10.11.2016: I went to Helsinki and Tampere in Finland for a few days, where winter has already started with significant snowfall. When landing late in the evening in Helsinki I thought we had landed at the North Pole instead, the scenery looked just like on a polar research station. Already on approach it was clear that there would be a lot of snow on the ground…
…but after landing this was even more obvious. What can not be seen on the pictures is that some significant gusts were blowing snow across runway and taxiways.
When getting to the gate the polar impression was confirmed by a portrait of Knud Rasmussen, the famous Danish polar researcher on the tail of a Norwegian 737.
I haven’t seen airlines driving on snow covered taxiways and aprons for years.
17.11.2016: My busy work schedule continues, bringing me to at least two cities around Europe every week. Today for example I had to go to Berlin, and I only realised yesterday evening that Barack Obama is there too at the same time. This worried me a bit, the expected chaos however did not materialize. My flight was even 10 minutes ahead of schedule which is a rare event these days.
When landing I saw a Jumbo Jet parked on the government apron at Tegel, and indeed it was Air Force 1!
Comparing to Ed Force One, the Jumbo Jet from Iron Maiden I saw in Zurich some months ago. I leave it to everyone to decide which one is cooler….
30.11.2016: Another business trip, this time to Madrid. Nothing special, except for the flight back, as I flew for the first time in a Bombardier CS100.
During that first flight I noticed a number of differences compared to the Avro Jets they are replacing, and also to the Airbus fleet of Swiss. First of all the interior looks quite noble, secondly the leg room is better than on the Avros, and at least as good as on the Airbus’s, and finally the plane is nicely quiet. The engines to make an unusual noise during startup, and also when being switched off, probably due to the geared fan. With that they have something similar with the Rotax 912 of my SportCruiser, which also makes a strange noise during starting, and also when being switched off, and that’s also due to the gear.
From what I have read Swiss is so far pretty happy with them, and compared to other smaller jets such as the Embraers or Bombardier CRJs they are definitely an improvement.