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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject: Go Goa! (143 pics)

Welcome aboard another Trip Report onboard our *cough* national carrier. This TR covers two sectors, both in Y, on the MAA-GOI and GOI-MAA sectors on IC coded AI flights. There are 143 pictures included. This is by far my longest TR and I hope you enjoy reading this. Smile

The time for the annual winter vacation was approaching and this year we were firm on keeping it within a destination in our country. Sikkim and Rajasthan were thrown around but eventually we zeroed in on Goa. We've been there year after year since 2006 but we never seem to tire of the place. This trip would be the grandest yet as we rented a villa for the three days of our stay there, and made sure we planned several diving and mountaineering expeditions all during the time of Christmas! Smile

Originally we were scheduled to fly down BLR-GOI on 9W Konnect but as usual the typical mess up happened and MAA would be the port of origin. And so *poof* went 9W and in came the only direct option of getting to GOI from MAA, IC. IC 575/6 does MAA-GOI-KWI-GOI-MAA thrice a week and would depart from the international terminal at MAA.

IC has three flights between MAA and KWI. Two of them are one stops, MAA-GOI-KWI and MAA-BOM-KWI and one of them is a ridiculous two stop doing a MAA-HYD-AMD-KWI milk run, the MAA-HYD segment of which you would have probably read in my previous TR. Though I think NACIL has been juggling this sector as they usually do with their network and if I'm not mistaken the MAA-HYD-AMD-KWI now originates in HYD and the MAA-BOM-KWI stands cancelled. Interestingly, one of the cities where I'm based in is KWI and though I've flown all these three domestic legs one way or the other in 2010, never have I taken the flight all the way through to or from KWI! Smile

During the first week of December, I went ahead and booked myself on 9W Konnect on MAA-BLR and BLR-GOI. But a few of the group were wary of transiting at BLR. No amount of explanation on my part could suffice. And that's why AI happened. Crying or Very sad

Ticketing was done by the super un-efficient IC website which stalled and crashed to it's heart's content during the booking process but eventually I stuck around and pulled through, purchasing each ticket for a price of Rs. 17561/- return. For some NACILed up reason, the website was unable to dispatch the ticket to my inbox which meant that I had to print it from the annoying website itself, which took a whole hour as I had to log in, click on 'Successful Bookings' and pray that the server at the other end could understand the request without stuttering and hence, backing out of the process. At the end of it all though, I managed to snag myself on the fast filling A320 for the outbound sector dated on the 22nd and the inbound on the 26th. Off to Goa then!

Scheduled time of departure for this flight would be 1540 so we were at the check-in desks by 1400. MAA is increasingly an irritating airport to use (not that it was anything fancy yesterday). With all the construction, renovation and AAI style "modernization" going on, the place resembled a rubbish dump, a far cry from an international airport it was initially built to be. "Chennai Airport is being modernized. We apologize for the inconvenience." said the numerous boards leading up to the entrance. The AAI has clubbed together both the international and domestic departures to one small corridor, ditto with the arrivals. Which meant that there appeared to be more people than the population of China at the mouths of the respective 'tunnels', what with the entourages that our passengers like to get to the airport with. The CISF guards now rarely check your tickets and/or passport at the entrance owing to the large crowds and just let people in on the basis of how smart they look. Yes. A labour passenger is almost strip searched while me and the rest of us were just nodded at to proceed inwards towards the labyrinth of construction leading to the international terminal after a cursory glance at the tickets we are holding. For all they know we could be holding the day's newspaper!

