07-01-2007

(Sunday 1405) Well, my life has turned upside down since I last wrote. We started at school last Tuesday and all seemed normal. However on Wednesday night, my wife’s water broke so we went to the hospital and Thursday morning at 0940, our little boy was born. So now we're two happy (and busy!) parents. I am really tired since I haven't got much sleep since Tuesday...on the other hand I'm happy in a way that I've never been before. So now I have just about 3 weeks of maternity leave, so that's great. Anyway, I just wanted you to know why I hadn't written for such a long time.
Best regards
Papa

 

19-01-2007

(Friday 1120)
Still here with Maternity leave. Some of the guys at school thought it was like being on holiday, but it's not! It's damn hard work, day and night...but it feels great at the same time.
The coming week is my last one off and then we have a course in Leadership which will take place at a course centre outside our school. It's a course where we don't go home for the whole week as we start off at 0730 every morning and finish off at about 2230, so we'll be having some long days indeed...but I'm used to it by now.
Otherwise not much new. I'll try to upload some more pictures from Airshows that I attended this summer if I get some time. That's it for now.
/GEA

 

31-01-2007

(Wednesday 1705) It's been quite a while since I last wrote in this diary. At the moment I'm on the leadreship course at an Army base called Høvelte, where the Kings' gurads also have their base. We've been having alot of group-work and some really long days. Fortunatelly we have a 2 hour break right now where we have time for a work out and then dinner...and then it's on to group-work again until 2200.
I sold my camera last week as I'm planning to buy a proper one (about time!!) to get some proper sharp pictures.
Otherwise not much has happened at school at the time that I was away. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'll be going to Finland this summer on a cultural stay where I'll get to see their Air Force Officer Academy over there and hopefully see some of their aircraft too.
We have the first exams coming up soon. The first one is Military Law and the second one is the theory exam in Physical training. Anyway, now it's time to take a break and recharge before I have to get back to business in about 2 hours. Take care.
/GEA

 

02-02-2007

(Friday 0955) We're almost done with the course. We've learned quite alot of stuff which we can we use out in the "real world" and at times the course was fun too. The best thing about it was probably the food. And in my case, I really enjoyed sleeping at night without being waken by a screaming baby. However, I really look forward to getting home and holding my little son in my hands again as I haven't seen him for 3 days and I really miss him.
That's it for now.
/GEA

 

05-02-2007

(Monday 1545) Here I am back at school and I had actually (almost) missed it. Today we were visited by the new team of student pilots from Flying school (who start their course tomorrow). We told them about what to expect and how to tackle life at the flying school. I was in charge of briefing them about my OJT (Operational Job Training) and about life at FLOS (the Air Force Academy) which I am part of right now.
The new guys seem sharp and I hope that they all make it through flying school. The class that just finished flying school was here too. Only 3 out of the 10 made it, so that's quite normal compared to the statistics from other classes.
Tomorrow we have swimming again. It's been a while since I last swam, so I look forward to it.
That's it for now. In 1½ years it's on to Canada and I REALLY look forward to that. It's important to keep the goal in mind and remember what the point is with all this hard work.
/GEA

 

07-02-2007

(Wednesday 1220) We had a good swimming session yesterday. After school we were briefed by an official (Lt. General, USAF) from NATO who gave us a resumé of the summit which was held in Riga a while ago. It was an interesting briefing and quite a few of us had questions.
Today we started on a new subject at school. It's called Military Science and I think I'm going to enjoy it. It's a mixture of Mathematics, logistics, projectiles and so on. Finally we get a subject where we don't sit and discuss but we sit and do some calculations instead. I'm going to enjoy it.
Now it's time for English where we have to work with translations. Take care.
/GEA

 

12-02-2007

(Monday 1555) We have winter-holidays this week which is great as we have our first exam next week in military-law, so this way we have time to properly prepare. Otherwise not much has happened at school since last time I wrote. Two of the guys were on one of those school visits last week, where they went to the highlands of Scotland on some Adventerous training. I look forward to seeing them again next week to hear about all their experiences. The weather hans't exactly been ideal, but I guess that's part of the whole point.
I tried my new camera at the airport this weekend and all worked fine. All I need now is a good lens with alot of zoom and I'll be ready for the upcoming airshow season. I'm still in the process of uploading the many pictures from this summer, so it may be a while before I upload the ones from this weekend. They're all of commercial aircraft, including a B747-400F from Korean. That's it for now.
/GEA

