Mohd Faridz Mohd Yunus

Yup...just like Prompong said.Childrens Day falls every second Saturday of January every year.Lots of military bases actually opens for public.At this same day,U-Taphao Navy base also opened for the public to display some aircraft flown by the Thai Navy including the AV-8S Matador,A-7 Corsair and the P-3 Orion.But its too far away for me lah!! Anyway,after the display,the pair landed and rolled to the end of rwy 21R. ..fuhh its high noon with heat haze!! Taxi out and park in front of the huge crowd there.. ..the leader with the reflective canopy. Here is No 2.. ..when this pair came and approach the flt line,they make a helluva noise..sounds like a huge vacuum cleaner...can surely damage ur hearing if exposed for too long!! Both parked before they return to base. Here's a close up of the nose section of No2..belong to Wing Cdr 'Specter' ..and with that,I end my photo report of the RTAF Open Day 2009.Although it was a much subdued event compared to previous years(they used to stage mock dogfight at low altitude!!),it was fun nevertheless for me.Hope you guys enjoyed it...and Prompong and Quak,feel free to share your shots here as well.Until next year then...hopefully the Gripen!! Next from us (me,Bats and Razmyn)will be Al Ain Airshow 2009!!Watch this space!!! :drinks:

How I wish Kader!!...and Bats,hahaha...I already racun myself with the 500mm!!

Once the Albatross left,a pair of F-16 appears overhead after a couple of minutes all the way from Korat AFB... Here is the flightleader with the yellowish reflective canopy.. ..its already high noon,cant get good lighting...too harsh+still backlit The wingman have a clear canopy compared to the leader..here is a couple of shots that I manage.. and later with afterburner.. ..sorry for the quality,when the lighting+angle is better,they are either too far or too high..my 400mm still cant reach!! After a some maneuvers overhead..the pair landed on rwy 21R..coming up next!!

..continue... A couple of minutes later a C-130 cross over from taxiway sierra.. ..to pickup the lucky children for a scenic ride over Bangkok. ..a face a mother would love!! The L39 crew meanwhile,sets up for the flight back home to Takhli AFB,but before that,they came to salute the crowd and gave some souvenirs.. The flight leader is the one wearing the funky specs!! Time to go.. See you next year guys!!!

Ho..ho..so planespotting is a family affair ehh...very nice

So..in between the crowd,we have Mwingers from Thailand,Malaysia and Singapore ehh??..amazing..must have bumped into u guys somewhere there.. Anyway,a couple of minutes later,a solo F-5E arrived at low level,all the way from its base in Ubon Ratchatani ..after a couple of high speed passes and tight turns,it landed on 21R... This F-5 belongs to 211 FS/21st Wing and is one out of 15 that have been recently upgraded by Israel,known as F-5T Tigres. ..capable of firing Phyton 3 and 4 missile via the DASH helmet..chk it out!! Something wrong???..did I pull to much G? ..the Tigres at rest in between displays..

The air display started with a flypast of 3 AU-23A Peacemaker with smokes of the colours of the Thai flag.Afterwards,skydivers dropped in front of the spectators.Was unable to shoot any of this as I was busy attending my son..heh..heh.. All the fighters that did the air display came from their respective bases.With the location of the venue at the cargo apron,most of the shots will be backlit ... First to appear at low level is a pair of L-39ZA Albatross...doing simulated airfield strike ..haaa..haaa..managed to get a glorious silhoutte of the aircraft After a couple of rounds,the pair landed on Rwy 21L ..the leader is decorated with special markings..as both preceded to taxi past the crowd.. Here is the flight leader... ..followed by a very friendly No2.. ..both parked at the flightline.. ...next...my favourite hotrod...

Ha..ha..unfortunately not,I have to leave early as my 14 month old son is already tired.Would want to wait for later in the afternoon for better lighting but maybe next year then....u guys must have a better view from up there eh?

..also on display is this L-39ZA Albatross C-130 Close up of the nose section with the squadron emblem..chk out the crowd on the parking building! ..and the RTAF roundel Nose section of the Basler BT-67 ..this is basically a modified version of the C-47 Skytrain A couple of classic warbirds are on display as well An immaculate RTAF Bearcat,still airworthy... T-28D Trojan Checkout the GPS antenna on the canopy..and this thing got ejection seats as well? ...unsure about this one,posibbly a Curtiss H-75 Hawk ...coming up next..the aerial display....

Ok...to continue... Front end of the PC-9,fullfiling the Advanced Trainer Role... Close up of the canopy and the ejection seats ..and here is a menacing looking AU-23 Peacemaker,used in the COIN(Counter Insurgency Role) ..basically this is a modified version of the PC 6....