Thankfully, the terminal wasn't as crowded inside. MAA, like most other south Indian airports experience their peak capacity during the morning hours, thanks to the hordes of Gulf departures to MCT, BAH, DOH, AUH, SHJ, KWI, RUH, DMM and youknowwhere. But like all Indian airports, there is always an EK 777 to youknowwhere operating at anytime of the day. When I entered the terminal, check-in desks were open for my IC flight to GOI and KWI, Silkair to SIN, WY to MCT, 9W to CMB and an IX and AI to SIN (leaving within an hour of each other!). I made my way to one of the empty AI desks towards the right of the terminal. AI has cleverly clubbed all it's AI, IC and IX flights to one side of the check-in zone, meaning that NACIL personnel don't have to shuttle across the hall for whatever reason, but it would help for them to offer the passenger the choice of checking in at any desk, instead of separating them as per destination, like Goa, Kuwait and Singapore for example.

A view of the SG check-in desks. SG has installed 3 mobile check-in desks before security for themselves. This probably enables them for a speedy check-in for it's 100 odd daily pax to CMB. Or is it a sign that they are going to further expand their international operations out of MAA? Time will tell.

Sign above my check-in desk.

Below the sign you can make out the signs over the office doors of UL and KU.

The neighbouring desk was for the AI flight to SIN, but that had just opened and passengers were yet to line up.

The male check-in desk was efficient, quick and gave me my boarding card, assigning a window seat as per request and gave the usual form for domestic passengers travelling on international AI flights.

Artwork behind the boarding card. Same thing as on the last TR.

We bypassed immigration and were stopped by the customs guy in front of the escalator leading to the departure gates. The guy clad in the white uniform grinned and said to us that this form was a "privilege".

Customs Agent: It is a privilege sir! If you are going to an international destination then they will scan your luggage thoroughly as per customs laws. But domestically whatever you declare here, we will accept it! Smile

Upstairs, the hall past security was filling fast but we found an empty section for ourselves near the duty free.

Around us, the duty free agents were busy decorating the tiny store for Christmas. A senior looking official would often run back and examine the lights and trees from afar, critiquing the hardworking agents accordingly.

Since I had a half-hour to kill, I bought myself a donut from Port Lounge and headed over to the glass windows near the free telephones to catch some action on the tarmac.

It's the old bird in the drabbest livery as usual. At the moment it is undergoing a quick maintenance check, with it's engine covers and windshield being inspected. Every few minutes, the cockpit windows would be sprayed with a jet of water and wiped by a maintenance personnel. Behind the babybus is a Jade Cargo 74F and there is an IX 738 parked next to it.

AXI was boarding to SIN. At the far end was JGU parked at the last remote stand. At the far left you can spot a 9W and IT ATR lining up on 7, with an IT and AI 320 following close behind.

5 minutes later, there was a sudden flurry of activity as many things happened at once. A WY 738 did a bumpy touchown, it's IX counterpart was pushbacked for it's hop to SIN and a 9W 738 made it's way from the domestic terminal. Also, both the aforementioned ATRs holding on the taxiway to 7 were cleared for departure.

A guy on my left pointed to me and asked me whether the green jumbo was a Saudi bird. I corrected him by calling it a Jade 74F freighter. Where was it from, he asked? Taiwan, I replied. He thanked me and then asked me whether it was permitted to take pictures like that. I said yes and showed him the relevant DGCA documents. He was overjoyed and extracted his DSLR to take some snaps himself. Smile

I had to bid him farewell as both his WY and my IC flight had announced boarding, and the aerobridge was now kissing the IC 320's L1. But I hung around for one last shot of AXF being towed to a stand after completion of it's flight from KUL.

WY and IC were boarding from adjacent gates, #2 and #3 respectively. WY has started a policy of boarding through rows, but nobody seemed to care and ILBST was in full flow. Row 30-34 attracted 120 odd pax. Incredible!

The jetway for my IC flight was manned by a young AI staffer who tore the stubs off our boarding cards and wished us a pleasant flight. I've used MAA enough by now to notice that the aerobridge at Gate #3 was the cleanest of them all. We reached the aircraft door where there was an old granny as usual, nodding at the entering passengers.

