CASUARINA POINT, MARSH HARBOUR

I decided to post another photo that I took from our little rental cottage in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. The view from our porch was incredible as you can see. I could sit out every day and never get tired of sights like this. Last night we made some conch fritters from batter we brought back, and boy were they delicious. Even my mom decided she liked them too! Just another of the many reasons to go back !

B-787 SIMULATOR

Just finished my annual simulator check ride in Houston (IAH), and was lucky enough to get a photo of our newest B-787 simulator. Continental will be the first US carrier to fly the B-787 starting mid 2012. It is indeed one GORGEOUS airplane. I might just have to fly as a first officer again just so I can go have fun in this simulator! Naaaaah...........I'm happy with what I've got! ;-)

ALPA SWIMSUIT ISSUE!!!!!

I was recently notified that one of my St. Maarten photos (SXM!!!), made the COVER of the December issue of the Air Line Pilot Association's magazine! Here's a picture of the cover! They wrote that my photo was the "inspiration" for the issue........so they called it a "swimsuit" issue. What a great Christmas present and quite a surprise too!

Adri's SOLO Pictures!

Here's two photos I took of Adriana moments after her first solo (yes, she flew by HERSELF)! Soloing an airplane is one of the most rewarding experiences of a pilots life. I still remember the day I soloed, and that was back on February 19, 1977! What a wonderful day that was............and so totally unexpected. You can see how excited Adri was..............and still is. It looks like her flying career is starting to take off! Nice job Adri!

ADRI'S first SOLO!!!!

My girlfriend's daughter, Adriana, recently acquired a love of flying, and decided she wants to be an airline pilot. Luckily for her, I have my flight instructor license, so we started working on her private license when she turned 16 a few months ago. Today, as a testament to her hard work, she was rewarded with her first SOLO!!! Yes, she flew the plane by herself and did an incredible job. Here's the clip I took of her first landing! As you can see, she did a fantastic job! Keep up the good work Adri and you'll be flying for the airlines before you know it!

Sunset at Casuarina Point, Abaco

My girlfriend and I just returned from a three day rest and relaxation vacation to Marsh Harbour, Abaco, in the Bahamas. The sunsets were incredible each night. Here's a shot of one of the nicer ones. I could retire in a place like this!

LAZY SEAGULL

This little fellow was catching a nice leisurely sunning a few weeks ago at Miami, South Beach. It was such a nice day all the seagulls were out sunning themselves, so it made for some easy photos for a change! Ahhhh...........must be nice to not have a worry in the world!

FLOAT PLANE FUN!

Yesterday one of my good friends called and asked if I wanted to go flying for an hour or so in their Cessna 185 float plane. Since I'm a bit nuts about flying, I accepted. We went out and did a few water landings on Greenwood Lake, in NJ/NY. After that, we took a ride up the Hudson for a spectacular view of Manhattan and NYC! What a great afternoon. A big thanks to the Pipitone family for the flying and wonderful evening/dinner too! Here's a couple of shots I took of the plane (one is of the mirror under the wing that is used to check if your landing gear is down for "land" landings and to ensure the wheels are up for water landings). I've got to tell you, landing on a lake is REALLY NEAT!

CONTRAIL AHEAD!!!

While flying to San Francisco (SFO)the other night, we had another aircraft flying approximately 40 miles ahead of us. Here's a shot I took of them.............. The contrail almost looks like a rocket shooting off! Sometimes the sights we see are indeed incredible! I love my job!

SEAGULL SHADOW

Well, finally got home for a day and went to the beach...... It was a nice and peaceful day, but a bit windy. I decided to try and get a nice photo of a seagull. THIS is what I got. I really like how this one turned out. It amazes me how well my camera can capture motion without any blurring.

SEA FOG

Here's a shot I took a couple of days ago during my flight from Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL), en route to San Francisco, California (SFO). We were cruising 40,000 feet above the earth's surface. This small island in the Gulf of California, was about 80 miles southwest of Hermosillo, Mexico. It was a pretty neat sight!

MT ADAMS

Been working a lot lately, so my blog has been a bit idle. Only home for one day and then back out again for another week. UGGGHHHH!!! At any rate, here's a nice shot I took on our departure out of Portland, OR, yesterday. Mt. Adams is in the foreground. It was absolutely gorgeous! You can certainly tell winter is on the way!

PLASTIC HAIR

During our recent rally in New York city, one particular bystander really caught my attention (how could you NOT see her?). Now, I sometimes have a hard time sleeping with almost NO hair, but how does one go about sleeping with PLASTIC hair? Yes, when the breeze blew, you could hear her "hair" clicking. And I thought I'd seen everything................;-)

WALL STREET MARCH!!!!

Yesterday I was in downtown New York City, with all my fellow pilots as we marched on WALL STREET. 750+ pilots gathered for the rally. Here's a group photo I took with the majority of the pilots in it. It was indeed a sight!

