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Graphic novels and comics

Graphic Novel: Investigation on Elon Musk

French graphic novel on Elon Musk by author Darryl Cunningham, Delcourt/Ancrages edition.
French graphic novel on Elon Musk by author Darryl Cunningham, Delcourt/Ancrages edition.

The Musk family

I appreciate real-life stories, and especially investigations that study human behaviour. Reading this graphic novel in French about Elon Musk, one grasps the character’s high level of initiative. He likes risking a lot when creating a new company. This characteristic is also present in the family genealogy, starting with the grandfather. However, they clearly act without concern for social norms.

Elon’s main desire is to use his talent and creativity to influence the course of the world, particularly when it comes to the Internet, renewable energies and space. As well as mentioning Musk’s successes, the graphic novel also highlights the grey areas that are too often overlooked.

Spacex

Considering that mankind will one day colonize space, Elon Musk looked to buy a rocket, but they were all too expensive. So he created Spacex and a team of Spacex scientists invented a rocket named Falcon 1, which the company succeeded in launching into orbit after six years’ work. In 2011, Spacex built the world’s first reusable rocket. A year later, the Falcon 9 equipped with a Dragon capsule refuelled the International Space Station (ISS). In light of this success, the government reinjected another $440 million into Spacex for development. I write “another $440 million” because this was not the government’s initial investment in the firm.

Companies narrowly saved

As we read the book, we realize how many times Musk’s businesses have come close to disaster, only to be narrowly saved by perseverance, lots of luck, top-level government relations and whimsical promises.

Just think of Tesla and Spacex, two endangered companies that were spared from bankruptcy by a sudden injection of public money in the form of a $1.6 billion contract from NASA. This was preceded and followed by substantial loans from the US government: “Without the support of American taxpayers, Musk’s fortune would not exist.”

The book also mentions a possible fraud, as the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filed a complaint for misleading tweets about Tesla. These tweets were said to have pushed up the share price by 6%. A settlement was reached a week later between Musk and the SEC. On this subject, Musk neither admits nor denies the allegations. “Musk and Tesla had to pay a fine of $20 million each and Musk had to step down as Chairman of Tesla’s Board of Directors for three years while remaining CEO.”

A page from the French graphic novel: Elon Musk: enquête sur un nouveau maître du monde.
A page from the French graphic novel: Elon Musk: enquête sur un nouveau maître du monde.

Whimsical Promises or Unfounded Announcements

Musk has talent when it comes to touting his products. But the author specifies this: “There’s no denying that Musk is determined, intractable and possesses a real gift for self-promotion. That said, he’s not an inventor, let alone a scientist.”

The book lists a number of whimsical promises, while pointing out that the media help Musk by passing on information that is not systematically verifiable or proven. The result is that the average reader is left with the impression that Elon Musk developed Spacex and Tesla all by himself: “The legend of the self-made billionaire will always be more seductive than the banal reality”.

As an example of whimsical promises, Musk announces that all battery recharging will be free for the Tesla Model S. This is nothing but hot air. He also declares that a Tesla will drive autonomously between Los Angeles and New York in 2017. At the time of writing, no such promise has materialized.

He also made other daring statements in 2016 when he founded Neuralink. This company has been criticized because the research it funds is poorly controlled. According to the book, it generates unnecessary animal suffering. In 2024, Elon Musk reveals that “his company has successfully implanted a device capable of ‘reading thoughts’ in an individual’s brain […]”. He gives no details of the location of the operation or the results.

Musk also makes unfounded statements about vaccination and the virulence of Covid-19. While he declares that this virus has a very low mortality rate and that he will not be vaccinated, the WHO announces in 2023 that the planet is at over three million deaths. He changes his mind and gets vaccinated. But what effect have his words had on recalcitrant Americans?

Elon Musk, Twitter and X

“Since its takeover by Musk, Twitter (or rather ‘X’) has been a tool for promoting the interests, prejudices and conspiracy theories of the right-wing parties of the American political class. This bias has brought a tidal wave of racism, anti-Semitism, climate skepticism, LGBTQ+ hate and medical fake news to the site.”

