2014.01.11 Spotting Session #3

Now to the third installment of the spotting session. By this time, it was near noon but the sun was still nowhere in sight.

The cloud provided great shield from the sun though, to look at the bright side of things. Firstly, a closeup of Firefly's First ATR72-600 head on.

9M-FIA - with Setia paint-scheme

Too close perhaps. Malindo's ATR72-600 (9M-LMF)

I saw the next aircraft approaching from a distance. So I decided to walk away from the centerline to get a different view. The outcome is shown next.

Lion Air B737-8GP (PK-LKQ)

Just love this angle of the aircraft, fully showing off its flaps and winglets.

Then, while walking back to the centerline, the corner of the eye caught two moving things at low altitude. Ran back, and got the next 2.

Royal Army's Westland Lynx

ZE378

Their bright orange doors sure stand out in the gloomy environment. Some blue skies are starting to appear.

XZ651

Though it was short-lived as the cloud quickly covered the sun again. Here's Silkair's A320. They have placed orders for B738s, in their efforts to go all Boeing. Check out 9V-MGA.

9V-SLF

Then the heavy for this series. Cathay Pacific A330-343X, gliding in gracefully, seemingly unaffected by the wind.

B-HLW

This is all for this session. Thanks for dropping by. Do check in for more updates.

Tags:

a330 penang sslee

lynx penang landing 

helicopter penang lynx

lion air penang

cathay pacific penang sslee

Penang Planespotting #001

The "Penang Planespotting" series will be a series for the normal spotting sessions in the past as well as the present.

AirAsia A320 (9M-AFZ)

Firefly ATR72-500 (9M-FYE)

FedEx A310-324F (N811FD)

Cathay Pacific A330-343X (B-HLM) Peeking out into the sunlight

Malaysia Airlines B737-4H6 (9M-MMU)

Tags:
penang planespotting
airasia 9m-afz
firefly atr72 penang
fedex a310 penang
sslee a310 sslee
cathay pacific a330 penang b-hlm
malaysia airlines b734 penang

Japan-Narita #10

Back to photos from Japan....

Eastarjet B737-8Q8 (HL8269) 

"Lighter" aircraft like this are quite rare in this airport, well at this runway at least

Air France A380-861 (F-HPJG)

Korean Air B777-3B5 (HL7533)

Aeroflot A330-343X (VQ-BQX)

Garuda Indonesia A330-341 (PK-GPA)

FedEx MD-11F (N529FE)

Look at the steep angle the MD-11 is climbing

Alitalia B777-243ER (EI-ISB)

More to come...

Japan-Narita #02

Moving on, was there for 3 hours +, so you can imagine the amount of traffic I got there. To start this post, here's the latest of Boeing, the Dreamliner. Happy to be able to get this (a lot).

All Nippon Airways B787-8 (JA805A)

Just gotta love the raked wingtips and the NEW and SILENT engines.

All Nippon Airways B767-300ER (JA627A)

There were TONNES of 767s by ANA.

Just look at the amount of wingflex of the dreamliner. Simply magnificent. Could barely hear the engine sounds from where I was spotting.

Delta Airlines B757-200 (N545US)

Aeroflot A330-300 (VQ-BQX) - O. Mandelshtam

More to come...

Hong Kong #5

Cathays Galore..... well, and a Dragon Air

Cathay Pacific B777-300 (B-HNE)

Cathay Pacific B777-200 (B-HNC)

The -300 is extended both before and after the wing (with almost equal length based on these pics). It's amazing how the same wingspan of the -200 is able to support the extended fuselage length of the -300.

Dragon Air A321-200 (B-HTI)

Don't get to see A321s in Penang.

 Cathay Pacific A330-300

Here's a shot of the cargo terminal before takeoffs. Would you just look at the number of 747s parked there. I count about 9, quite a number of them being the 748f.

And here's the runway just before the Captain aligns to it.

Bon Voyage Hong Kong... See you soon.

Hong Kong #1

Went for a very nice vacation to Tokyo, Japan. Took Cathay Pacific again as they operate directly from Penang at reasonable prices too. Couldn't get a nice pic of my aircraft before takeoff as they completely revamped the Penang Airport to make it look modern-ish. Caters for more aircrafts I guess. But if my memory serves me correctly, its a 777-200 (B-HND)

Above shows the old terminal with the pointy roofs. Note the new terminal on the right. Below however, at the "Penang International Airport" has replaced the pointy roof building. Looks nice, but so does the old one.

Thai Airways A300-600 (HS-TAO), the first A300 passenger variant I've seen. All the time it has been the freighter versions by FedEx and Air Hongkong.

Much of the time of the flight to Hong Kong was spent on in-flight entertainment which used the not-so-clear LCD screens. Bulkhead was had a great legroom though as my seat (30A) add full access to two windows. IFEs on Cathay's regional 777 aircrafts aren't that great as the screen quality is bad, and all of its movies run concurrently. Should there be two shows you'd love to watch, oh well you'll have to sacrifice one.

Anyway, three hours later, here I was at Hong Kong. Sky was clearer this time and sunnier.

The area in front of Dragon Air 330 (Gate 18) is where my main spotting was done as it overlooked Runway 25R, which handles most of the inbound aircrafts.

The landing made me wonder if the aircraft was undergoing a landing gear strength test. But then again, it's Hong Kong, with crosswinds and wind shears, the pilot did a great job getting us down. **Thumbs UP.

And what a coincidence, 4 A330s in a row.

Aeroflot A330-300 (VP-BDE)

Air Seychelles A330-200 (A6-EYZ) 

 Dragon Air A330-300 (B-HYF) with the full golden dragon

Asiana A330-300 (HL7747), love this livery over the older full brown livery

More updates coming UP. Stay tuned.......