Planespotting : The Rainspotting Edition - Part 2

In this edition of Rainspotting.... the highlights are....

UPS B767
Malindo and Firefly ATR72-600
China Airlines B747
aaaannd
SilkAir's FIRST B738

Welcome back, here are the stories. Still raining, and will still be raining to the end of the spotting trip

UPS B767-34AF ER (N330UP)

I was rather hoping that the rain would stop and the sun would shine for this beauty, but the clouds were there and showed no signs of breaking up. Well I was already set up for spotting in the rain, so the snapping ensues.

Firefly ATR72-600 (9M-FIA)

Malindo ATR72-600 (9M-LMF)

No matter how small, they were all capable of handling the crosswind. The next heavy was unexpected. Happy to see it nevertheless.

China Airlines Cargo B747-409F (B-18718)

And to end it (again) was SilkAir's B737-800 with the 25-Year Anniversary markings.

SilkAir B737-8SA (9V-MGA)

One new experience, seeing wipers of Boeings and Airbuses in action.

And that concludes rainspotting. Hope you enjoyed it.

Till next time.

SSLee

Tags:

ups b767-300er landing rain penang sslee

china cargo airlines b747-400f landing penang

sslee atr72-600 malindo firefly penang 

Planespotting : The Rainspotting Edition - Part 1

So here I was, happy to go to this planespotting session, with promise of quite a number of freighters and airliners. Driving was ok, with slight jams here and there, but ok. I arrived at the location only to find that my first target, Air Hong Kong's A306F has landed and already started unloading. No worries, they must have sped up. However, just before officially reach my ideal spotting location, it started raining, real heavily.

Sigh* But what am I to do? I am there so why not make the best out of it.

Malaysia Airlines B737-8FZ (9M-MLG)

This MAS unit is a leased aircraft, still wearing the old colours of MAS.

Sriwijaya Air B737-524 (PK-CLU)

Sriwijaya Air was tilting side to side on its approach

AirAsia A320 (9M-AQM)

AQM came in when the rain was at its heaviest. You could see ALL the aircraft battling crosswinds as they approached the runway. Winds were strong but they still made the landing.

AirAsia A320 (9M-AJA)

Throughout the duration that I've been spotting, I have only seen SilkAir's B738 turn on their wingtip lights (lights directly at the base of the winglets). This is the first that I've seen from Airbus' aircraft.

9M-AQW

Lion Air B737-8GP (PK-LKU)

Just realised that almost all aircraft in this post are wingleted / sharkleted.

Sequel is coming up in the next post.

Tags:
sslee malaysia airlines b737-800 9m-mlg
sslee sriwijaya air b737-500 pk-clu
penang airasia a320 landing 9m-aqm sslee
penang planespotting a320 sharklets
lion air 737 landing penang

2014.06.09 - Monday Spotting (Part 2)

Part 2, starts with a wave of A320s from AirAsia. You can see how the weather changes from ok, to dark and gloomy, giving quickly-protect-your-camera reaction.

Indonesia AirAsia A320 (PK-AXV)

9M-AJA 

Looked a bit high on approach while swaying from left to right

9M-AJE

More and more sharklet fitted aircraft operating into Penang

9M-AFY

And then... the rain came. With big drops of water threatening the life of my camera, I had no choice but to creep back into the car, hoping for no other arrivals within that period. It did pay of to a certain extent as I only got two aircraft coming in. I wonder what would have happened or how I would have felt if more came in. 

So first in under the rain was Firefly's first ATR72-600. The "noise" on the picture are actually rain drops, rather than digital noise. Had to sit at the passenger side and zoom out all the way in order to get a shot while still keeping the camera dry. The same couldn't be said for a small part of the seat though which was slightly damp after the short downpour.

Firefly's ATR72-600 (9M-FIA) Landing in heavy rain

Malindo Air ATR72-600 (9M-LMJ) with wipers in full speed in the rain

Well it was a good experience, and the second time (or was it the third) that I've spotted in the rain. The previous one I remembered was when Asiana's B744F came into Penang back in February 2013.

