Blu-ray

Here we are having just about completed the 1st month of the new year, our 21st! Time flies when you're having fun...

A dozen years ago when we switched from VHS to DVD the launch of that new format didn't come without problems. The DVD manufacturers at first produced some faulty media and there were some limited compatibility issues in certain areas around the world which were resolved within the first year. Now with the launch of our new Blu-ray format I wanted to avoid this and we spent time beforehand in production finding the best manufacturers around and toroughly testing things in advance. It took us a bit longer than we wanted but it has paid off big time. I'm happy to report that after shipping the first 500 Blu-rays to countries all over the world we have not had a single report of someone who had a problem.

That being said we're delighted with the results and will be moving forward with the production of more planned titles on Blu-ray. I hope to be able to bring you most Cockpit titles on both DVD & Blu-ray for now with a few exceptions... and the plan is to possibly discontinue DVD all together within half a year to a year. The expense of producing a professionally authored & replicated run in both format for the number of programs we produce is not something we would sustain for a long period of time.

Swiss International

I'm also delighted that Swiss agreed to join our series again for the 3rd production. Captain Covolan and his crew were terrific hosts and contributed to making this a total success. I picked San Francisco for the destination because I know the route can be quite scenic and the approach can be beyond fantastic if you're lucky enough to come in on the right day... and right day it was, you're in for the most spectacular approach! The Golden Gate 6 arrival we flew that day is one of the most beautiful you can get in the US with an early view of the Bridge and city, then an overflight right over the Bridge followed by a fantastic view of the city and a pass right over the airport. Funny enough the following day the Golden Gate was in the clouds as you will see from the city bike tour we took with some of the crew members. Airlines in Europe, with a few exceptions, have always been very accommodating to us and have allowed us to produce some great programs and Swiss is certainly high on the list of airlines who are great to work with and I wish to thank them and our crew for a fantastic program!

Future Plans

I'm happy to report that our crews are very tied up with trips to some far away destinations and in the process of filming some new airlines that will be joining the series this year. In the process we're trying to cover some new countries and destinations. I'm very excited about this as I'm trying to continue expanding to reach 1000 destinations!

About 10 months ago I hired a new Director for our series. Simon trained for around 6 months and has started going out on projects a few months ago. Having Simon on board will allow us to cover more remote locations. I've seen some of Simon's work so far and I'm convinced you will be very happy with him koining our team.

As you can see from the above newsletter, I've changed the format somewhat... I just intend to use this monthly newsletter to let you know some of whats going on with the production of our Flight in the Cockpit series. I strongly invite you to stay tuned to our Facebook page for continued updates and welcome questions there as well. Just keep in mind I never discuss future airline projects.

All the best and talk soon!