Wednesday 27 February 2019

Pakistan shoots down two Indian Airforce MIG-21 jets

Pakistan confirmed on Wednesday that it had shot down two Indian Airforce MIG-21 jets on its own airspace, capturing one of the pilots. “In response to PAF strikes this morning…PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace. One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K (Azad Jammu and Kashmir abbreviated as AJK and commonly known as Azad Kashmir, is a nominally self-governing jurisdiction administered by Pakistan.) while other fell inside IOK. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on ground while two in the area.” said the spokesperson for Pakistan Armed Forces, Maj.Gen Asif Ghafoor. Indian media reports say that two pilots were killed when a Mig 21 plane crashed in Occupied Kashmir’s Budgam District. One went down in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir while the other went down in Indian-controlled part of the Himalayan region.
The debris was found 7 kms from the airport. "The IAF team will investigate the crash site and provide more details", said Superintendent of Police, Nagpure Amod Ashok. At least four airports in the northern part of India, including the main airport in Indian-administered Kashmir, were shut down indefinitely on Wednesday amid warnings of a retaliatory attack by Pakistan. Flights have also been suspended in northern Pakistani cities, including Lahore and Peshawar. Both countries have ordered air strikes over the last two days, the first time in history that two nuclear armed powers have done so, while ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations.
There has been ongoing heavy fire near the crash site.

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Plane hijacked.. suspect killed

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines was hijacked by a 26-year old male passenger during the first leg of a flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Chittagong and Dubai yesterday. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, departed from Dhaka-Shahjalal International Airport (DAC/VGHS), Bangladesh at 11:13 UTC (17:13 local time) bound for Chittagong-Shah Amanat International Airport (CGP/VGEG) also in Bangladesh . Some 15 minutes after takeoff the hijacker brandished a toy gun and walked up to the cockpit door. He requested to talk to the Prime Minister.  At 11:39 UTC (17:39 local) the aircraft landed on runway 11 at Chittagong airport. The aircraft stopped on the main apron and an evacuation was carried out. Police and commandos then stormed the aircraft shooting the suspect and he later died of his wounds.
134 passengers and 14 crew were released unharmed after an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes.
Airport manager Wing Commander Sarwar-e-Jaman said the hijacker was "psychologically imbalanced". "The reason he gave for the hijack was that he had troubles with his wife and he wanted to talk to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina," Sarwar told AFP. The man — named only as Mahadi — reportedly wielded a gun in the cabin and tried to storm the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing. Amid multiple investigations, authorities are focussing on how he managed to smuggle even a fake gun past security at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. "An inquiry is underway," the civil aviation chief said.
"It is virtually impossible to breach this security as the system is designed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation," he added. Hasan said Bangladesh security was in line with global standards and the country's airports were regularly checked by top international firms.





Aircraft Details
Airline: Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Code: BG / BBC
Aircraft: Boeing 737-8E9 (WL)
Registration: S2-AHV
Serial Number: 40335
Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-7BE
First Flew: 11/12/2015
Age: 3 Yrs 2 Mths

Sunday 24 February 2019

Atlas Air 767 crashes on approach killing three

An Atlas Air 767 travelling from Miami (MIA / KMIA) to Houston (IAH / KIAH) that crashed yesterday in Texas with three people aboard went into shallow water nose first, Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.  He said some human remains have been recovered but didn't specify whether three bodies had been found.  Hawthorne said the crash site in Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, is in water just 5 feet (1.52 Metres) deep and is reachable by airboats and other flat-bottom craft. The scene extends over 3 miles (4.8 klm's), he said. Multiple dive teams from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police, and the Baytown Police are at the crash site, he added.
The sheriff described seeing the contents of packages and cardboard boxes as he traveled across the water, then seeing parts of the twin-engine Boeing 767. The flight was operated by Amazon Prime Air and was operated by Atlas Air aircraft .
"There was nothing intact of the airplane," he said. "Knowing what I saw, I don't think anyone could survive it." He said about six people saw the plane go into the water. Some said it sounded like the engines were "surging," the sheriff said. "There's no doubt he was having some kind of problem with the airplane, according to the eyewitnesses," the sheriff said. "Then it turned and went into a nosedive." The 767 was in a normal descent as it approached George Bush Intercontinental Airport, then went into a "very, very rapid descent" at 6,300 feet, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters. Atlas Air said the three people on the plane "and their family members are our top priority at this time." The operator said it was cooperating with federal investigators. Atlas Air said it operated the plane on behalf of Amazon. It was traveling from Miami to Houston when it went down about 40 miles (64 klm's) southeast of the airport.