ADRIANA AND I GO FLYING

I recently started teaching my girlfriend's 16 year old daughter Adriana, how to fly. She has around 14 hours or so and is doing really well. Her goal is to become an airline pilot, so that's the goal we're working towards. Today she did a perfect takeoff, landing and "slip" all by herself. Nice job Adri!!!!!

LOBSTER CLOUD

Yesterday when I was at the beach, I looked up and saw a "lobster" cloud....at least a cloud that LOOKED like a lobster. I grabbed my camera and this was the shot I got. What do you think?

USA TODAY NEWSPAPER PHOTO

Just got back from flying another trip and had the pleasure of seeing another one of my weather photos in the USA TODAY newspaper! This makes 14 of my photos in the paper in the past year! The editor has told me another might be published in a couple of weeks. The neat thing about this most recent shot was that it baffled the EXPERTS as they had never seen an "upside down mammatus" cloud before!!!! At any rate, here's the photo they used!

SUNSCREEN OR CLOWN?

I usually try to find interesting things at the beach to photograph.........but every once in a while I find something that REALLY catches my eye. Putting sunscreen on isn't a big deal and shouldn't catch someones attention, but this guy was "overdoing" it by just a tiny bit! What's so amazing is that he actually walked around looking like a partially made up clown..........and his wife didn't seem to even notice!!!! You just gotta love the beach!!! ;-)

PELICAN FLIGHT

During a recent visit to South Beach in Miami, I took this shot of a pelican out on its daily fishing jaunt. These birds look so graceful as they fly 8-10 inches above the water. What I find so amazing is the force they hit the water with during a fishing "dive bomber" attack, yet never seem to get hurt. I watched them do this dive from 30 feet up, into water that was only 8-10 inches deep. How they keep from breaking their necks is beyond me. Oh well, I'll just watch as they gracefully fly around.

SUNRISE IN NEWARK

Last week I saw an incredible sunrise in Newark. As I stopped to take the photo, I noticed quite a few passengers observing me, and then I saw the cameras come flying out of the bags/purses/luggage, etc. It was kind of funny because so many passengers were watching me for when and where to take the shot. Every time I took a shot, they did too, and when I put my camera down, they did too. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, do I look that much like a photographer????

VISITING WITH A MOONWALKER!!

Recently I was able to meet with one of the last people to ever walk on the moon, Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. It was especially thrilling since he is originally from New Mexico as am I. When he came on our bus for the tour of the Kennedy Space Center, we were really surprised as their were four other buses for him to get on! He seemed to be pretty happy that he had two fellow NEW MEXICANS with him Carroll Evertson and myself)!!! Dr. Schmitt was the last of the astronauts to set foot on the moon............he was the 12th of 12! Pretty cool...........and he certainly is an amazing individual! Thanks for the visit Dr. Schmidt!

13 IS MY LUCKY NUMBER!

Well, I was notified today that my 13th photo was used in the USA Today newspaper today (Friday, July 15th)!!! I can't believe how well they've received my work! Unfortunately, I've been sick for the past three weeks, so it may be a while before I can submit any more. At any rate, here's the shot!

DORMANT VOLCANO

During my recent flight to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO), on departure, we were lucky enough to fly over a "semi-dormant" volcano. You can see the steam rising from the volcano, with an inactive volcano in the background. It really is neat to see how nature relieves itself of hot air. Too bad our politicians can't do the same thing! ;-)

GRAND CANYON

Flew over the Grand Canyon twice last week. On the way to Orange County, CA (SNA), it was completely covered with clouds, but on the way back we were able to get quite a nice view. Here's a shot I took of the southern rim. This place is incredible! (Sorry for the lack of postings lately........been under the weather).

ANOTHER VIEW OF MT RAINIER

Here's another shot of Mt. Rainier that I took as we departed Seattle, WA, a couple of weeks ago. Interesting how different the mountain looks when the sun is shining on it versus not. At any rate, a spectacular view!

THE BIG BOY LANDS IN MIAMI

Today Miami became the fifth airport in the USA to handle the Airbus A-380........the largest airliner in the world. This is quite a monstrous plane, but not "aesthetically" very appealing. Huge.....yes, pretty.......no. But like everything, it was neat to see it come to Florida. It supposedly takes about two hours to board this plane. Can you imagine that on top of a 15 hour flight? No thanks!!!

CATAMARAN SUNSET SHOT

When I'm in St. Maarten, (SXM), I am always amazed at the incredible sunsets that seem to occur almost every day to photograph. And there always seems to be a sailboat or catamaran floating by to "enhance" the shot. Here's a picture I took during my last visit to SXM a few months ago. Nice, isn't it? THIS is what retirement should look like! LOL

BEAUTIFUL PELICANS

Every now and then I get a shot off that gives me a "peaceful" feeling. This is one of those shots. I took it a couple of years ago and just came across it today. A thunderstorm was quickly approaching, and this was the last glimpse of the sun before it disappeared before the storm. The photo looks rather "dramatic", but peaceful at the same time.