After the rain, it was the reign of Boeings. This section started with small Airbuses, so it shall end with small Boeings. Presenting... the Boeing 737.

First of it was Lion Air, sending in their B738.

Lion Air B737-8GP (PK-LJR)

Next from Singapore, Silkair with some visible vortices on the flap edges.

Silk Air B737-8SA (9V-MGD)

And finally, ending with an old workhorse of Malaysia Airlines, the 737-400. Didn't realised it at first but this should be the last series of shots that I've got on the -400 series as they were officially retired a few days later (doing a PEN > KUL sector)

Malaysia Airlines B737-4H6 (9M-MMK) on one of its last few flights

What a great ending to a great spotting session. Hope you've enjoyed it.

Thanks for viewing. Will be updating again should there be new sessions or from past (unposted) sessions if spotting trips could not be made.

SSLee

2014.06.09 - Monday Spotting (Part 1)

Now that the Singapore Airshow edition is over, let's snap back to Penang. I've made many trips, so I shall put them up here session by session.

Arrived at 10am to catch MASKargo's A332. Waited a while before seeing it come in. From a far, it was making a hard left turn from the West, too close to the runway and at too high an altitude. Made some adjustments to the left, then to the right, before abandoning that approach and performing a go-around.

MAS Kargo A330-223F (9M-MUC) - Performing a Go-Around

MUC seen from a far

Turning in for the second approach

Successful second attempt

And with this capture, I'm happy to have hit the target of getting all 4 of MASKargo's A332Fs. The next one that came in was much smaller than the Airbus.

Firefly ATR72-500 (9M-FYF)

This trip's weather was intermittently good and bad, with clouds blocking out the sun one minute, and sun shining the next. (YES, really changing by the minute).

SilkAir A320 (9V-SLS)

And the sun came out once to light this flying tiger. Tiger Airways is also known as Tigerair, with some of their planes already painted with the new name / livery. Some of them also come with sharklets installed. For now, I shall label them as I see them.

Tiger Airways A320-232 (9V-TAZ)

After the tiger came roaring in, the clouds came back. Though no worries, as it provided me with nice and comfortable shade. Besides, from a far, there were gaps in the clouds where the sun beams could shine through. This next one was a relatively new aircraft.

Malaysia Airlines B737-8H6 (9M-MXJ)

Shortly after the -800 series, the -500 series paid me a visit, well more like paid Penang a visit.

Sriwijaya Air B737-524 (PK-CLO)

The -500 series looks really cute, with its rather short body but wide wingspan, enough to earn it the term "Baby Boeing".

This was about the best the weather was that day. It started getting worse after this baby Boeing. Part 2 coming up real shortly.

Stay tuned.

Tags:

sslee a330-200f mas kargo penang go around

sslee 737-500 penang landing

sriwijaya baby boeing penang

sslee a332 go around penang

atr72-500 sslee

tiger airways a320 penang sslee

malaysia airlines b738 penang sslee

Singapore Airshow 2014 - Day 2 - On the ground and Goodbyes

Well here we are back on the ground. All the aerial displays are done.

We had lunch, which was Fish and Chips. Yes I know that you don't take such heaty food at 12 pm at an airshow, but it was soo tempting. Just couldn't help ourselves. A bottle of Sprite helped a LOT. Anyway, after lunch, we needed some rest from all the standing and walking that we've been doing. What better way to relax than to listen to the band of the United States Air Force.

USAF Band

They were energetic and simply AWESOME. They had quite a number of classics. From singing on stage to getting down to the crowd and just shaking away. I'm sure they enjoyed performing for the crowd, who by the way were cheering and giving support throughout the entire show.

When they had their break, we made our move as we needed to cover the remaining indoor pavilion before our flight back to Penang. There were not many booths open, since it was nearing the end of the last public day. Most of it were either closed or occupied by the public who were resting after a long walk.

