Dietmar Plath

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Dietmar Plath (2016)

Dietmar Plath (* 1954 in Otterstedt ) is a German aviation photographer, publisher and former editor-in-chief of the aviation magazine Aero International and author of various books on civil aviation .

Life

Pan Am A300 and A310 over the Pyrenees (1985)
TAME A320 with Drusenkopf on Baltra , Galapagos (2006)

Dietmar Plath comes from Otterstedt in Lower Saxony , today a district of Ottersberg . At the United Flugtechnischen Werken (VFW) in Bremen, he completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk from 1970 to 1972 and then became the company's press officer . In 1981 VFW merged with the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm group, which was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace AG , a company of the Airbus consortium , at the end of the 1980s . There, Plath became head of press and public relations at Airbus Germany in Hamburg-Finkenwerder in 1993 .

Plath has also been working as a photo journalist since the 1980s. He traveled to more than 130 countries and visited around 530 airports and 370 airlines (as of 2016). This resulted in photo reports for magazines such as Geo , Stern , Time , Aero International , Flight International and Aviation Week . In 1993 he barely survived a seaplane crash in the jungles of French Guiana .

In 1996 he left the Airbus Group to take over the management of the Aero International editorial team at the beginning of 1997. He has been the magazine's editor since 2015.

Plath is the author of several aviation illustrated books and co-author of books on civil aircraft types .

1993 plane crash

In October 1993 Dietmar Plath traveled through French Guiana with the NDR television presenter Gunter Hartung and a colleague. During a flight with three chartered small water planes from the state capital Cayenne to the waterfalls of Grand Kanori , they got caught between several rain fronts. The view of the Approuague River , the only landing option, was blocked. After about 20 minutes, Hartung's plane ran out of fuel; together with his pilot, he crash-landed in the overgrown jungle. A few minutes later, Plath's plane also crashed, followed by the third plane. Plath and Hartung suffered serious injuries.

A Boeing 747 approaching Cayenne-Rochambeau airport had picked up the last emergency call from the pilot by Gunter Hartung, and a nearby Transall of the French air force had overheard the Boeing's communication with air traffic control . The crew of the Transall started a search operation and were able to locate the third seaplane a few seconds before it crashed. Thus, the crash site was known, and all six people were on the following day by helicopter Aufseilung be saved. The commander of the Transall was awarded the Cross of Merit on the ribbon of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit.

Works (selection)

  • With Karl Morgenstern: Airbus. History - company - aircraft types. , Motorbuch Verlag 2003
  • With Achim Figgen: Boeing Commercial Aircraft: From the Beginnings to the 787 , Bruckmann Verlag 2006
  • Take-Off , Bruckmann Verlag 2007
  • Up and Away: Aviation worldwide - the most beautiful photographs by Dietmar Plath , GeraMond Verlag 2011
  • With Achim Figgen: Type Atlas Commercial Aircraft: All Passenger and Cargo Machines , GeraMond Verlag 2013

Exhibitions

  • Up and Away , open-air photo exhibition on Überseeboulevard in Hamburg's HafenCity , 2016

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uwe Dammann: Otterstedter presents a new book , Verdener Nachrichten, January 6, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b Information from the Aero International editorial team from November 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c UpAndAway , short video report by NDR , first broadcast on September 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ Andreas Sieler: Aviation Photos: Up and Away for the Perfect Picture , Aller Report, July 11, 2016.
  5. ↑ Dietmar Plath , verlagshaus.de, accessed on October 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ Change in the cockpit , press release from Top Special Verlag, June 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ a b Dierk Strohmann: The miracle of the green hell . Hamburger Abendblatt , December 13, 1993 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Überseeboulevard becomes an open-air photo gallery , Hamburger Abendblatt, July 13, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Plath, Dietmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aviation journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Otterstedt