Aircraft Details
Airline: Atlas Air
Code: 5Y / GTI
Aircraft: Boeing 767-375
Registration: N1217A
Serial Number: 25865
Engines: 2 x GE CF6-80C2B6F
First Flew: 21/04/1992
Age: 26 Yrs 8 Mths

Below is the history of the aircraft
21/04/1992Canadian AirlinesC-GCAW  
16/07/1992GPAEI-CFR 
04/11/1992China Southern AirlinesB-2561 
01/01/1997LAN ChileCC-CRG 
23/07/2004LAN AirlinesCC-CRG 
01/01/2009LAN ArgentinaLV-BTE 
10/09/2010LAN AirlinesCC-CRG 
27/01/2016Atlas AirN258CT 
05/04/2016Atlas AirN631GT
08/04/2017Atlas AirN1217A 


Thoughts and prayers go out to the immediate family and friends and of course the staff at Atlas Air.


Story sourced from below with some personal additions.







Saturday 23 February 2019

Hobart Airport (and Surrounds)

Thursday I had to fly to Hobart to attend a funeral of a family member who passed away suddenly.
Hobart is my home town so I stayed two and a half days and came home this morning. As I made my way around Hobart I managed to grab a few photos.


HOBART TOWER

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-BZG (CN 37822)

FRONT; JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VGU (CN
REAR; JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VGV (CN 4229)


PAR AVION CESSNA 172M VH-LGE (CN 17267231)

PAR AVION CESSNA 172S VH-USQ (CN 172S10301)

PAR AVION CESSNA 172S VH-PRJ (CN 172S10642)

SKYPLAN AUSTRALIA BELL 206B VH-UHV (CN 3384)

MOUNT WELLINGTON

WREST POINT CASINO (FIRST LEGAL CASINO IN AUSTRALIA)
OPEN 10th FEB 1973

TASMAN BRIDGE (HOBARTS MAIN BRIDGE)
OPENED DEC 1964 1.4 KLMS LONG

FACING NORTH TO NORTHERN SUBURBS

BLUNDSTONE ARENA ( CRICKET -AFL GROUND)

FACING SOUTH TO OPEN SEAS

CELEBRITY SOLSTICE


MAJESTIC PRINCESS


TASMANIAN SEAPLANES DeHAVILLAND DHC 2
VH-OHD (CN 1590)





HOBARTS GPO











TIGERAIR A320-232 VH-XUG (CN 6032)

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VZP (CN 39362)
 

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-YVD (CN 40998)


ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR BEECHCRAFT B220C
VH-LTQ (CN BL-170)

JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VQA (CN 3783)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-VUL (CN 36603)




TASMANIAN COASTLINE

VICTORIAN COASTLINE











Sunday 17 February 2019

Lion Air skids off runway in heavy rain

You cant help but think this is Deja Vu.. but sadly its not. Another Lion air aircraft has been involved in an incident, luckily this time there were no injuries or severe damage to the aircraft.

A Lion Air passenger plane ravelling from Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK/WIII) to Pontianak-Supadio Airport (PNK/WIOO) has skidded off a runway outside a city on the Indonesian island of Borneo on Saturday during heavy rain, the airline has said. The aircraft, a Boeing 737,  was operating with 182 passengers and seven crew members onboard. The aircraft rolled of the end of the runway and came to rest with the main landing gear just off the paved end of the runway 15. Local media has reported the accident led to the closure of the runway.
This is not the first time Lion Air has had a runway excursion. On the 29th April 2018, Lion Air Flight 892, a 737-800 (PK-LOO), made a runway excursion at Jalaluddin Airport after landing under heavy rain conditions, resulting in the main nose gear to collapse. There were no fatalities.
Prihantoro said Lion Air was working to evacuate the plane and that visibility had met landing requirements. Supadio International Airport is a regional hub airport that services a small number of international flights. According to the Aviation Safety Network, Lion Air has had 11 safety incidents since 2002.
PT Lion Mentari Airlines, operating as Lion Air, was founded on the 19th October 1999 and commenced operations on the 30th June 2000. It is an Indonesian low-cost airline.
Based in Jakarta, Lion Air is the country's largest privately run airline, the second largest low-cost airline in Southeast Asia after AirAsia and the largest airline of Indonesia. The airline operates domestic as well as international routes.

