Posts

Turkey -The Bridge between the East & West

Image
  A journey from the Bosphorus to Turkish Aerospace Run, Canman, Run (Berlin → Istanbul, June 11) Every sojourner learns lessons in airports, and this one came courtesy of Berlin. I breezed through security with time for a leisurely coffee, then walked into a customs queue I hadn't planned for. With an hour to go and only one stall open, my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was suddenly in doubt. A few more stalls opened, and I cleared customs with ten minutes to spare. Then I ran eight minutes to the gate and made it. Whew. Lesson learned: in Europe, budget for the customs line, not just security. The Odyssey to Karaköy Landing at Istanbul Airport, I decided to travel like a local: metro, tram, and bus, no taxis. The first leg went smoothly. Then, switching trains in the city, a kindly gentleman, seeing me trying to understand the signs and process to board the next train, told me the money on my metro card only worked outside the city.  He helped me add money to a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dream Big, Lessons from Testers & History: A Week in Berlin

Image
     Brandenburg Gate, with the pretzel   I had never been to Berlin. I arrived in early June for the 37th SFTE European Symposium and left with a head full of flight test insights, great memories with colleagues old and new, sober reminders from history, and a new appreciation for the coming aviation future. Day one, obviously, called for a pretzel at the Brandenburg Gate.  The SFTE European symposium was held out in Adlershof, on the far southeast side of the city. I stayed at the B&B Hotel Aldershof, a lovely and efficient hotel right next to the symposium venue.  Once checked in I had a day to explore Berlin and got to know the excellent train system quickly. Berlin-Adlershof station Opening Session at the Symposium More than 100 flight test professionals from across Europe and beyond gathered from June 7 to 10 around the theme "Dreams and Hard Realities in Flight Test: Dream Big, Test Harder." The program covered standards, certification, safety-...
Post a Comment
Location: Berlin, Germany
Read more

Brazil, Flight Test, Caipirinha, and the Fine Art of Saying “Obrigado”

Image
I arrived in Brazil on Saturday, March 21, after the kind of travel day that sounds efficient on paper and feels like a minor act of endurance in real life: DFW to Miami, then overnight to São Paulo. I had chosen first class, thinking I needed to arrive rested, polished, and ready to represent SFTE with dignity.  But if you're not going to eat the food, well, maybe premium economy is good enough... I did start watching a great movie, titled "The Life of Chuck."   Landing in São Paulo, I stepped out of Terminal 3 at GRU, requested my Uber Comfort as planned, and made my way to Hotel Heritage on Rua Fernando de Albuquerque in Consolação. The airport-to-city transition was easier than expected, which is always a pleasant surprise when arriving in a country where your language skills are mostly limited to hope, pointing, and “Obrigado.”  From the airplane window, São Paulo looked endless: towers, neighborhoods, green corridors, haze, density, motion. It was not a city th...
Post a Comment
Location: São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil
Read more