July 2018
Saturday, 14th July 2018
Night flight
One of my English classes consists of a couple from Rapperswil and I am reading a short English novel with them. In a recent lesson we came across the word throbbing and I explained that you can have a throbbing pain - one which comes and goes at regular intervals. Or you can have a throbbing noise, one which gets louder and softer at regular intervals, like a pulse.
“Aha,” said the husband. “That sounds like our aeroplane.” I asked him what he meant and he explained that he and his wife often hear a plane at night. Nothing unusual in that, maybe, but this plane flies over several times a week, often between 10 and 11 o’clock at night, when things in general are rather quiet. And the sound it makes is quite different to the jet airliners which constantly cross our skies at high altitudes. This plane lets out a particularly penetrating, rhythmic hum, which seems to make the whole house throb.
Now it was my turn to say “Aha”. The fact is that I have often heard the sound of the same plane as I lie in bed in Hombrechtikon. The term “noise pollution” usually crosses my mind, as does the question “Where is a machine like that flying at this time of night? And why?”
Well, one of my questions was about to answered. My students had asked the same question and had started tracking it on the internet using the program Flightradar24. This program shows a map and when a flight flies over, it shows up as a small aeroplane symbol. Click on the symbol and you can find out what kind of plane it is, where it’s flying from and where it’s flying to.
“Aha,” said the husband. “That sounds like our aeroplane.” I asked him what he meant and he explained that he and his wife often hear a plane at night. Nothing unusual in that, maybe, but this plane flies over several times a week, often between 10 and 11 o’clock at night, when things in general are rather quiet. And the sound it makes is quite different to the jet airliners which constantly cross our skies at high altitudes. This plane lets out a particularly penetrating, rhythmic hum, which seems to make the whole house throb.
Now it was my turn to say “Aha”. The fact is that I have often heard the sound of the same plane as I lie in bed in Hombrechtikon. The term “noise pollution” usually crosses my mind, as does the question “Where is a machine like that flying at this time of night? And why?”
Well, one of my questions was about to answered. My students had asked the same question and had started tracking it on the internet using the program Flightradar24. This program shows a map and when a flight flies over, it shows up as a small aeroplane symbol. Click on the symbol and you can find out what kind of plane it is, where it’s flying from and where it’s flying to.
Antonov
It turns out that this throbbing engine sound comes from an Antonov AN-12 freighter which flies regularly from Leipzig-Halle to Ghardaia, an oasis city in Algeria, which is apparently also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Incidentally, this flight sometimes takes place during daylight hours. Recently I spotted the plane as it droned overhead, bright orange in the evening sun.
The mention of the Antonov aircraft took me back immediately to our life in Africa where we frequently flew on internal flights operated by Antonovs.
Incidentally, this flight sometimes takes place during daylight hours. Recently I spotted the plane as it droned overhead, bright orange in the evening sun.
The mention of the Antonov aircraft took me back immediately to our life in Africa where we frequently flew on internal flights operated by Antonovs.
This picture shows us during a layover on an internal flight in 2006. The plane is a smaller Antonov than the one we hear at night, probably an Antonov AN-24, built in Kiev, now in Ukraine.
If you look carefully you can see my wife, Elisabeth, standing just under the cockpit window.
Such flights were loaded full with passengers and luggage and shortly afterwards planes of this kind were withdrawn from passenger service, because they were considered unsafe.
And it also reminded me that in 2005, after several eventful flights aboard Antonov aircraft, I wrote this short story, based on an Ukrainian folk tale. The story is light-hearted but captures something of travelling was like in the middle of Africa.
The Antonov - A Ukrainian Tale, retold for our times
It is in fact a Christmas story, but I hope you’ll enjoy reading it, even at the height of summer.
If you look carefully you can see my wife, Elisabeth, standing just under the cockpit window.
Such flights were loaded full with passengers and luggage and shortly afterwards planes of this kind were withdrawn from passenger service, because they were considered unsafe.
And it also reminded me that in 2005, after several eventful flights aboard Antonov aircraft, I wrote this short story, based on an Ukrainian folk tale. The story is light-hearted but captures something of travelling was like in the middle of Africa.
The Antonov - A Ukrainian Tale, retold for our times
It is in fact a Christmas story, but I hope you’ll enjoy reading it, even at the height of summer.
Front page story
Look back to 1665: the Plague Year
Contact
If you’re interested in English lessons or translation and checking services, please feel free to contact me in the language of your choice - English, French, German or even Lingala!
Here are my details:
Here are my details:
Mobile
078 609 56 51
+41 78 609 56 51
+41 78 609 56 51
Location
Tödistrasse 9, 8634 Hombrechtikon
(New address from 24th March 2018)
(New address from 24th March 2018)
If you are travelling from Rüti / Wolfhausen, drive past the Hombrechtikon place-name sign for about 300 metres and turn right into Tödistrasse, just before the Tobel bus stop.
Approaching from Hombrechtikon
If you are approaching from the centre of Hombrechtikon, follow the signs to Rüti. At the Tobel junction (the Methodist Church is on the left) turn left. Tödistrasse is the next turning on the left, just past the Tobel bus stop.
The entrance to our new flat is about 100 metres from the junction with Rütistrasse, on the left-hand side of the road.
The house number is number 9 and we are on the first floor.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
Arriving by bus
If you arrive by bus from Bubikon, get off the bus at Tobel and follow Tödiweg until you get to Tödistrasse. Our house is on the right.