For those who like Aircraft pictures

[Johann Marsbar]

A Hawker Hunter seen being reassembled at the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Centre in the former RAF Foxhall Heath (Nr Ipswich) communications base. The place was later used by the USAF up until 1992 when it was known as RAF Martlesham Heath - not to be confused with the real (but closed in the 1960's) airfield of that name a mile and a half or so away!

 

[rob D2]

Love the hunter such a classic shape . There's a lightning on ebay from the place at St Mawgan - the museum that's being shafted by the local council 

[5944]

16 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Love the hunter such a classic shape . There's a lightning on ebay from the place at St Mawgan - the museum that's being shafted by the local council 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385682565761?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=jeQBcQ2xTAG&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=EeEmQiaLTBq&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[5944]

Whoops! Oh, and someone caught it on video too.

 

https://maltadaily.mt/watch-england-teams-plane-takes-wrong-turn-gets-towed-upon-arrival-in-malta/

[jjb1970]

Some Republic of Singapore Air Force activity in the skies above me today.

 

[jjb1970]

Spotting Guide for Singapore Changi Airport

 

I thought it might be useful to share a few thoughts on spotting at Changi for any people passing through or visiting. Take off and landing activity is almost constant and there's a nice variety of both airlines and aircraft types. The airport itself isn’t great for spotting and pictures but there are nice spots around the outside of the airfield, easily accessible using public transport or a short taxi ride (there are several good public transport apps), I’d not recommend walking far in this climate unless you are fully acclimatized. On climate, there is plenty of glorious sunny weather, also plenty of overcast weather and a lot of rain. And when it rains it really rains, it can be like someone emptying a bucket of water out of the sky, cloudburst rain. There’s a reason the tropics are so green and lush and why rain forests are called rain forests. Weather forecasts are about as reliable as those in the UK.

 

First thing to note is photography – airports are protected places and photography is forbidden. Ditto ports. This includes photography from outside the fence. The airport perimeter is monitored, and they do enforce the rules. Within the terminal stopping people using smartphones to snap pics through the glass is all but impossible but they don’t like people standing taking pics with cameras and long lenses. However, taking pictures of aircraft is allowed so long as you do not photograph terminal areas. This creates a bit of a grey area, for example the Police around the cruise terminal don’t object to people snapping the cruise ships (all the passengers do it) but they don’t allow pics of the terminal itself. Once at Tanah Merah ferry terminal a lady came out to tell me it was OK to photograph the aircraft taking off but no photos of the ferry terminal. She was very nice and wasn’t telling me off or anything, just letting me know. If you are stopped by Police or terminal staff co-operate and be nice. They are invariably nice about such things but don’t tolerate back chat. Rules are Rules in Singapore and visitors sometimes fall foul of things because they think rules are negotiable or don’t mean anything the same as some other places. There’s an excellent spotting guide here:

 

https://www.spotterguide.net/planespotting/asia/singapore/singapore-sin-wsss/?fbclid=IwAR2x-XIvFl_QE_uwE0Yvmm_m5UT_SrX-z-Ikh7HU9BeasA9yZB2fQLBhpiE

 

I like Changi Beach Park which is a lovely place to visit in its own right on a nice day and Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. For photographs you need something like 100 – 400mm (35mm/full frame equivalent). At Changi Beach Park you can see approaching aircraft from miles away as they approach over water, at Tanah Merah for take offs the aircraft come up over a tree line so you need to be quick off the mark to snap them. On what to see, the simple answer is lots. Singapore Airlines of course, lots and lots of SQ 737’s, 777’s, 787’s and A350’s and some A380’s. Scoot is the LCC offshoot of SQ and you will see loads of A320’s and some 787’s in their rather loud yellow and white colours.

