Tag: Istanbul

MONTREAL, Sept. 2 eMechtronix-IFTC-A320Qualification Marks First A320 Level D under JAA for Both IFTC Istanbul
and Mechtronix

MONTREAL, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ – Mechtronix Systems Inc. (MSI), the fastest growing and third leading provider of flight training equipment in the world, announced today the successful Level D qualification for the A320 FFS X(TM) recently deployed at IFTC (International Flight Training Center) in Istanbul, Turkey. At the customer’s request, the French civil aviation authorities, Direction Generale de l’Aviation Civile, performed the evaluation.
The FFS X(TM) features the latest generation simulation architecture and components – electric motion system, LCoS projectors and replication architecture – making it much easier and less costly to own and operate than “classic” simulators. The FFS X(TM) architecture relies fully on OEM data and software for simulated displays and avionics thus significantly reducing the requisite for aircraft parts and associated maintenance requirements. The Turkish training organization is now fully equipped to provide A320 and B737-NG dry lease simulator capacity as well as type rating courses to airlines and pilots in the region; as the first training center to operate new generation simulators in Turkey, IFTC Istanbul has a unique and attractive offer.
“The IFTC Istanbul simulation equipment is fully financed by SoftFlight of The Netherlands together with a bank. We are proud to have chosen Mechtronix to help us set up IFTC Istanbul and are relying on Mechtronix’ next generation simulation technology,” says Marty van Veluw, general manager and co-founder of SoftFlight. “We look forward to developing similar projects in other regions.”
“We are very pleased to have achieved another important milestone and look forward to offering A320 training” said Mr. Mekin Gozen, President & CEO of Gozen Group, mother company of IFTC Istanbul. “The Mechtronix full flight simulators we equipped ourselves with, namely a B737-NG FFS X(TM) and an A320 FFS X(TM), will bring us the quality, fidelity and reliability we need to become a world class training center.”
“We are delighted for IFTC Istanbul and Gozen Group. We would like to thank them again for selecting Mechtronix as a Full Flight Simulator provider” said Xavier Herve, President of Mechtronix. “After IFTC Istanbul’s 737-NG FFS X(TM) received Level D qualification and with our recent launch of our A320 FFS X(TM) platform, the A320 Level D qualification represents another key achievement for us. This further demonstrates Mechtronix’ unique ability to provide and manufacture state-of-the-art pilot training equipment for any aircraft type for today’s airlines and training centers seeking new and alternative training business models.”

About International Flight Training Center Istanbul (IFTC Istanbul)

IFTC Istanbul was established in 2007 as the training arm of the Gozen Group. Based in Istanbul, Turkey IFTC Istanbul is a fully approved Type Rating Training Organization (TRTO) specializing in providing flight crew training services for A320 and B737-NG. High quality training courses are delivered by an experienced team of instructors and examiners and can be tailored to meet specific aircraft or operational requirements for all operators in the region. The Gozen Group, founded back in 1979 by Mekin Gozen and Mete Bozyigit, has been operating as Supervision & Representation Company, in accordance with the regulation of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) supplying ground services to more than 85 companies in the field of representation, fuel, supervision, brokerage and security. The company is fully licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Turkey and all relevant government authorities. The headquarters are located in Istanbul with offices at every major international airport through Turkey; Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Dalaman, Bodrum & Izmir.

About SoftFlight

Founded in 2007 with headquarters in the Netherlands, Softflight is an independent finance company specializing in the Flight Simulator industry. Softflight offers customized simulator lease constructions as well as turnkey solutions for simulator centers. Softflight operates worldwide with a team of experienced financial professionals, providing its customers with the highest level of expertise available in the market. The creation of Softflight began with the awareness that finance companies were not focusing on the simulator market, despite the obvious opportunities, and that this left a niche to be filled.

