Tribute to Robin's MD11 adventure
Monday:
We left Amsterdam on-time at 23.20 and arrived in Bonaire BON at 03.10 in the morning. Within 2 hours we were at the Divi Flamingo hotel where the crew was laying over. KLM uses 2 hotels in Bonaire for their crew.
In-flight AMS-BON
First MD11 flight as a CA. Congratulations sleepy-head!
Divi Flamingo Resort in Kralendijk
Tuesday:
We woke up the next morning and headed to the beach after breakfast. We rented some scuba diving equipment and went for a dive at Klein Bonaire. It was fun.
Nice warm water
Later that day we went airplane spotting at Flamingo Airport and then decided to rent some scooters and take a tour around the island on a boat.
Airplane spotting
We each had to pay $50,- for the whole day. It was really cool. Later that night I ended up being drunk from the Vodka and R. was mad at me for being drunk. You see... he doesn't drink. Well too bad... I do and I was on vacation.
Wednesday:
R. had to wake up at 01.00 in the morning. He had to do an excursion flight to Guayaquil UIO and Quito UIO. So he would relieve the crew from AMS. I saw him leave and turned around in that nice bed and went back to sleep. Better him than me! Here he is during his excursion flight. All pictures are taken by him and his colleagues.
Marlies and R. in de cockpit - Photo by Second Officer (CoCo) Hans
CoCo Hans - Photo by R. de Geus
Quito appoach - Photo by R. de Geus
R. on the ground in GYE - Photo by M. Mandemann
CoCo Hans and R. - Photo by M. Mandemann
While all of this was going on I woke up and packed a weekend bag. I was going to Aruba AUA for 2 days to see my family. I had breakfast and lounged at the pool the rest of the morning. I then took the bus (taxi's are way too expensive in BON) to Flamingo/Amalia Airport. I checked in with Dutch Antilles Express and went to the KLM counter to inform when the KL754 was coming back from Ecuador. It was on-time. I waited outside with my camera ready to shoot the landing plane and exactly on-time it touched down.
Touch down!
I went inside through immigration and waited for the plane to park and the passengers and crew to come out. Hahahaha... let the pictures do the talking.
Parking
Tatiana Versteeg is deplaning
Tatiana
Robin
Hans, Robin & Tatiana
Since I was already inside, I waived goodbye to him and sent him a SMS. An hour later I took off for Curaçao CUR, where I had to go inside the buidling, pay $2,- tax and go back on the same plane. Rip-off if you ask me! And what's up with Hato airport... everything is so yellow! I don't like! Anyway back on the ATR-42 and off I was to my island... Aruba.
My plane to AUA
Bon bini na Aruba
I spent two great days there as I reported already. R. also had a great time diving and driving around the island with his co-workers. It was a fun crew I must say and everyone was friendly. That is not always the case. He even met Sabrina who attended the same training classes with him when he started to fly. She was part of another crew.
Robin and his co-workers. The girl kissing the guy in the back is Bianca. Her boyfriend is part of the crew and just like me she was an IPB-er.
Diving at Klein Bonaire
Sabrina & Robin...
... here they are during their training in this old picture - Photo by R. de Geus
Saturday:
I flew back from AUA to BON with a stop in CUR. I had to pay the $2,- again!
Approaching BON
Arrived in BON
When I landed I headed to the hotel where R. was already getting ready for the flight back home.
Heading to the hotel
I packed up my stuff and left R. in the hotel, because I had to check-in. Then I returned to the hotel to shower and get ready. R left before me with the rest of the crew in taxi's. I was not allowed to travel with the crew. So me and Bianca, another IPB'er who was the girlfriend from the co-pilot, shared a taxi to the airport. When we arrived the aircraft was already there.
