HANDPHONE IN FLIGHT

Siapa kata handphone tak boleh guna semasa dalam flight  ? Well, masa berubah, teknologi bertambah. Gambar ni masa saya terbang dari Abu Dhabi ke London pagi tadi, sambil terbang pada paras 36000 kaki, boleh lagi ber SMS dengan isteri yg berada di Malaysia. Saya guna samsung yang boleh letak 2 SIM, satu Celcom Malaysia dan satu lagi Etisalat UAE, dua dua dapat signal full bar. Bukan itu sahaja, kalau nak log on ke internet pun boleh dengan onboard wifi. Ada alat khas, berupa antena yang boleh menerima signal dari satelit. Untuk keselamatan, fungsi ini hanya dibenarkan bila ketinggian sudah mencapai atas 20000 kaki, dan apabila turun semula, di bawah paras 20000 kaki, alat ini akan disable secara automatik. Tapi semasa berlepas dan mendarat , anda semua masih lagi diperlukan mematikan telefon bimbit dan juga alat alat elektronik yang lain..

ABU DHABI TO NEW YORK

Flying close to North Pole. The best route on that day, avoiding the head wind, cut the flight time, reduce the fuel burnt, most economical. This route is not always the same, planner , after analising the weather especially the upper air wind, will choose the best route.

Satellite picture of the JFK, New York Airport.



DUSSELDORF

Another new destination for Etihad Airways. Dusseldorf , in German, situated North of Cologne and Southwest of Hannover. Could not resist myself from snapping pictures of the beautiful country side of the city.

AIRBUS A340-600

Woke up early morning, around 4 am in Sydney, 10 pm at Abu Dhabi, my home time and 2 am Malaysian time. For sure I was sleeping for good 4 hours after the tiring 14 hours flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney. I flew this plane, A340-600, F1 livery, still the longest passenger plane in the world, until  the arrival of the 747-800  which is a few feet longer than this plane.

On ground, during refuelling, cargo loading, the activity around the plane can be observed using the birdseye view camera. I was using my Primary Flight Display for the video screen, which can only be selected whilst on ground, once airborne, this screen is only for the flight instrumentation presentation. If you notice the magenta colour box, it is the indication of the main wheels, for my guide during ground manouvering towrads the runway from parking position vice versa. Very long plane, needed this aid to avoid taxing over the grass or out of the pavement.



Up in the air, I still can view the birdseye view using the centre screen, normally used for the systems display.

The dimensions of this A340-600. Longer than Airbus 380 and B777.



CYCLING IN HONG KONG

LONDON MORNING RUSH HOUR

Route, EGLL, London Heathrow to OMAA, Abu Dhabi. FMGEC initialised and flight plan uploaded. Yes, nowadays we don't have to programme the flight plan into the computer anymore, just type in the flight number and the flight plan will be loaded automatically.

That will give more time for me to feed in the info into my iPad, so that I can have the route map drawn on the iPad. With the 3G model, aircraft position shown , as a purple plane symbol in a circle as above. The coordinate also can be checked.

Ready to go, all doors closed and tow truck connected. The camera is very handy beside used a guidance during taxi. Only 340-600 and 500 have this features.

when we reached the holding point for runway 09R, few planes already there waiting for their turn for take off. With the precise timing by the controller and good cooperation by the pilots, within 3 minutes, 2 planes can take off.

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In The Lion's Den

First of all, let me tell you that I am a fan of Manchester City, not only wearing the jersey, I am flying the plane with City livery.

So, somewhere in the end of March, I got 36 hours lay over in Manchester. Since at that time people talking so much about MU, one nice morning I took a train from the airport ( our hotel near the airport ) headed towards Piccadily and then took another train to Old Trafford. Did not take long, the one way journey was about one hour only.

This is the exit point from the train station of Old Trafford, I walked about 700 meters to the stadium.

At the front of the stadium, reached there at 0930 am, still quiet, not many people around. It was Sunday morning though.

Even the merchandise shop still close, open only at 1000 am. Must be a lot of guy selling fake or imitation MU merchandise..  Chinese products are everywhere.. haha.

In the MU Museum, standing beside Giggs collection.

The stadium, can smell the fresh green grass.

In the locker,changing room.

I was sitting on Rooneys bench.

The drawing board for them to discuss the tactic against the opponent.

This was the guy who took us for the tour around the Old Trafford.

And finally, congratulation to Manchester City, the noisy neighbour, for winning the EPL Cup.