About Mechtronix Systems Inc. (MSI)

Headquartered in the Montreal aviation hub, Mechtronix Systems Inc. (MSI) is the fastest growing designer and manufacturer of flight simulators. Backed by Canada’s largest institutional investor, Mechtronix ranks in the top-3 of the global flight simulator market, with a presence in America, Europe and Asia. Through 20 years of passion and dedication, Mechtronix has developed a unique expertise and proved extensively its vision and leadership for flight training. Worldwide customers include major airlines and training centers such as Alitalia, Copa Airlines, Japan Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Lufthansa Flight Training and TACA Airlines. Mechtronix offers a full range of products from full flight simulators to flight training devices, which are setting new industry standards for higher fidelity, reliability, cost efficiency and safety. Recent additions include the FFT X(TM) fixed base and FFS X(TM) full motion simulator available in Non Zero Flight Time(TM) (NZFT(TM)) and the Zero Flight Time(TM) (ZFT(TM)) configurations.

SOURCE MECHTRONIX SYSTEMS

I spent my summer in Istanbul working for yemeksepeti.com (Turkish for foodbasket.com), a food-focused internship that gave me the chance to test the limits of my stomach and learn more about international business. I found the internship through Endeavor, a US based non-profit that provides services to its network of entrepreneurs.Yemeksepeti is an e-commerce platform for restaurants that deliver. A consumer can browse restaurants that deliver to her neighborhood, place the order online, and have the restaurant (not yemeksepeti) deliver the food to her house. For consumers, yemeksepeti is a replacement for a drawer full of delivery menus and a phone call to the restaurant. For restaurants, it’s a source of new orders and a way to provide targeted marketing to potential customers. Former New Yorkers will recognize this concept – it’s the same business as seamlessweb.com, although with less of a corporate focus.

Yemeksepeti takes a small commission for each order that it sends to a restaurant. It does not charge any kind of recurring membership fee to restaurants, so restaurants only pay when yemeksepeti sends them business. This summer yemeksepeti was processing about 12,500 orders a day, and this number continues to rise as they expand to new cities in Turkey and internet penetration in Turkey increases. Restaurant marketing is yemeksepeti’s other source of revenue. Restaurants can target customers through yemeksepeti’s 400,000 member user base with email and website marketing that is much more effective than distributing menus to apartment buildings.

I spend my summer helping yemeksepeti develop an international expansion strategy. Their business is very scaleable, and there are lots of countries and major cities that don’t have their type of service. We narrowed down a long list of fourteen countries to five top candidates, and we went to Athens, Greece and Warsaw, Poland for market research visits where we met with restaurant owners and consumers. I also designed how they would expand to these new countries, helping the founders decide what functions should be centralized in Istanbul and what functions would be run by the international branches.

But enough of the details about the company and what I did. Let me give you my take on the most interesting parts of the experience: The rest of the world is catching up with America very quickly. I didn’t know what to expect from a home-grown Turkish e-commerce company, and I found that much of yemeksepeti’s success came from strengths that American companies are usually known for. The company’s website and sophisticated order processing system were all built in-house by a top-notch group of programmers, all born and educated in Turkey.

The three founders (all 32 years old) understood strategy and competitive advantage as well as any of the executives I worked with at Fortune 500 companies as a consultant before business school. And yemeksepeti’s cutting edge hardware and software came from the same multinational companies that would supply any Silicon Valley startup. I was impressed to find a company that was best in class globally, not just on the local stage.

Many of the factors that made yemeksepeti an exceptional company were areas where I always thought of the US as the clear leader of the global pack. I don’t want to imply that America is losing the qualities that have made it so strong, but I saw that other countries are picking up on what American businesses do well and bringing those innovations home. And, after competing successfully in local markets, many of these companies will be looking to compete in the global marketplace. In the future we’ll probably be seeing a more interesting and unique types of multinationals, such as the Turkish technology company with an American intern looking to invest in Poland.

Learning a new language is really hard, especially when that new language is Turkish. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) about 90% of the people in my company didn’t speak English. I bought a “teach yourself Turkish” book and, with the help of my fiancée Selin (an Istanbul native) threw myself into trying to learn a new language. Like many Americans, I had a life-long flirtation with Spanish that was motivated by academic requirements more than a desire to speak another language well. This was my first time feeling like I really needed to learn a language to communicate with others, and it gave me even more respect for people who have learned another language well.

After a decent amount of studying, I did leave Istanbul able to get around town without English and hold a basic conversation. At work, my new language skills created lots of opportunities for in-depth conversations such as “where do you live?” or “this meal is very delicious.” But the people were really warm and friendly, so it was all good. Now I’m mortified that the HBS Turks will want to test my conversation skills after this article is published. Please go easy on me, and remember that I’m much better at conversing after a few drinks.