 

20-02-2007

(Tuesday 1215) We started off with swimming yesterday and it was a hard start after the holidays. We also had an introduction to a new subject where we learn how to behave as officers. The do's and don'ts.
The Military Law exam is approaching. It's no big deal, but it's our first exam at the academy. Now it's time for some personal development with our local priest.
Otherwise we just had a visit by an EH101 Merlin from RDAF which landed on the football pitch here at the school. It's always great to get reminded what we're here for and what awaits us at the end of the line. Too bad F16's cannot land here.
Catch you later.
GEA

 

22-02-2007

(Thursday 2220) First exam over and it's early weekend due to meteorological conditions. It has been snowing like crazy for the past 24 hours. It's a really bad snow-storm, so bad that it has created chaos on the streets. Most of the public transport is working irregularly and some of it isn't working at all. Police advice not to leave your home in order not to get stuck somewhere in the snow.
Anyway, the exam went well I think, so now we are done with Military Law which is great. I actually rather enjoyed the subject and found it interesting.
That's it for now from snowy Denmark.
/GEA

 

26-02-2007

(Monday 1940) It was great to have that long weekend. This week we'll be having our second exam, also a written one but this time it's in human biology in relation to training. It's mostly about the processes that take part in the human body when you do physical activities and the anatomy of the body. It's probably going to be the hardest exam for me since I'm no too good at that stuff. In Denmark, everyone has biology in primary/secondary school, but I didn't have it as in Malta it's a self-chosen subject and since it didn't catch my interest, I chose other subjects instead. So I have a bit of a disadvantage in that way compared to my school-mates, since I lack all the basics in the subject.
Anyway this morning I was in charge of teaching in the first lesson, where I had to teach about the do's and don'ts during birth, baptism, engagement and wedding according to Danish traditions and culture. As an officer, it is of utmost importance that you know how to behave in any occasion, no matter if it's an every-day happening or a special event.
That's it for now.
/GEA

 

28-02-2007

(Wednesday 2055) It's bed time soon as I'm wasted after today. We had the winter sports day and as it suggests, all actvities were indoors but that didn't make it any easier. It was really hard where we really pushed ourselves with very short brakes. And when there's a competition involved, people do an extra effort and in becomes more fun. My team did ok. We started off very well actually but got worse as the day went on. Oh well, it was good fun and we got alot of physical exercise out of it.
Tomorrow's the last chance to prepare for Friday's exam. I'll do my best and hope it goes well. Anyway, as always I have made a plan for aircraft spotting for the coming season and this is what it looks like:
March and April: Civilian spotting at Copenhagen airport
May: TLP exercise at Karup and exercise at Aalborg. Also civilian spotting at Amsterdam.
June: RDAF airshow, Aalborg
July: RIAT, Fairford, England.
August: Roskilde airshow. Also I'll be on a school visit in Finland so I hope to make some military and civilian spotting there.
September: Probably Malta International Airshow.
That's it for tonight.
Best regards
GEA

 

02-03-2007

(Friday 2200) Weekend again. We finished this week with our second exam at the officer academy so far. Time seems to be accelerating away now. The exam went well, and I think that it was the case for most of us. It was probably the one subject that I was worst in, so I'm happy that it went ok and I look forward to find out what I scored.
Otherwise, the weather is getting warmer, and after this weekend we probably won't have any more freezing temperatures for this winter.
I've been having quite a few hacker attacks on the website these last few weeks but fotunately none of them have managed to actually hack the site, which means that my defensive techniques have been effective. I won't discuss any of them as that might result in the hackers changing tactics.
That's it for now. Have a nice weekend.
Best regards
GEA

 

