Nicer photos....

I need to blog... first of all to try and get back in the habit, and second to get a nicer entry at the top of my blog! LOL Sooooo, here are a couple of my favorite photos that I have taken over the past years.... I love experimenting around (and Doug is still a great inspiration!).

Connecting trains...

Futuristic...(walk way to the disco aboard the cruise ship AIDA, 2009)

Lonely...

Stairway at an Autobahn rest stop...

another walkway (shopping mall in downtown Frankfurt)

same mall...

Now... pick YOUR favorite!

My job... not always fun....

It's been so long since I've posted..... I know, I know... SHAME ON ME!    And now here I am, with a not-so-happy entry. 

First of all, let me explain my job (only 4 month left!). Some of you know it, most of you don't.  In spite of being an American citizen, I managed to get a job at the regional German FAA! For the past 16 years, I have been an aviation inspector. My job is primarily inspection the airfields within my jurisdiction (24), checking heli ports or advising hospitals planing to build one, check pilots credentials, attend airshows and see if they are doing everything according to the permission my office gave them, etc. etc. The airfields are small general aviation ones, not the biggies like Frankfurt.

Most of the time it was fun and interesting. But once in a while it's not so great, like when there's a crash. And last night we had a big one!

It was night, there were fog patches, The airfield (largest general aviation airfield in all Germany) has no instrument approach system. The reasons are many, including it's proximity to Frankfurt, not to mention an autobahn (highway) west of the field and a high-speed train railway in the east, right close to the eastern threshold.

A Citation 750x was arriving from Linz, Austria, and decided to try to land.... but instead crashed into a forest just east of the field. Because of it's high speed, it exploded and practically disentigrated!

So today I went first to the airfield, talking to the manager, checked the calibration of the PAPI approach lights (they were ok), then went to the talk to the police helicopter pilots next door. After that I went with the police to the crash site to meet up and talk to the guys from our NTSB (called BFU here).

I didn't take any pictures of the bodies.... believe me, you would not want to see them. They were still lying on the ground, and there wasn't a single one that was in one piece. The smell of fuel was in the air and the ground was covered with lots of debrise, from aircraft pieces, to books, coffee cups and paper plates, even metal knives and forks. Some pieces hung in the trees. It had flown through the tree tops for about 700 m.

While I was there the guys from the BFU found the black box. Here a few pictures I took. Yes, it has an American registration, we have lots of American registered airplanes over here (often for burocratic reasons).

So, sorry for this negative entry. Those who know me for some time know that my entries are usually full of smilies and fun.... I prefer to entertain my readers. But I think I need to write this down for my own sanity....

Dorrie