Chongqing Airshow day 1

Some photos from today, photografer: Mangnus Stenlund

Day before showday 1!

Today weather was better and all wingwalkers could fly too :) Locals from the nearby houses come everyday to see us training and working. They are exited and curious about the airshow and us. Tomorrow will be our first show day! Fingers crossed for good weather! x Hella

some more pictures from the last few days

A lot of flying

Today we had smaller technical problems both on WASP and PYTHON. But we
could handle them and now they are up and running again. We have been
flying a lot today. The weather conditions were good. Tomorrow the air show
starts. Everyone feels prepared. The first day of the air show will be held
only for the VIP people and the sponsors. The 2nd and the 3rd day they open
the gates for everyone. Looking forward to the opening ceremony. Look at
today pictures!

Stenis and Benny working in the WASP

Hella watching paragliders

Benny changing smoke pump

Edit, Cherry and Selina

WASP cockpit

Sus

PYTHON cockpit

PYTHON

Local people and cows on the field

Jacob before first flight

Cherry and Benny at Edits Birthday

CATWALK cockpit

Edits Birthday with happy Chinese

Edit 35th birthday in Chongqing China

Chinese grashopper

Cherry and Benny

(nincs tárgy)

We have just watched the first television appearance on Chinese CQ TV.
Click on the below link and enjoy!

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/_feA3eVTgsc/

We have test flied CATWALK and PYTHON. Both of them flew fine. Some smaller
adjustments will be made tomorrow. Today the weather was really bad. It was
raining almost the whole day. Stenis is sick. Hopefully he will be up and
running tomorrow. Tomorrow we will test fly the WASP and start to put hours
on all airplanes.

Happy Birthday Edit!

Today is my wife´s 35^th birthday. Selina and Cherry hung balloons on our hotel door and we sang for her down at the reception this morning. She got a traditional Chinese plate for breakfast. On it was 20 lollypops that were supposed to represent how many children she will have...hmmm...and a bowl of noodles that represented a long life and two fruits which meant a healthy life. We decided yesterday to give her a bracelet each for her birthday. She was very happy!
Jenny is better today. That's good.
Today we filled up on smoke fluid and prepared the planes for flying again. First about 70 military men swept the strip 2300 x 40 m+ flattened the apron and the fire department practiced driving back and forth while shouting in the megaphones attached to the fire engine. The buffalo were gone and there wasn't a civilian in sight. It was looking good. Then, at 10:30 we were called to a quick meeting where we found out that the authorization had arrived but that it wasn't good until tomorrow. So, we had to roll the planes back to the hanger and we went to buy a new fuel hose for the tank truck instead. The tank truck was new but the nozzle was made for pressure or top fueling passenger airplanes which means that it doesn't fit our planes so we've bought a extension hose with a diameter of 40 mm.
At 4 pm there was another meeting with the military, the organizer and two air traffic controllers at the hotel. We have made a point to be friendly with the air traffic controllers so that they would know who we were and what airplanes we fly. The military really only wanted to get one thing straight, that we are to follow their orders if they give any. We promised the air traffic controllers not to land on any other airfield. We have no idea if there are any other air fields in the area. You should have it straight that there isn't any general aviation in China and that the air traffic controllers only know the IFR rules.
By the looks of it I will fly the Python first tomorrow. It'll be the first time in ten years that a airplane starts and lands on this military air field and the Python will be the first!

Fuel and stickers

We got fuel today! We started all the airplanes and they worked properly. It's rained all morning but this afternoon was OK. Unfortunately the airport boss wasn't there so we weren't allowed to fly but tomorrow at 12 am is supposed to be OK. We'll see.

Today we've been interviewed by newspapers, TV and several other news reporters out at the airport.

Jenny has been really sick to her stomach and has spent the whole day in the hotel room. She joined us for dinner and managed to eat some rise and drink some water. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow.

A lot of stickers have been handed out to children today. They get so happy! Some children just stand and watch with their mouths open. Others are to shy to take any and their parents have to take them for them.

It'll be an exciting day tomorrow!

A complete team

Today the whole team was together again. Unfortunately they brought the rain.

Today it's been raining constantly and the temperature has been just over 20 °C, an amazing change in the the weather this last week.