06-03-2007

(Tuesday 2215) Today was no normal day. We had an event called "Kadet for en dag" meaning "Officer cadet for a day," where young civilians (high-school students) who are interested in what it's like to become an Officer, came visiting us and got a taste of what it's like. The arrangement went really well. My friend Rune, who was the man in charge of the whole thing had planned well to every detail so all went smooth indeed! My task during the day was taking pictures, while my partner KER had the task of making an article about the whole thing, so we made sure to get it covered from every angle.
Anyway, I made a forum online (in Danish), where I will upload the pictures from the event and those present and others interested in a carreer in the Air Force, can ask their qeustions online. Hopefully many will get some questions answered through the forum. The address is jetfighters.dk/forum if you want to take a look.
I bought a lens for my new Canon 400D camera otherwise, a Sigma 170-500mm which will serve as a temporary lens until I've saved up for the Canon 100-400mm IS USM. The camera itself has a factor of 1.6, which means that with a 500mm lens, I'll actually be using 800mm! The weather seems like it's going to be good during the weekend, so I plan to go spotting at Copenhagen airport to try the equipment out.
Good night
/GEA

 

07-03-2007

(Wednesday 2300) I'm off to bed in a minute, but before I go I might aswell finish the day with a post in the diary. We got back to normal business today at school with the usual Military Science, English and swimming lessons among other things.
Then when I got home I got a phone call from a Danish spotter webpage ( Spotters.dk ) asking me if I was interested in going to Amsterdam to take some pictures this weekend, so I said "yes thank you" of course. So this Saturday I'll be flying over there, doing some hard-core aircraft spotting and will fly back Sunday afternoon...everything is free, so that's just great! I only hope that the weather turns out nice. Anyway, it's bed time now so sleep tight.
/GEA

 

08-03-2007

(Thursday 2205) Today we had our first Officer-lunch. We're not Officers yet but it's about time to start practising. We all thought that we were well-mannered chaps, but found out that there are more table manners than you can imagine. Anyway it was fun to learn about being a gentleman at the table and having good food at the same time.
I'm almost done with the preparations for Saturday's trip to the Netherlands. I still have a few things to take care of. I'll only be there Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, so I have to plan well to get the best out of it, as the days are still rather short and the weather is still rather unstable. But anyway, it seeme like there will be some sunshine during the weekend and that the wind will be Westerly, so that makes it easier to plan, since I know what runways they'll be using.
Good night now.
Best regards
GEA

 

13-03-2007

(Tuesday 0855) The trip to the Netherlands got postponed due to illness in the family, so the plan is now for next weekend. Unfortunately it seems as if the weather will be relatively bad next weekend but that won't stop me from having a great time.
This Friday we have DAKA at school, which is a sport event where all 3 officer academies (Navy, Army and Air Force) come together and compete in different sport disciplines. It's a fact that the army guys always win most of the events, so it's become a tradition that the Navy and Air Force get together with one goal in mind...to NOT let the army win. It's going to be fun. After the event we go on to dinner together and then to a party. The event rotates between those 3 every year, and this time it's our turn (the Air Force) to do all the planning and being in charge of all the practical stuff, so some of the guys at school have been really busy lately.
Catch you later...
/GEA

 

15-03-2007

(Thursday 2055) Yesterday I had my yearly medical. I dread medicals to be honest, as I always fear that my eye-sight has deteriorated or my Cholesterol level has reached the upper layers of the athmosphere, but thankfully all was as it should be, so it went smooth.
Today we had the day off so Sara, the little one, and myself went to the airport. Sara went for a walk while I enjoyed doing some aircraft spotting with the new lens that I bought for the camera. The weather was far from ideal but I the pictures turned out ok anyway. I'll take a look at them later and upload them if it doen't get too late. Tomorrow, as I wrote before, we have DAKA, where I am going to be the responsible head-judge for the pistol-shooting competition. Then on Saturday I'm off to the Netherlands for the weekend for some serious spotting, but it seems like winter is on it's way back...
/GEA

 

17-03-2007

(Saturday 0855) We had the Officer Academy sport competition yesterday and it was actually great fun to compete against the Army and the Navy. The Navy won overall (for the 4th year in a row!) and we shared a second place with the Army.
After the event, everyone headed over to our school where we had dinner together and a great party where we go to know eachother better and found out that the other guys aren't that wierd after all. I met some Navy guys who had seen my website and it's always funny to meet people who talk to you as if they've known you for a long time. We had a great sharing our experiences and talking about what it's like on our respective school.
Anyway, in order to make the party more interesting, some of the guys at the Academy had invited girls from different schools in Copenhagen, like the nurse school and medicine school among others and it was a great success. Over 80 of them showed up to our party and most of them seemed to have had a really great time.
Anyway, I'll be flying to Amsterdam in a few hours time, so I better get the last preparations in place. Take care!
/GEA

