HamPage - Aviation

Update, April 25, 2012: I know I haven't been updating this website too often. It was because I became unsure if anyone is interested in itself, if anyone would like to see something of hungarian general aviation, museums and air shows. I'm still not sure about it, I did however upload a new page about a visit to the Szolnok military aviation museum in last May. I hope you'll like it!

I have been devoted to flying ever since I was a little boy. I think I inherited this: my father wanted to be a jet fighter pilot when he was young, but unfortunately he didn't suited the requirements. I believe that must have been a shock for him, as he loved airplanes, and he wanted to fly just like his father (my grandfather), who used to fly sailplanes before WW2. Grandpa gave up flying in the '50s, but the love of the open air stayed in our blood - in my father's veins and in mine...

I have a strong affection for Czech airplanes like the Zlin 37 "Cmelak" behind me on this picture

For a long time my only airborne experience was a flight with a Tupolew Tu-154 (a soviet jet airliner, registration: HA-LCP) I won on a drawing contest. I have read all books that were available at the time in Hungary, so I thought I knew everything about the plane, and I would have been happy even if we did not take off. But we did and the following one hour changed my life - I realised that flying was great indeed! After that, I went back to my books and the air shows and dreamed of being a pilot. Even my first novel that I wrote for myself at the age of 14 told a story about pilots :-) Unfortunately again, flying in Hungary was still so strictly regulated around the early '90s (when I got to the age at which I could have been allowed to fly) that I was told to forget about becoming a pilot because of my state of health (especially my eyesight), so I stayed at watching the planes from the ground, visiting different airports and air shows.

It was at a military air show in 1998 when I realised that flying was missing from my life. At the time medical requirements were eased, so I might have been allowed to pilot a plane, but in the strange economic situation of this small country aviation became very expensive. And this still is the case - it's cheaper to go the US, attend an aviation school and get a PPL there, than to do a flying course here in Hungary! To make this short, I can only afford being a passenger... To bring a little comfort into this, I always try to fly different planes. And while at some airport, I photograph everything I can and I'm allowed to! There are many type of airplanes here in Hungary: the countries general aviation is a mixture of soviet, czech, polish and "western" technology!

May, 1999: I discovered general aviation :-) I'm the one to the left; the guy on the right is a commercial pilot

The planes I flew with since 1999: a few Cessna C-172's (HA-SJC, HA-SLZ), a Zlin Z-142 (HA-SGC) (a czech prop training aircraft), a couple of Cessna-152's (HA-SJK, HA-SKS, HA-SJG), a Cessna-182 (HA-SLH),a Cessna-177RG(HA-JDU), a (french) Morane MS883 (HA-SJQ), a russian/polish Mi-2 helicopter (HA-BCF), a Cessna-177 (HA-JUV), a Piper Cherokee Warrior II (PA-28-something; D-EBCD), some PZL-104 Wilga's (HA-SES, HA-SEJ), a Cessna-150 (HA-SLP), a number of Antonow An-2's (HA-ABN, HA-ANK, HA-ANR, HA-DAC, HA-YHD) , three different models of the famous czech Zlin "Trener" aerobatic aircraft family: Z226T (HA-TRM), Z726(HA-SDF), and Z526F(HA-SAM), an old russian Polikarpow Po-2 biplane (HA-PAO), and a Li-2 (HA-LIX), which is the soviet version of the famous Douglas DC-3. The latter was one of my most memorable flights: this plane is 53 years old and just has been recovered and renovated - it's a real beauty! The most important "trophy" of 2003 was an awsome Zlin-43 (HA-FBA). 2004 was spent without any flying, but the summer season of 2005 started with an IAR-823 (HA-JDM)., and continued with a Cessna-175 (HA-SAP), not counting an Airbus-319 between Budapest and Berlin. 2006 was "airliners only": B737s and A319 all the way. 2007 belonged to Boeing entirely, at least considering my trips. 2008 started again with Boeings, but then I managed to make a small round trip on the Li-2, and then came two trips with a Fokker-100. 2009 wasn't my year either: another 737 and a Fokker-70. 2010, 2011: just a few trips on board of A320s. No small planes for me anymore, it seems :(

Kecskemét Air Show 2008 Excerpts from the air tattoo, from MiG-21 to C-17, from F-16 to the Frecce Tricolori	Jet figthers and aerobatics over Budapest Military and civil planes just 300 feet above downtown
Kecskemét Air Show 2007 Rain and sunshine - and lots of loud jets	50 years of agricultural aviation in Hungary A small air-show for hungarian crop-dusters

An-2's The classic small-distance passenger/parajump biplane of the "eastern bloc"!	Zlin aircraft The famous czech planes that ruled aerobatics from the 1950's to 1976 and more!
Cessnas From C-150 through C-172 and C-177 to C-421	Pipers From small to two-engines
Other aircraft... Yakovlev, SOCATA, PZL, Sukhoi and whatnot...	Helicopters From Mi-2 through Aerospatiale to the Robinson R44...
Cockpits: general aviation Zlins, Cessnas, Pipers, Yaks, etc...	Cockpits: Airliners From the old Ilyushin-18 to the B-767
Cockpits: Helicopters From Mi-1 through Mi-24 "Hind" to the Robinson R44...	Museums: Ferihegy A few classics from the hungarian civil aviation
Museums: Szolnok Mainly military aviation from the Mig-15 to the Hawker Hunter, but also a few civil and utility aircraft...	Museums: Szolnok revisited (2011) Better pictures about some of the new items on display, plus some older ones that were renovated since my last visit

This page is made in my free time: I do it for fun, and because it's good to see that people like it. I would probably update it more often if I had the time, but I have to earn my living, too. And it's not the easiest thing to do around here: I mean I'm okay and am even able to travel a little bit, but I always have to choose, which one is more important: to fly a little bit? to buy myself a new camera? to get a new computer? to buy my favorite music CD's? or going somewhere with my girlfirend? - I can't afford these things at the same time (maybe not even in the same year). So, if you liked my pages and you feel like it, I would be mostly honoured if you'd buy me something (even something tiny!*) off my amazon.co.uk Wish List!

*If you happen to be a millionaire searching for a way to make somebody (me!) happy, or you're Santa Claus, please feel free to buy me one of the more expensive things off this list ;-)

Für die deutschsprachigen Leser: ich habe viele Hobbys, aber nicht genügend Zeit, und von finanziellen Möglichkeiten sprechen wir lieber gar nicht. Es gibt so viele interresanten Dinge in der Welt, die ich mir leider nicht leisten kann, z.B. Fachliteratur - und die Mehrheit dieser Bücher ist in Ungarn nicht einmal erhältlich. Wenn Dir meine Webseiten gefallen haben, und Du in der Stimmung bist, einem ungarischen Flugzeug- und Strassenbahnfreak Freude zu bereiten, ich wäre sehr geehrt und froh, irgendetwas von meinen amazon.de Wünschzettel geschenkt zu bekommen!

The small print:
The photos on these pages were taken and are owned by me unless stated otherwise. I you want to use some of them, drop me a line, and you will be allowed to do so - all I'm asking in return is usually just a link pointing to this site! Disclaimer: this site was not meant as an educational or industrial review site - the notes about the pictures are just my own personal thoughts or the comments of an amateur, never meant to be interpreted as either a tutorial or professional reading. Also, if you see incorrect information, typos or mistakes here, please notify me! Thank you!