BEING SECURE IN YOUR MANHOOD

Okay, I may wear silly looking things every now and then, but when I saw this at the beach a few weeks ago, I had to do a double-take. Wearing a pink swimsuit is one thing, but when you're a GUY, wearing a pink BIKINI bottom is just a bit much. This guy was walking around like he owned the beach. Hopefully I won't ever get to that point in my life. LOL

MT RAINIER!

Here's a shot I took of Mt Rainier as we departed Seattle (SEA), Washington, last week. It's a truly impressive mountain and is always a point of interest on our departure. It certainly looks mighty as it sticks up above the cloud layers! All the snow reminds me of why I live in Florida though!

ALIEN BEING!!!!!

Well, I went to Roswell, NM, last week and here's a "scary" shot of what I saw:

LYCHEES ON THE WAY!!!

Looks like we'll have a nice crop of lychee's this year on our tree. I've been spraying our tree with insecticide (neem) to get rid of a small pest called the leaf notcher weevil. It literally destroys the leaves..........but I got rid of most of them before the tree bloomed, so hopefully we'll have quite a few lychee's to eat! I can't wait! Come on JUNE!!!! ;-)

THE TRANSITION IS HAPPENING

Well, finally home for ONE day, so here's my photo for you to either enjoy or not enjoy. As the company I work for is slowly merged into another one, the name on the side of our planes is changing. It's difficult to accept this since I've been with my old company for 13 years now. Going to be tough to see it completely vanish. At least the overnight in SXM was wonderful as usual!

DEPARTURE RAINBOW

After departing Miami, FL (MIA), last week, I got this shot of a beautiful rainbow below a shower. It's always neat looking for photo opportunities like this when I'm flying. I'm amazed at how many pilots I fly with that never have seen or looked for such obvious beauty that surrounds them on each and every flight. Good thing I have a camera to capture these incredible sights!

LEGS..........or GABFEST

When I took this shot, I initially wanted to call it "LEGS", but after looking at it for a while, I decided on "GABFEST". Of course, you can easily tell which seagulls are the females, right????? Ahhh..........to be a photographer with a sense of humor!

FUNKY BEACH SIGHT

A few weeks ago during one of my beach visits, I heard a lot of banging, tambourines, and shouting. I looked down by the water and saw this strange looking GUY walking on stilts for some type of advertisement. I'm not quite sure how he did it without sinking in the sand, but he walked on these things as far as the eye could see. You see just about everything at the beach these days!

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

I was going through some of my sunrise/sunset shots and came across this one I took last August. It seems so "peaceful and serene". The sun is magnificent in this picture. Sometimes the big man upstairs shows his majesty through views like this!

MAYAN PYRAMIDS

A few minutes after departing Mexico City (MEX), we usually have the opportunity to see the Mayan ruins...........IF you know where to look. For 13 years I've been flying in and out of Mexico City, and I FINALLY know where to look. Here's a shot from around 18,000 feet up.........zoomed in of course! Pretty cool!

ENGINE SYMMETRY

Here's a shot I took of one of our new airplanes engines a couple of days ago. It was on one of our new B-737-900ER's. Seems like every time I get to fly a new plane and see a clean engine like this, I'm drawn to taking a few photos of it. The lines and symmetry of this design are incredible. Hard to believe an engine can be so beautiful!!! ;-)

MARIA'S IDEAL VIEW FOR RETIREMENT

Here's a shot I took during a recent trip to Antigua (ANU). My girlfriend, Maria, thinks this is the perfect view from a retirement home. I agree! Sure looks peaceful and serene. I could certainly live here! Sorry I haven't been posting much but I've been working a LOT lately, and it hasn't given me much time to post. I hope to do better!

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SUNSET IN ANTIGUA

I've been flying to Antigua quite a bit lately, so I've had the opportunity to take some photos of stunning sunsets. Here's one I took last week. The clouds rise majestically in the background, almost like they're on fire. Incredible!

SUNSPOTS!!!

During a recent trip to Antigua (ANU), I took several photos of an incredible sunset. After reviewing several of the photos, I was stunned to find out that there were several "sunspots" showing in the lower right hand corner of the sun!!! I've never seen sunspots in any of my photos before, so I reviewed the shots again to be sure. I also had a friend check them and that was the first thing he noticed!!! So now I've actually captured something NEW! Pretty cool!

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET ARRIVAL

Here's a nice photo I took a few weeks ago when arriving in the Newark (EWR), NJ, area. The setting sun, the haze, the thin cloud layer, and the snow on the ground all made for a nice shot! Off to Antigua tomorrow!

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BUG!!!

During my recent trip to Antigua (ANU), I snapped a photo of this hungry lizard who seemed in a trance as he watched small insects flying around him. It was fun to watch him barely move his neck as he tried to keep honed in on those pesky "meals". Then he'd lunge for one and go back to his "trance" position while waiting for another.

SHUTTLE CONTRAIL!!!!

Even though I missed a spectacular shuttle launch yesterday, I was able to take a photo of the high altitude contrail it left two and a half hours earlier. Our flight out of Newark departed over an hour late, otherwise this shot would have been a lot more spectacular, but nevertheless, it's still a neat shot. Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but work has been unusually hectic!