 

19-03-2007

(Monday 0925) Back home from the Netherlands. The weather was far from optimal but I had a great trip anyway. I took quite alot of pictures with my new equipment and so far they look quite good.
Now it's back to school. This morning we started at 0800 instead of 1000 in order to clean the mess that we'd left behind us last Friday.
I look forward to have some time to take a proper look at the pictures and start uploading them on the net. I also have to write a report about spotting conditions at Schiphol airport. After all, that's what I was sent to the Netherlands for. Now it's back to business. Later onj we'll be running 8km and to be honest, I don't look forward for it.
/GEA

 

23-03-2007

(Friday 0755) Almost weekend and it's been a good week with plenty of physical activity. As you probably know we had an orientation race last Tuesday and we had swimming yesterday and we have 8km running today. Yesterday's swimming lesson was the last one before the exam, which takes place next week. We were tested in the 500m swim for the last time and to my surprise I improved by 40 seconds compared to last time, which means that I am now down on 11m18s. I'm sure that I can shave those 18 seconds off and come down below 11 minutes, so I'll really give it all I've got next time. If I can improve by 1 second every lap, that would mean a 20 second increase as we swim 20 laps of 25m. I'll let you know how it went when we've had the exam.
Now it's time for the last English lessons for this week and then it's on to running followed by weekend! I'll try to upload some pictures from the trip to the Netherlands this weekend if I have time.
Catch you later...
/GEA

 

28-03-2007

(Wednesday 1305) Just back from lunch after the swimming exam. My goal, as I last wrote, was to swim 1 second faster per lap, meaning 20 seconds faster in all. I swam exactly 20 seconds faster than last time, which means that I had a finish time of 10:58 which I'm very satisfied with.
So another exam over; the next on the physical training plan is the 8km offroad running, which is something that I really have a hard time with. I have to work really hard to get better at those steep hills that are on our offroad track. The 8km exam is in the end of May, so there's 2 months to improve. Anyway, next on today's programme is Military science, which is basically Matemathics at this stage. So I better get mentally prepared for the lessons. Catch you later.
/GEA

 

30-03-2007

(Friday 1305) Weekend and holidays ahead! Today was our last day before the Easter holidays. It was a hard one though. As you know we began on the 8km rough terrain running training and today we had the initial test to find out where we are. I ran the course in just under 46 minutes. Running for such a long time, up and down steep hills is MUCH harder than you can ever imagine. I get surprized at how hard it is every time. The exam in this discipline is due in May and you need to complete the course in under 48 minutes to pass. I will work towards the 40 minute barrier which is my goal for the exam. I think I can make it but it's going to take a big effort since running is probably the thing I hate doing most.
Yesterday some of the guys from class and myself were out eating spare-ribs, where you could eat as much as you could for the same price. As you can imagine, we kept challenging eachother to eat more and all ended up close to exploding at the end. Afterwards we went to a bar to get a beer. It was good fun but probably not the most ideal strategy on the night before the running event...
/GEA

 

12-04-2007

(Thursday 1205) Holidays are over and it's back to business. We had a rather standard week, though we had more physical training than usual. I can feel that myself getting in better shape which is great. We were out running again today, in the forest next to the school where we ran a 'hunt run' of 4km after warming up with an easy 4km run. The hunt run is basically where the slow ones start first and the fast ones start later and if the time handicaps were calculated accordingly, everyone would arrive at the goal at the same time. I am one of the slow runners normally so I was one of the first ones off so I agreed with myself that I wouldn't let anyone overtake me...and they didn't either! I started off relatively fast, increased the speed during the run and sprinted at the end and came home quite some time before the others. BLI and myself had an agreement. His goal was to overtake me and my goal was to obstruct him in doing so...so I won the bet; too bad we didn't bet anything.
Anyway, we just had lunch and we're ready for the next lesson on the scheme, which is a double lesson in English. Catch you later...
/GEA

 

