Overview of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport

On Wednesday evening, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport opened for business after the completion of runway upgrades, which lasted for 2 weeks. The upgrade has been somewhat controversial with Slovenia’s national airline, Adria, blaming the airport for inevitable losses the carrier incurred as a result of the airport’s closure. Adria had to significantly scale down its operations and move to Maribor. Adria is seeking compensation from the airport authorities although Ljubljana Airport says that there is no basis for such claims.

The closure of the airport was part of the third and final phase of the runway reconstruction project. The overhaul of the runway included resurfacing the asphalt as well as expanding parts of the taxiways, replacing the lighting system and installing additional cable conduits. The first phase, covering around 800 metres, was concluded on June 25, 2009 while the reconditioning of the other section, involving over 1.000 metres of runway, was completed in the early hours of July 15, 200. The final and most time consuming phase was completed on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The entire runway upgrade project has amounted to a cost of 9 million Euros. It is the first time since 1978 that the runway has been upgraded.

Meanwhile, Ljubljana Airport announced that it recorded a 14% passenger decline in 2009 when compared to 2008. It handled 1.42 million passengers. According to airport statistics, in 2009, most passengers originating from Ljubljana Airport travelled to Germany (18%), followed by the United Kingdom (12%), Turkey and France (8%) and Serbia (7%). The greatest increase in passenger numbers was recorded on flights to Serbia while the greatest decline on flights to Belgium.

Talking about "PIG" reminds me of another aircraft which was referred to as "The Pig". This was not in a derogatory way but came from a shortened version of its manufactures name.

ZK-DAI , c/n 410 , was the prototype Piaggio P166B which was delivered to Australia as VH-PQA in January of 1964. It did a stint in PNG before returning to Australia and then to NZ; arriving here on 27-02-1970 to be registered as ZK-DAI on 05-03-1970 to the Wellington Aero Club. It was then re-listed to the Clubs commercial arm Capital Air Services on 08-06-70. It was slightly different than the norm for this period in having two pusher, geared, fuel injected, super charged Lycoming engines (IGSO-540 if memory serves me). An interesting piece of kit, with a very distinctive sound.

It went back offshore on 16-01-1973 to take up its old Australian registration and was finally withdrawn in 1976.
Photo taken at Wellington on 30-10-1970
("turbo" changed to "super" charged after the error of my way was pointed out by Anonymous).

I remember when Grumman G44 Widgeons operated out of Invercargill. I also recall the first occasion that I heard the radio call of "Alpha Victor Mike, wheels up and landing". It took a few minutes for the penny to drop that it was the amphibian landing on Halfmoon Bay at Stewart Island. From memory I think AVM had at least four landing incidents with the wheels either down when they should not have been, and up when they should not have been, with very spectacular results.

Here I have two shots of ZK-AVM , c/n 1466 , taken at Invercargill, with two different operators. Top view taken on 26-07-1969 with NZ Tourist Air Travel and bottom view with Mount Cook Airlines on 25-04-1974.

This aircraft has had a very interesting life and I believe it is still stored in the Auckland area with Owen Harnish.

This Invercargill third level airline (and numerous others) is being covered on a blog dedicated to third level operators. Well worth a look. Go to http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/

I had the distinct pleasure of closing out my 8 day stay in Florida for Sun 'n Fun's airshow with a visit to the MySky company at the fabulous Spruce Creek aviation community near Daytona, FL.

My host was Prez Dieter Canje, who along with company principal and 30,000 hour pilot Tim Plunket, introduced me to the airplane.
We were all set to shoot air2air and ground photography but Ma Nature had other ideas with some rain and overcast skies.
I did the next best thing and copped a ride with Tim in the MS-1 prototype.
And boy, am I glad I did.  Or dude, am I glad I did.  Whatever.

First off, I have to say this was the best demo I've ever had, and here's why: Tim spent a good ten minutes briefing me on the flight deck, controls, knobs and levers I'd be a-twiddlin'.  Then he talked me through the maneuvers we'd be doing.
"I'll do everything first, then you'll do it," he instructed, and that's exactly what we did: stalls, high bank turns, big looping wingovers, high speed dives.
"Remember," Tim said at one point near the end of our flight, "there's no rule against going faster than 120 Knots in an LSA other than straight and level, full power."  This, while we dove for the deck at 140 knots plus, smooth and solid and not unlike, (I gotta say because I've had the pleasure), zooming down in a P-51 Mustang or Extra 300.  The feel, the narrow tandem cockpit, the fuselage right-side fighter-like control stick, the bubble canopy - oh yeah, you can see where this project is going.

I felt the urge to bark "Tally ho!  Bogies at 5 o'clock low, arm your guns!" -- because this is definitely a Top Gun experience compared to most other LSA.
The company hopes to have the airplane in delivery by the end of the year.  Prototype #2 is being built in their hangar at Spruce Creek and more refinements will be made.
But that flight with Tim stands in mind as the most thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating 24 or so minutes I've spent in an LSA yet.
Stay tuned: Dan Johnson will be writing a flight report on it for Plane & Pilot down the road.

We had just the one response to this Question time.

It was a few days ago and the answer was spot on as being Lake LA-4-200 ZK-DQN. Now resident on Vanuatu, it was cancelled from the NZ register on 23-02-2010.

Well done.

The original clue shows the fuel drains under the port wing

B&H heading to Zagreb

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed that B&H Airlines has had problems paying off its loan for 2 ATR72 aircraft, which make the core of the airline’s fleet. The ATR72s arrived in 2005 thanks to a loan from the Hypo Alpe Adria Bank. The bank itself said that B&H has been tardy with its payments but said that the two airlines have excellent ties and that they are sure this problem will be solved soon. The CEO of B&H Airlines said that all payments had been made on time. The Ministry also confirmed that the Bosnian Government provides aid of up to 5 million Convertible Marks (approximately 2.5 million Euros) to B&H annually, as agreed with the airline’s other owner Turkish Airlines, the “Dnevni Avaz” newspaper reports. The airline reported it had lost 500.000 Euros due to a recent volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, which grounded airlines across Europe.

On the other hand, there is some good news. Despite initial problems, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national carrier will commence flights from Sarajevo to Zagreb from May 21, 6 times per week (flight details can be found on the right hand side in the new route launches section). The airline will also operate charter flights from Tuzla to Hurghada in Egypt and Antalya in Turkey.

I noted Murphy Renegade Spirit 11 ZK-PIG2 at Ashburton on 23-04-2010. This aircraft which was listed to William Scarlett of Christchurch on 16-02-2006 is currently undergoing its test flight period.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Renegade for more history of this type.

This delightful pink and balck aircraft features Miss Piggy on its fin plus the script "Don't mess with the pig"" .

It carries the name "Lilly" forward of the cockpit. (Reminds me of the 1969 song by The Scaffold - "Lilly the Pink")

The instrument panel is also pink.