Elon Musk and Long-Termism

Long-termism and the colonization of various planets are themes dear to Elon Musk. Here’s what the book has to say about it: “Long-termism is an extremely dangerous ideology. It’s a secular religion built around the worship of ‘future value’ whose ethos absolves you from worrying about threats like climate change and global poverty, while making you a good person because you care about the future of humanity as a race that has conquered other planets.”

“No one should have the discretionary power that Elon Musk enjoys, because he hasn’t earned it and he doesn’t owe it to himself alone. He doesn’t understand how much his success owes to privilege and luck. As a result, he thinks he’s much smarter than he really is.”

Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump

If the attitude and decisions that characterize Elon Musk in entrepreneurship are transposed to the state, they could undermine the American president’s aspirations regarding his vision of American politics and the actions to be taken in the face of future challenges.

For example, Musk is known for avoiding confrontation with the Chinese president, as China is Tesla’s second-largest market. But Trump didn’t hesitate in his first term to impose substantial tariffs on China. Musk has also “directly interfered in Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion”. The strategic interests of the two individuals could diverge significantly at times.

But it must also be considered that the actions of the two men could come into phase, which would mean far more rapid and far-reaching upheavals than anticipated.

One thing is certain: the Trump/Musk duo’s solutions to America’s problems will surprise observers of the political and economic scene. The Musk family has never been concerned about the dust they kick up when it comes to pushing their ideas forward. And Trump’s reductive analysis of the cause of America’s problems will do nothing to reassure the various national and international players. This can be seen in his current comments on Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada.

The countries targeted by this duo’s initiatives will have to expect anything, and use their creativity, fighting spirit and composure to impose respect and restraint.

Click on the link for more graphic novels and comics in my blog.

Title: Elon Musk—Enquête sur un nouveau maître du monde.

Author: Darryl Cunningham

Publisher: Delcourt/Encrages, © 2024

ISBN: 978-2-413-08612-3

Categories
Biography and autobiography

Biography : L’homme en mouvement.

L'homme en mouvement, de l'auteur Patrick Straumann.
L’homme en mouvement, de l’auteur Patrick Straumann.

A biography generally tells the story of a person who has made an impact on his or her environment and society. Why, then, take the time to write a book about the existence of a completely unknown individual, who passes through life like a ghost?

Paul Reichstein, “l’homme en mouvement (the man in motion)”, is the enigmatic great-uncle of the author, journalist Patrick Straumann. The latter has carried out an extensive research to find out more about this “black sheep” of the family.

Why “black sheep”? Because Paul was born into a talented family, one of whose brothers, Tadeus (nicknamed Tajik), even won the Nobel Prize in collaboration with two Americans for having succeeded in isolating cortisone. His other brothers all went on to earn degrees that launched them into life. Except Paul, who is interested in everything, but quickly tires of one subject or one place.

Paul was born in Kiev in 1905 and spent his youth in Switzerland, specifically Zurich. He went everywhere, but only briefly. We find him in Russia, where he witnessed the return of the survivors of the Chelyuskin icebreaker . He worked in a tractor factory during the Stalin era and also became a mountaineering instructor where he climbed very high mountains for the glory of the Stalinist regime. (See also “Les alpinistes de Staline” on my blog).

He also joined the US Navy as a soldier. He managed to be expelled twice from Switzerland, did a stint in prison, sailed the Pacific Ocean working for the merchant navy, sold land and cabins in Anchorage, Alaska, and worked for several months in a mine in Chile, before making a detour to Australia.

He was hospitalized for accidents in Rochester, Oakland and Yokohama. We also follow him to San Francisco, Baltimore, Palm Springs, the banks of the Volga, Pusan, Seoul, China and the Philippines.

He died in 1995 and, having outlived all his brothers, there were only a dozen people at his funeral who didn’t know what to say about this elusive “man in motion”.

In 140 pages, the author succeeds in painting a generous, non-judgmental portrait of this great-uncle. Paul’s troubles and wanderings make this man very endearing.

Click on the link for more biographies on my blog.

Title: L’homme en mouvement

Author: Patrick Straumann

Publisher: Chandeigne, © 2024

ISBN: 978-2-36732-279-7

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

Graphic novel : Le piège américain (The American Trap).