16-04-2007

(Monday 1210) Another week is on. We start off with running up some hills in a forest close to the school.
Next week we have GME (Grund Militær Efteruddannelse) which is basically an exercise which all military personnel take part in once a year in order to maintain their soldier abilities. It's going to be 3 days at Jægerspris where we'll be shooting with the M/96 Karabine again among other things. It's going to be fun, let's just hope that the weather stays good.
Anyway, I was out spotting at Copenhagen airport last Saturday and took quite a few pictures which I have uploaded in the gallery. Now I look forward to do some military spotting soon. The next military event will be TLP (Tactical Leadership Programme) at Karup AB, where there will be aircraft from quite a few NATO countries. Among others, there will be Mirage 2000, Tornados, F16's and perhaps Eurofighters and Rafales, the latter with rather small probability of participation.
Othetrwise things look good for our yearly airshow at Aalborg AB. So far there are 5 aerobatic teams confirmed to participate, which is much more than usual. It's going to be great!
Now I'm off running.
/GEA

 

27-04-2007

(Friday 1945) It's been a while since I last wrote something in here...
GME went ok. We had really great weather and good food and good sleeping without any babies screaming in the middle of the night, which is something that I'm used to lately. I really missed that little devil and it was great to come back home to him and Sara.
Next week is no standard week either. On Tuesday and Wednesday we have a course in coaching at school. Due to the long working hours we'll be sleeping at school. Otherwise we'll be having the usual lessons on the other days of the week except for Friday, which is a Danish public holiday.
The programme for Roskilde airshow has been updated and both Eurofighter and Gripen are now confirmed as participants! You can read more about the show here: airshow.dk
Also the programme for Aalborg airshow has been updated and the site is here: danishairshow.dk
Unfortunately I probably cannot make it to the airshow in Aalborg as I'll be on a school visit in Norway that weekend (cannot remember if I've written this already...) Anyway. the main event of this school visit is Saturday night, so I'll try to find an early flight on Sunday in order to make it to the airshow.
That's it for now, I'll write some info about our experiences on GME later on. Stay tuned!
/GEA

 

28-04-2007

(Saturday 0105) You're probably wondering what I'm doing writing in the middle of the night but as you can see I've updated the main page of the website. I hope that you like it. If you have any suggestions, comments or ideas, please let me know. Thanks dudes!
/GEA

 

01-05-2007

(Tuesday 0935) Here we are again. As I mentioned last time, we have a bit of an unusual week this week. Today (in 25 minutes) we'll kick off on a course in coaching which will go on until tomorrow at about 1500. This means that we'll be staying over at school for the night. We're all quite curious about what the course involves.
Anyway, next week a few Officer Cadets (like ourselves) from Finland will be coming over to visit us so I'll be helping out in showing them around in Copenhagen. I look forward to meeting them and hopefully there are also some pilot gonnabe's so that we can talk a bit about flying and hear what their pilot training is like. In Finland, as you know, they have the F/A-18 as front line fighter and they also have BAe Hawk as an advanced trainer.
That's it for now. If you haven't noticed, I've been uploading new pictures in the gallery basically every week for the past month or so. They're mostly of civilian aircraft as the airshow season hasn't started yet...
/GEA

 

07-05-2007

(Monday 1335) Sitting between lessons. Today we have 4 hours of State Knowledge in all and that's ok as it's really my favorite subject. At the moment we're learning about Denmark within the EU. We have to write an assignment in the subject soon so we're all busy acquiring information for that.
We got some sudden news last week. As you probably know, 3 of us will be going to Canada this year for the fighter training and the 9 rest will go next year. Apparently the agreement was only an oral one and NFTC (the school in Canada) has now informed the RDAF that they want 6 students this year, and 6 next year. So 3 of us suddenly have to leave unexpectedly. I considered the option myself but came to the conclusion that it's better to wait until next year. If I had been single I would have probably requested to go this year, but having a family I thought otherwise.
Anyway, this Thursday I'll be going to Skrydstrup AB for a meeting and I look forward to hear jet noise again and smell some jet fuel while we're there.
Anyway, class starting again now. Catch you later.
/GEA

 