Working across borders is incredibly complex. Traveling to Greece and Poland helped me realize how many things a business needs to understand when looking to expand internationally. Some differences between countries are superficial and easy to pick up on: when you meet with restaurant owners in Istanbul you will be offered tea, in Athens you will be offered a Nescafe Frappe, and in Poland you will be offered beer. However, many of the other differences were more subtle and harder to find a good answer for.

Thinking through all the questions associated with starting new yemeksepeti operations in a foreign country makes my head spin. For example: How are consumer and business behavior different from our country? What kind of local management talent is available, and what would we have to pay them? Does the government offer incentives for FDI, and do the laws provide strong foreign investor protection? To complicate things further, there’s rarely an objective answer to these questions, and different sources will give you different opinions.

The experience of trying to expand internationally made me appreciate how lucky American entrepreneurs are to have such a large home market. The fact that the US also has (more or less) a common language, currency, and laws also make growing a business much, much easier.

Istanbul amazes me. It was my fourth time visiting the city but my first time really living there. My internship was great, but being in Istanbul for eleven weeks was by far the best part of the summer. Every night Selin and I were out exploring different corners of the sprawling, seemingly endless city. I could write another article on why the city is so fantastic – millenniums of history, warm and inviting people, and some of the world’s best food, to name a few. Instead of running through the full list I’ll end the article by encouraging you to visit. Let me know if you ever decide to visit – I’m happy to loan you my “teach yourself Turkish” book for when you’re on the road.

Source : The Harbus

Linsey McNeill loved the museums and bazaars of the Turkish capital, but it was the beaches of the Princes’ Islands that finally won over her kids

Linsey McNeill
The Observer

My seven-year-old son slumped onto the heavily patterned carpet of Istanbul’s Blue Mosque and looked up at me with a crumpled face. ‘Mum, it’s just a big empty room,’ he moaned. I turned to his sister Emelye, nine, who, a little earlier, had seemed intrigued by the sound of the mullah calling Muslims to prayer. ‘Look at all the beautiful tiles on the walls,’ I whispered. Em shrugged before collapsing onto the carpet next to Luke.

Day two of our trip to Istanbul and things were not looking good. Over the road, inside the Hagia Sofia Museum, the children had played hide-and-seek around the giant columns for 10 minutes before pleading to leave.

They had been eager to go to the Grand Bazaar, though probably because I had told them it was ‘like the Arndale Centre, but older’. When they failed to find a Turkish branch of ToysRus in the ancient alleyways Luke wailed: ‘This place is full of rubbish.’ Only a refreshing glass of mint lemonade at the historic Fes Cafe and the sight of a man selling spinning tops for two lira (less than £1 of his pocket money) cheered him up.

A suggestion of a cruise along the Bosphorus had resulted in collapsed shoulders and cries of ‘Boring!’ though the children could have watched the men fishing from the Galata Bridge, next to where the boats depart, for hours.

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Rick Steves finds the camera not only a good way to capture the sites but to meet the people of Istanbul as he shoots another episode for his travel show.

By Rick Steves
Tribune Media Services

ISTANBUL – Staring into a TV camera, I say, “Istanbul is one of the world’s great cities, period. For thousands of years, this point, where East meets West, has been the crossroads of civilizations. Few places on earth have seen more history than this sprawling metropolis on the Bosphorus.”

It’s the last day of a week devoted to producing a TV show on Istanbul, and we need a grand spot for the show’s opening. We had a reasonable vista from the Galata Bridge, but it just showed charming old fishermen and tour boats. I want to somehow capture both the historic crossroads and contemporary might of this city.

So far, the site selection has just led to frustrations. Mentally scanning all possible angles, it hits me – we need what filmmakers call a “high-wide,” a wide-angle, almost aerial shot. I want to show the freighter-filled Bosphorus and its Golden Horn inlet, the teeming Galata Bridge with lumbering commuter ferries churning up the port, and a huge mosque in the foreground.

We go to the spot I envision (above the “New Mosque,” near the famous Spice Market) and survey the zone. A restaurant has a shaded roof terrace – we go there and it is perfect … except no necessary sun is shining on me.

Next door, a toy company has offices with a small rooftop terrace in the sun. It’s perfect.