The graphic novel "Le piège américain".
The graphic novel “Le piège américain”.

Frédéric Pierucci is a senior executive at Alstom, a gigantic French energy company. Thanks to a US extraterritorial law (FCPA Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) which allows the US government to prosecute any foreign firm targeted for corruption, he was arbitrarily arrested in 2013 as he got off the plane in New York.

Pierucci had not received any money from these operations, but he was aware that Alstom was targeted for embezzlement and that the company used “intermediaries” to secure contracts. He was incarcerated for months, and Alstom finally abandoned him, believing that the Americans would be satisfied with the imprisonment of this high-ranking executive. Pierucci must now try to extricate himself from the quagmire into which he has been plunged.

A page of the graphic novel "Le piège américain".
A page of the graphic novel “Le piège américain”.

Even if he is not directly implicated in the bribes, the American justice system wants to pressure Pierucci into revealing details that would incriminate Alstom’s management, including CEO Patrick Kron.   Pierucci’s harsh judicial treatment is also intended to intimidate the firm’s other top executives, showing them what awaits them if they do not cooperate in rectifying past mistakes.

The primary aim seemed to correct unfair schemes that were damaging American companies and, by the same token, to obtain very substantial monetary compensation. The operation was a success: the effects of Pierucci’s arbitrary arrest paved the way within a few years for the sale of a strategic Alstom subsidiary to General Electric, its main competitor.

Back cover of the graphic novel "Le piège américain".
Back cover of the graphic novel “Le piège américain”.

The maneuvers also allow to obtain information that would otherwise remain confidential. This U.S. extraterritorial law works well and is used to attack numerous corporations around the world, including the German international group Siemens. Each time, the offender is obliged to pay substantial fines and must submit internal documents considered confidential or even secret to the prosecutor.

It’s hard to know who exactly will have access to these documents. Is it possible that agents (we won’t call them “spies” for the sake of politeness) are passing on trade-secret information to people working outside the U.S. Justice Department? Such actions would enable American companies to improve their competitiveness at little cost. But these are questions that the executives of the targeted companies are asking themselves.

Be that as it may, not everything in this story is squeaky clean. Author Matthieu Aron writes: “In autumn 2018, after Frédéric [Pierucci] was finally released, we finished our book. But again, it was not without difficulty. The day after we sent our manuscript to our publisher, my home was ‘visited’ and my computer disappeared. Simple burglars, spooks, or action by a foreign service? We’ll probably never know.”

The graphic novel "Le piège américain", prix littéraire nouveaux droits de l'homme 2019.
The graphic novel “Le piège américain”, prix littéraire nouveaux droits de l’homme 2019.

My view on the subject.

China is watching and learning.

The effectiveness of this American extraterritorial law has not escaped the attention of China, which is planning to devise a similar law that would allow it to lay its hands on otherwise inaccessible information and archives.

Faced with these two behemoths, the United States and China, Europe has fallen behind, and it too will have to create its own law enabling it to extend its judicial power outside the continent. For no one is fooled: bribes to obtain contracts involve multiple countries. Prosecutions under extraterritorial legislation give access not only to large sums of money, but also to documents containing important data and possibly industrial secrets.

Another book on the graphic novel "Le piège américain".
Another book on the graphic novel “Le piège américain”.

The Alstom experience will at least have had the effect of better preparing France for the moment when, a little later, the giant Airbus   was targeted for malfeasance by the same American law. Airbus manufactures not only airplanes, but also many strategic military products protected by secrecy. This time, the widespread collection of the company’s confidential information was refused, without a French citizen being named as intermediary and the documents handed over to the Americans being reviewed to ensure that they did not contain military secrets or other information not directly related to the corruption charges.

Today, Airbus is a great success, selling more aircraft each month than Boeing, which is experiencing difficulties with the way it builds its aircraft. And we have every right to believe that senior management at Airbus has improved its business practices.

Click on the link for more graphic novels and comics on my blog.