KAI T-50 fighter model

Among the models still there were the T-50 trainer and fighter variants. These are the same type as those used by the ROKAF during their aerial display. There were still a lot of people though. The T-50 model area was where the mini indoor food court was. You could get a hot dog and a cup of coffee.

Hermes 900 Unmanned Drone

At first glance, through the corner of my eyes, I thought I saw a predator drone. I told my friends, "You know what, I thought I saw a predator drone. Let's go see it later." But then, upon closer inspection, it was not a Predator, though it was good enough. A Hermes 900 drone. Wingspan was large and really wobbly when shaked from the tips.

Quad copter

At another corner, the organisers had several quad copters, painting chines characters with extreme precision. These micro aircraft appeared to be pre-programmed to fly a designated path. They even dipped the brush into the ink pot, some distance away several times, before returning to continue with the remaining strokes.

Somewhere around this region, there was a meet and greet session with the Singapore Airforce's Pilots as well as ROKAF's pilots. They could had a chat (albeit a short one), have an autograph and even take a photo with them.

Schiebel Camcopter S-100

Another drone on display was this camcopter. A small little drone with a 360 rotational camera installed onto its belly. This was one of the last displays available. They even had imaging systems on display. Among those I tried a sniper scope with thermal imaging. An interesting experience as you get to see how hot/cool stuffs were, black being really cool and white being really hot.

They even had a line up of military tracked vehicles and also the latest version of the humvee. Looks more aerodynamic

New Humvee

Now that we have covered the entire Airshow floor area, it was time to go. We left via exit 6, which is kindly inviting us back in 2016. Definitely would be there.

Heading out

Even at 2pm, the queue to the shuttle was long, but it was moving. Took the bus back to the Expo station before going on an MRT to Changi airport.

Goodbye Captain Leo

Here are the 45th Anniversary gifts that all ticket holders got:

A bag with interesting goodies. One fan, one tinted shade to look at aircraft flying under the sun, one travelling bag tag, one collar pin (Red F-16) and of course a document bag. This was NOT limited to one per person, as they gave out to EVERYONE who had a ticket. So for those who had the tickets to both public days, (not sure about trade days), the would have gotten 2 sets of these interesting souvenirs.

It was an incredible journey filled with wonderful memories which will stick for quite some time.

A minute before touchdown, with second Penang Bridge in sight

Back on the ground

Just in time for the sunset

As per the plane in the sunset, "WOW" is really the word to describe this truly amazing and memorable trip to the Singapore Airshow 2014. Although it has only been 2 days at the airshow, it was more than enough to make me go back the next round. The displays, the performances and just the feeling of being amongst great flying machines were just magnificent. It goes to show how much we have excelled in a sense of transportation and defence. Apart from the experience there, being with a good company of friends also made that trip enjoyable.

Hope you enjoyed my postings, I hope to have been able to bring the Airshow to you readers. So here goes. After almost 4 months of posting, this is to close the Singapore Airshow 2014 segment.

Went to Singapore Airshow? Checked

SSLee

Singapore Airshow 2014 - Day 2

Now on to the second day. Yes, it has been a month since the last post, and now let us continue.

Since the most part of the previous days were spent outdoors, We started exploring the covered area of the airshow before the start of the first aerial display at 10:30 am. Before we start, status check:

Date        : 16 February 2014

Time        : 9.45 am

Weather  : Unknown; Indoors - air-conditioned environment

Status      : Energetic

Airbus booth

Airbus had quite a number of large scale models placed at the booth. These include the common airliners like the A380, A330 and the A350. Some military models also include the MRTT and the A400. They even had a mock-up of the A350 cockpit, which was sadly off limits to the public. You could get close though.

Comac ARJ21 Model

China is also coming up with aircraft models of their own. This one, COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) will possibly be competing against Airbus and Boeing for a piece of the market.

Airbus military models

The A400 had rotating rotors rotors on the model, and they were counter rotating ones. The inner two engines (left and right) spin away from the fuselage while the outer two engines spin towards the fuselage. Interesting setting as this would counter the motions of the engines, similar to the tail rotor of helicopters, countering the rotating force of the main rotors.

