EH-101 Medevac

Arrival of one Portuguese EH-101 Merlin from Porto Santo, on a medical evacuation.

Agusta-Westland EH-101 Merlin, 19609, Força Aérea Portuguesa

The True Heroes

This is (was...) 16804, the Hercules C-130 from the Portuguese Air Force, that crashed on Monday in Montijo AB, which cost the lives of three soldiers. I had the opportunity to photograph it one last time, on July 4, eight days before the fatal accident.

At the precise moment that the plane carrying the national football team back to Portugal touched the runway at Lisbon Airport, across the Tagus River the Portuguese C-130 burst in flames. However, the most sadness thing is the fact that Portuguese TV channels did not cut the broadcast of the arrival of the national team to transmit these news. Some text notes, and little or nothing else... I can say that I was already sick of seeing the National Team, because in whatever the Portuguese channel, either public or private, these were the images that came to my eyes. And when finally appeared news relatively to the Air Force plane, not even two minutes lasted!

In fact, this reflects the Portuguese mentality on its generality, where it is given more attention to the football team, which, by winning about half a dozen games (congrats to them), his players are considered heroes and decorated, when the true heroes are these men, that anonymously give their life to serve the country! How many lives this squad, and perhaps even some of the crew members in question have saved? From search and rescue missions to humanitarian missions in the service of the United Nations in Africa. Perhaps they helped some of the readers of this text, since these were the same aircraft that on the 20 February 2010 and on the fires in 2012 brought the help needed in Madeira on those times, for example mobile bridges and human resources.

It is commendable the attitude that two members of this crew had! After they had both left the crashed aircraft, and realizing that his superior Lieutenant Colonel, also Commander of the C-130, was trapped inside the cockpit, they returned to rescue him. Unfortunately, the three men ended up not surviving.

It is in this way that, not only the military, but all those who serve the country earn my respect.

Finally, my condolences to all my friends and acquaintances in the Portuguese Air Force, as well as to the relatives and friends of the victims.

Lockheed C-130H Hercules, 16804, Força Aérea Portuguesa

Boeing 767 Thomson

Today we had the visit of this Boeing 767 from Thomson, wich came to Madeira to pick some passengers that left the Black Watch cruise ship, after it suffered a fire while coming from Ponta Delgada to Funchal. Porto Santo also had a 737 and a 767 from Titan, that went there probably due to the certification of the pilots to land at Madeira Airport.

Boeing 767-304ER, G-OBYG, Thomson Airways