Our plane back home
Going inside the airport
We waited at the counter with the other anxious IPB'ers to see who would get on. There were 10 open seats, but 14 IPB'ers. I knew that Bianca and I were getting on, because Captain Hans gave us permission to jump seat if necessary. It's a perk when your partner is part of the crew. But it wasn't necessary... the agent said we were getting on. In fact, all IPB'ers got on, because of no-shows. So we headed to the tiny waiting area and then boarded our flight.
Tiny waiting area... damn!
Walking towards the aircraft
I had seat 24K, but R. was working the back of the plane as a 'galley slave'. No aisle work for him on this flight. Anyway we taxied and took-off from beautiful Bonaire. A few days ago Sabrina e-mailed R. to show him some pictures she took of our plane taking-off. It was taken from the nearby Kontiki Beach where she was sun bathing.
Taxiing - Photo by Sabrina H.
Full power - Photo by Sabrina H.
Ayo dushi Boneiru - Photo by Sabrina H.
Taken from my seat
And that was R's first MD11 familiarization flight. Right now he is in Paramaribo until Sunday and his next MD11 flight will be to Montréal YUL next week. November 22nd is he's going to Bonaire again. Not me... I have other stuff to do. Het kan niet altijd vakantie zijn! There were too many photos for me to edit and resize, so I put all the photos in the klm_world photobucket account. 211 photos! The pictures of our complete trip can be viewed here. Submap Bonaire Vacation 2006.
The MD11 is going to go through a big change now. Under advice from AFC and Air France, the MD11 seat will be retrofitted with a 3-3-3 congiguration and by 2007 each seat will have a television monitor in the back of it. The first aircraft will go in for the overhaul next month. This is to comply with the AF standard. AF has PTV's (Personal Television) on all its long-haul fleet. Here is how it's going to look like... click to enlarge.
New MD11 seat plan
That's it for now. Happy reading! I'm off to work.
We left Amsterdam on-time at 23.20 and arrived in Bonaire BON at 03.10 in the morning. Within 2 hours we were at the Divi Flamingo hotel where the crew was laying over. KLM uses 2 hotels in Bonaire for their crew.
In-flight AMS-BON
First MD11 flight as a CA. Congratulations sleepy-head!
Divi Flamingo Resort in Kralendijk
Tuesday:
We woke up the next morning and headed to the beach after breakfast. We rented some scuba diving equipment and went for a dive at Klein Bonaire. It was fun.
Nice warm water
Later that day we went airplane spotting at Flamingo Airport and then decided to rent some scooters and take a tour around the island on a boat.
Airplane spotting
We each had to pay $50,- for the whole day. It was really cool. Later that night I ended up being drunk from the Vodka and R. was mad at me for being drunk. You see... he doesn't drink. Well too bad... I do and I was on vacation.
Wednesday:
R. had to wake up at 01.00 in the morning. He had to do an excursion flight to Guayaquil UIO and Quito UIO. So he would relieve the crew from AMS. I saw him leave and turned around in that nice bed and went back to sleep. Better him than me! Here he is during his excursion flight. All pictures are taken by him and his colleagues.
Marlies and R. in de cockpit - Photo by Second Officer (CoCo) Hans
CoCo Hans - Photo by R. de Geus
Quito appoach - Photo by R. de Geus
R. on the ground in GYE - Photo by M. Mandemann
CoCo Hans and R. - Photo by M. Mandemann
While all of this was going on I woke up and packed a weekend bag. I was going to Aruba AUA for 2 days to see my family. I had breakfast and lounged at the pool the rest of the morning. I then took the bus (taxi's are way too expensive in BON) to Flamingo/Amalia Airport. I checked in with Dutch Antilles Express and went to the KLM counter to inform when the KL754 was coming back from Ecuador. It was on-time. I waited outside with my camera ready to shoot the landing plane and exactly on-time it touched down.
Touch down!
I went inside through immigration and waited for the plane to park and the passengers and crew to come out. Hahahaha... let the pictures do the talking.