Engine of the Sukhoi Superjet

One great thing about the models inside the display area is that most of them are animated. Some have lights while others have motion, like lights in the aircraft and moving engine fan blades.

One good thing about these displays is that you get to see the inner functions of certain things like the engines and also get to know more about aircraft in general.

Beriev Be200 Model

Apart from large scale models, they also have smaller models on display, such as the BE200 water bomber and also the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

Agusta Westland AW149

And life size models too. The AW149 looks so stealthy in this paint scheme. They had a lot of miniature models around the aircraft, though nothing as glaring as this life size aircraft-without-rotors.

Missiles and a Jet

CFM LEAP engine

Seen the working principles of an airliner's engine? Checked

Incredibly complex, yet amazing

I never knew how realised how complex it may look under the smooth and sleeky engine cowlings. It gives a perspective of how much space the actual combustion stage takes with reference to the fan blades.

A350 Cockpit Mockup

Finally, just before heading out for the first aerial display, I laid eyes on the cockpit of the latest passenger jet currently in the world; the A350. Looks quite similar to other Airbus models. A great move by Airbus as the pilots can benefit from flight deck commonality between the fleet, ranging from the A320 to the A380.

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So that's the indoor arena for now. Had to go out back to the HOT sun for the Airshow, something I wouldn't mind doing again and again though.

Sea of people in front of me

So there we were, getting ready to witness Singapore's Black Knights. The low clouds were great against the sunlight, but not great for the aerial display. Most of the shots were rather dark, so here are the ones that were better.

Black Knights in their new Paint Scheme

The Black Knights Roared in at the opening. Spotting 6 newly painted F-16s. This is to commemorate the Singapore Air Force's 45th Anniversary. They also gave out souvenirs to everyone who attended the airshow. All we had to do was to show our ticket to get a goodie bag filled with some interesting items. Will share that later.

Opening display

So what do you do after you pull a vertical move and gain thousands of feet in altitude? Come back down, and while you're at it, show the audience some designs. Missed this with the ROKAF the previous day. Glad to have got it this time round.

Another vertical climb

The Black Knights made numerous passes, some directly over us which allowed me to capture a shot as above. Like ROKAF, the group was split, so that while one was demonstrating, the other group gets into position and ready to execute the next performance.

A group of 4 jets did a criss cross maneuver, Both left crossing through both rights, before making large circles, at full afterburner (at least that was what is sounded like), in opposing directions, flying head on their fellow wingman three times. Had a couple of really blurred out and dark shots which will not show much here.

New colours on the Black Knights

Now how did I get a shot of the design that was supposed to be facing the skies? Well I was definitly NOT in a chase aircraft. They were doing a simultaneous roll from the right hand side of the centre stage to the left. I hope I am not confusing the name with one of the ROKAF from the previous day but I definitely remembered "The Way of the Dragon", where all 6 jets acted as a single entity. Almost like a large-sized jet making a long barrel roll. (Do let me know if there are corrections)

3 x 2 arrangement

Flying in a rectangular shape shows their precision and accuracy. Lots of wingtip vortices on the jets as they made tight turns and rapid ascends.

Levelling off after a vertical dive

There was a point where two jets flew head on, and also a time where we had a display similar to the Helix flying of the ROKAF on Day 1.

Clamshell

Quite a number of the displays were partially obscured by low level clouds. But without fail, the pilots still went ahead with their performance.

Back to Back / Top to Top

Flying back to back wasn't the only thing the fleet was doing. Several tens of feet behind, two other jets were flying in a helical manner.

A big Heart <3

Hidden love shaped smoke trails, made by 4 jets, two on each side. They must have trained for numerous weeks to perfect all the moves we see.

Final break

And here we have the final break. If you are wondering why only 5 jets are visible, it is because the last (not so visible) jet is hidden among the accumulated smoke trails, preparing to WOW the spectators.