Since we didn't have a permission from the military or good enough weather we took the opportunity to wash the airplanes. They're shining=) Apparently it's going to rain for two more days. We'll see.

We're getting fuel tomorrow morning at 9 am and if the weather allows it we'll do some test flying otherwise we're hoping to ground run..

We toured the town after dinner. Being a man and letting three women loose in town for cheap shopping is tough but we survived. I have to admit though that we bought tools earlier today and we probably acted the same as the woman did. We bought four screwdrivers, 10 rolls of tape and paint for a total of 60 Yen which equals 60 SEK or about 10USD.

People are very curious and groups of onlookers gathered outside of the store.

Day with TV interviews!

Today was another nice day! The morning was a bit rainy but it got better during the day :)

Most of the day we was doing interviews for TV. It was great fun! Jacob did long interviews and we Skycats were interviewed and showed all our positions for the TV, wearing catsuit, tail and ears!

 

We allready been in the newspapers many times during the week :) see! :)

x Hella

 

The team is together now!

Hella here again!

Today has been a nice and relaxed day! :)

The weather is still gently rainy on and off. Me, Jenny, Emma, Edit & Sus came by lunchtime and met up with Jacob, Benny & Stenis. Nice to see everybody again! We all enjoyed a nice lunch together and then went to the airport to check it out. Our beautiful airplanes where completly assembled and shining! Well done! :)

The rest of the day we spent downtown shopping with our two fantastic and happy guides. We girls love shopping and in this town there is many many shops with loads of shoes and bags! like ;)

Tomorrow we are hopefully flying if weather is better! Cant wait to be on the wing again!!

Now, bedtime here at our very nice hotel! Sleep well! x

From our dinner yesterday :)

Unfortunatly we have some difficulties uploading pictures, but we will keep trying! :)

In Chonqing

Report from Skycat Hella
Our flights has been nice but long. First we flew to Beijing and therefrom a domestic flight for 2½ hours to Chonqing, a "small" town with 18 million people(!). A private guide met us at the airport and took us to our first hotel. We enjoyed a nice bufé and Sus and Edit tasted snails, and Sus even tasted a duck claw! But it wasn't the best he had for dinner ;)
After cheking the pool, spa and the sky lounge bar, we went to bed to continue our trip the day after to the airshow airport.

Eeeeaaaarrrly morning.....

Hi! It is Edit here,

Time to wake up...it is 08:37 here and eve though we slept 8 hours. Our body still knows that it is only 02:37. Soon it is breakfast then we continue our way to air show airport and meet the rest of the team. It will be great. The weather is much worse now. It has been raining all night, but still warner than at home....Have a nice day all of you!

/Edit Holländer

Wasp finished

Today we finished the Wasp so now all the aircrafts are ready for test flight.
The weather is good and the temperature is down to 25-29°C which is perfect.
We had hoped to be airborne tomorrow but the Chinese military could only give us permission for the day after so tomorrow we’ll just ground run.
Today we told our two small 22 year old guides that Sus, the cat walk pilot ( who is so kind and has a really big heart ) will come tomorrow and that he’s a very big, aggressive, angry man and that he eats small Chinese girls for breakfast. They said “It’s impossible”. We’ll see ;) We’re joking a lot with them and have a great time. They are born and raised by farmer parents and they are very down to earth. It’s clear that they have had a very happy childhood because they are so open, friendly and happy. I’m sure the rest of the team will enjoy their company as much as we do.
So it took us five days to complete all.

Rest of the team is taking off to China!

Catwalk pilot Sus, wingwalker Jenny, Emma and Hella togheter with
Jacobs wife Edit, who also is an organizer in the company, just
boarded on AirChina!
We are all exited and looking forward to join the rest of the team in
the heat ;)
And we Skycats can wait to be standing on the wing again!

