Plane Spotting - The Quiz

[Chao Lao Beach]

Still working on the airline bit, I'm guessing private... A320 with aftermarket sharklets... At DMK...

They are coming out of the factory with the tips now. Air NZ was the launch customer but sold the slots to Air Asia (and others) so will see Air Asia with them as well.

[GrantSmith]

Gotta say, I'm no fan of them on the Airbus birds... I would have liked to see something similar to the MD-11 on them...

[David48]

Plane Spotting 2 ...

PSP 2 #020

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Still working on the airline bit, I'm guessing private... A320 with aftermarket sharklets... At DMK...

Airline: StarFlyer a Japanese - mostly domestic airline - so I'm guessing this is a charter?

Well Spotted Mr Smith ...

Indeed a Starflyer Airbus A320

REGO - JA21MC

Bit different with the tail painted black on one side and white on the other.

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[GrantSmith]

Plane Spotting 2 ...

PSP 2 #020

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Still working on the airline bit, I'm guessing private... A320 with aftermarket sharklets... At DMK...

Airline: StarFlyer a Japanese - mostly domestic airline - so I'm guessing this is a charter?

Well Spotted Mr Smith ...

Indeed a Starflyer Airbus A320

REGO - JA21MC

P9190077 LR.JPG P9190073 LR 1.JPG

Bit different with the tail painted black on one side and white on the other.

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It's quite a smart looking livery... Even the Michael Jackson theme they're using works for me... It's black, it's white, aooooooooooooow...

[David48]

Plane Spotting 2 ...

PSP 2 #010

Try for the ...

• Airline

• Make and Model

A nice simple one

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[GrantSmith]

At first I was going to say Bangkok Airways, but they don't have them, so on closer inspection that appears to be a China Southern Boeing 737-700, but again no, that underbelly livery isn't right either...

I'm off for further analysis...

[GrantSmith]

A quick analysis reveals: Oman Air 737-800

[David48]

A quick analysis reveals: Oman Air 737-800

Yes and no ... in that order (unless I've made a monumental stuff-up ... has been known to happen!)

[GrantSmith]

hmmmm back to the drawing board on the aircraft then...

[GrantSmith]

Oh snap... At first glance it looked too stumpy to be an Airbus - could be the angle playing jedi mind tricks... But that underbelly and winglets are undeniable...

Airbus A330

[David48]

Oh snap... At first glance it looked too stumpy to be an Airbus - could be the angle playing jedi mind tricks... But that underbelly and winglets are undeniable...

Airbus A330

Would an ass view assist?

[GrantSmith]

Yup definitely A330... And a 200 variant...

[spud67]

Just for something different ... ever wonder why you sometimes circle above an Airport?

A number of reasons ...

One being the wind changes and the Pilot must wait time and redirect the Aircraft to approach the airport from a different direction.

Wind Direction Change 00.png

Planes are landing, approaching from the South as the prevailing wind is from the North, or it's relatively calm.

Suvarnabhumi Airport is that Blue Dot near the words Samut Prakan

Then the winds changes and (I presume) Air Traffic Control then direct incoming Aircraft to change their approach line.

Wind Direction Change 03.png Wind Direction Change 04.png

The wind changed to blowing from the South, thus the plans try and fly 'into' the prevailing wind and approach from the North.

Any of the Aviation guys wish to add to that or correct my presumptions ...

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Interesting post, David. I work in Air Traffic Services but not as a controller so my knowledge is more limited.

The aircraft that you can see are in a hold at published points. There are approaches for both RWY35 and RWY17 from that direction with holds that are quite close together, maybe 30 miles apart. It's possible there was a change in RWY being used but that would not necessarily precipitate the need for the use of holds on its own. To my knowledge there are 6 basic reasons to utilize a hold:

• controller error, whereby a controller has not previously provided enough space between aircraft;
• pilot error; I have had pilots need more time to descend safely for the approach;
• congestion, in the case of an airport becoming unexpectedly busy, possibly due to ETA's affected weather, emergency landings of overflights, etc;
• weather, such as low visibility causing the need for greater separation
• dangerous situation on field,
• designed for the approach, in particular Heathrow's very famous 4 approach towers.

or a combination of 2 of the above. But congestion and weather, I think, would be the most common.

I found the approach plates for BKK/VTBS on the internet and was going to post them here but then I noticed the little copyright symbol and decided against it.

[David48]

^^ Fantastic post ...

Seriously, you guys know more about this stuff, then I could ever imagine.

In the case I mentioned ... I knew it was a wind change because a few of the planes I was hoping to spot, tracking their flight path in ... they changed.

No more jets landing over the Farm ... all of them taking off.

It's knowledge like your and the others here that makes it a joy to read.

Cheers ...

[Radar501]

Thai Airways commercial 1979. Introduction of B747 (Jumbo)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEG5jbcqj4Q

EDIT: Ye gads. The video hasn't shown up. I thought I followed the instructions on how to embed a video correctly. Maybe a mod can correct it.

[spud67]

An amusing anecdote on 'holds' while we are on the subject. I don't know a lot about them but I do know, when flown properly, the track on the radar should look like a flattened oval; i.e. like a car racing track.