Grand Finale with Flares

To make it even more spectacular, the lead launched flares after flares while rolling in the vertical flight. Truly, a spectacular display. Never seen flares being launched in real life before, and for that I thank the organisers. Great group display for the day, and the aerial display had just begun.

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Continuing...

Date        : 16 February 2014

Time        : 10.53 am

Weather  : Cloudy and occasionally sunny

Status      : Too concentrated on airshow to notice

V-22 Osprey

The Black Knights stole the attention. The following displays are single aircraft aerobatics. First off it's the V-22 Osprey. It may sound like an ordinary large bladed helicopter, but it flies much much faster. Just look at the massive radius of the rotor blades. This is why they are tilted at almost 45 degrees when on ground. Any lower, and the blades will just snap off the engine.

V-22 hovering with rear ramp open

The V-22 did a 360 rotation while hovering just tens of feet above the water, spraying little droplets all over the crowd, not enough to get you wet, but enough to let you know. Slight vortexes may be seen generated by the rotor blades.

A lot of moves were made, such as tight turns and so on.

Rotors tilting movement

The V-22 demonstrated how it can easily switch from the hovering mode to the flight mode, by tilting its rotors slowly from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation. This has to be done slowly as the basic principles of flight takes place. 

The rotors provide lift while it is hovering. By slowly tilting the engines, the lift provider is slowly being transferred to the wings. As the engines become more and more horizontal, it pulls the aircraft forward, increasing the forward speed of the aircraft. As the speed increases, wind passing over the wings generate lift which keeps the aircraft in the air. Finally, when the engines are fully horizontal, the wings take over and the Osprey flies like a normal aircraft.

The osprey speeds off after that, clearing the space for the next aircraft, nick-named "Rhino".

F-18 Super Hornet

Not meaning to sound cliche, but the Hornet came in with a BANG!! Zooming pass centre stage. Looks like they would require all the fuel they can carry to perform all the moves. A single external tank was carried. This I guess should be the best fuel to maneuvarability ratio to give the aircraft more fuel, while not weighing it down too much nor to affect its aerodynamics during the performance.

Hard turn with full afterburner

The Roar coming from the engines is SO intense, it makes you wonder how it will feel should you stand right next to it. The Rhino made multiple turns and circles, often aiming it's engines at the crowd. I guess that's the main idea, to let them feel the POWER. 

Of course, knife edge passes, high G turns/ascends and barrel roles were included in this energetic display. This also included a low speed fly-by, similar to that of the black knights and the C-17.

Condensation on wings of the F-18

One more zoom and the F-18 was out of the area. The single aircraft performances are great, though maybe placing it after the grand group aerial display kinda raise the expectations.

F-16 Fighting Falcon "Viper"

Next in line was the Viper, a single-engined smaller aircraft. this was a single seater, as compared to most of the other display aircraft which had tandem seats. They are sleek aircraft, and can be installed with conformal fuel tanks on the upper fuselage to increase flight operational range. These look like permanent add ons to the aircraft, as compared to those bulky external underwing tanks.

If memory serves me correctly, I watched a documentary on the F-16. It has fly-by-wire controls. The control is more of a side stick, like Airbus' rather than the yokes of older aircrafts like the F-14. This aircraft apparently isn't aerodynamically fit. To put it to simpler terms, if you were to launch it into the air without any onboard computers, it will just spin out of control and crash. The computer makes tiny alterations to the flaps to prevent this from happening. Advanced stuff huh. This same type of computer compensation actually saved an F-22 Raptor from crashing, after it lost a part of its wing (or was it the vertical stabiliser).

The orange glow

Most of the moves are similar to the Rhino (sharp turns, high G ascends, knife edge, barrel rolls). Just included the photos of those which I missed with the Rhino.

Didn't expect to have to stop here for now. This is the end of the aerial display for the Singapore Airshow 2014. Will just cover a bit more of the indoor section before I officially close the Singapore Airshow Posts.