Blue Skies forever

[DIBO]

Hans-Werner Grosse died on the 18th of February 2021. He was a glider pilot who established 50 world records.
He held for more than 30 years the free distance gliding world record of 1460 km from his home city of Lübeck (Germany) to Biarritz (France) in 1972.
As a side note, on a previous failed attempt of this record flight, he diverted to EBAW, landing on the long gone rwy 07.

[sn26567]

French industrialist, Air Force major and Member of Parliament Olivier Dassault dies in a helicopter crash

https://www.aviation24.be/manufacturers ... ter-crash/

[Passenger]

Olivier Besnard, cardiac arrest at 58, CEO Air Caraibes:
https://www.air-journal.fr/2021-04-15-a ... 27297.html

[sn26567]

Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft in orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, died at 90.

Colonel Collins, who had begun flying in 1952, had hurtled through the skies as a test pilot and orbited the Earth 43 times in the Gemini 10 capsule.

In 2019, he recalled his orbit of the moon for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. “I had this beautiful little domain,” he told The New York Times. “I was the emperor, the captain of it, and it was quite commodious. I had warm coffee, even.”

[sn26567]

Airbus Fly-By-Wire visionary Bernard Ziegler passes away

Toulouse, 5 May 2021 – Airbus is saddened to learn of the passing of Bernard Ziegler, at the age of 88. Ziegler, one of Airbus’ engineering pioneers, was instrumental in the introduction of the world’s first digital Fly-By-Wire (FBW) and side-stick controls in a commercial passenger aircraft with the A320 in 1988.

Ziegler’s career spanned some four decades. He realised the full potential that digital FBW could bring, including flight envelope protection incorporated into the control software. Ziegler's legacy lives on with digital FBW on all current-generation Airbus aircraft, and its adoption as the standard on all modern passenger aircraft globally.

Born in 1933, in Boulogne sur Seine, Ziegler graduated from the French “Ecole Polytechnique” in 1954 and, later, from several engineering and flight training schools (Ecole Nationale de l’Air, Ecole de Chasse, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique, Ecole du Personnel Navigant Essais). For ten years, he was a fighter pilot in the French Air Force.

During the early 1960s he studied aeronautical engineering at ENSA (l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique) in Toulouse, which is now ISAE-SUPAERO. He then attended the prestigious flight test pilot school EPNER, before taking up a career as a military test pilot.

Ziegler joined Airbus as its chief test pilot in 1972 and was given the task of setting up a new flight test division. He put together a team that shared the objectives of both the design office and the partner countries, fostering collaboration between flight test crews and design engineers.

As a test pilot, he flew the first flight of the first A300 in 1972. The programme was later on an early testbed for FBW which transfers the pilot’s commands to the aircraft via digital signals. FBW provides significant benefits through commonality, improved flight safety, reduced pilot workload, fewer mechanical parts, and real-time monitoring of all aircraft systems.

He also flew the A310, A320 and A340-200. In June 1993, Ziegler participated in the longest flight ever undertaken by a civil aircraft, when an A340-200, dubbed the “World Ranger”, flew around the world from Paris with just one stop in Auckland in just over 48 hours.

Up until his retirement in December 1997, Ziegler was Airbus Senior Vice President of Engineering.

[Boeing767copilot]

Tony Van Grieken died on the 25th of January 2022. Tony was the first general manager (and co-founder?) of Delta Air Transport (DAT) in Antwerp.

[sn26567]

We have some sad news from Ukraine this morning.

Colonel Oleksandr “Grey Wolf” Oksanchenko who was the Ukrainian Air Force Flanker display pilot between 2013-2018 has sadly lost his life
His jet was shot down over the capital Kyiv last Friday night.

Blue skies & thank you for your amazing displays at the 2017-2018 "The Royal International Air Tattoo"

[jan_olieslagers]

Tony Van Grieken died on the 25th of January 2022. Tony was the first general manager (and co-founder?) of Delta Air Transport (DAT) in Antwerp.

Mr Van Grieken was well known at Antwerp Airport in the days when Delta Air Transport started operations. Tony (a former military pilot, I seem to have heard) was mainly active in the Sotramat company, I think he had created it himself; this was a flying school and (for a while) the Belgian importer of the Cessna aeroplanes. And guess what, DAT started operating 3 Cessna planes, before acquiring their King Air feeder for the Amsterdam service.

Mr Van Grieken was thus obviously closely involved in Delta Air Transport, but I do not think he was ever a manager (the "CEO" had not yet been invented ) May also consult http://www.barrois.be/1966_Delta_Air_Transport/, do not be put off by the (less than perfectly written) Dutch language.

[fcw]

Mr Van Grieken was thus obviously closely involved in Delta Air Transport, but I do not think he was ever a manager (the "CEO" had not yet been invented )

He was till 1994.
The article is behind a paywall but you can read enough to see he was: pilot, instructor, COO and chairman.
https://www.tijd.be/algemeen/algemeen/t ... 55954.html

[TLspotting]

One of my Facebook friends but still : Manfred Pamer, 35 years at the head of the Airportclub Graz.