Parking
Tatiana Versteeg is deplaning
Tatiana
Robin
Hans, Robin & Tatiana
Since I was already inside, I waived goodbye to him and sent him a SMS. An hour later I took off for Curaçao CUR, where I had to go inside the buidling, pay $2,- tax and go back on the same plane. Rip-off if you ask me! And what's up with Hato airport... everything is so yellow! I don't like! Anyway back on the ATR-42 and off I was to my island... Aruba.
My plane to AUA
Bon bini na Aruba
I spent two great days there as I reported already. R. also had a great time diving and driving around the island with his co-workers. It was a fun crew I must say and everyone was friendly. That is not always the case. He even met Sabrina who attended the same training classes with him when he started to fly. She was part of another crew.
Robin and his co-workers. The girl kissing the guy in the back is Bianca. Her boyfriend is part of the crew and just like me she was an IPB-er.
Diving at Klein Bonaire
Sabrina & Robin...
... here they are during their training in this old picture - Photo by R. de Geus
Saturday:
I flew back from AUA to BON with a stop in CUR. I had to pay the $2,- again!
Approaching BON
Arrived in BON
When I landed I headed to the hotel where R. was already getting ready for the flight back home.
Heading to the hotel
I packed up my stuff and left R. in the hotel, because I had to check-in. Then I returned to the hotel to shower and get ready. R left before me with the rest of the crew in taxi's. I was not allowed to travel with the crew. So me and Bianca, another IPB'er who was the girlfriend from the co-pilot, shared a taxi to the airport. When we arrived the aircraft was already there.
Our plane back home
Going inside the airport
We waited at the counter with the other anxious IPB'ers to see who would get on. There were 10 open seats, but 14 IPB'ers. I knew that Bianca and I were getting on, because Captain Hans gave us permission to jump seat if necessary. It's a perk when your partner is part of the crew. But it wasn't necessary... the agent said we were getting on. In fact, all IPB'ers got on, because of no-shows. So we headed to the tiny waiting area and then boarded our flight.
Tiny waiting area... damn!
Walking towards the aircraft
I had seat 24K, but R. was working the back of the plane as a 'galley slave'. No aisle work for him on this flight. Anyway we taxied and took-off from beautiful Bonaire. A few days ago Sabrina e-mailed R. to show him some pictures she took of our plane taking-off. It was taken from the nearby Kontiki Beach where she was sun bathing.
Taxiing - Photo by Sabrina H.
Full power - Photo by Sabrina H.
Ayo dushi Boneiru - Photo by Sabrina H.
Taken from my seat
And that was R's first MD11 familiarization flight. Right now he is in Paramaribo until Sunday and his next MD11 flight will be to Montréal YUL next week. November 22nd is he's going to Bonaire again. Not me... I have other stuff to do. Het kan niet altijd vakantie zijn! There were too many photos for me to edit and resize, so I put all the photos in the klm_world photobucket account. 211 photos! The pictures of our complete trip can be viewed here. Submap Bonaire Vacation 2006.
The MD11 is going to go through a big change now. Under advice from AFC and Air France, the MD11 seat will be retrofitted with a 3-3-3 congiguration and by 2007 each seat will have a television monitor in the back of it. The first aircraft will go in for the overhaul next month. This is to comply with the AF standard. AF has PTV's (Personal Television) on all its long-haul fleet. Here is how it's going to look like... click to enlarge.
New MD11 seat plan
That's it for now. Happy reading! I'm off to work.
posted by Traveller at 12:11 PM
12 Comments:
Great post, Ryan. I really enjoy reading your blog and have been doing so for almost 4 months already. You keep it looking nice and clean.
I also like this post about Bonaire and since I enjoy diving, I should pay it a visit.
Great post Ryan! When is your next trip. I want you to come to London to visit me! You promised! Bring Robin along as well. In the weekend it is quite boring and I can't go to Holland for the weekend. Call and we'll talk. You may need to vraag aan an IPB on time.
