Plane spotting at Houston: United's 787s back in flight

Through the month of May, on two separate occasions I had the pleasure to do plane spotting at Houston's two airports, Hobby and Intercontinental.

The Houston airport system authorities support their local spotters well, making both airports amongst the most friendliest to spot at in the United States.

A special thanks to the friendly folks at the Houston Spotters who took me around and showed me the best places to spot from. Without a doubt, Rankin Road is the place to be in the afternoon and evening. Their website has excellent spotter guides in the "Spotting Resources" section and please do call and inform the authorities as suggested in the guides.

From my last trip, here is one of the two United 787 Dreamliners that are in service, post the battery fix, flying domestic routes from Houston to Newark and Chicago, performing a "smokin touchdown" on to Runway 08R. Observe the wing flex which will come to level once the plane slows down.

Just one small request to the Tower controllers at KIAH. Please put the heavies on 08R and the small regional jets on 08L. Please, pretty please, with a cherry on the top??

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Plane spotting photos: Indian Air Force MiG-27ML Bahadur upgrade

Last weekend, I managed to capture a very rare catch for Bangalore. It was the very first prototype of the upgraded MiG-27ML "Bahadur" (Valiant) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) tail number TU640 (originally TS640).

Image © Devesh Agarwal. All rights reserved.

The MiG-27 is a dedicated ground attack aircraft. Developed in the 1970s the MiG-27 shares the basic airframe of the MiG-23, but with a stronger undercarriage, simpler intakes and a shorter exhaust nozzle,. Radar has been sacrificed in favour of a downward-sloping nose profile for improved pilot visibility, a laser range-finder and marked-target seeker which suits its ground attack role. The upgraded landing gear facilitates operations from poorer-quality front-line airfields.

A special feature of the MiG-27 is the large ventral tail fin which must be folded up while landing, taking-off, and on-ground. So while other pilots confirm "three greens down and locked" to the ATC while landing (indicating three under-carriage), MiG-27 pilots confirm "four greens", the additional being the tail fin.

The MiG-27ML fighter bomber is the export version developed for the Indian Air Force. Manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) at Nashik, it is called "Bahadur" which translates to "Valiant". On January 11, 1986 the first Indian MiG-27 was completed using parts from the Irkutsk, USSR plant, and in 1988, the Indian-made "Bahadur" aircraft production started.

In January 2002, the IAF commenced a Service Life Extension Programme (SLEP) for 40 of its MiG-27ML aircraft. The HAL Aircraft Upgrade Research & Design Centre (AURDC) prepared two prototype "upgrade" aircraft. The first was tail number TS640, re-numbered to TU640 (reflecting upgrade), which made its maiden flight on March 25, 2004. This is the plane I captured in its now fading celebration paint scheme. It is also the first time I have captured a military aircraft doing a smokin touchdown.

A friend, and former official photographer of the Indian Air Force, Wing Commander Rakesh Chauhan has taken this great photo of a MiG-27ML Bahadur up close (observe the folded tail fin). Also take the time to check out his website.

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Smokin touchdown photos: Behemoth Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan visits Bangalore

It is essentially the world's largest cargo airplane. Capable of carrying 120 metric tonnes it is surpassed by only the Antonov An-225 of which only one aircraft is in existence. It is the Antonov An-124-100M-150 Ruslan.

Last Saturday, a Ruslan registration RA-82078, operated by Volga Dnepr Airlines, visited Bangalore to carry a satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to French Guyana aboard the Arianne rocket and I managed to capture some pictures of this behemoth landing.

Considering the size, the crew put the plane on to runway 27 very gently, but I still scored the smokin' touchdown.

A better appreciation of the An-124's size can be gauged from this photograph.

To see more smokin touchdowns click here.

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Image: Smokin' Touchdown - British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-RAES at DFW airport

This smokin' touchdown is from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. British Airways G-RAES touches down on to runway 18R after braving 30 knot gusting cross winds, which made it difficult for me to hold the camera and telephoto lens stable. Thank god for Nikon's VR feature.

Click on the image for a larger view

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Spotting images: Smokin Touchdowns

This edition of Smokin Touchdowns consists of new Airbus A320 aircraft from two of India's low fare carriers--A320-214 VT-WAJ of GoAir and A320-232 VT-INZ which till early September was IndiGo airline's newest.

Click on the images to visit the Bangalore Aviation Flickr site for a larger view.

To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.

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Images: Smokin Touchdowns - Kingfisher A320s

This edition of Smokin Touchdowns is all about Kingfisher Airline's Airbus A320 fleet, featuring VT-KFC, VT-KFE, VT-KFX.

To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.




Today is Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the father of India Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Across the nation it is a "dry day" i.e. all sales of alcoholic beverages is prohibited.

As usual comments, bouquets or brickbats, are always welcome.

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Images: Smokin Touchdowns

In this edition of Smokin Touchdowns we have GoAir, JetLite, IndiGo, and Air India in the erstwhile Indian Airlines livery. Apologies for the heat haze, it was a fiercely hot day.

To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.





As usual comments (bouquets or brickbats) are always welcome.

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Images: Smokin Touchdowns

In this edition of Smoking Touchdowns first a sight we will not see in Bangalore for the foreseeable future.

Kingfisher Airlines has discontinued it's Bangalore London Heathrow flight and the last touchdown of it's Airbus A330-200s performing this flight was on September 15th.

This smokin touchdown was captured on September 13th. VT-VJL performing flight IT002.


Air India Cargo has absorbed the old Boeing 737s of the erstwhile Alliance Air and converted them in to dedicated freighters for the Indian Postal service. Sorry about the heat haze, it was a blazing hot morning.


This NetJets Gulfstream IV SP gently floated in, could not make out whether it dropped or picked up passengers, but it was gone in less than 30 minutes. Ahhh....the joys of private jets.



To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.

As usual bouquets or brickbats comments are always welcome.

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Images: Smokin Touchdowns - Vijay Mallya's private Boeing 727

Continuing the "Smokin Touchdowns" series, today are three pictures for your viewing pleasure. As usual comments (praise or brickbats) are welcome.



Without warning, Dr. Vijay Mallya's private Boeing 727 came in for a touchdown. Just love those clean shiny chrome on the engine nacelles and exhaust. Looking at the clean lines would you believe this plane is 42 years old, being delivered in 1967.


For more pictures of this aircraft click here.

Have a great weekend.

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Plane spotting images: Smokin' touchdowns

I had gone spotting some time back and managed to find a good vantage point at the Bengaluru International Airport to get the touchdowns of a few aircraft in the early morning.

Got the SpiceJet Boeing 737-900ER (one of the only four operating in India), a Jet Airways Boeing 737-700 fitted with the Aviation Partners winglets; something one does not see too often, the newly launched Jet Airways Konnect low cost service, and a very rare visitor to Bangalore -- a Boeing 777-300ER fitted with the big GE engines courtesy Emirates Airlines.

Hope you enjoy the rubber smoke. Clicking on the images will take you to the Bangalore Aviation Flickr site for more photos.




Have a great weekend. As usual comments are always welcome.

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