Log Far East Trip Part III BKK

Log Far East Trip Part III + req's;

Bangkok 09/11;

P4-KCA B767 Air Astana

Anybody know the Austrian B777 today, couldn't find it on acars??

didn't bother hanging around, views pretty poor inside the terminal anyway (certainly at night) so transferred to
the Queens Garden Resort Hotel for 2 nights (http://www.queensgardenresort.net/index.html). Very cheap hotel about 10 mins from the airport, cost around £27 for a twin inc brekkie.You can spot from the hotel roof. During our stay aircraft were taking off towards the hotel so was reading mainly from under the wings, no good for photo's and also difficult reading stuff on the other runway, especially the Bangkok Airways aircraft. The old airport at Don Muang is till open for domestic traffic so you may need a visit there for some of the Thai 300/737 if you've never been to BKK at all. There were times it was very quiet and we could of ventured over but we never bothered. I think a lot of the Thai long haul fleet must go out at night as we only saw maybe half the 777/200 fleet and still looking for 2 340/600's.  The 340/500's have finnished operating to the USA and HS-TLA/C/D seem to operate local Asian routes to Singapore/Hong Kong etc - what a waste eh, dunno how long that'll last. HS-TLB was parked down by the Thai hangers during our stay.

Bangkok 10/11;

Up early for brekkie and on the roof by 7. One of the first departures we saw both days and never got was the Druk Air 319, took off on the far runway, only got one when we departed to Hong Kong, otherwise quite steady first thing then seems to have a clear out 8-9 of TG aircraft. Also around 9 are 2 Jet AW 737's, Indian AL 320 and Lao AL MA60/ATR.

Thai AW-

A300 = TAA/S/G/P/R/T/M/Y/L
A330 = TEH/F/D/G/A/B/L/K/E
A345 = TLA/C
A346 = TNA/E/C
B737 = TDF/K
B747 = TGA/L/G/Z/O/J
B772 = TJR/F/H/D/W
B773 = TKA/F/D/B/E/C

Thai AirAsia-
B737 = AAP/R/V/I/J/Q/S
A320 = ABB/F/G/A/D/C

Bangkok AW-
A319 = PGX/Y
A320 = PGW/V
B717 = PGQ/R
ATR  = PGK/L/M/F/B

PB Air-
E145 = PBE/F

N194UA 744 United
B-16073/6 B777 Eva
B-18805/1 A340 China AL
HS-SCJ B727 K Mile
PH-MPQ/S B74F Martinair
9V-SQK/SYK/SQG B777 Singapore
JA702J B777 JAL
JA707A B777 ANA
B-HNE/D B777 Cathay
B-18201 B744 China AL
A6-ETE B777 Etihad
A7-AEJ A330 Qatar
B-6331 A321 China Eastern
VT-JGP/U B737 Jet AW
9V-JSH A320 Jetstar
XY-AGF FK100 Air Bagan
RDPL-34169/171 MA60 Lao Airlines
RA-96005 IL96 Aeroflot
9M-MQO B737 Malaysian
B-6291 A320 China Southern
EI-UNX B777 Transaero
D-ALPC A330 Air Berlin
9K-AND A340 Kuwait
VN-A349 A321 Vietnam
B-HOR B747 Cathay
OH-LGF MD11 Finnair
HZ-ANA MD11 Saudi
A9C-LD A340 Gulf Air
VT0EVQ A319 Indian AL
B-18317 A330 China AL
B-18606 B737 China AL
ET-AMG B767 Ethiopian
5Y-KQY B767 Kenyan
D-ABVW B747 Lufthansa
9N-ACB B757 Royal Nepal
VT-PPF A321 Air India

After the morning Druk Air 319 dept and afternoon China AL 744F (dept when i went for lunch)???

Bangkok 11/11;

Thai AW-
A345 = TLB
A346 = TNF
B772 = TJC/D/S
B747 = TGN/F/H/M/T/W

PH-MPP B744 Martinair
N107UA B744 United
VT-EPT A320 Indian AL
HS-SCH B727 K Mile
B-16311 A330 Eva
N417FE A310 Fedex
VT-PPA A321 Air India
HS-PGU A320 Bangkok AW
JA05KZ B744 Nippon Cargo
B-HLK/HLU/LAA A330 Cathay
B-18208 B744 China AL
A6-ETA B777 Etihad
B-2289 A321 China Eastern
VT-JGR B738 Jet AW
VP-BUH B757 Uzbekistan
A9C-LC A340 Gulf Air
HS-ABE A320 Thai AirAsia
HS-UTJ/M/R B747 Orient Thai
HS-OMC/D/E MD80 Orient Thai
HS-PGA ATR Bangkok AW
B-16410 B747 Eva
B-2175 MD11 China Cargo
VN-A303 A320 Vietnam
A5-RGF A319 Druk Air
HS-SSA B767 Skystar
N810TM G4
TC-JNE A330 Turkish
4X-ECA B777 El Al
OH-LGD MD11 Finnair