Les
Begrijp je nu waarom CA's Bonaire één van de leukste stops vinden? Het is niet dat AUA geen leuke stop is, maar dat is meestal 3/4 of meer. BON heeft 4 of 5 verschillende opties met ultra lange slips. En je kan daar zuipen alsof je leven ervan afhangt! Ha ha ha! Wanneer kom je weer eens langs om te eten? Het is weer eens te lang geweest. Ik heb zondag een ACC en ben woensdag weer terug. We kunnen daarna wel afspreken. Ik bel je wel, schat.
Lies
Het schijnt dat je een leuke vakantie heb gehad. De pics zijn ook heel leuk. Die foto met Robin, jij op de waterfiets is geinig. Jullie zijn gek man!
Ryan Rodney Mitchell! Hou je eens bij de feiten. Ik was niet boos omdat je dronken was, ik was geïrriteerd dat je überhaupt alcohol consumeerd. Je weet best wel dat je na die auto ongeluk van een paar maanden terug niet zoveel mag drinken! Maar luister je? Nee! Je bent koppig als een ezel!
Ach... wat ga ik eraan doen. Je verandert toch niet.
Je krijgt de groeten van Mano, Lisette en Brian! Ik moest van Lisette zeggen dat je alleen mooie foto's van haar op je blog moet plaatsen! Tot zondag schat.
Rob
Hoi Ryan. Hoe is het. Zoals ik lees heb je een leuke vakantie gehad op Bonaire en Aruba. Goed om te horen.
We zijn zelf vanmorgen om 07.00 aangekomen uit Cancun met Martinair. AFC had Star Class voor ons geregeld. De project liep goed en volgende week hebben we een presentatie bij Martinair en 2 dagen erna eentje bij Does & Cadushi. Die meid die voor jou was ingevallen mag ik niet. Ze is goed in haar werk, maar echt een bitch. Ik heb jou liever.
Ze zei dat je in haar plaats naar China gaat voor De Boer & Wendel??? Waar en wanneer ga je. Kom snel terug, ik wil van die bitch af! Hihihihi.
Brenda
Wederom een leuke blog, Ryan. Ik denk dat het ook weer eens tijd wordt om op vakantie te gaan. Misschien lekker duiken in Hurghada of Sharm-Al-Sheik? Ik zal er eens over moeten nadenken.
Fred
Hi Mr. Blogman. I've been reading your post and I wonder what "Het kan niet altijd vakantie zijn!" means? What language is this? German?
Anonymous: It can't always be vacation. It is a Dutch expression meaning that life isn't always a party. Get it?
Andy
Okay, Andy! Thanx!
I miss you already Ryan. I hope you come back Aruba soon. Or maybe you can send a ticket for me to come Holland for Christmas? Please? Lol!
JD
@ Anonymous: Thanks very much for the compliment. It's people like you and compliments like that. that keeps me blogging.
@ Lesley: I will come to visit you, but I have a hectic schedule. As soon as I find a hole, I'll opo over to London for a visit. Promise.
@ Liesje: BON is inderdaad een leuke stop, maar je begrijpt wel dat er niks beters is dan Aruba voor mij!!! :-)
@ Miekesch: Schat... je weet toch hoe we zijn! Jij kan er ook wat van!
@ Robbedoes: de groeten aan de familie en de PBM gang.
@ Brenda: Welcome back to NL. Ik heb jullie gemist! Heel raar dat jullie zonder mij op duty zijn gegaan. Ik zie je maandag wel op kantoor. Ik krijg dan waarschijnlijk ook te horen waar de volgende trip naartoe gaat.
@ Freddy: Duiken, duiken, duiken... da's alles waar je aan denkt. Jongen koop gewoon een IPB met Martinair naar Malé op de Malediven. Ben er zelf nooit geweest, maar het schijnt heel mooi te zijn en lekker om te duiken.
@ My favourite cousin: Miss u 2 girl. Love ya! And no... you can't come Holland for X-mas. It is cold and no fun. Besides you want your mother to kill me! Hahahahha!
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