[fcw]

Filip Van Rossem, Sabena pilot and former spokesman of the Belgian cockpit association, passed away at the age of 60.

[TLspotting]

Raymond Deswarte, Air Belgium's former Technical Director, has died in the battle against his illness : https://www.facebook.com/niky.terzakis/ ... wdonSsusml

Matt Davies, a known simmer and streamer (also pilot I think) died yesterday morning due to many medical problems at the lungs : https://twitter.com/MattDaviesHD/status ... 5746408449

[sn26567]

European Business Aviation Association mourns the loss of Secretary-General Athar Husain Khan.

“It is with shock, complete disbelief, deep sadness and heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of our Secretary-General, Athar Husain Khan. Our highly esteemed colleague and friend Athar passed away unexpectedly on Sunday 26 March 2023. Athar always put the human element first, and steered the industry in the right direction during challenging times” Said EBAA Chairman Juergen Wiese.

Athar Husain Khan has been the leader of the EBAA Secretariat since July 2018 and his dedication to the Business aviation industry has been key to the Association’s current strength. Athar has been actively involved in European and international aviation for over 30 years and passionately advocated for a better, sustainable future for air transport. A trained lawyer with experience in various fields of law, he enjoyed a wide and varied career in both the private and public aviation sector.

Athar graduated from the University of Leiden with a degree in European law, Human Rights law, International law, and also specialised in Air and Space law. He subsequently worked for the Dutch Ministries of Education and Transport where he was Senior Policy Advisor and Negotiator on Aeropolitical affairs. Athar worked for KLM as Director Government & Industry Affairs, as CEO of the Association of European Airlines (AEA), and – most recently – as head of the European Business Aviation Industry.

Athar was brought up in a bilingual family and spent his early years in the Middle East, not surprisingly he had a lifelong interest in the interactional aspects of eastern and western culture, religion and politics.

An avid sportsman, Athar enjoyed cricket, golf, cycling, running (he has run the New York City marathon three times), and also represented his country at international level at squash. He was a keen aviator and held a private pilot’s license.

Above all, Athar was a family man and leaves behind his beloved wife and son.

[Boeing767copilot]

Pussy Cunha (78) passed away. She was once the first female captain in Europe on the Boeing 737.

[luchtzak]

Etienne Verhellen, former Belgian Air Force and British Airways Boeing 747 captain succumbed to his injuries he suffered after being hit with a propeller while starting his engine. May he rest in peace.

https://www.aviation24.be/miscellaneous ... al-france/

[Passenger]

Don Bateman (08/03/1932 - 21/05/2023), inventor of the GPWS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Donald_Bateman

[Boeing767copilot]

Jaap Rosen Jacobson (1950) passed away. His success story started in 1995, with the purchase of VLM Airlines. He expanded it from a single aircraft to a fleet of eighteen Fokker-50 aircraft with landing rights at London City Airport. In 2008 he sold VLM to Air France-KLM for 178 million euros.

[Passenger]

Patrick Anspach (1953-2023), aviation journalist L'Echo (and others).
https://www.pagtour.info/la-legende-jou ... s-a-quitte

L'Echo:
https://www.lecho.be/auteur/Patrick-Anspach.801.html

Académie de l’air et de l’espace:
https://academieairespace.com/utilisate ... k-anspach/

[sn26567]

Patrick Anspach (1953-2023), aviation journalist L'Echo (and others).
https://www.pagtour.info/la-legende-jou ... s-a-quitte

L'Echo:
https://www.lecho.be/auteur/Patrick-Anspach.801.html

Académie de l’air et de l’espace:
https://academieairespace.com/utilisate ... k-anspach/

I met Patrick several times. He was a man of great knowledge and enthusiasm for everything relating to aviation. He was one of the lucky few who travelled to Seattle in order to be onboard the delivery flight of TUIfly Belgium's first Boeing 737 MAX 8. But the last time I saw him earlier this year, his health was already declining seriously. May he rest in peace!

[sn26567]

Baron Aldo Vastapane has died at the age of 97.

Aldo Vastapane, a Belgian Baron and entrepreneur born in 1926 in Molenbeek, died at the age of 97.

In his career, Aldo Vastapane has invested in several businesses. In particular, he contributed to the development of duty-free stores (Skyshops) in a number of countries, starting with Brussels Airport.

In the wake of the bankruptcy of Sabena at the end of 2001, a few weeks after the September 11 attacks in New York, Aldo Vastapane took back control and gave new life to Sobelair, the former charter subsidiary of the Belgian flagship airline. Passionate about aviation but also about South Africa, where he owned a property, he launched the destination Johannesburg. But the air adventure would not last: in January 2004, failing to generate sufficient profitability, Sobelair would, in turn, file for bankruptcy.