Roehris Aviation Pages - Gallery on the job

A310 Stuttgart (EDDS) - Tenerife Sur (GCTS) - Stuttgart (EDDS) / D-AHLZ / 15.04.2005
Two of our lovely Airbuses have been sold to SIBIR Airlines, a Russian airline. One of them was still operating for Hapag-Lloyd after getting his green SIBIR paintjob, because we had so much work to do, and SIBIR didn't need the aircraft right away. So join us on our probably most "spotter"-hunted flight.
	There she stands. When I approached the aircraft for the first time, my immediate reaction was: "Eeek, where have the classic Hapag-Lloyd colors gone? What happened there? 'Mars Attacks' part 2?"
	But at the second glance, she looks fresh in these SIBIR colors. They even "sold" the Hapag-Lloyd idea of the people's silhouettes on the side of the aircraft with the plane. (check this picture of D-AHLR on the right side)
	The tail has kind of a "Seven up" look.
	The first flying energy drink bottle.
	At least you won't lose your aircraft on the apron.
	A look up to where I belong :-)
	The "lemon plane" at the gate in Stuttgart.
	The dark side of the moon...
	The left front door (1L), now with...
	...english and russian exit instructions.
	I have installed myself in my office seat, and enjoy the mirror view of our flying lemon in Stuttgart's glass front.
	Even the rampers and airport personnell seem to like our new look.
	Check all these spotters hunting us! We even had to push back extra long in order to reach a position where they could take an unobstructed picture. These maniacs...ain't we all sort of? :-) .
	Travel in style - a flightdeck with a view.
	These opportunities will be gone when we fly the B737 only. Try to cramp six people into a "bobby" flightdeck without disconnecting the autopilot, pulling half of the CB's or push her into a spiral dive... On the "bus" we could even offer space to two more girls here without really getting close :-)
	One of our two sound machines... (did you already have the chance to enjoy their roar when they perform at max TO/GA power?)
	Sound machine nr 1 is ready to perform again.
	Looking at these pictures, some engine technicians are likely to misinterprete the expression "hot part of the engine"...
	(we usually call the part aft of the combustion chamber "hot part"...
	...but one may excuse if we alter the definition slightly - just for one day...
	...and even the expression "fan" has different meanings when talking about aircraft engines. ;-)
	"El commandante" enjoys a quick snap pf fresh air and sun on the ramp.
	Compare the engine size to a human being...
	Ready to swallow about 6 tons of passenger luggage.
	And the small hatch behind the large door is our bulk cargo compartment. No conatiners there, but only loose baggage and the AVI's (living animals).
	The other large cargo "hole": Forward cargo door.
	The A310 even swallows a whole Mercedes car if necessary. Hapag-Lloyd offered this feature for many years to wealthy people wanting to take their ride with them.
	Wings of pride...
	Stairway to heaven...
	oh, even "stairways" in plural... :-)
	Part of the crew gathers for the official "crew shooting" (talking about photographic pictures here, not any weapon action). :-)
	Et voilà, the crew!
	Lovely...
	We love to fly you!
	Change of photographer...
	Now its the first officer's turn trying to get them all (in the frame, I mean).
	...and now a shot courtesy of our purserette. Well done!
	The master of the ship...
	...at his workplace in the office.
	Some more crew members hail in while we are...
	...waiting for the last containers...
	... to be loaded.
	And there we go - startup please!
	On our way back. We approach the Algarve coastline in southern Portugal. The city of Faro...
	... is clearly to be seen - ceck the airport on the mid-left side.
	Commandante Frankenstein with Faro airfield in his slide window view.
	A view from above Faro towards Cadiz. Check the interesting dunes in the "parco nacional de doñana".
	The mouth of Rio Odiel near La Huelva.
	The city of La Huelva is to be seen beneath the lare "water pools" on the bottom of the picture.
	A brilliant sky towards the east, while we cruise towards Geneva in western Switzerland. Interesting wave clouds due to the "Foehn", a strong southern wind blowing over the alps.
	We have crossed Switzerland from Geneva via Lucerne and Zurich, and have already taken a left turn towards the north over Konstanz at the shore of Lake Constance. Heading now is directly towards Stuttgart.
	A nice cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) cloud is hanging north of the German-Swiss border.
	But we stay safe and clear of it, although it looks quite threatening...
	...when the sunlight is faded out by the huge clouds.
	The weather radar clearly shows the shower activity out of the thunderstorm cloud (red= heavy, yellow=medium, green=light showers/water contains in the cloud). A second cell is lingering to the east of our course, but our heading brings us straight through the calm center between the cells. Minutes later we glide to a safe and calm landing at Stuttgart.