 

There is a mountain of LCC activity. The local air market in SE Asia is extremely intensive, routes such as Singapore – Jakarta and Singapore – Kuala Lumpur are very busy and served by both legacy carriers and LCCs. As well as Scoot you will see loads of Air Asia, Jetstar and Vietjet A320’s, other LCCs include Citilink, Cebu, Pacific, Indigo, Jeju Air and Air India Express. More interesting than LCCs for me are the legacy and full service carriers. Changi is well served by global carriers but it is dominated by Asian airliners. Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Air India, ANA, Batik, Cambodian Airlines, JAL, Philippines, Biman Bangladesh, Myanmar Airways, Garuda, Korean, Asiana and Royal Brunei for example. And then there are the Chinese airlines and the wider Chinese bubble, lots of them….Air China, China Eastern, Xiamen Air, Chongqin Airlines, Juneyao, China Southern, China Airlines, Eva Air, Cathay Pacific, Starlux, Heibei, Shandong, Sichuan and Hainan (not exhaustive). Unfortunately not a lot of North (or Central/South) American activity, that seems to be limited to United and freight operators. The US airlines seem to rely on using alliance and codeshare partners. For European, United and visitors from further afield morning and late afternoon/evening is the best time as many of the flights to/from Europe and Australia/New Zealand etc land/depart early or later in the day. Though there’s an Emirates A380 arrival mid-afternoon.

 

Singapore is a massive air cargo hub and there is lots of cargo activity. Singapore Airlines Cargo obviously, others include FedEx, China Airlines Cargo, Cathay Pacific Cargo, NCA, Polar, NCA for example. Sadly, 747 activity is now basically 747F’s, more positively there are quite a few of them.

 

I have never done an analysis, but the most common aircraft type is the A320 family, there are more A320’s than you can shake a stick at (it’s the aircraft of choice for Asian LCCs). After the A320 it seems to be quite balanced between the 737, 787, 777 and A350. The floor seems to be A320/737, it’s not like a lot of European and US airports where RJs and smaller types such as the A220 and E-Jet are very common and have replaced bigger aircraft for many routes. There are no turboprops at Changi, any turboprop operators need to go to Singapore’s other airport, Seletar.

 

Even an hour will give you a lot of spots and photo opportunities. If you go to Changi Beach Park there are public toilets and places to get a drink or something to eat, ditto the ferry terminal.

[rob D2]

i've been to singapore a few times when my former airline used to do it .

 

I was intrigued you could hear and see fighters downtown .

 

However I was more interested in drinking the well known cocktail and going to that Avatar like place which was pretty cool 

[Erichill16]

@jjb1970, Off topic I know, but do photography restrictions also apply to the MRT system and any other railway instillation I may find?
 

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

@jjb1970, Off topic I know, but do photography restrictions also apply to the MRT system and any other railway instillation I may find?
 

 

MRT stations are fine, but depots are protected. So you are fine to take pictures of train stations and elevated sections of the system but not rolling stock depots. Protected places and areas are well sign posted.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Protected places and areas are well sign posted.

...leaving little room for misunderstanding!

 

https://www.safetysigns.sg/product/w129-alu/

[jjb1970]

Some departures today.

 

[rob D2]

I remember when Ejets were the flavour of the day - about the same time Ikea was at the crest of the wave…but a lot of airlines couldn’t make them pay and went back to turboprops . It was as if they had to have jets regardless of the costs 

[Ron Ron Ron]

15 hours ago, rob D2 said:

i've been to singapore a few times when my former airline used to do it .

 

I was intrigued you could hear and see fighters downtown .

 

On our last visit, pre-COVID, I heard and saw F-15’s climbing out, above our mid-town hotel, towards their exercise areas, 

Also, sitting having lunch, one day, on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, there was a slow but steady stream of returning F-16’s and F-15’s cruising past offshore, at almost the same height of the hotel rooftop.

You could even make out the silhouettes of the pilots.

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

11 hours ago, rob D2 said:

I remember when Ejets were the flavour of the day - about the same time Ikea was at the crest of the wave…but a lot of airlines couldn’t make them pay and went back to turboprops . It was as if they had to have jets regardless of the costs 

I suspect you’re referring to the smaller ERJ  regional jets ( ERJ-135 and more common ERJ-145), which although initially very competitive with turbo-props, were subsequently afflicted with rising fuel and operating costs, putting them out of favour.

 

The Ejets  that jjb1970  is talking about, are the larger 170/175 , 190/195 and newer E2 variants.

These, along with the A220 family, are very common and increasingly popular, having replaced heavier 737 and Airbus types on many short and medium haul airline routes, particularly in Europe and N America.