Got to the airport at 1200 for our 1515 flight to HK, check in not open so we walked down to the Thai hangers
to get the Orient Thai aircraft listed above that were parked and to get HS-TLB which we saw on the way in on the
shuttle bus but wanted to confirm. As we had our luggage was a bit of a trek but got a taxi back. Checked on on
returning and then spotted outside departure hall for about half hour, good views of departing aircraft, dunno how long
you'd be able to stay here though if you were planning a day etc, wether you'd get moved on at all.

Airside spotting is difficult to say the least, very unimpressed with the new terminal, the glass is curved and has some
sort of 'dots' on it making it difficult to see through and get things, thankfully we didn't have long here before our flight.

Flew to Hong Kong on Royal Jordanian A310 JY-AGP RJ 182, excellent flight, good leg room, very impresseed with RJ.

A few requests from today, Air India exp 737 dept around 3 pm, SAS 340 dept 1430, Lao ATR dep 9 am ish 

Hong Kong 11/11;

Although we arrived at 1900, spotting at HKG is easy, even at night from the viewing deck in T2. Follow signs to the sky plaza and aviation discovery. the 'Skydeck' is open 1100-200 and costs 15HKD entry. They will charge you again if you leave and come back. No seats or shelter on the skydeck but good views of the airport and several excellent nikon telescopes which enable the cargo aircraft to be read off at night quite easily. Theye were a godsend during the day too with the heat haze.

P2-ANA B767 Air Nuigini
B-6390 A320 East Star
N573/579UP B747 UPS
LX-WCV B74F Cargolux
N602/579/583FE MD11 Fedex
B-HUP/Q/R B74F Cathay
B-KAI B74F Cathay
D-AIHT A346 Lufthansa
B-HWG/F/J/H A330 Dragonair
B-2659 B737 Xiamen
B-HLP/LAH A330 Cathay
B-18706 B74F China AL
N274UP MD11 UPS
N524MC B74F Atlas
B-18303 A330 China AL
VH-QPJ A330 Qantas
F-GSQV B777 Air France
RP-C3231 A320 Philippines
B-KAD B74F Dragonair
B-HYE/G A330 Dragonair
VH-OGU B767 Qantas
9V-SFA B74F Singapore
B-HKF B74F Cathay

Stayed at the Dorsett Far East hotel for 2 nights, about £60 for a twin with brekkie. There are 2 hotels at the airport,
the Novotel and Regal (and shortly a Marriott), both wanted over £200 a night which is why we stayed in the city. i believe you can get rooms for about £100 some times so worth checking them out first. We got a taxi to the hotel but used public transport thereafter. Buy yourself an Octopus card, costs about 150HKD which includes a refundable 50HKD deposit. They are valid on buses and metro but NOT the airport express train. You can also use them to pay for shopping as well. I think from our hotel to the airport using the buses and metro cost about 15HKD, maybe a tad more, i know when we came home we had refunds of 90 HKD back on the card so 3 one way hotel to airport trips only costs 60 HKD, less than £6 for all and that entailed 2 trains and a bus.
The first morning we spent a bit more as we got a bus round to the Haeco hangers at HKG and past the biz hangers. To do this get the metro train to Tung Chung (end of the line anyway) and bus S52 to AMA (aircraft maintenace area). It also goes past (and stops) the GFS and biz hangers. We spotted for a short time by the GFS hangers and left in time to be at the viewing area when it opened at 11. Bus S52 will take you back to Tung Chung then you need bus S1 or S64 (bit slower) to the airport.

HKG log to follow.

Kev Stokes

Fascinating to read. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post, Kev. Looking forward to the next instalment. Great stuff Kev. John.

Thanks John, you're welcome. I like to be able to post reports from my trips, i always read and research other peoples info before i go somewhere so hopefully people can get some benefit from my reports too. I have completed my logs now and may post completed logs, with cn's etc if people are interested.

 

Kev Stokes