of my jeans. The terminal is very cool. Very modern and simple. As any airport, they are infested with stores and duty free shops. My gate was 16 and I already knew the flight was delayed, so I walked around there and took photos of other aircraft on the gates. I saw an A320 landing and I knew that was our airplane so I stood in front of the window to see the arrival activities. 15 minutes after, they called for boarding and I walked into the jetway to board the good Luftbus. As I boarded, I asked the lead flight attendant if I could take some pictures of the flight deck and the captain allowed me. I said “moin!” as I walked in and both pilots laughed. The captain seemed to be happy and the first officer was woman. Major cool! I introduced myself and began to talk about my plans to apply for Lufthansa Flight Training and what I was doing in Hamburg. I took some pictures and asked if they made an ILS CATII approach, but they didn't. It was a normal ILS CATI approach. As I was ready to go to my seat, I made the final question: May I fly in the jumpseat? The captain told me kindly “Another day”. It would have been an experience, but maybe next time (On the return flight maybe?).
I got to my seat, checked the emergency paper and the instructions how to open the emergency door and waited until the boarding had finished. The flight attendants began to demonstrate the safety procedures and the pushback began. Packs off, engine startup. We taxied to runway 33 in Hamburg and we took off. You gotta love those takeoffs! AMLUH5G departure and climbed through the cloud layer and it was a pretty nice sight.

We had turbulence on the climb and I don’t know what our final altitude was, but I suppose it was above 29,000ft. Cabin service began and I drank orange juice. We started our descent and approached to Munchen Airport. It was very cloudy and we landed on runway 26R and we quickly taxied to our stand. I remained on my seat while everybody de-boarded the Airbus and when I got out of the plane I took some pictures. It was the Lufthansa A320 “Wiesbaden”.After that, we were taken by bus to the terminal and I waited for my bag. The München Airport is very big and modern. After I got my bag, I walked to the S-Bahn station of the airport to get to the Jugendherberge. The airport is not near from the city, so it took a while to arrive. It's very cold in München. Cloudy, rainy, cold: Typical European weather. The Jugendherberge is very nice. It has lots of rooms and the people here are families, bag packing students and groups of friends. I went to the city centre (Marienplatz) and it is very nice, but the temperature wasn’t cooperating. In the night I began to write this post.

The next day I went to the centre to say hi to a class-mate. She's studiing architectur in München and lives with her brothers. Her brothers and I went to the Hofbräu München: A very famous bar and restaurant in München. I drank 1 liter beer and I couldn’t believe that! Haha, I don't drink beer very often.
The next day I went to the Deutsches Museum. There are many technical things to see in there: Cars, airplanes, locomotives, boats, rockets, etc. The funny thing is I couldn’t find the locomotives and cars section. I took many photos and it would have been very cool to have flown all those airplanes in the museum. Then, I went to another museum, part of the Deutsches Museum, in a small airfield located in Oberschleissheim. I took many pictures of different kinds of airplanes, but my battery went dead there. I enjoyed it and returned to the Jugendherberge.

I stayed in München 5 days, but I could have been there in 4. On the second to last day I did nothing. Only chat and watch wimp.com with my netbook.
Last day (20th October): I checked out at approximately 9:00am and went to the S-Bahn to the airport. When I got there, I went to the terrace and watched the activity on the platform. 737s (Bobbys), A330s, A340s, many A320s, Dash 8s, etc. My flight departs at 9:35pm and it’s 12:50am. 8:45 hours to go...

I wrote this part in the actual posting day (03.11.09):

When I decided to charge my cellphone, I began searching for a charger. There were no chargers! I only found one at the exit and I waited there reading the Airbus A320 FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) with my netbook. Many airport employees were riding scooters! It was so cool and it must be fun to ride with a scooter in the terminal :)
When the cellphone battery finished charging, I went to the Lufthansa check-in machines, chose my seat (35F) and printed my boarding pass. I then approached a counter and the guy was bored. He laughed when I showed him my boarding pass and then he documented my bag. Bag free, I proceeded to a Lufthansa World Shop and saw some airplane models. A Hogan model of a Lufthansa 747-400 costed 14€ and I bought it. As I didn't want to stay there, I went to the security checkpoint and this time the metal-detector didn't beep. I then walked through the duty-free shops and searched my gate.

Most of the time before my boarding time I walked through the concourse and watched the activities of the arrivals and departures from the gates. Our nice Airbus A321 arrived the gate and 20 minutes later it was time for boarding. I walked into the Airbus and asked again if I could visit the flight deck. Both pilots were very friendly and asked some technical things about the Airbus. I didn't bother them asking if I could fly in the jumpseat and proceeded to my seat. The Flight Attendants were very friendly as well and I had a first look of how long the A321 was. I chose 35F, the second to last row of seats because I wanted to hear the engine exhaust hitting the fuselage.
Pushback began and the engines began to start. It was a longer taxi to the runway than Hamburg and I always enjoy taxiing. Runway 08L, another aircraft took off and we were ready for takeoff. The sound of the exhaust hitting the fuselage and the acceleration increased. We were flying and turned to the left to the North. Next stop: Home Sweet Home Hamburg :)
The Flight Attendants began with the service and I asked for orange juice. The pretty lady asked me "Don't you want a tea or a coffee?" I responded: "Maybe later" and she said: "No, there won't be later" and started laughing. I laughed too and my face went red. When she returned she asked me again and I said no thanks. Very friendly crew!
We started our descent and I recognized Hamburg at the moment I saw the Alster. We flew from the Southwest and continued heading North for an ILS approach to runway 15. The landing was very good and the taxi to the stand was very very short. It was an amazing flight and after everybody got out of the airplane I said bye to the crew and went to the baggage claim area and it didn't take too long to appear. Then, I walked to the S-Bahn station to my house.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Bye for now.