Hi Guys!!Its been a while since I contribute anything to this forum,so here goes... On the 10th January 2009,I had the chance to visit the RTAF open day in Don Muang Intl Airport to celeberate Children's Day in Thailand which falls every second Saturday of January.Woke up early from my in laws place and reached the venue,which is the Cargo Apron at VTBD at around 0830.The air display is suppose to start at around 0900 and the crowd is already piling up!!!A popular day indeed for the locals.Here is the rough overview of whats on the static display. F-16A from Korat and F5E of Surat Thani AFB Seen are Alenia G222,HS748,Basler Turbo,Normander,PC9,L39 and AlphaJet. Its crowded making it difficult to take shots of the aircrafts on static display,so I just managed close ups laaa... F-16A Block 15 from Korat AFB Cobra Squadron... ...and off course,my old favourite,F-5... F-5E of Wing 7 Surat Thani With a shark as the Squadron's emblem,this unit is mainly task for maritime strike duties,and soon to be replaced by the JAS39 Gripen in 2010. Ex Luftwaffe Alpha Jet Checkout the detonation cord on the canopy... Tail markings... ...more to come..stay tuned..

Yeahh..all the gang are prep up for this one.Batt charged,sensors and lenses cleaned.We will cover it for MW.Watch out for this thread!!!

Hey..no problems there Chaity.Dont be suprised to see if EY aircraft comes with a slightly different tail logo soon as the UAE government recently modified the crest.Was told,instead of the 'Dhow'(ship)on the crest,it will be replaced by 7 stars,symbolising the 7 Emirates that form the UAE.We shall see if this go through or not.Heard rumours abt the chg...

Chaity,I am not exactly sure when...shud be somewhere around last July,as I suddenly noticed it during my walkaround inspection of the plane when going for flight!I was suprised myself!!The engineers told me they have applied the decals on all EY aircraft in stages.I kinda like it though!!

Enjoy the 345 and the 346 guys...yup,one of the 777 is in the hangar for routine maintenance.Btw,all Etihad aircraft comes with the title "From Abu Dhabi to the World"on the portside and in arabic on the starboardside.Nice addition to the livery in my opinion.

No worries...it is very normal for pilots doing line training on type with passengers onboard revenue flights,be it training for Capt new on type or cadet pilots.The trainees are only allowed to fly with Instructor pilots,who are there to teach,monitor and check them out.If the trainees did something really wrong,the Instructor Pilot is there to take over control if necessary... ..after a certain number of sectors,the trainee is checked out,if he or she is up to standard,then will be released for normal line operations...

With one bar on the shoulder,that means he is a cadet pilot under training on the 320....once pass,then got 2 bar,which is second officer...

Found this in Reuters...actually was more serious as it apparently hits the oil rig and broke into two..check it out.. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews...434352820080904

As expected for a brand new type pressed into service...happens all the time for new types!!!When the type mature into service,only then it will show its true potential!!..give it time...

I am not sure what can happen...if memory serves me right,the operating crew did notice some slight vibration on the engine indicators,which actually quite normal..happens all the time especially after the engine have aged...No idea,maybe the vibration can increase further or maybe nothing happens at all.Probably the engineer will find out abt it when reaching the destination.I have a couple of times missing some part of the aircraft and nothing happens!!You dont even know about it until you reach the destination and the engineer found out about it during his walkaround!! ..glad you guys got to know more of this incident...

Alright...after digging thru my photo archive...I finally found it...here is the shot of No 1 engine on the Arlanda incident.. As evident,the honeycomb insulating material that broke off during takeoff Some dents and damage on the inner casing You will notice,all the engine major components remain intact including the N1 and the N3 blades,thats all that I have..hope this will shed light on this incident..

Yeah...i guess the publisher/author should chk out with MW members before publishing this book...as always,they get it wrong all the time.The Stockholm incident,the engine didnt fail btw,the crew dump fuel and came back to land with both engine if I am not mistaken...no serious damage to the engine except for a couple of dents in the inner casing...I actually have a couple of shots of the inside of the engine from the crew who flew it...actually shows how tough the RR Trent engines are..MH777 crew would agree.. ...and also most of the time,the fastest aircraft in MH fleet is the 747s..

Btw..thats not an engine compressor failure,apparently some honeycomb insulation materials on the engine broke off and created this spectacular effect.The crew didnt even have any warning indications,they were only informed by ATC after a planespotter(the guy who took the shot)called ATC about it....I guess the story should be the longest commercial flight by a twin engine aircraft(9M-MRA nicknamed Long Ranger)..not the fastest...no one beats Concorde!!

Ho...Ho...watchout for the wake turbulence!!!

Perghh!!!impressive shot!!!what can I say...superb!! :good: ..got a lot of shots of this rare SP on my way back from BKK...but,off course lah,no contrail lah,aircraft actually crossing at 3000 feet higher at one time and a lot of other bad lucks...send it to A.net...guarantee become top shots...superb bro....