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Pictures from our first BIAL spotting trip

 
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:08 pm    Post subject: Pictures from our first BIAL spotting trip Reply with quote

http://picasaweb.google.com/nimishguptablr/BIALSpottingJune2008

More details to follow, but pictures uploaded to Picasa...

All in all - we had a great time there, and the place is pretty spotter friendly.
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airindia787
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to see that you got the IT long-haul fleet. Good to see that the new airport is spotter friendly.
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sreenath_y
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice ones!!! VABB shud learn from BIAL and GHIAL how to be friendly to harmless spottographers.
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HAWK21M
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice pics folks.....Great to see these from the New Airport.
Thanks a lot.

regds
MEL
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Nilanjon
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent work Nimish, Louis and Srinivas !!
Pity I couldn't join this time, but looking forward to the next spotting session.

Also, I'm glad it is much more safe to spot here compared to HAL - at least it is legal to take snaps unlike HAL which was a defence airport !!
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All BLR spotters - I do think we should make it a regular thing once again - Either Saturday mornings from 8 am to 10 am (when we can catch SQ and the morning rush) or Sunday evenings (with EK).

This spotting trip was quite enjoyable, and here's a brief account:

I had a lunch hosted at home, and was trying to get my guests to hurry up and reach my place on time or early, but that was not to be, and they showed up only by 1330 or so. Anyway, I managed to wiggle out at 3 pm, leaving my guests behind at home and my family to entertain them Smile.

As I was driving a friend's car (since I was to pick his parents up who were arriving by EK that evening), I was driving slowly, and on a chance chose to go direct to Mekhri circle via Jayamahal/TV Tower etc. That turned out to be a bad choice, since there was a new one-way at Cantonment station (which I did not know about), and then there was some political rally at Palace grounds (once again I had no clue about that), so ultimately it was around 3:45 by the time I reached the Hebbal flyover. I'm definitely sticking to Cubbon road, Windsor manor, Mekhri circle route going forward.

I met Srini there (sorry about the delay Srini), and then we headed north. I spoke with Louis and we decided to meet across from the Jakkar airport. A quick 5 minutes wait later, I saw Louis' car pull up behind mine and we were zipping on the way to BIAL.

From Hebbal it must have taken us about 30 minutes to reach BIAL - there was a fair bit of traffic on the way, and the lack of proper pedestrian over/under bridges is alarming (as they then are forced to try and dash through the traffic). We reached the BIAL airport parking lot, and parked there, and decided to venture out east on foot towards the 27 side of the runway.

At this stage we were quite nervous as this was the first time we'd been to the airport and had no idea what to expect. The whole area to the east of the the terminal was a huge construction zone with L&T equipment all over the place. Though there were a few private "security guards", they did not seem bothered on seeing us and did not pull us up. So we continued east for about 10 minutes trekking through bushes and construction equipment, until we saw a few folks who were perched high up and seemed to be admiring the view. So we decided to head north at this stage and see if we could spot from this location.

Here's what we crossed on our way "north" towards runway 27.



We ultimately reached a pile of wooden planks (all L&T property), and decided to climb up that for a good view of the runway. Here's a view of our spotting "tower" (the one on the left):



And this is a view facing west (towards the terminal) from where we were standing:



Once we were there it was smooth sailing all the way on. An airport canteen contractor joined us for a little while on the platform, and we tried to get some more "spotting" related info from him but he was either clueless or unwilling to talk.

Once we climbed up, the first thing to catch our attention was the IT 332 parked far far away Sad



Here are some of the other birds we saw:

DN's VT-ADZ


IC's VT-ESK:


DN ATR:


9W 737 VT-JGY:


SG 737 VT-SPF:


6E 320 VT-INM (is that Nandi Hills in the background?):


IC 320 VT-EVP:


EK 332 A6-EAJ - heavily laden - 100% occupancy:




IC 320 VT-ESH:


DN 320: VT-ADV:


SG 737: VT-SGB:


9W 738: VT-JBC:


9W 737: VT-JNW:


SG 737: VT-SPQ:


This was the end of our main spotting trip, and we decided to head back. I stepped up on a huge concrete pipe for a minute to see the view from the "Prime Viewing spot" and it was pretty good (unfortunately for us we were facing the sun all the time):
IT ATR: VT-KAQ:


We then walked past the "Employee parking lot" only to find lines and lines of Red Chevy Sparks. Turns out they were all IT staff cars:



Of course, a mantri's car goes in via the VIP entrance - thank god they were not crowding the main road!



I then walked to the arrivals area only to find my friend's parents were still waiting for their bags to arrive. So I decided to walk West towards the 09 end of the runway and see if I could get a better view of the IT 332.

Immediately to the west side of the terminal building - there was a huge group of private cars/minivans parked in a haphazard manner, and massive crowds enjoying the view of the apron. In the midst of all this I saw this chap peddling his wares:


Did he need Mr. Brunner's permission to set up base here Wink?