12-05-2007

(Saturday 1600) I was at Skrydstrup Ab Thursday, where I attended the yearly pilot union meeting for the first time. It was nice to hear about the union's agenda and plans. But apart from that it was great to be back at the base, hear some jet 'music,' smell some jet fuel and talk with the pilots and get updated on the latest happenings. At the moment, as you might know, there's a bunch of USAF F15C's at Aalborg AB which will be taking part in an exercise called Noble Award. However, in the meantime before the exercise starts, they're practsing against the RDAF F16's and German Tornados and it was nice to hear that our guys have been kicking some serious butts. Anyway, Friday morning before we drove back home, we went to the end of the runway to see some jets take off and afterwards we went to the F16 simulator and "flew" for about 20 minutes each - it was great! Sometimes I have to remind myself what it is I'm fighting for and why I am working so hard...and that's basically all it takes to get me motivated again and get my flame burning. I really look forward to Canada and hopefully the life as fighter pilot afterwards. As you know, there's six of us going to Canada next year but only 5 will be given the fighter slot and the last will be given a transport slot. Now I better get back to my home work. I have an assignment in State knowledge among other things which I have to finish today. Stay tuned.
/GEA

 

15-05-2007

(Tuesday 1055) We kicked the week off with running. Monday mornings and running are a bad cocktail, but anyway, we survived. This Thursday is a public holiday so we have a long weekend which I'll use on a family holiday to Germany. Then next week I'll be going to Karup AB on Thursday in order to take pictures of planes taking part in TLP. Then Friday I fly to Holland for civil spotting with some friends at Amsterdam airport. I just hope we get good weather for all of the above mentioned.
The lesson is starting now, so I better get away from the computer.
/GEA

 

24-05-2007

(Thursday 2250) Yesterday we spent the whole day at Chrisitansborg, which is the Danish Parlament building, where we saw the politicians at work and had a meeting with a couple of members of parlament. It was a great day and it was really exciting to see the whole political system in action. After all we've had quite a few lessons in State-knowledge, so it was nice to see the whole thing in real life. Afterwards we visited the Ministry of Defence where we were briefed about the military happenings, mostly connected to the Air Force. In the evening I met up with a couple of friends at a bar in Copenhagen where we watched the Champions League final and had a few beers. It was a great ending to the day, as my team won...
As I wrote before, today I flew over to Karup AB to take some pictures of the aircraft participating at the TLP exercise. Unfortunately the weather was terrible but I got a few shots anyway, which I'll try to upload later on tonight. It was neat to see Tornado F3's and GR4's, F16's and Mirage 2000's, about 30 aircraft in all, which took off with less than a minutes' separation. I was standing quite close to the runway so it was good that I had ear-plugs in my pocket.
As you might have read, I'm going to the Netherlands tomorrow, where I'll be staying for the weekend to take some civlian aircraft pictures. The weather forecast promised terrible weather so that's just great!
/GEA

 

01-06-2007

(Friday 1310) Another week over and another weekend has just begun. I managed to give my trip to Norway to a collegue of mine, which means that next weekend I'll be going to Aalborg airshow instead of Norway. It's going to be a really good airshow. 5 foreign aerobatic teams will be present, including Frecce Tricolori and Patrouille De France among others. For more info about the airshow take a look at danishairshow.dk and click on Flying or Static display accordingly to see what's coming.
Next Friday we have our exam in 8km off-terrain running and I feel in good shape except for my right knee which has been bugging me for a while now. This weekend I'll try to upload some pictures from my trip to the Netherlands and from TLP if I get time. I have quite alot of schoolwork to do, so there probably won't be any time for uploading pictures, but we'll see.
Yesterday we had a briefing by 2 OCU pilots who are waiting for their turn to get converted to the F16. They told us about what Canada will be like and what to expect. It was quite motivating to hear about it and get reminded what it is we're working for. I cannot wait for my turn to get back to the flying business. The first year of Officer Academy is over soon and then we can almost start to see light at the end of the tunnel...hopefully it doesn't shine from a train's headlamp steaming at us at full speed...
/GEA

 

