Platform at Alicante station – Photo: Ant Richards
Spain is a proud and mesmerizing nation, perched on the Iberian Peninsula on the southwestern tip of Europe. A country that conjures many festive, passionate, and eye-watering images, as well as its fair share of sometimes erroneous stereotypes. It’s a stretch of land that is as diverse in its geography as its people, cuisine, customs, and its four official languages ’“ yes, contrary to what many believe, there are four main languages and a few offshoots from some of these that are just as official.
Spain is much more than just bullfights, tapas, siestas, soccer, loud neighbors, and flamenco. It is one of the world’s tourist powerhouses, and for good reason. Spain is a country that I tend to visit quite often, for family and other practical reasons; my main destination being Madrid.
On this occasion, however, my Iberian travels took me to Alicante. A coastal city that lies on the Costa Blanca, Alicante is the second largest city in the Comunitat Valenciana, after its capital, Valencia. My final destination would be Calpe.
Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 – Photo: Aero Icarus | Flickr CC
After spending the previous couple of cold winter months in Seattle, New York, and Boston, as well as visiting Tokyo (cold), Kyoto (cold and breezy), Taipei (rainy), and Hong Kong (windy and rainy) on this trip, I was glad to have planned a “vacation within a vacation” to spend some time in the sun and sand in the middle of my Asian trip.
Danang (sometimes spelled Da Nang), the third-largest economic center in Vietnam behind Saigon and Hanoi, is famous for its stretches of beaches along the South China Sea. The area known as “China Beach” to American soldiers during the Vietnam War is currently earmarked for luxury resort development.
Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa Danang – Photo: John Nguyen
Danang International Airport (DAD) is also the country’s third-busiest airport and treated as Vietnam Airlines‘ (VNA) central domestic hub, though it has quite a few direct international flights on foreign carriers as well.
I was fortunate enough to book a mid-April stay (one of the best times to be in Danang, weather-wise) at the Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa Danang, selected because of its location right on the water and a private beach.
Ground crew checking out a grounded plane – Photo: David Parker Brown | AirlineReporter
As one might imagine, the life of an aircraft mechanic is not a glamorous one. Earlier, I passed along a few memorable tales of my time as a mechanic for a larger regional airline. This time, I would like to elaborate on what a typical day is like for an airline mechanic. For me, my average day would start with a grueling drive.
Being a union shop, my seniority was high enough that I could have taken a first shift position (6:00AM to 2:30PM); however, I found the days off I could get on second shift better, since I was one of the senior mechanics on that shift. Upon arriving at the employee parking lot and catching the shuttle bus to the terminal, the fun would start.
Aerial shot of a busy airport – Photo: Don Wilson | Port of Seattle
A typical day at the office would start with all eight mechanics on duty gathering for a team meeting, where our lead and supervisor would go over the status of the planes that were currently either broken, or inbound with issues, and divvy out the day’s assignments. Sometimes, there would be one or two airplanes with unresolved issues that would be turned over to second shift by first shift.
If I was assigned to one of those planes, it would be a mad dash to whatever gate or hardstand (a remote parking spot, usually for out-of-service aircraft) the aircraft in question was parked at to get a verbal and visual turnover from the mechanics coming off shift. Since there was only 30 minutes of shift overlap, we had to make this quick! If we were not assigned to a plane that was already broken, we were on standby. If we were lucky to be on standby, we would monitor the arrivals status board and hang low until a call came in.
This is the M/V Ortelius, registered in Limassol Cyprus. It’s got the highest ice-class a vessel can attain. – Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
If you were to ask me to spend a week on a boat for all but maybe two reasons, I’d be likely to risk prison to get out of it. I don’t like boats, and I think that large cruise ships combine the worst of Las Vegas, a crowded beach, and a heaping helping of disease transmission. So, a sedate Caribbean or Mediterranean cruise is also out of the question. What are my two reasons, then? The first one is obvious; planes/missilery. The second one, less so; polar bears.
Before any of you go off on me for saying that this has nothing to do with riding on a Soviet relic, think again. In 1989, the then Soviet Academy of Sciences commissioned an ice-class expedition vessel for ambiguous purposes. This vessel, the Marina Tsvetaeva, was laid down and completed in Gydnia, Poland the same year!
Welcome to bear country. Lufthavn Longyearbyen is located on a peninsula called Hotellnesset. – Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the vessel was used for oil-field resupply in the Russian Far East, until expedition companies realized it would be the perfect boat for Antarctic charters. In 2011, Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions acquired the ship and sent it in for a complete overhaul. From this, it would leave the Russian register, and its original name behind. Re-registered in Cyprus (a great Flag of Convenience), and named after Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, it has been used for Antarctic and Arctic cruises since then.
This boat is also a piece of rock & roll history. In 2013, it carried Metallica, some prize-winning fans, and their equipment to the South Pole for the “Freeze ‘Em All” tour. This was in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Metallica’s first album, “Kill ‘Em All!” At least, so the plaque in the ship’s “Krill ’em All” Bar says.
Having seen the creatures out on the tundra near Churchill, Manitoba, I was determined to see them when they were not bored out of their mind waiting for the ice to come in — I wanted to see them on the hunt. Two things are needed for that to be possible: sea ice and daylight. There are only a few reasonably accessible places in the world where you can get both at once. Hence, I made my way to Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, in Norway. I made the trip in SAS Plus, but It was such an unremarkable flight in all areas I didn’t even take an iPhone shot.
AvGeeks in Action – Photo: Jacob Pfleger | AirlineReporter
The 1st of July, 2015, marked the fifth anniversary of Emirates services to Prague. To celebrate this achievement, Emirates substituted an Airbus A380 on the Dubai to Prague route, which is normally served by a Boeing 777-300ER. I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to the event. The occasion was celebrated in true Emirates fashion, with a large PR event and cocktail reception, as well as an aircraft tour and an opportunity to photograph the arrival from the tarmac; an opportunity any AvGeek among us will gladly partake in.
This was the fourth visit so far of an Airbus A380 at Prague. The first was a Lufthansa A380, followed by Emirates (for a medical diversion) and Korean Air (check out that story here). Unlike the previous events, there was much marketing and social media hype about the Emirates A380 – I guess this can be attributed to the strength of the Emirates brand image within the Czech Republic. On the day of the event, for those not fortunate enough to have access to the media/VIP event, Emirates handed out free hats and various other promotional items to all who came to view this spectacular aircraft, no matter what side of the fence they were on. Well done, EK!