Sent from my iPhone
Hella Stening

Python is ready to testfly

A good day today.
Very good atmoshere at the airport we like to work together. The Python is fully ready to start and testfly. Start with the Wasp after lunch and top wing is there, flyingwire and I-strut.
We have tuned in our 2 guides about the food so we have excellent food, they take good care of us. Every evening after dinner we take a walk before sleep in the city. Its so many activities and people are eating in the streets at small tabels, children are paiting, playing, skateboarding, etc and older people like 80-90 years old are dancing in big groups at the square in all this. Stenis told our guide Selina that it look very nice that old people could do that and she ask him what older people did in Sweden- we were quite for a few second then Stenis said that they are sitting in a room watching TV...:-)
Tomorrow we will finish the assembly of Wasp. Edit My wife Sus Catwalk pilot Jenny, Hella and Emma wingwalkers will join us tomorrow evening. Looking fwd to that.
Also looking fwd to start fly :)

Black coffee and progress in assemble

Yesterday morning our guide Selina tried black coffe for the first time at the hotel breakfast -she said it tasted like "traditional chinese medicin" :).. The storm was not so bad so everything was ok upon arrivel to the airport, the positive is that the temperature went down to around +25C so it has became very nice to work. Started to work on the Python yesterday and its almost ready..it is rigged and the Python's tailsection will be soon ready.
More activity on the field yesterday: some other team arrived. Lot of people are looking when we are working...sometimes very poor kids are standing and looking with their parents, I usually give them stickers with our logo and planes. It feels good to make them happy and give them a first good impression of us. We have a relaxed and open contact with the military and the pepole at the airport.
Benny is fantastic! The best technician you can have, always has solution for proplems and is goon in improvising. Nice to have Stenis as well with his experience.
It has been a good day. The rest of the team is leaving Sweden this afternoon: Sus, our CATWALK pilot; Jenny, Emma, Hella wingwalking girls, and my wife Edit who takes care of pretty much everything besides flying ;-) Have a nice flight guys and girls! See you tomorrow!

Firework, HOT weather & Resorb

Not everyday you wake up for the sound of a beautiful firework outside your hotel window :-)

It has been a good hard working day. We had a forklift to lift the top wings on the CATWALK. It saved us a lot of time. CATWALK is now complete and we start with Python tomorrow morning. The weather was nice today. A bit colder - only 35 Celsius :-). It is very hard to work in such hot weather. We are looking after each other and remind each other to drink and rest.

Tonight there will be a storm according to weather forecast. We hope it will not damage the CATWALK. It is inside a tent hangar...well...hope the Chinese military can handle it out there.

Today, after dinner we went out to shop some stuff. We have been working for three days now and we have not seen a single person from the West. Everybody is looking at us. In the supermarket 3 childern in my daughter's Felicias age (10 years old) came to shake hands with us. I showed them some pictures of Felicia on my iPhone when I visited her at school last winter....they thought she looked pretty. Without our guide it would be hard moving around..

Every day we eat breakfast 07:15, pick up 08:00, then lunch around 12:3. BNy then you are completely soaked of sweat, so we always take a shower and change underwear, socks and T-shirt before lunch. The we have pick up 14:00 and work until 18:30. Then we take a shower again and change....same proceedure....we drink 1 resorb pill every evening which we got from the Swedish Pharmacy. It helps your body to recover during the night after those really hard working days.

Chicken feet and opening the containers

Good morning!

Yesterday we have opened the containers...it has been a hell of a ride in there but everything was ok.... phuuu....we starte to assemble the CATWALK, tailsection as well as lowerwings are now installed. Really hard work because it is over +50 C in the tenthangar....we try to dring 1/5 litre water in every 30 min. Yesterday we have tried two new things which we never done before.

1. to work in extreeme hot condition
2. to eat chicken feet in chili for lunch...just a bite.

Benny and Stenis did not dare...they are chickens...hihi...Selina, our local guide explained that chicken feet is a delicacy. I also told her that in Sweden we eat pig feet, but we don’t really like it.

Everyday we have breakfast, lunch and dinner buffé at our hotel. The airshow organizer wants us to eat there so we don’t get sick. He doesn’t take any risk. So everyday it is a suprise what we are going to eat. We are usually served 4-5 disches and we never know what we will get. Selina wanted to have feedback on what we thing about the food so this evening it was delicious with vegetables, meat and very nice soups...