Title: Le piège américain — Les dessous de l’affaire Alstom (The American Trap, in the English version)

Authors: Matthieu Aron, Frédéric Pierucci

Drawing and color: Hervé Duphot

Publisher: Delcourt/Encrages © 2021

ISBN : 978-2-413-03738-5

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

The graphic novel “Super Canon”

The graphic novel "Super canon" from Philippe Girard.
The graphic novel “Super canon” from Philippe Girard.

With “Super canon— Le marchand d’armes qui visait les étoiles”, writer Philippe Girard offers us a high quality graphic novel, as much for the scenario as for the drawings and colour choices. For this work, he benefited from an author residency in Liège. He certainly enjoyed his experience in Belgium much more than his writer’s residency in Poland, where he had to fend for himself because the hosts hadn’t respected the scheduled introductions and appointments. At the time, he used his misfortune to produce a very interesting graphic novel entitled “Le Starzec — un mois à Cracovie”.

Graphic novel "Le Starzec - Un mois à Cracovie" by Philippe Girard.
Graphic novel “Le Starzec – Un mois à Cracovie” by Philippe Girard.

“Super Canon” is based on a true story, that of Canadian engineer Gerald Vincent Bull. Of course, it’s impossible to retrace this man’s life step by step, so the author has created a character named Doctor Gerry.

On reading the book, we realize the incredible talent of Gerald Bull, the scientist who revolutionized ballistics. We bear witness to his chequered destiny, tormented as he was between his youthful dreams and his boundless ambitions.

To balance his research budgets and keep his company afloat, he gradually transformed himself into an arms dealer. He offers his service to multiple states, including Canada, the United States, Israel, Iraq, Iran, China. In the process, he becomes the object of constant surveillance by many agencies and accumulates enemies.

A page from the graphic novel "Super Canon" by Philippe Girard.
A page from the graphic novel “Super Canon” by Philippe Girard.

We’re dealing with a genius who has purposely blocked any critical thinking about his weapons of destruction. He dreams of a powerful cannon to send satellites into space, but the intelligence agencies of other countries hold very different plans for his invention.

He naively believes that he will be able to serve several masters with divergent interests, without this causing him the slightest problem. It borders on childish reasoning, on wilful blindness in the pursuit of the high life.

My only reservation regarding the content concerns the first page of the story. I find an ambiguity about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (box 5, page 3).  This was indeed the initial fear raised by the United States, but repeated follow-ups by UN inspectors had shown that Saddam Hussein had no such weapons. The invasion of Iraq couldn’t be justified on such a basis. The invasion went ahead anyway, and none of these supposed armaments were found in Iraq. I would have liked the UN’s conclusions to have been mentioned. This would have allowed to establish the book’s scenario on a basis that left no room for doubt.

A page from the graphic novel "Super canon".
A page from the graphic novel “Super canon”.

Otherwise, one thing’s for sure: you’ll enjoy this extremely well-crafted graphic novel.

Click on the link for other graphic novels and comics on my blog.

Title: Super canon

Author: Philippe Girard

Publisher: Casterman, 2023

ISBN: 978-2-203-24112-1

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

Graphic novel :  MBS – L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite.

Graphic novel "MBS, l'enfant terrible d'Arabie Saoudite"
Graphic novel “MBS, l’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite”

When they hear the name Mohammed Ben Salmane (MBS), most people don’t react, as they can’t associate him with anything. If they are told that it was he who had a journalist cut up into small pieces and stuffed into garbage bags in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey, it resonates more.

The graphic novel “MBS— L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite” introduces us to the life of this implacable ruler who tries to forge links with the great powers. By negotiating his support with the United States, Russia, China, India, or France, he seeks to position his country as a major player on the world stage.

The book is also a very interesting first approach to the history of Saudi Arabia, especially with regards to the Saud family and its reign. We realize the importance of alliances and radical decisions by MBS if he wishes to attain supreme power and hold to it.

Back cover of the graphic novel: MBS L'enfant terrible d'Arabie Saoudite
Back cover of the graphic novel: MBS L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite

Domestic and regional stability remains a top priority for MBS. Even if he wants to modernize society and appeal to young individuals, he must at the same time avoid upsetting the Wahhabi clerics too much. The latter enjoy ancestral prestige and have a marked influence on the way people behave and think.

