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jbalonso777 · Last edited by jbalonso777 on Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

Last Saturday, a few of my Dad's friends had come over to Sri Lanka for holidays. We visited quite a few places, but one place remained we never went to: Negombo, Sri Lanka. It is located about 35 km north of the Capital, Colombo. And to make things even better, there is a massive lagoon to relax on. But the best part? Its opposite to the runway. So I forced Dad to take us to the lagoon, because I was kind of regretting taking the zoom lens for no damn reason. I didn't tell Dad, but my whole point was to take pictures of aircraft taking off Razz

But, there was only one problem. I wasn't sure which runway was being used. Luckily, my question was answered in a grand way.

While Dad stopped to take pictures of birds having their food (fish obviously!), I found another bird landing:

This SriLankan A340-300 was coming in from London. This meant that Runway 22 was being used, because for that, airplanes go more inland. In that case, planes would be taking off above me in the lagoon!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...I mean The Bird, The Plane and The Dragon Fly Razz

After this, it was time to FINALLY use my lens. I quickly got my lens changed, in order to catch every beauty possible. So we kept driving, following my trustee Google Maps on my phone, and it directed us to an entrance to the lagoon. On the way, Dad saw the Jetwing Lagoon Hotel, which is where we decided to have lunch. We entered a random road and entered a place where the lagoon was covered by marshes. Well, we didn't see anything there, but the sky was wide open! And then, I spotted the second aircraft of the day, an Air India operating flight AI-274 to Chennai!

By now, Dad and everyone in the car got to know what I was up to.

So we went to Jetwing Hotel, which was close by! Lots of spotting was in prospect!
We were given the warm Sri Lankan welcome, and the receptionist gave us a few details of the hotel (one of them being, the hotel has the largest pool in the industry, 100m!) He also looked at my camera and said: 'The restaurant is located right on the lagoon, which is opposite to the runway of Katunayke Airport. You surely can take a lot of pictures of the planes taking off!' My Dad jokingly asked him to give me the flight schedule for the day! Well, I didn't need that, because I wanted surprises! (AI A320 is already a surprise!) I only knew EK 348 DXB-CMB-SIN, that's all. So we were driven to the restaurant in electronic buggies, and just as we stopped at the restaurant, something big flew, on its way to Frankfurt:

So as we sat, there were mostly SriLankan narrow bodies, off to Karachi, Chennai, Tiruchchirapalli, Male, Cochin and Delhi. Here they are NOT in order:

And also, Sri Lanka's second airline, Mihin Lanka, to Trichy..

I had got a free working wi-fi signal, so I decided to check the status of EK-348. It was a bit disappointing: flight left Dubai 45 minutes late and facing headwind....landing in CMB 1 hour later. Well, I told this to Dad, but he said:' We won't wait that long today. We simply can't. We will be back again some day to see her take off!' Well, no Boeing 777 today.

But, the A340 which I saw first, took off, without turning over us, obviously meaning a flight to a far-eastern destination. Yes, UL-896 to Bangkok and Shanghai.

Just after this, I saw the EK Boeing 777 landing from the other side. Now it had begun. A turn around which would be for an hour long, and I was already finishing my main course in lunch. So I had to be slow. Really slow. I finished lunch, but there still was 40 minutes to go. Luckily, everyone decided to rest for about 20 minutes. I knew this would be extended by another 15 minutes! There was hope to catch the Boeing 777!

While resting, Jet Airways flight 9W-254 from Chennai arrived.

This was it. The EK flight's rescheduled flight departure time drew closer, our time to go drew closer. At 1526 hours, a SriLankan Airbus A320 landed, so we assumed, that the EK 773 was holding short of the runway. But there was something else that was holding short. It was a Canadian-Indian. SpiceJet flight SG-3102 to Chennai!

Well, after this, I gave up. We had spent more than 3 hours in the hotel! Dad also told, that we would be back there for sure, to spend the night, to get all the planes! But he also told he to keep looking back. So as we walked..I kept looking back, virtually every 3 seconds. But as we entered the restaurant, I told Dad: 'Dad its here! Lets go back!!!' I ran back!

The Emirates Boeing 777-300 was slowly and gracefully taking off.
Mission accomplished for the day!

And there it goes, off to Singapore!

It was a magical day. Never did I dream that plane spotting would be so easy in Sri Lanka! By default, we landed up at the right place!

Mum is in Kolkata right now, and she would be returning on 18th August, on 9W-252 from Chennai, which means the evening. We haven't told her, (well, that's what we always do! Razz

), but this Saturday (18th August), we will be going to the Jetwing Lagoon Hotel early in the morning, to catch the super heavies (EK-651 to Dubai at 1005, which is a B77W and SV-789 to Riyadh at 1145, which is a B744, I'm not missing that one!)

Stay tuned for another one!
Regards
-Jbalonso777
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

great stuff!!

VT-ASJ
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Wow - what a spotting session! Amazing pictures, great commentary (which has become your trademark, Jishnu) - can this also go into the trip reports section? A Spotting trip to Katunayake, dated xx.xx.2012, or something like that? This series of pictures is simply amazing. Right from the captions (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (great that you got them in one frame!), to the lovely heavy metal captures - and the sequences of image,s of planes turning, and going on - were superb. Jishnu, do you also have pictures of the surroundings? The pristine surroundings also demand a dekko!
Cheers, Sumantra.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:18 pm Post subject:

jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:31 pm Post subject:

Negombo, Sri Lanka:
Its just like Goa or Kerala, but the only difference: a 1000 times cleaner. That's all.

The Bridge where we stopped. Where I saw the SriLankan A340.

Largest Hotel swimming pool in Sri Lanka.

Yup, that is my base for the 18th of August Smile

That grey heron was in the middle of the lagoon. It just shows you how shallow it is!

Imagine getting the Emirates T7 in this frame Smile

Only two were on the boat, the rest were swimming. And, you see the red piles of mud in the background? That is the Colombo-Katunayke expressway. The Chinese are doing a fantastic job in building it really quickly for the convenience of every passenger departing or arriving!
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Nimish · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:36 pm Post subject:

Loved the pictures and the passion shows through! I'd prefer this stay in the photography forum - seems very apt for this side of the house Smile

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We miss you Nalini!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Well Jishnu, you have a dedicated reader for a lifetime Smile

Superb set of pictures, adding much spice to the original ones.
Nimish: I had wondered about the shift having seen similar TRs on A.net, covering spotting trips, not just actual plane journeys. Of course, the decision is yours, and I respect it. Whatever way we can have Jishnu post his lovely reports on this forum - in whatever section, it is always welcome!
Cheers, Sumantra.