They welcome our crew onto their roof, bring us tea, and – grabbing a calm moment between the gusts – I deliver my lines.

Then we taxi to Ortakoy, a trendy cafe district at the edge of town. It’s too far away for tourists, but it sits in the shadow of a Baroque mosque and the mighty modern bridge that crosses the Bosphorus.

I want to get more interaction between the Turks and me and this is perfect – four charming young Turkish men join me to pass around a “nargile” (big water pipe), sip chai, and play backgammon. Whether you’re filming or not, backgammon is the perfect way to create conviviality with new friends. At the neighboring table we film two sisters – one in Western dress and the other wearing a colorful but conservative Muslim head scarf – chatting as they pass the mouthpiece of their big water pipe. (I admit this was part of my agenda: to make both a big water pipe and a scarved Muslim woman less menacing to the more insular of my viewers.)

When the sun is low and the chop of the Bosphorus carbonates the scene, I step out onto the ferry landing. Behind me, the frilly mosque softens the harsh lines created by the mighty bridge as it reaches for Asia. Just as a ship enters the frame, I look into the lens and close the show: “Like its bridge, Istanbul brings East and West together. With a complex weave of modern affluence, Western secularism, and traditional Muslim faith, it’s a dynamic and stimulating city, well worth a visit.”

The next day, I’m sitting in a taxi heading for Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Driving along the coast, I scan the Bosphorus. A hundred freighters fill the sea – a commotion of ships reminding me of the size of the D-Day landings. Each is filled with cargo for thriving economies. One by one, they enter this maritime bottleneck.

In the middle of the strait there’s a construction site – an industrial-strength pontoon island with heavy machinery digging down and then out. Istanbul is well on the way to constructing a tunnel under the Bosphorus. I trace the city’s horizon with its misty minarets spiking up from the old town to the distant skyline where there is a wannabe-Shanghai forest of modern skyscrapers that tourists never visit.

Reaching the airport, I tip the taxi driver, selfishly holding back just enough local lira for a coffee. Enjoying a rare break with my iPod, I listen to Amy Winehouse while immersed in the sea of traveling people. I find I can appreciate the human drama of a crowded public scene better with music-pumping earphones obliterating the natural sound. An old woman weeps as the security line slowly swallows up her son, who’s holding a reaching grandson in his arms. Water and shoes are okay here – but my watch and belt need to come off. With a thump, my passport is stamped and shortly I’m out of Istanbul.

Edmonds-based Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. His syndicated column runs weekly at seattletimes.com/travel

Source : Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

A seasoned traveler shares secrets about one of the most amazing destinations on earth.

Marcus Brewster
26 August 2008 01:18

Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul. If you like your travel redolent of exoticism, with the romance of history and the patina of nostalgia, Istanbul beckons. The Turkish city is no longer the capital (that honour was bestowed on Ankara in Central Anatolia in the earlier part of the 20th century), but straddling Europe and Asia, it’s still a mega metropolis of some 11 million people.   Effectively three land masses separated by a trio of evocative bodies of water – The Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn, the Bosphorous – Istanbul is easy to love as a destination.   Here are my top ten tips of where to go and what to see.

1. City Tour – it may sound counter-intuitive to consider a group outing as an Istanbul secret, but don’t let your snobbery around mass tourism deflect you.   For those on a time-tight itinerary, it makes sense to do a half day city tour as an introduction to Istanbul. Many of the city’s showpiece sights are in the old Sultanahmet precinct so it’s entirely practical to clock them and decide whether you wish to return later under own steam to explore further: Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia (cf below), Topkapi Palace (cf below), Grand Bazaar and the Hippodrome.

2. Sometimes referred to as St Sofia or Aya Sofia, this former church cum mosque and now a museum (since 1932) is the can’t miss landmark experience of Istanbul. Even if you have no interest in religion or history (the structure dates back through 1500 years of crusaders and conquerors, Emperors and Sultans), you cannot but be awed by the scale, size and sheer magnificence of the dome. To see the dull golden gloom of the interior creased by shafts of sunlight is one of this traveller’s most memorable experiences. On this, your second visit, you’ll want to take the time to go upstairs to the gallery for a closer inspection of the marvelous mosaics and, incandescent with belief, to touch the sweating pillar whose moisture has healing powers.