I enquired about the aircraft registration as I entered the aircraft. She smiled at me, put on her spectacles and looked at the handbag kept at the rack near the door. The stickers on it said VT-EPJ and she read it out to me. "Echo. Papa. Juliet. "I thanked her and on her questioning look said that I was making a Trip Report for which I needed the reg. She smiled and remarked that they don't get too many enthusiasts on their flights before directing me to the Y cabin. The J cabin was empty as usual, save for an extra (?) crew member. I made my way to row 23 and we were on our seats in good time. AI has retrofitted this A320 with it's signature red and saffron cabins too and the aircraft didn't feel 21 years old at all. VT-EPJ was delivered to IC in 1989 and transferred to AI in 2007. This would be my first ride on an IC owned 320. Both my previous flights on IC were on leased metal, EVR and EVQ as Ranjan (ranjanmehta) was kind to point out from back in the EVR report.

Airline: Air India
Aircraft: Airbus A320-231
Registration: VT-EPJ
First flight date: 7th June, 1989

Load in J: 0%
Load in Y: 100%

Scheduled Departure Time: 3:40 PM
Actual Departure Time: 3:50 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 4:55 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 4:55 PM

Flight Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Legroom was the same as on the two EV* series 320s, though members always claim that IC owned birds have tons of legroom, even in Y. Perhaps AI has done the stuffing more rows act on them.

The WY 738 was on our left. A4O-BM.

After a lot of the passengers had settled down, the FA I had met at the door came towards my seat and gave me a copy of the AI in-flight magazine- Namaskaar, saying that "you enthusiasts probably collect these things". Very Happy

The WY then pushbacked, completing it's rather quick turnaround.

Leaving a 9W 738 in view, the one boarding to CMB. It was JGQ. I noticed a KU baggage crate near it.

3:40 PM came and went yet we were delayed from pushback thanks to heavy congestion. We were getting a little worried since we would have to make our way to Dona Paula in GOI, which is kind of far from Dabolim. We wouldn't want to do it too late into the night.

The domestic terminal. Check out the Paramount Embraer on the left.

AXF and a 9W 738, the registration of which I couldn't pick up as the stairs were in the way.

At 3:50, 10 minutes after scheduled departure time, we were cleared for departure and were pushbacked from the heavily under renovation MAA international terminal.

Behind JGQ was a leased IC 319, VT-SCF and an IT 320. Too far to make out the reg of that one.

As we made our way to 7, the FAs performed the safety demo. A few changes I noticed in this flight is that the purser who had given me the AI magazine, Pramilla Lauren gave a special welcome to frequent fliers, whoever they may be and said that a newspaper rack was available at all times in the rear galley. She introduced the captain as Captain Jindal with "18 years of experience flying for Air India and Indian Airlines". Smile

The soon to be demolished old style face of MAA's white cement and glass terminal. Notice the lettering "Anna International Terminal". Anna is of course, the name of some ex-politician from the area.

A Silkair 320, from and to SIN.

Lining up.

And in contrast to EVQ, the take-off run was super quiet. This bird looks old only from the outside. Smile

Some excess capacity dumped by airlines in the distance. A couple of IT ATRs, a 320 and another Paramount Embraer.

The cargo terminal. A couple of Blue Darts including a 757, and the Deccan 360 A310, which is a former AI bird. The rarely used secondary runway too.

Banking left along St. Thomas Mount, a popular spotter's hangout area.

Rising above the city.

And up through the clouds.

2 of the all female crew on-board the flight began the snack service. A lot of the passengers, around 80% were tourists like us and around half of them could speak little or no English. Europe is obviously not the best place for the language. Smile

The snack trolley thus moved a lot slower than it should have.

"The vegetarian option is a samosa and a cutlet."

"No I'm sorry, we don't serve alcohol on domestic flights."

"A samosa is like hard bread with stuffed vegetables, it's quite spicy!"

It was nice that the FAs kept their cool with the passengers. Normally they just snarl and get on with it on IC. Just proves that the younger lot are obviously more enthusiastic and motivated about their jobs.