When it comes to imposing his ideas, MBS hasn’t invented a thing. Like most rulers of the world’s major countries, he has learned to use the media and spares no expense to achieve the desired results.

Top managers of intelligence and news organizations know very well the limits within which they can operate. You won’t see any photos of MBS spouses, or articles that would enlighten the public about the nightlife of the leader and his friends.

This graphic novel maintains interest by interspersing surprising anecdotes with pertinent information accessible to all. As the back cover of the book states, “This ambitious prince happens to be our ally in the Middle East  : oil, the fight against terrorism, Arab-Israeli peace, arms sales … we need him. But what price will we pay?”

Click on the link for more graphic novels and comics on my blog.

Title: MBS— L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite

Authors: Antoine Vitkine and Christophe Girard

Publisher: Steinkis/Les Escales

© 2023

ISBN: 978-2-365696-88-3

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

Warbirds : B-25 Mitchell : Tonnerre sur Tokyo

Warbirds: B-25 Mitchell - Tonnerre sur Tokyo
Warbirds: B-25 Mitchell – Tonnerre sur Tokyo

This comic book, published in 2023, is the third in the Warbirds series, published by Editions Soleil.

On April 18, 1942, a few months after the Pearl Harbor raid, sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers took off from the new Hornet aircraft carrier for a surprise attack on five Japanese cities. The mission was known as the “Doolittle Raid“.

These machines, which were not designed to operate from an aircraft carrier, would not be able to reach their targets and return safely to port for lack of sufficient fuel. All the pilots were well aware of this, and volunteered.

The fleet of sixteen aircraft, commanded by Jimmy Doolittle, successfully achieved its objective of confusing the enemy and showing that Japan remained vulnerable to surprise attacks. The Japanese wondered how it was possible that American bombers could have reached and hit their country. Where did they take off from? They know that the B-25 Mitchells were not designed to take off from an aircraft carrier, and that they were incapable of landing on one.

The genius of the operation laid in the combination of a number of highly risky decisions which, taken together, took the enemy by surprise. Firstly, as it was impossible to land the planes on the Hornet, they were installed with a crane, knowing full well that they would never return to the ship.

In addition, the captains were trained to take off over distances unthinkable for them, using a technique pushed to the extreme. The ship sailed at high speed into the wind, improving the headwind component so essential for such perilous maneuvers.

The pilots had to be extremely skilful to keep to the departure trajectory on a platform that moved from left to right in the middle of a storm. Buildings on the Hornet’s side had to be avoided at all costs, and the available gap between the wing tip and the ship’s tower was no more than two meters. Despite all the obstacles, all the B-25s managed to take off. It was to be a one-way mission to Japan.

Doolittle piloted the first B-25 to take off from the carrier. He had only a very small portion of the deck to work with, as there were still fifteen other bombers waiting their turn to take off. The second pilot to leave the deck narrowly avoided a water landing, as the aircraft sank slightly and a landing gear wheel touched the water. But the plane gained just enough speed to stay airborne.

Bombers and crews suffered different fates once the bombing raids on Japanese targets had been completed. The authors conclude: “The raid destroyed 112 buildings and killed 87 people, in about 6 minutes. […] The destruction of 15 of the 16 B-25s, unable to reach Chinese airfields for landing, was nevertheless to be deplored, the 16th B-25 having landed safely in the USSR.  Also to be deplored was the accidental death of three airmen (planes 3 and 6) and the capture of 8 others (planes 6 and 16) by the Japanese, 4 of whom never returned home, 3 having been executed as “war criminals” and the 4th having died in captivity. Worse still, the Japanese took revenge on the Chinese, who had helped all the surviving airmen, by organizing the massacre of some 250,000 civilians in the Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces then under their control. This was to leave its mark…”.

Landing and takeoff tests on an aircraft carrier, the Forrestal, were also made decades later for a C-130 Hercules. I tried to repeat the experience in flight simulation. The flight can be found in the “challenging virtual flights” section of my blog. As the Forrestal is not available in virtual mode, I used the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.