 

Mind you, FlyBe couldn’t sustain their E175 amd E195 fleet, gradually returning them in favour of adding more Q400’ turboprops.

That was more a case of over ambitious fleet plans and onerously expensive lease deals, set alongside an incompatible low cost fare model and poor management decisions.

 

 

 

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[jjb1970]

There is a lot of military air activity in Singapore. There are several military airfields. The two big ones are Payah Lebar and Tengah. Payah Lebar is home of the F15 force and Tengah is home for the F16 force. Most of the helicopters are based at Sembawang  and the VIP unit is mainly Seletar (though government VIP/transport jets also use the two fighter bases too). There's still an RSAF base at Changi too (separate from Changi naval base which is the main naval base). The various other aircraft types are distributed across the various bases, and they do visit the other bases so there are no hard and fast rules about what you might see around each of the bases with the exception that the F15's and F16's seem to keep to their home bases.

 

We lived under the approach to Tengah for a year and the number of air movements was insane for a military base. Morning to night was a constant stream of F16, F50, C130, Gulfstream, S70 Seahawk and AH64 activity. Especially F16's, the noise they make is tremendous. They used to do all sorts of manoeuvres, including what appeared to be mock dog fights. One day I saw a flight of three at medium altitude, they went into a sequential near vertical approach into the runway to land, that was incredible to see. You can't imagine such activity being allowed anywhere near an urban area in Britain, even the normal take off/landing would be problematic, especially the F15 and F16 activity. Another day I was out for a walk in the central catchment area and a pair of F16's went over low and fast and a moment later another pair went over, I almost soiled my pants.

 

Our neighbours said if I liked aircraft I should send a stinking letter to the base commander, as apparently they collect the letters and when they have enough they do a mini semi-open day and invite the complainants to the base for a tour and put on a charm offensive to try and keep them sweet (though ultimately the air force will keep flying regardless).

 

The F15's are on the other side of the island (we live on the West side), my wife and daughter are into sewing and embroidery and like to go to a sewing machine shop in Payah Lebar and a reason I go with them is the shop is under the approach to the air base and I always see some F15's. You see a lot of F15's over Marina Bay, also the RSAF A330MRTT and Fokker F50 (I think they use the F50's to patrol the various anchorages looking for naughty behaviour).

 

Things will change soon as Payah lebar is to be closed for redevelopment and the fighter force will be consolidated at Tengah. The RSAF is also buying the F35, though there's been a debate over whether that's the right aircraft for them. Some of the highways on the island were built to act as emergency runways for the air force and every now and again they do exercises to test them and practice.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Payah Lebar is home of the F15 force

Paya Lebar is also, I think, still the home of the RSAF as a whole. It was of course the main civil airport before Changi opened in 1981. Has it still got a Hunter as gate guardian?

 

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

a mini semi-open day

I went to a full-scale open day at Paya Lebar in 1998, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the RSAF. An excellent day out.

[jjb1970]

I think the gate guards are now part of the air force museum which is also at Payah Lebar, there's a discussion on what to do with the museum. If they keep it at Payah Lebar it'll be harder to move future exhibits into the museum, but it avoids the cost of moving the museum to an alternative airfield site such as Tengah or (perhaps more likely) Seletar.

 

[burgundy]

7 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Mind you, FlyBe couldn’t sustain their E175 amd E195 fleet, gradually returning them in favour of adding more Q400’ turboprops.

That was more a case of over ambitious fleet plans and onerously expensive lease deals, set alongside an incompatible low cost fare model and poor management decisions.

The Embraer 145 illustrated on this thread is being operated by Loganair on one of the routes that it picked up from FlyBe. This may be one of the reasons that the cost of visiting the Hebrides is so ruinously expensive for non-Islanders.

Best wishes 

Eric 

[Ron Ron Ron]

7 hours ago, burgundy said:

The Embraer 145 illustrated on this thread is being operated by Loganair on one of the routes that it picked up from FlyBe. This may be one of the reasons that the cost of visiting the Hebrides is so ruinously expensive for non-Islanders.

