Airbus down in Foul weather

Air New Zealand -Airbus falls to sea performing a test flight with seven crew

An Airbus 320 plane of the airline Air New Zealand, who made a test flight with seven crew members aboard, fell today to the Mediterranean Sea, near the border between France and Spain, reported the French Maritime Prefecture.

For the moment, only has been one of the crewmen rescued without being aware of whether he is alive or dead, said the prefecture of Pyrenees-Atlantiques.

The aircraft had taken off from an airfield in Perpignan, Southern France, which was to return after the test flight, noted the sources, who said he was there to be repaired by the French company EAS, he said.

For reasons not yet determined, the plane crashed about eight kilometers off the coast of Saint-Cyprien, near Perpignan, in the midst of bad weather, with heavy rain and wind tramontana.

French radars lost its signal at around 1545 GMT and shortly later his remains were spotted by a civilian boat alerted rescue services.

Two ships from the coast guard, a plane of the French navy maneuvers near that place and a helicopter were sent to the area, Civil Defense sources said.

Night and the weather conditions are hampering efforts to search for the missing.

The plane was leased by Germany's XL Airways from Air New Zealand.... On board were two German pilots, three Air New Zealand engineers and an inspector from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority, said a spokesman for XL Airways.  -  BBC News

So saw, So sore

Unglamorous as it maybe, the annual firewood harvest is one of the most important of the year. This year’s timber will need a full twelve months of drying before it is ready to burn. Pruning the trees so drastically also serves purposes other than our firewood production. Here in the north east of Catalunya we experience very strong winds sometimes hurricane force which twist and tear at the trees woody growth, capable of causing irreparable damage to the tree. The heavy limbs of the mulberry trees in our garden thrive in the Mediterranean climate and if left unchecked may cause structural damage to the house during those northerly Traumontana winds.

 We have so far resisted the purchase of a chain saw, and therefore rely on pruning saws and loppers. This makes for a few days of hard work but we will feel better for it, won’t we? Well if I could find that saw we could get back to work. Carol and I are begging to feel like the Waltons with all this timber around us.

Winds of change

Fall or pushed

Manel stood beside me as looked up at the leaves in the trees showing the colours of autumn.

"Tomorrow they will be gone, there will be a Tramontana (Strong wind from the north) and no more colour."

Meanwhile in the coastal resorts the Juntas have taken to cutting back the trees hard to prevent the roosting of thousands of Starlings (birds). Last year saw a cull of 3000, this year we have had bird flu but the Starlings seem to prosper.

The photograph was a standing of trees outside the rail and bus terminus in the city of Girona.

Though true winter is a latecomer in these parts , autumn colour does not hang around too long.

Cut and thrust

Pruning those Mulberry trees probably means loosing the best part of this years fruit crop, however as so many of those rather tall branches place much of their produce out of gathering range and into the realm of insects and birds, maybe there is not so much to loose. If you watch the Mulberry trees twisting and turning under the effects of the Tramontana winds you can see their crowns straining the very fibres that make up the trucks of those trees. Buds are already beginning to break on the branches evidence that the sap is rising though probably not as fast as my blood pressure will be by the end of the day!

In the final week of what used to be called winter, the weather should be cool enough to tackle the work. Armed with a telescopic tree pruner, pruning saw, loppers, and secateurs I would guesstimate that a couple of hours should be enough to at least fell the longer branches if not complete the pruning.

Burning Issues

Fire wood doesn’t grow on trees at least not the protected trees of the bosque around the finca. Only those broken braches which have been torn from the trees by the Tramontana winds may be gathered. The whole village it seems is on permanent alert for the sound of falling firewood.

The olive harvest is not going to be as productive this year due to the dry weather, though it is thought that the quality of olive oil pressed from the fruit will be high. After the harvest the boughs of the Olive trees will be cut back hard to encourage young growth which carries the fruit. Many a young farmer has spent happy hours entwined in the limbs of an elderly Olive because he will have two cash crops from his plantation, first of all the Olives themselves and then a little later firewood from his pruning.

Firewood at the retail level sells at around 3€ a small bag which will burn away within a couple of hours. Buying olive wood from farmers directly is difficult because they tend to have an established customer base which accounts for their entire crop. On a cold day it really warms your heart to see your neighbours taking delivery of a wagon load of fire wood, fuel which they will add to last years stack, whilst you continue to forage for windfalls.

Those of you like ourselves who originate from central heating and gas fire lands and have no real experience of real fires are in for another shock. Even if you are able to cut down a tree or two that wood will have to be stored for up to two years before it is dry enough to be usable. Heat given off by the wood varies too, blonde wood as the Spanish like to call it includes the wood of fruit trees as well as soft wood and gives a little over half the heat given off by a hardwood like oak.

In springtime I will prune back the Mulberry trees and add their wood to my stockpile and then dry it out for a year or two; unless I get paticularly cold in the meantime.

Due to the hike in bottled gas prices I have used half of my stored wood already. This store comprised of a gnarled old trunk pruned from the fig tree, windfalls as well as recycled window and door frames. There was also that old beam I found in the swimming pool along with the mumified cat! Oh and some accidental oak too! (Don't worry! The cat went into the compost heap!)

Ficus benjamina

The Ficus Benjamina I rescued, in february, from the rubbish disposal in the village center, has done well. Having survived the summer Tramontana winds it looks strong enough to tackle the next winter.

Thermals

The midst of a Siberian winter which is exacerbated by the strong northerly Tramontana winds, is making life extremely unpleasant. The winds are blowing most days now and drying the land even more, if that is possible.

Although snow caps the mountain tops, as little as 10% will be converted to water. Even then that water is likely to be absorbed long before it reaches the rivers.

At night temperatures are often -6 degrees C. but last night the forecast of -9 was beaten, I recorded -12 degrees C.

We are experiencing the coldest winter on record here, the hot water bottle is working overtime.

Houses without insulation and heating get colder day by day, stories of ex-pats going home to escape the winter in this 'mild climate' were common place.