I settled for the non-veg option which consisted of chicken kababs and gulab jamuns, and a puff.

The beverage run followed and the FAs were just as patient. I asked for tea, but the FA was holding just the coffee kettle so she said that another one would be on her way to serve it to me. I got the tea and a few minutes later, the first FA got back to me with a pleasant Did you get your tea? What a nice touch. Smile

Over Karnataka.

The terrain below us grew a lot......taller as we neared the Karnataka coast and the crew announced descent.

A river draining into the Arabian sea in the distance.

Pramilla Lauren came on the PA and announced clearly that GOI was a naval military base and photography in and out of the airport was prohibited. I didn't stop clicking, just was a little discreet about it all. Here are some more photos of descent.

Lots of greenery everywhere!

A deforested area, sad to see it's state.

Looks like Amazonia! Smile

Lowering flaps, and on finals to GOI. The Arabian Sea loomed closer with our approach into Dabolim.

Some industrial units.

The airport was surrounded by lots of trees but they cleared as we entered the perimeter.

Over the runway.

Touchdown!

We had a standard landing (maybe smoother thanks to the double bogie! Smile

)and the captain announced the photography rule again, but I still took my chances.

Clearing the runway. Who woulda thunk this is December?

FA Lauren reminded pax to collect their belongings, including cellphones, watches and spectacles lest they forget them during deboarding. She also requested passengers not to swap seats during the 40 minute halt at GOI as they might be reserved for passengers boarding at GOI.

Passing some naval birds. Anybody know which aircraft these are? Also, what's with the things on their decks? Radar?

We reached the passenger terminal where the usual suspects were lined up, including another leased IC 319. Smile

We parked at the last available stand among five. Across the tarmac I could spot some military structures.

Deboarding was quick, but the one bus that had come to the aircraft wasn't sufficient for half the 320 load of passengers, so one of the ground personnel walkie talkied another bus to arrive double quick. Around 90% of pax deplaned leaving just 10-15 odd pax to travel on to KWI (though I noticed a healthy load waiting at the gate in GOI). Pramilla Lauren asked me if I had a pleasant flight at the door. While we were waiting she said that her son had completed his CPL course in 2008 and was unable to find a job. "Please pray for him!" she requested as the second bus arrived, and stopped behind the first. It felt odd leaving an aircraft bound for KWI, but it was just a short walk to the waiting bus. Smile

Nose section of EPJ.

Funny that my best IC flight had to happen at the end of the year. Second best, rather. The AI A319 on BLR-SIN from back in May had uncharacteristically good service too. Let's see if the return was just as good. Read on.

Scores:

Punctuality: 9/10
Seat: 8/10
Catering: 10/10
Aircraft Condition: 8/10
Entertainment: 5/10

Total: 40/50 = 80% = Five stars out of Five.

GOI was nicely decorated for Christmas as well. Look at that dustbin. Smile

Now Goa is simply the best holiday destination in the country. Far from the chaotic mess that is our cities, the tiny coastal state tucked in between Karnataka and Maharashra is like a breath of fresh air. Let the pictures do the talking.

The return sector was on IC 576, that does KWI-GOI-MAA. The aircraft arrives at KWI from GOI as IC 575 at 1900 local time and has a block time of 5 hours to make up for any delays. At around midnight, the flight departs KWI as IC 576 and heads back to it's station at MAA via GOI. The departure time out of GOI is 0820 which meant that we found ourselves at GOI airport at 0600 in the morning.

Once again, I had to be discreet about the pics so please excuse the quality of photos in this section of the TR.

International Departures. Sunrise was yet to hit.

The AI check-in counters. At 0755 was a flight to DEL.

In addition, there was also an IT flight departing to someplace and lots of Russian charters. The board also listed a "BA" flight but I don't know what that was about.

Goa's own Port Lounge.

The agent was just as quick, but this time he handed us boarding cards made out of plain paper.