Click on the link for other comics and graphic novels on my blog.

Title: Warbirds: B-25 Mitchell: Tonnerre sur Tokyo

Authors: Richard D. Nolane and Vladimir Aleksic

Edition : Soleil/D. Nolane/Aleksic

ISBN : 978-2-302-09745-2

© 2023

Categories
Graphic novels and comics

The graphic novel « Une saison à l’ONU ».

The graphic novel: "Une saison à l'ONU"
The graphic novel: “Une saison à l’ONU”

The graphic novel “Une saison à l’ONU” (A season at the UN) makes it easy to understand the various challenges facing the UN, this necessary organization, but one that is largely hampered in its interventions.

International crises and the complexity of day-to-day political maneuvering are not lost on the author, who nevertheless chooses to adopt a light-hearted tone to keep the reader’s interest throughout the book. Funny stories, humor and confidences alternate to bring the story to life.

We all know how difficult it is for the UN to pass resolutions. There is pressure from all sides and the use of veto powers. As a North American, I hear more about the use of the veto by Russia or China than by the United States. The author puts a figure on the use of veto by all the major powers and the result is surprising.

The reader gains a better understanding of the grammatical mastery and compromises required to ensure that a note from the UN receives international approval. You have to know how to dilute and spare sensitivities if you want to be able to publish without generating too much opposition.

In short, “Une saison à l’ONU” is a graphic novel full of interesting and relevant real-life stories. The book demystifies some of the UN’s activities in New York as well as abroad.

Click on the link for more graphic novels on my blog.

Title: A Season at the UN

Author: Karim Lebhour and Aude Massot

Publisher: Steinkis

© 2022

ISBN: 978-2-36846-610-3

Categories
Environment Intelligence

Erik Orsenna’s “La Terre a soif”.

La Terre a soif, by Erik Orsenna.
La Terre a soif, by Erik Orsenna.

I appreciate Erik Orsenna for his erudition, his Cartesian thinking, his poetry and his ability to find the detail that will amuse the reader while informing him. In his book, the author tackles with equal comfort a wide variety of themes relating to history, religion, philosophy, the environment, climate change, renewable energy, pure science, politics and economics.

Being first and foremost a man of the field, he quickly recognized the need to develop and maintain political contacts in many countries in order to facilitate his travels in areas often considered problematic. The reader benefits from this privileged access.

In “La Terre a soif“, he presents us with portraits of thirty-three rivers around the world. The list is not exhaustive, of course, because after years of travel and observation, he was pressed by the publisher to produce his book. I know that if it were up to him, he would still be on the road accumulating information, each more interesting than the other.

Here are some of the rivers discussed in this book: Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Loire, Nil, Congo, Ganges, Mekong, Colorado and even Panama’s two rivers. The smallest of the rivers mentions in the book flows in Brittany, France and is called Trieux, while the largest is the Amazon in Brazil.

With some of the more powerful countries like China, or Israel and a few others, negotiating for the equitable administration of a river is difficult. The dams built by a powerful country reduce the flow downstream and the smaller surrounding countries make do with what is left. Water harvesting also dries up land over long distances, affecting agricultural production.

Navigation on waterways must also adapt to the reduced flow. One example is the Panama Canal: [DeepL translation]: “ The lack of water is the great fear of Panama. We remember that the heart of the canal is the great Gatún Lake. If it were to dry up, the ships would run into rocks and sand: they would no longer be able to transport their cargo from one sea to the other. Trucks would have to take over”. (p.252)

In contrast, the author shows that there are ways to administrate a major river so that it benefits the riparian countries. He cites the management of the St. Lawrence River by the United States and Canada as an example.

Contrary to what one might think when it comes to the environment and water scarcity, not everything in this book is negative. On the contrary, Erik Orsenna has understood that the reader is tired of alarmist statements. The author has therefore designed a very well-balanced book where it is possible to make the reader’s thoughts evolve without the latter feeling the need to take an antidepressant at each chapter.

Click on the link for other books on environment and geopolitics in my blog.