Best wishes 

Eric 

Again, not the aircraft ( E-jet) referred to earlier, which is an entirely different, larger beast, built for a largely different market segment.

 

FlyBe inherited a large fleet of 145’s, when it took over the BA Connect network, from British Airways in 2006.

They then set about systematically replacing them with a much expanded fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprops, before adding a fleet of much bigger E195’s, to replace their BAe 146’s and pair of 737-300’s.

FlyBe then took the disastrous decision to order 30 E175’s, which started to cripple their finances.

In the event, they only received something like a third of the order, before doing a “swap deal” with a US regional, replacing the 175’s with newer Q400’s just off the production line.

 

Loganair’s fleet of 145’s are mainly used on routes from Scotland to points in England.

They use them between Southampton and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, with the former running at 4 or 5 flights per day.

These were popular FlyBe routes, but Loganair cannot offer the sort of cheaper fares that FlyBe managed, even allowing for the added cost of inflation and increased operating costs.

EasyJet are now going to muscle in on that market, albeit with very limited frequency, which could blow Loganair out of the water on the Scottish pair..

Cheaper fares, but with multiple daily departures replaced by EasyJet’s randomly timed flights, one a day, on only 3 or 4 days a week.

In this case, the cheaper fares result in a much poorer service.

 

 

 

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Edited June 23, 2023 by Ron Ron Ron

[5944]

 

Bristol Beaufighter at Duxford yesterday, in a rather empty hangar with the doors open so a different view to usual. Still awaiting the right type of engines before it flies, otherwise it's basically complete.

[KeithMacdonald]

A sign of how the world is changing, and most in the UK won't notice. While our fuel costs are going up, and we add layers of restrictions and surcharges, BRIICS++ countries are enjoying cheaper fuel and reduced restrictions.

 

Quote

Indian low-cost giant IndiGo has proven the rumors right and has placed a record-breaking order with manufacturer Airbus at today's Paris Air Show. The airline ordered 500 Airbus A320 family aircraft, making it the most significant order in history.

 

https://simpleflying.com/indigo-record-breaking-airbus-order/

 

 

[rob D2]

6 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Again, not the aircraft ( E-jet) referred to earlier, which is an entirely different, larger beast, built for a largely different market segment.

 

FlyBe inherited a large fleet of 145’s, when it took over the BA Connect network, from British Airways in 2006.

They then set about systematically replacing them with a much expanded fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprops, before adding a fleet of much bigger E195’s, to replace their BAe 146’s and pair of 737-300’s.

FlyBe then took the disastrous decision to order 30 E175’s, which started to cripple their finances.

In the event, they only received something like a third of the order, before doing a “swap deal” with a US regional, replacing the 175’s with newer Q400’s just off the production line.

 

Loganair’s fleet of 145’s are mainly used on routes from Scotland to points in England.

They use them between Southampton and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, with the former running at 4 or 5 flights per day.

These were popular FlyBe routes, but Loganair cannot offer the sort of cheaper fares that FlyBe managed, even allowing for the added cost of inflation and increased operating costs.

EasyJet are now going to muscle in on that market, albeit with very limited frequency, which could blow Loganair out of the water on the Scottish pair..

Cheaper fares, but with multiple daily departures replaced by EasyJet’s randomly timed flights, one a day, on only 3 or 4 days a week.

In this case, the cheaper fares result in a much poorer service.

 

 

 

.

I remember when Flybe leased the 2 737s from us . Was a good gig for the crews , hotac in exeter . but again too big for them - trying to jump out the niche they had and didn't last long 

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

A sign of how the world is changing, and most in the UK won't notice. While our fuel costs are going up, and we add layers of restrictions and surcharges, BRIICS++ countries are enjoying cheaper fuel and reduced restrictions.

 

 

https://simpleflying.com/indigo-record-breaking-airbus-order/

 

 

Check where they're buying their fuel.

[KeithMacdonald]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Check where they're buying their fuel.

 

We know that already.

Then they sell some onto us, and we can pretend we're not buying oil and gas from Russia.

"Sanctions are working, we are winning!" (says Boris Johnson)

 

[rob D2]

Don’t need to worry now, Wagner mercenaries appear to be on their was for a chat with Rasputin !