On the 29th October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed in the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.  https://madaboutplanes.blogspot.com/2018/10/lion-air-737-crashed-shortly-after.html
Then on the 8th November 2018 Flight 633, a Boeing 737-900ER was taxiing for departure at Fatmawati Soekarno Airport when its left wing struck a light pole, severely damaging the leading edge.


Aircraft Information
Airline: Lion Air
Code: JT / LNI
Aircraft: B737 MAX
Registration: PK-LPS
Serial Number: 43209
Engines: 2 x CFMI CFM56-7B26E
First Flew:19/06/2018
Age: 8 Months

Airlines in Australia

Following on from my post yesterday, due to the large number of photos I took I decided to split the internationals and the domestics. This post is on Australian airlines, not all photos were taken in Sydney. Airlines marked * only operate in Western Australia.

QANTAS - FLEET SIZE: 132


A380-842 VH-OQL (CN 074)

B747-438 VH-OEH (CN 32912)

A330-303 VH-QPI (CN 0705)

A330-203 VH-EBL (CN 0976)

B787-9 VH-ZND (CN 63390)

B737-838 VH-VXQ (CN 33723) RETRO ROO 11
1959 LIVERY
B737-838 VH-XZP (CN 44577) RETRO ROO 1
1970 LIVERY

B737-838 VH-VXN (CN 33484) OLD COLOUR SCHEME

B737-838 VH-VZW (CN 39359) NEW COLOUR SCHEME

B717-2BL VH-YQW (CN 55194)


DASH 8 Q402 VH-QOM (CN 4217)
DASH 8 Q315 VH-SBT (CN 580)

DASH 8 Q202 VH-TQX (CN 439)






























































JETSTAR (owned by Qantas) - FLEET SIZE: 71

B787-8 VH-VKI (CN 36235)

A321-231 VH-VWT (CN 3717)

A320-232 VH-VGD (CN 4527)













































VIRGIN AUSTRALIA - FLEET SIZE: 101

B777-3ZG VH-VPH (CN 37943)






A330-243 VH-XFH (CN 1452)

B737-8FE VH-VOP (CN 33797)
FOKKER F28 MK 100 VH-FSQ (CN 11450)

ATR 72-212





































































TIGERAIR (owned by Virgin Australia) - FLEET SIZE: 18

B737-8FE VH-VUB (CN 34103)

A320-232 VH-VNR (CN 5900)






























REX (REGIONAL EXPRESS) - FLEET SIZE: 55

SAAB 340B VH-NRX (CN 340B-291)

SAAB 340B VH-ZXF (CN 






























ALLIANCE - FLEET SIZE: 41

FOKKER F28 MK 100 VH-UQB (CN 11483)

FOKKER F28 MK 100 VH-FGB (CN 11446)

FOKKER F28 MK 70 VH-JFE (CN 11545)

FOKKER F28 MK 70 VH-JFB (CN 11521)

FOKKER F28 MK 50 VH-FKW (CN 20306)










































































NETWORK AVIATION* (owned by Qantas) FLEET SIZE 19


FOKKER F28 MK 100 VH-NHO (CN 11312)


















VIRGIN REGIONAL (was previously known as SKYWEST) * FLEET SIZE 17

FOKKER F28 MK 100 VH-FNT (CN 11461)

FOKKER F28 MK 50 VH-FNE (CN 10145)


COBHAM* FLEET SIZE: 38

BAe 146-200 VH-NJU (CN  2287)

BAe 146-300 VH-NJQ (CN 3328)



































OTHER STUFF
AMBULANCE SERVICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES
BEECHCRAFT B300C VH-NAO  (CN FM-49)



CESSNA 525 VH-KXL (CN 525-0100)

BEECHCRAFT B300 VH-FIY (CN FL-760)