Home AvGeek

AvGeek

Technology and curiosities from the world of aeroplanes

WHY DOES THE CAPTAIN SIT ON THE LEFT?

It is well-known that the driver’s seat of a car is on the left-hand side almost all over the world. However, the driver sits on the right in the United Kingdom and also in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei,...

SEAPLANES AND SEAPLANE BASES: HISTORY AND GEEK STUFF

AvGeek friends, today we’ll leave our beloved aeroplanes in their hangars to focus on seaplanes! Seaplanes are aeroplanes which have the extraordinary ability to take off and land on water, allowing otherwise inaccessible places to be reached. They were designed at the beginning of the 20th...

HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE RANKS ON PILOTS’ UNIFORMS

pilota in cabina
Among the common search terms entered by our blog readers – right after “turquoise livery” :) – is the word “PILOT”. It’s no wonder that such a fascinating profession captures readers’ interest. Today’s article is therefore all about how to recognize the ranks on the...

FLAPS

flap
#AvGeek friends, keeping you satisfied is no easy task! Your questions make us tackle increasingly detailed topics and explain how all the components in our beloved aeroplanes work, even the smallest – but nevertheless important – ones! Today is all about flaps. Flaps are the moving parts...

TAIL NUMBER

tail number su coda aereo Air Dolomiti
It is with fondness that we remember when Italian kids used to play the number plate game in the car. On old number plates, ‘VR’ stood for Verona and ‘BO’ for Bologna. ‘KR’, Crotone, was worth 3 points. Foreign number plates were worth 5...

HOW DO GLIDERS FLY?

If you love flying, you’ll know that you don’t always need an engine to fly. Just like boats, planes can also fly using sail power. And that’s exactly how gliders fly. Gliders are heavier-than-air aircraft, also called aerodynes, with a highly tapered fuselage and extremely long...

THE LIFE OF A PILOT. INTERVIEW WITH FIRST OFFICER GRIGORY SHEVANDIN

Working as a pilot is a rewarding profession. FLIGHT is a superpower that shortens geographical distances and overcomes gravity. Through technology, humans are capable of overcoming the forces of nature. The possibility of flight touches at the heart of what it means to be human. We...

HANGARS

How were the hangars born? To answer this question, it’s interesting to start with the etymology of the term ‘hangar’. It’s very likely that the word came from the Frankish haimgard, which means ‘enclosure annexed to the house’. Do you remember the aviation pioneer Louis Blériot. Well, during...

MARKINGS ON RUNWAYS

If you drive a car or ride a scooter or bike, you’ll certainly be familiar with the markings painted on the tarmac. You know when to stop, overtake or watch out for pedestrians crossing the street. Markings are a fundamental tool for managing mobility on...

PROFESSION: PILOT. INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN MARINO PALLA

What does being a pilot mean? And how do you become a pilot? We asked these questions to Captain Marino Palla. With 16,000+ flight hours, he’s been a pilot for Air Dolomiti since 1997, a flight instructor since 2000 and Director of the Verona...