Please find attached efforts

The in-flight shots aren’t so bad, but you obviously needed to correct the brightness and apply some USM (unsharp mask) afterwards. See my quick and dirty examples.

I think that for taking photo’s of flying aircraft with a digital camera only a D-SLR will satisfy your needs eventually, if not only for the shutterlag on other digital camera types and the quality of the viewfinder. Already the basic D-SLR’s from Canon (D350, D300), Nikon (D70s, D50), Pentax and Minolta are very suitable for aircraft-in-flight photography. If you already own an analog (film) SLR, I would stick to that until you can afford to invest in a D-SLR. Remember that for makes like Nikon and Canon you can use the lenses on both film- and D-SLR’s.

Photo taken at Schiphol Amsterdam 1972 of G-AOHT

Another one from G-EJMH

This one was taken at Oostwold Aerodrome, May 2000, in the NE of the Netherlands. Because my filmscanner just went broke, this is the only picture I’ve readily available.

Normally a slight deterioration of eyesight would not present a major problem indeed, but one has to bear in mind that it is not the ATC Provider, airline or flying club who is deciding whether or not it is acceptable.

The medical certificate of the appropriate class is issued by or on behalf of the CAA unit responsible for safety regulation. The past spending of any money on a candidate’s training is not very relevant in this respect.

Of course it is not advisable for a candidate, who only just meets the medical requirements, to start initial training for a professional career, risking not to meet the requirements for re-certification later in the career.

Originally posted by tenthije
maximum of +2,0 and -5,0 and the difference between the two eyes may not exceed 2,5. That’s for ATC, I read that a while back at the website of Dutch ATC.

The information is not quite correct. I’ve been a tower and approach controller for some 35 years and have also been a member of an Eurocontrol committee which has reviewed the medical requirements for air traffic controllers.

At initial examination for ATC (Class 3 requirements) you need 20/20 eyesight in both eyes with or without correction between +3 and -3. Provided it is established that there is no underlying disease, correction factors may be extended between +3 and -5. For renewal examinations in principal the same limits apply. However beyond these limits recertification may be granted provided there is no underlying disease and full correction to 20/20 can be obtained.

For aerodrome (tower) controllers perfect eyesight for distant subjects is still very important, as aerodrome control is in principle still based on outside observation!! For radar controllers only (approach control and area control) recertification could be considered with less than perfect distant eyesight, provided that full correction can be obtained at the relevant eyesight distances for reading and radardisplay observation.

Geoff,

After some searching on the internet I’ve found that De Kroonduif has used 4 Twin Pioneers in the period 1957 – 1963:
JZ-PPW, Twin Pioneer 3, cn 579, 1961-1963
JZ-PPX, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 509, 1957 crashed ’57
JZ-PPY, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 510, 1957-1963
JZ-PPZ, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 511, 1957-1963

I’ve also found out that Twin Pioneer G-AOEO carried construction number 503, so it seems fair to assume that G-AOEN on your photo carried cn 502. This seems to support your assumption that G-AOEN indeed was used as a demonstration aircraft and was never delivered to De Kroonduif.