The departure gates 1A and 1B were reserved for international passengers. Our gate was 1B and unlike in MAA, each gate has it's own security personnel. I don't know if they are trained to do so but they were quite chatty with us as well as the rest of the tourists on the flight, enquiring about where we were from and whether we enjoyed our stay and such.

Once we were done, it was around 0745 and we were let through the green tarpaulin covered walkway to the buses.

The IC 320 was parked at the stand closest to the terminal this time and the bus ride lasted just around 10-15 seconds. Can't fathom why they don't allow pax to walk down instead.

I couldn't make out the reg as we were using the forward stairs. The male FA at the front also looked harried so I saved the question for the end of the flight (It turned out to be EPJ again). This time, the flight had around 50-60 pax from KWI. With the remaining pax from GOI it would be another fully loaded flight in the Y cabin.

Airline: Air India
Aircraft: Airbus A320-231
Registration: VT-EPJ
First flight date: 7th June, 1989

Load in J: 0%
Load in Y: 100%

Scheduled Departure Time: 8:20 AM
Actual Departure Time: 8:20 AM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 9:30 AM
Actual Arrival Time: 9:30 AM

Flight Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ground vehicles to our left.

Message on the tray tables.

Swagat and the safety card.

Legroom. Muddier shoes this time, obviously. Wink

One issue that I noticed was that the shutter my window had was unmovable and possibly slightly shattered. Luckily we were not in the direction of the sun at that angle.

AI's newest A320, VT-EDF pulled in beside us just prior to pushback. Possibly it was the one heading to DEL as that flight had announced a delay as we were boarding.

A flashy pink 757 also arrived as Captain Raman announced departure.

Pushback.

Passing the GOI terminal and heading to the sole runway.

An IT Red ATR, VT-DKI.

Entering the runway. We would go on to taxi it's entire length to the opposite side and commence our take-off run from there.

The military buildings again.

Beginning our take-off roll.

Lift-off! EDF again.

Tata to GOI. Thanks for another wonderful vacation and see you next year. Smile

Climbing as we fly over the expanse of the Western Ghats.

The crew came around handing newspapers. An hour reading on the ridiculous happenings in our country. Smile

And the meal. An omelette this time.

We hit some dusty turbulence as we flew over the Deccan and our wing reflected a brownish tinge as we cruised over the patchy terrain.

After the rather uneventful flight it was time for descent into MAA. The all male crew came around the cabin preparing us for landing and soon we were descending into Chennai city.

We landed on 7 this time, which meant that we didn't loop over the bay, the most scenic approach into the airport. Nevermind, I still managed some good clicks of finals.

A polluting chemical factory! Smile

The Golden Quadilateral national highway to BLR and BOM.

I think this locality is called "Pallavaram".

Entering MAA premises.

Touchdown!

BlueDart action again.

The capacity dumpyard you saw during departure.

Clearing the runway.

IT, CD ATRs.

The cargo complex.

The fire station.

The best part about landing on 7 is that you can spot the ATC. Smile

And finally, the passenger domestic terminal with a 9W 738 parked.

Another 9W 738 with an IC 319.

The same old Paramount Embraer.

The international terminal. UL 332 from CMB, EK 77W from youknowwhere, SV 77E from RUH and can somebody tell me which airline that last one is? Is it a Malaysian carrier?

JGZ, a 73G.

We docked at a jetway next to an ex-Deccan Kingfisher 320, VT-DKU.

A 9W cobus passed and I clicked it before deplaning.

Cabin shot during deboarding.

I stopped to click a picture from the picot point of the aerobridge. Beside the CX Cargo 74F is a 9W 332. I wonder if that spot where the CX cargo is parked is always reserved for cargo operators. The Jade cargo was parked there too, shot earlier in the report.

The UL 332 from the arrivals walkway.

A bunch of SriLankan students were holding up security. Yet as we made our way out we found that the carousel hadn't begun moving yet. It took another three quarters of an hour to be done and to exit the airport.

MAA as we were exiting.