08-06-2007

(Friday 1345) As you probably know we had the 8km rough terrain running exam today. On the initial test a few months ago I ran it on 46:30, so I decided that my goal would be 40 minutes for the exam. Unfortunately I've had a knee injury which has restricted me a bit lately, so I did not make my goal. I ran the 8km in 40:12 which was 12 seconds over...but that doesn't mean I'm not happy about it! I am satisfied with it especially considering that we ran in really hot weather today...about 25 degrees in the shade, so it was extra hard, but perhaps to my advantage because of my Southern genes? Who knows? Anyway, one of the best runners in class fainted during the exam so I hope he's ok now, as he was fetched by an ambulance. He runs extremely fast every time, always right on the limit of what the human body is capable of...and I suppose the extra hot weather today was just too much. There were a couple of other guys close to breaking down...those steep hills are real killers! Anyway, the exam is overwith and now I can just look forward to the airshow this weekend. I bought a new lens for the camera last Monday (the dream-lens actually!) It's a Canon 100-400mm L with image stabiliser so I can't wait to try it out!
I leave to Aalborg tonight at about 1700 with another friend of mine, where we can look forward to at least 4 hours in the train.
Anyway, that's it for now. Take care and stay in the shade!
/GEA

 

11-06-2007

(Monday 2315) The airshow at Aalborg AB went great. The weather couldn't have been better and the new lens that I bought performed really well indeed! I have uploaded a teaser of 3 pictures in the gallery to give you an idea of what it was like. The rest of the pictures will be uploaded in batches as time goes by.
As you probably know, the weather has been very hot lately. Today we had about 30 degrees and even right now, it's still very hot, which is kind of unusual for Denmark, but we're enjoying it while it lasts.
School is as usual, however tomorrow I have a rather unusual assignment which I'll tell you about some other time...now I'm off to bed.
/GEA

 

13-06-2007

(Wednesday 0810) Back at school and I suppose I can tell you about yesterday's unusual assignment. The Air Force has a recruiting campaign going on and every year they make an event, where high-school students get the opportunity to take part in order to hear about their carreer opportunities in the Air Force. The thing is called "Stud-Luft" which can be losely translated to Student Flight. Every year the Air Force makes an advert, where they take pictures of some models wearing the AF uniform and then print the advert in all kinds of magazines and newspapers in order to draw the young people's attention. This year they decided to use 'real people' in the advert instead of models and I was one of the three "chosen" ones. It was quite en experience, I must say. First a stylist gave us Hollywood make up on and fixed our hair (not so much mine due to the lack of lenght) and then a photographer took the pictures.
So now I suppose I can write "model" too on my CV.
Back to business: Today and tomorrow we have the second part of the coaching course, which means that we'll finish at around 2200 tonight and then we'll be staying here at school for the night.
That's it for now...stay tuned!
/GEA

 

18-06-2007

(Monday 2010) Another day almost over and sometimes it's good to simply stop and look back. The first year of two at the Officer Academy is almost over and it actually went much faster than I had expected. Sometimes the dream seems so distant and I suppose that's why it's important to look back once every while, and see how far you've come. I feel so greatful that I am where I am and so previlaged to be working with what I always dreamt of...with what many dream of yet most people never get the chance to give it a shot. It's funny because just 10 years ago, I could have never imagined myself living in Denmark, having a wonderful wife and child and doing the fighter-pilot training. I suppose life is more unpredictable than one can imagine.
As you've probably noticed I have uploaded some more pictures from Aalborg airshow and believe me, there's many more on the way! There are also some pictures from TLP which need to be uploaded and those from Amsterdam, so there's plenty for the whole summer (and winter too!) so I'll try to keep uploading regularly. In about 4 weeks there's the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in the UK, which is a big airshow with many exotic aircraft from all over the world and this year, the USAF Thunderbirds will be participating which is unusual since they're not usually in Europe. Also it's the last chance to see the F117 Nighthawk as they'll be withdrawn from service later on this year. I hope I can make it over...
/GEA

 

24-06-2007

(Sunday 2235) Another week over soon and tomorrow we start the last week of school before the summer holidays. Unfortunately we only have 3 weeks of holidays, but it's always better than nothing.
We have a test in State Knowledge tomorrow. I feel wuite comfortable with the Danish political system, however I don't feel that strong in EU politics and it's relation to us. It's all quite complicatedand there are so many things to confuse. Anyway, I'll think I'll be ok in tomorrow's test.
Now it's time to upload a few pictures from Aalborg airshow onto the picture gallery.
Take care!
/GEA