So when a friend of mine, while training as a controller, observed a trainee pilot in a hold, the hold looked more like a light bulb than an oval. Knowing it was his responsibility to maintain the integrity of the airspace, my friend was quite concerned for 2 reasons. First, he did not know what phraseology to use to address the situation, and second, inability to use phraseology correctly is cause for cease-training in our industry at a certain point.

Going out on a limb he said, "XXXX, do you require radar vectors for the hold?"

The pilot trainer, laughing, replied, "Sorry sir, we will correct."

Feeling a bit foolish, my friend turned back to his trainer to observe several veteran ATCs standing and grinning.

His trainer said, "Very tactfully said."

He eventually checked out and now works terminal in BC.

[Dancealot]

Bangkok, brid's eye view 3am from the China Airlines daily flight to Amsterdam.

[David48]

^^ DAL ... awesome photo and difficult to do ...

[khaosai]

Hi,

Any ideas of aircraft and airline.

[khaosai]

^^ Fantastic post ...

Seriously, you guys know more about this stuff, then I could ever imagine.

In the case I mentioned ... I knew it was a wind change because a few of the planes I was hoping to spot, tracking their flight path in ... they changed.

No more jets landing over the Farm ... all of them taking off.

It's knowledge like your and the others here that makes it a joy to read.

Cheers ...

Hi David,

Wind direction will be the predominant factor when deciding on the runway in use for both take off and landing. Any significant tailwind will have an adverse affect on the aircraft performance so airmanship will dictate taking off and landing with a headwind present.

On occasion air traffic control may prefer to use a certain runway even when light tailwinds are present. Once certain factors have been established a crew may elect to use that runway ensuring safety is never compromised.

Some issues than can occur are whether the wind direction and speed passed to a pilot are instantaneous or more common is to have the direction and speed issued which was averaged over a time period of let's say 2 minutes.

It can get interesting when given a certain wind speed and direction by the controller only for the display presented to the pilot onboard to be significantly different.

Generally large commercial jets can operate with up to 10 to 15 knots of tailwind, however the performance particularly on landing increases by a large margin.

[David48]

Plane Spotting 2 ...

PSP 2 #010

Yup definitely A330... And a 200 variant...

Well done Mr Smith ...

It was a Oman Air A-330-243

Rego A4ODA

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[smoochy]

Loved the video from Waddington but there were some pretty sketchy approaches. Note the F-16 that ends up far too low and powers over the crowd, then the Viggen that looks like it's just above stall and blows people's hats off.
Fun to watch for sure.
Thanks.

[wilcopops]

In Chiang Mai.

Air Asia?

[Chao Lao Beach]

Generally large commercial jets can operate with up to 10 to 15 knots of tailwind, however the performance particularly on landing increases by a large margin.

Large increase is an understatement, Huge increase. Most normal airports operate up to 10 knots down wind as a very general rule of thumb without any issues.

You really learn about down winds when mucking about on skies (snow/ice) and floats (water), things get really 'exciting' really bloody fast.

[smoochy]

Generally large commercial jets can operate with up to 10 to 15 knots of tailwind, however the performance particularly on landing increases by a large margin.

Large increase is an understatement, Huge increase. Most normal airports operate up to 10 knots down wind as a very general rule of thumb without any issues.

You really learn about down winds when mucking about on skies (snow/ice) and floats (water), things get really 'exciting' really bloody fast.

Don't know about every operator but 10 kts of tailwind is pretty standard for landing. However, there are plenty of airports that stuff aircraft in with winds at (or beyond) those limits. China for one comes to mind.

[SinglePot]

Generally large commercial jets can operate with up to 10 to 15 knots of tailwind, however the performance particularly on landing increases by a large margin.

Large increase is an understatement, Huge increase. Most normal airports operate up to 10 knots down wind as a very general rule of thumb without any issues.

You really learn about down winds when mucking about on skies (snow/ice) and floats (water), things get really 'exciting' really bloody fast.

Don't know about every operator but 10 kts of tailwind is pretty standard for landing. However, there are plenty of airports that stuff aircraft in with winds at (or beyond) those limits. China for one comes to mind.

Yep. I believe in aviation language it's called: ' The Pragmatic Approach '

[David48]

Hi,

Any ideas of aircraft and airline.

Well khaosai ... I'm stumped ...

I've searched the data base and not found a match for that livery.

Maybe a few hints might be in order ...

[David48]

Not a usual spotting.

But does anyone know this aircraft?

.

[Wookie]

It is a Britten Norman Trislander

[David48]

It is a Britten Norman Trislander

Well done Wookie ... ... and a warm welcome to Thai Visa.

Your navigation to get to this particular thread with your first post is exceptional !

Indeed it is a Aurigny Air Services Britten-Norman BN-2A Mk3-2 Trislander

REGO - G-RLON

The reason that I showed this was, apart from being an unusual aircraft (for me) with the tail mounted engine was that, like your navigation, it's navigation was also special.

The EGNOS Safety-of-Life signal was formally declared available to aviation. For the first time, space-based navigation signals have become officially usable for the critical task of vertically guiding aircraft during landing approaches.

By using three satellites and a 40-strong network of ground stations, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) sharpens the accuracy of GPS satnav signals across Europe.

The signals are guaranteed to the extremely high reliability set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation standard, adapted for Europe by Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

Here