And my final shot of the evening, the IT 332:



I then headed back, bought a nice filter coffee (Rs. 15 - not bad at all), and then picked up the couple, and headed back to the city. Parking was reasonable and plentiful at Rs. 40 for 2 hours.

There was a huge "mela" like atmosphere outside the terminal building with stall selling Chaat (gangotree), sandwiches (subway), Kaati rolls (Kaati zone), Ice Cream (Basking robbins) and other miscellaneous stall selling samosas, tea and the like. The prices outside were very reasonable, and it was a pleasure to see this parking & waiting area - contrasted with the absolute mess and Mayhem at HAL!!

The mood overall was rather "picnic like" with families milling around, enjoying a few snacks and waiting for their loved ones in peace and quiet. There was a loo for visitors (don't know where, but overheard the cleaning staff instructing some visitors on where to "go").

Of course the numerous taxi touts hanging around (city taxis and the like I presume - trying to get someone to take back to the city with them) made it somewhat of a unpleasant experience, though I'm at a loss to figure out why BIAL can't depute private guards or some other means to prevent these touts from disfiguring Bangalore new jewel!
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flightgearpilot
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow! great pics. As always I am too nervous to go on spotting trips and prefer to watch the birds alone in a discreet fashion. If I happen to pick a fight with some stupid security guard, I usually lose my cool. I've had numerous bad experiences in ITPL dealing with the high-handedness of their security folks.

Nice to know that BIAL is more friendly. I was somewhat surprised at the courteous nature of the staff when I went there last week. Hope Brunner and co does not get talked into becoming more "professional" and "making it like Singapore" or other such idiotic ideas. A civil airport is meant for the public. Let the picnic go on -- let there be just enough security to ensure liveness (airport operations), safety and law and order. Beyond that it is no disciplinarian's business to interfere with people who enjoy looking at airplanes.
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HAWK21M
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guess the IT A330 has the BZ B752SF as a neighbour Smile
regds
MEL
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Karan69
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice report and pics mate, also good to hear that there was no security trouble

Karan
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Louis, Sreeni - we need your pics also on the site!
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well done guys the pictures were awesome would look forward to more them in future!
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Aiel
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Could not make it this time, Hope to do so next time.

Great pics, Nimish and a wonderful report on the meet.
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sri_bom
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great pics and great report Nimish....nice to know you guys had great fun.

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himmat01
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am sorry, I could not join you guys but I was too tired to make it to BIAL.

I will be relocating to DEL next month. I've had a great time in BLR and will surely miss the future meets.
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G-BYGB
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

himmat01 wrote:
I am sorry, I could not join you guys but I was too tired to make it to BIAL.

I will be relocating to DEL next month. I've had a great time in BLR and will surely miss the future meets.


Himmat,we can have a meet in Delhi.I will be in Delhi for one more year.Along with other air-netters from Delhi,we can have a regular meet there.
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HAWK21M
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

himmat01 wrote:
I am sorry, I could not join you guys but I was too tired to make it to BIAL.

I will be relocating to DEL next month. I've had a great time in BLR and will surely miss the future meets.


Looking forward for your DEL pics soon.
regds
MEL
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G-BYGB
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are some of my shots taken on that day.Heres the link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sreeni83subramaniam/BIALPics

[url][/url]
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G-BYGB
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apologies for the poor quality of the images.Still can't get the acft reg clearly.
Like for instance in the pict of EK landing,the acft reg can't be seen that clearly.

And shots that are taken two kms far of from the spot,the pict becomes blurred.
Couldn't get that IT A330 shot that clearly.

My SONY cybershot 7.2 Mega pixels camera doesn't seem to be that powerful when it comes to taking long shots under difficult conditions.

As a result so far all 10 pics which I had submitted to airliners.net have been rejected.
Sad
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sreenath_y
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well G-BYGB, don't get upset over a.net rejections. First of all, its not about the image quality which we're worried abt. ; your pics equally nice.
7.1 mpx is more than enuf. Not discouraging, but for BIAL landing shots you gotto use that 3x to the max or you may probably need 6-10x optical zoom more.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

HAWK21M wrote:
Guess the IT A330 has the BZ B752SF as a neighbour Smile

Was holding short of 27 the other day and had an EK 332 TO in front of me and was expecting to depart behind her but was made to wait for landing traffic. Turned out the landing traffic was ITs 330 (I was told it was doing familiarisation flights and went to HYD?). Anyway she touched down almost in front of us and she really is beautiful. I might be bias, but she certainly looked better than EKs.
Anyway when I got back at night I went to have a look at her. Got some cell phone pics of the interiors, will post them if and when I am allowed to I guess.
…. and yes the 757 is her perpetual neighbour it seems, I took a pic of her (Vision 6 if I remember correctly) because I knew someone would be interested Smile

himmat01 wrote:
I will be relocating to DEL next month. I've had a great time in BLR and will surely miss the future meets.

Well then we should definitely do this again before you go.
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