Title : La Terre a soif

Author: Erik Orsenna

Edition : Fayard

© 2022

ISBN : 978-2-213-72075-3

Categories
Aviation photography

Covid-19 : The Antonov 225 lands in Mirabel, Québec.

On Friday May 1st 2020, Quebec received a shipment of medical equipment destined to the people fighting COVID-19. An Antonov 225 was carrying the goods. The flight was organized thanks to a joint collaboration between Nolinor, Momentum Solutions and Antonov Airlines.

Departing from Tianjin, China, the plane made a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, before continuing its flight over Canada towards the province of Quebec.

The Antonov 225 carrying medical supplies for Canada makes a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Antonov 225 carrying medical supplies for Canada makes a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska.

The arrival of the Antonov 225 in Anchorage was announced in advance by the media, which allowed a large crowd to stand near the airport and monitor the approach of the aircraft. The following link allows you to view the approach and arrival: KTUU Video Antonov 225

At 5:35 on the KTUU video, we can see a Fedex MD-11F. It is worth mentioning, because this was a very impressive plane at the time of its conception, but companies are progressively getting rid of it due to the age and fuel costs associated with its operation.  Today, the aircraft is only used for the transport of goods. The production of aircrafts of this size, with three engines, was stopped years ago. There is a good chance that the Antonov 225 will continue to fly long after the MD-11F has made its last flight. (Edit: The Russians destroyed the Antonov 225 during the invasion of Ukraine)

After taking off from Anchorage in the morning of May 1st, the Antonov 225 arrived in Mirabel, Quebec, in the evening of the same day at around 8:22 p.m. The aircraft’s flight path (ADB3381) could be followed on Flightradar24 at the time of its approach for Mirabel (CYMX).

The Antonov 225 ADB3381 on final for Mirabel airport in Canada on May 1st 2020.
The Antonov 225 ADB3381 on final for Mirabel airport in Canada on May 1st 2020.

We can see on the Flightradar24 screen capture that a helicopter (C-GSTV) is positioned to film the arrival of the world’s biggest aircraft. It is an AS 350 BA from TVA, a French-language news media in Quebec.

The Québec TVA news helicopter C-GSTV.
The Québec TVA news helicopter C-GSTV.

Source : FlightAware.

The Antonov 225 arrives in Mirabel from Anchorage on May 1st 2020.
The Antonov 225 arrives in Mirabel from Anchorage on May 1st 2020.

Photo taken by Martin Chevalier. 

YQBspotting has posted a very interesting video of the Antonov 225 arriving with its cargo of medical equipment in Mirabel, Quebec.

Andy St-André, from TVA, posted a video of the unloading of medical equipment on his Twitter account. 

The photo below shows the unloading operation. The employees wore protective equipment against the coronavirus.

Unloading the Antonov 225 at Mirabel airport in Québec during the COVID-19 crisis.
Unloading the Antonov 225 at Mirabel airport in Québec during the COVID-19 crisis.

Photo : Joël Lemay/Agence QMI.

Several challenges were encountered for this flight to be a success: the language barrier, the verification of equipment quality (contaminated material is not of a big help), the airport operation’s requirements from China, customs limited hours of operation, maximum daily time in service for the Antonov 225 crew, international competition for slot times and orders, initiatives from some countries to acquire shipments not intended for them, etc. But finally, after hard work, Quebec finally received the precious cargo.

The last video from YQBspotting shows the Antonov 225’s departure. 

Click on the link for more articles on aviation photography on my blog.

Categories
Street photography

Street photography: Chinese women playing cards in Hong Kong’s Jade Market

Le Jade Market à Hong Kong, en 1990

This picture of a group of Chinese women playing cards was taken during summer 1990 in Jade Market, Hong Kong, before the island was retroceded back to China.

Street photography requires that a photographer does not prearrange a scene, in order to protect the natural atmosphere. This is where the real information stands. Those women, totally absorbed by their game, offered a superb opportunity to capture a normal day life scene.

It was important to proceed quickly to avoid that one of the ladies looked at the camera and changed her attitude. That way, the natural effect was maintained.

The picture was taken with a Pentax SF1 camera equipped with a film made to be developed for slides.

For other street photography pictures posted on my site, click on the following link:

Street photography