Squawk7000

Our guest this week is Paolo Massolini born in Zambia, went solo illegally at 15years and 1 month and started flying professionally. in 1983 for a charter company in Zambia. He later flew in Botswana then in South Africa for a charter company Safair Freighters on the C130 and then eventually for South African Airways on the Boeing Fleet 737 and 747 and the Airbus A340, A330 and A320. He is now in Kinsale in Ireland where he owns the Flying Poet. https://flyingpoet.ie/Paolo is also one of the founders of a well-known aviation establishment in Johannesburg, the Hi-Flyerz Aviation Bar. The Flying Poet Aviation Café aims to promote awareness and create enthusiasm for aviation in Ireland. The paraphernalia in the café provides a good insight into all spheres of aviation.

On this week's podcast – Lufthansa starts a new service from Cork Airport, we speak with Alan Phelan about the Portlaoise Plane and the Irish Community Air Ambulance take delivery of their new helicopter.

On this edition of Long Final from Squawk 7000.We met with Tony Tighe, Head of Aviation services with Met Eireann, to talk about the services available to general aviation in particular. The first ‘real time’ weather observation was transmitted from Valentia Island in Co. Kerry on the 8th October 1860 However, it was not until 1936 that the Irish Meteorological Service was established to provide accurate weather information for transatlantic aviation.Forecasting for aviation was the main preoccupation for the fledgling Service. That is until 1948, when it assumed responsibility for the weather forecasts broadcast by Radio Éireann.Many things have changed in the intervening years, such as the installation of high-resolution weather radar systems at Dublin Airport and Shannon Airport in 1990 and 1996, respectively.In March 1996, its 60th year of operation, the Meteorological Service adopted the new title Met Éireann. In 2001 Met Éireann launched its website, and in 2008, a specialised web-based Met Self Briefing service was introduced to provide aviation data to pilots and aviation customers.https://briefing.met.ie/

On this week's podcast – Aer Lingus delays the start of its transatlantic operations from Manchester, Easyjet and BA swoop into Belfast to service routes vacated by Stobart Air and Ryanair takes delivery of its first two Boeing 737-8200 aircraft.

Known to a generation as a radio presenter of the Beatbox on RTE 2FM, he surprised his listeners when he left broadcasting for aviation. His career from Trans Aer to Gulf Air and a career in Emirates as Captain on the A330 A340 A380. Technical flight check pilot A330 A340. CRM/HF instructorBarry shares his stories from radio and the flight deck of one of the world's biggest passenger aircraft. He tells a great story that has no regrets about a career in flying,

On this week's Short Final – Stobart Air ceases all flying, EirTrade opens a new facility in the US, and Eurocontrol details the impact of Covid-19 on air traffic in and out of Ireland. We also talk with Captain Simon Croghan from Recover Irish Aviation founded by a group of aviation professionals in order to provide a voice for the aviation community in Ireland following the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this week's Short Final – The Irish government announced a date for overseas travel to restart, routes out of airports in Northern Ireland begin to resume, and Tecnam Aircraft announce their new dealer for Ireland.

This week we meet with Alan Phelan the founder and CEO of APTN.aero (Aircraft Professionals Technical Network) and Matt Gee who is COO of Six West, they provide ferry and flight operations services to the aircraft leasing community and airlines worldwide and are an enterprise member of the APTN.aero technical network.We talk with Matt and Alan about the current state of play in the commercial aviation world and how it impacts the technical side of flying aircraft. We also examine how the aircraft technical sector is a crucial part of the aviation industry in Ireland and how we need to stay ahead of the competition to maintain Ireland’s leading role in aircraft leasing worldwide.”This podcast was recorded at Bloom HQ in Mountrath, County Laois, one of a number of new Digital and Community Enterprise Hubs around the country where you'll see many aviation businesses blooming in the future in a post-Covid environment.sixwestservices.com & https://aptn.aero/https://supporter.acast.com/squawk7000

On this week's Short Final – lots of news in a 12-minute session! AFTA is Chosen as EASA SPO Operator for the Green Rebel Group. The Airbus Beluga XL visits Shannon on a training mission and Aer Lingus Regional announces another new route from Belfast.