3. The grounds of the Topkapi Palace are so extensive that one is obliged to spend at least half a day to even attempt to do it justice. A series of four courts and the famed harem annex, the Topkapi Sarayi is as much a monument to wealth and power as it is inevitably to decadence and excess. If your senses aren’t overwhelmed by Courts One and Two, brace yourself for passing through the Gate of Felicity into the Third Courtyard which houses the Imperial Treasury.  It’s here you’ll see the Spoonmaker’s Diamond (all 86 carats of it) and the magnificent Topkapi Dagger with its three emeralds the size of pigeons eggs. It’s fortunate that the pleasures of the fourth and final court are all natural since the Palace was built on the highest part of a promontory separating the Sea of Marmara from the waterway known as the Golden Horn. When all the visual overkill of Suleyman the Magnificent’s imperial lodgings has dulled your senses, nature’s own showcase is a welcome respite.   

4. The Archaeology Museum. Actually part of the palace grounds and all easily walkable, the Archaeology Museum complex of buildings is almost never flagged for tourist visitation and is thus all the more impactful because of the contemplative silence which its halls encourages.   Considering that Turkey has more archaeological sites than Greece and Italy combined, the treasures here rival those of the British Museum. Although they may not be as postcard-famous as their London cousins, these artifacts lack for nothing when it comes to artistry and grace. The Alexander Sarcophagus is as moving to the human spirit as anything in marble.

5. The Restaurant at the Orient Express Station. Although you won’t find it listed as a sight in any guide book, the old train station has the most marvelous restaurant. Located at the pier where the tram ends its line, just downhill from the Topkapi Palace and the Archaeology Museum, this is a flashback to the golden age of travel. With silver service from the waistcoated staff, you would expect this to be a big blowout for grand occasions. We decided to treat ourselves one evening but found it so inexpensive – and the food so interesting – that we ate there two nights in a row.

6. The Princes Islands. Possibly because it’s a three quarter day excursion, only locals seem to take the ferry out to the Princes Islands which is a shame as they are absolutely delightful.  Dotted in the Bosphorous, they are a series of tiny hamlets where cars are not permitted and visitors explore by foot, by bicycle or by horse-drawn fayton. If you can imagine a world such as Lawrence Durrell might have described – all pine-scented forests with crumbling villas and cypresses – then you have a vision of their discreet charms. 

7. The Chora Church. If you do your city tour on a Monday when Hagia Sofia is closed, they substitute it with Kariye Camii.  If ever the understudy deserved its own starring role, this is it.    Scintillating with the best-preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics, every inch of this bijou little church glitters with gold-leaf tile. Unusually for a religious building in an Islamic culture, the art is representational so you can see Jesus, Mary and various saints, including St Kosmos the Poet, the patron deity of writers.

8. Dolmabache Palace. Owing more to Versailles than is strictly speaking healthy, Dolmabache has been described as “an impressive study in the aesthetics of excess”. Built in the mid 1840’s and mixing French Baroque, Neo-Classical and Rococo architecture, the furnishings of this royal pied-a-terre are simply staggering. Whereas you catch your breath at the austere dimensions of the Hagia Sofia dome, you literally gasp in disbelief at the augmented ostentation of the palace’s throne room where its gilded dome supports a 3 500 kg Waterford chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria.

9. Pera Palace. Every stop on the grand tour had its grand hotel and the Pera Palace was literally the last and the grandest stop on the Orient Express line. If you ask, you will be shown room 411, kept as a museum suite to honour Agatha Christie who wrote the over-rated “Murder on the Orient Express” whilst staying there.   But every bold face name since, including Jacqueline Kennedy, has been cosseted in the hotel’s velvet lined walls. The Pera has willfully kept its dark period furnishings and remains a haven for the nostalgia buff. Don’t buy the golf shirts in the gift shop – the fit is poor and the fabric mix synthetic.

10. Underground Cistern. With gloomily ambient lighting and the echo of classical music, the Yerebatan Sabay is as close to being on the set of Tomb Raider as you are likely to get. This vast underground cavern with its soaring columns (all 336 of them) used to supply the city’s water and even fish were tapped in its depths. Walkways used to lead to the Topkapi palace itself but these have been blocked off to curb the legendary traffic in stolen goods and abducted women.

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