The Chinese food here is not the same as it is in Sweden or in the West generally. I love the real Chinese food here. It is very fresch and very healthy. Today we will finish the CATWALK and start with PYTHON. The airshow airport is very cool. We live in the city and to drive there takes only 10 minutes in citytraffic. It is an old military airport used during the war against Japan - they told us. Today it looks like Barkaby airport in Stockholm, but they have same cars, buses, motorbikes, people walking there etc and it is fully open.

The Chinese military is protecting my aircrafts twentyfourseven. I feel safe so far...a lot of buffalos at the airfild as well. I hope they will remove them before we start to fly. ;-)

Dag 2 - arrival to Liangping

Today we arrived to Liangping, 3 hours drive with bus from ChongQing. Nice surroundings with lot of green small hills. The hotel is very nice too. It has been hot today +39 Celsius. I’m glad we brought 200L W120 aircraft oil which is working well in hot climate.

Now we are only 10 minutes drive between the hotel and the airshow airport. It was an exciting bus trip because in the 2 km long tunnel there was a traffic accident adn we ended up in a huge que inside the tunnel and were moving forward very slowly. It was a total traffic jam. It was no fun either to inhale the exhaust so after appr. 1 hour we could feel the lack of oxygen in the bus. Luckily at the time we could also see th ”light in the tunnel” so everything ended up well. Liangping is a pretty small town with about 1 million people. SInce we come here we have not seen a single person from West and when we took an eveningwalk, a 5 year old boy got so afraid of us that he ran in to his parents’ shoeshop. We stopped and his his parents finally could convince him to come out. After several minutes Benny could shook his hand and the parents explained for our guide Selina that he has never before seen a person from the West. I hope we made a good impression.

Tomorrow we have pickup 8 and heading for the airport. The roads to get here were really bad.

It will be exciting to open the containers!

Today I have tried 2 new things to eat and drink. To lunch I tried spicy snails. They were ok. For dinner we tried a new drink - besides the traditional Chinese beer - a warm peenut juice. I liked it. It was somthing special. Benny on the other hand was not really fond of the new drink :-)

Benny is well prepared for the trip. He has a package of Immodium in his pocket. I hope we do not have to use them.

Arrived the destination ChongQing

Godmorning! We arravied to ChongCing city yesterday evening. We were met up of our personal guide here - Western name Selina who studies at university 3rd of 4 years....Always nice to have a private guide and contact person at air shows. It makes everything much easier for us. The city is built on a very cool terrain, a lot of hills. Here lives 18 million people. It is like Dubai - construction buildings everywhere. The weather is very hot, 36 Celsius, when we landed. We were eating Buffe yesterday evening, snails in chili and other exciting things. It was really good. The region is famous about eat very spicy food. Now it is time to eat breakfast. We will be picked up after breakfast and will go to the airport and open the containers!

My first flight with Air China it was ok. We just landed in Beijing and from here we will fly domestic with Air China to ChongQing within a few hours. I still don't know if we get wireless in the hotel. Hope so.... still don't know where our 2 40ft containers are...:-) they arrived to Shnghai port 3 weeks ago....well they should be at the airport...Now after a couple of international air shows we got some experience to pack the containers....they always suffer lot of violence...we always in the cockpit zero the G-force meter in all the aircrafts, and every time the containers arrives the G meter shows forces around +7 to -5 G! So we always pack as good as we can and with mind that the containers can be placed upside down! However its always heartbeating to open the container doors after a long trip...except the aircrafts we bring around 1000 screws and bolts, spare tires, spare brakes, spare cylinders, spare, spare, spare.....aircrompressor and power plattform running on petrol for 220V, 500L of smoke oil, etc. Lot of tools and special tools has Benny - my mechanic made himself...he is the best :-) So if we can find the containers ;-) we will start to assembly the a/c....it takes approx. 4,5 days long days depending on the liftingdevice we will get etc...then testflights, tuning and training...Edit my wife, Sus catwalk pilot and the wingwalkers Hella Stening, Jenny Fransson and Emma Alexson will join in 1 week..../Jacob Holländer

Me and technical team on the way to China

Me Benny and Stenis are at Arlanda hdg for Bejing...In a day or so we
Will open the 2 ft containers..like always after 60 days on the road
and water we hope nothing have come loose in the container..however we
strap the stuff down so its possible to turn them upsidedown and
nothing will get loose..we hope :)..well time to board the Airchina
B777!!