Scores:

Punctuality: 10/10
Seat: 7/10
Catering: 8/10
Aircraft Condition: 6/10
Entertainment: 3/10

Total: 34/50 = 68% = Four stars out of Five.

Thanks for reading this. But dismay not, the vacation is not over yet. Expect another TR soon, from Kerala this time. Smile

Varun
http://www.facebook.com/varun.ravichandran
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Yeah.

Nimish · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:25 am Post subject:

Lovely report Varun- thanks for posting!

Goa is a never ending vacation spot - I was yearning for it's beaches earlier this evening - so this report came as a timely quick detour Smile

. I've been going to Goa every year for the past 18 odd years - missed it only 1-2 years in the middle!!
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We miss you Nalini!

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Brilliant TR Varun! Very Happy

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Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:40 am Post subject:

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

Excellent TR Varun.

The BA flights listed on the board at GOI could be the IT-code share flights.

himmat01 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: DEL

Nice report, Arun. You may have offended some guys by reducing Annadurai as some ex politician. Wink

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Save Maharashtra!

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:02 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:05 pm Post subject:

Very nice TR . Goa seems like an awesome place.

GuyFromBOM · Member Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 544 Location: VABB

Nice TR, Varun..!
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The more I fly 9W, the more I prefer AI | FlightDiary: 59 Boeing + 30 Airbus + 9 ATR + 1 Embraer

HAWK21M · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:57 pm Post subject:

Nice pics varun.
Noticed the Ramp at chennai don't adhere to Equipment staging areas.... Although in one image the FOD clearing guy with the bin is visible. Smile

The IAF IL30 looks great but the Antenna is missing or looks altered.
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Think of the Brighter side !!!

shivendrashukla · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:47 pm Post subject:

Awesome Report there Varun.

BTW the military aircrafts that you saw were very shy IL-38 maritime aircrafts. These are not with IAF but with the navy. And the dome sort of structure that you saw were RADAR.

Cheers
Shivendra

The_Goat · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 1:50 pm Post subject:

HAWK21M · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 4:01 pm Post subject:

abhijith16 · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:42 pm Post subject:

Hi Varun

Awesome TR. The bird you clicked kinda looks like an AK bird though...

I have never flown IC thanks to my friends disgusting trips with them, but maybe having a young crew is not so bad, it reminds of the IX trip last year

Once again, Loved this TR

Abhijith

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Very nice TR, by far one of your best. Thanks for sharing.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 9:58 pm Post subject:

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

Varun, it is a real pleasure reading every one of your trip reports.
More so, this one - partly because of the tremendous attention you have paid to detail.
The build-up to the trip is really well-written. This adds to the reader's anticipation of what will happen next - much like we aviation freaks look forward to each trip we have to make. The little snippets of information - the small conversations with the Customs man, the conversation with the lead purser on the flight, the photo-taking conversation with the man with a DSLR - all add to the beauty of this TR. It just took me a long time to go through it - because our machines here do not consider photobucket.com a worthwhile place to visit. I have to seek out my Tata PhotonPlus to access the pictures. Just a couple of points -

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:19 pm Post subject:

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

Yes, Varun - I did not miss out the SCF and SCE part. Reading about SCF, I was suddenly reminded about SCE, and hence rambled along. I'm greying a lot quicker than I thought, I guess.
We all look forward to your Kerala report, much like my tongue salivates when the ears catch the phrases `iddi-appam' and `potato-stew' being pronounced in conjunction with each other!
Cheers, Sumantra.

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

As always an excellent report. I love Goa have stayed there for four month on part of company deputation near Dona Paula and explored the length and breadth of that place.

Sri_Bom

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:22 pm Post subject:

Thanks for reading!
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Yeah.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:55 am Post subject:

Sorry to bump this up, but I took a good 20-minutes to plug this report on A.net earlier today. You can catch it here:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/242939/
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Yeah.

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

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 1:15 am Post subject: