Welcome to the Planetflyer website, with flying-related stories from being a passenger to being an aviation nut and geeking out in museums. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.
All flying-related articles:
| Space Shuttle Endeavour Janne and I managed to see yet another space shuttle, the Endeavour at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. They also have the one remaining external fuel tank on display. Full story August 2017, California Science Center, Los Angeles, California, USA Flying; History | |
| Santa Monica and Commercial Aviation's roots I hadn't really known about this, but one of my favourite places in L.A., Santa Monica, played a large role in early commercial aviation. The Douglas Aircraft company was based here, for instance, and many iconic aircraft, DC-3 included, were designed here. Full story August 2017, Museum of Flying, Santa Monica, California, USA Flying | |
| Falcon 9 Booster When Janne and I were in California, we made a pilgrimage to the SpaceX headquarters. In front the building stands a used Falcon 9 booster. Impressive feat of space technology! Full story August 2017, Space X, Hawthorne, California, USA Flying | |
| Airshow in Kaivopuisto On a Friday night I was at the airshow in Kaivopuisto. Full story June 2017, Kaivopuisto, Helsinki, Finland Flying | |
| Skiing with a drone A few weeks ago I got a present from my IETF friends: a Mavic Pro drone. Thank you! We've already played a lot with it, me, Olli, Janne, and many of our friends, with everyone having loads of fun with the device! Full story (TGR version) (Suomenkielinen versio) April 2017, Peuramaa, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Sahara, Kauniainen, Finland Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Equipment; Flying | |
| 25 minutes is enough Apparently you *can* arrive at the airport 25min before intercontinental departure and still make it. Weather, taxi failure, clearing my own car from snow, stuck behind a fallen truck on the highway, not leaving enough time for these troubles, etc. Phew. Full story November 2016, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Inverted Heliski Gotta love the French. Masters of bureaucratic directives. Or circumventing them. Take heliski, for instance. Heliski is illegal in France. But here we are, spending a day with skis and helicopters. For only 60€, to boot. It turns out that it is illegal to use a helicopter to take us to a mountain. But there is nothing that prevents using one take us from a mountain. Full story (Suomenkielinen versio) February 2013, Alpe d'Huez, France Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts, Heli, Car); Sauna (Normal); Flying | |
| A Night in the Cockpit of a 747 We lost all the instruments. The engines are not responding. I shout mayday to the radio, but the radio is silent. I curse my decision to ever enter the cockpit of this rusty 747-200. This night is going to end badly. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I decide that it is time to exit the cockpit, run down the stairs, and ... order a drink from the steward. Full story October 2012, Arlanda, Sweden Flying |
A night in the cockpit of a 747 from The Planetskier on Vimeo. |
This is the 5th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, and set 4. This is the last set.
The Planetflyer articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, swimming, and saunas.