Azman MN
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Posts posted by Azman MN
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2 weeks ago, my flight JNB-ZRH was delayed by about 2 hours due to severe thunderstorms in JNB - so any flight in and out of the airport was delayed and given that there is about 5 flights per hour CPT-JNB... the airport must be crammed!
Last friday night, most flights out of Jo'berg was again delayed by about 3 hours. I only know because spotting on Sat. morning, SA274 and LX289 arrived late (so they did not arrive in the dark, but just after sunrise - yay!). I can only assume that there was another storm that means that all the connecting passengers into JNB were delayed. Now this news? hmm... and there is only one runway in CPT...
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Ibrahim,
some of the regular spotters were there, 5 of them with canon+white lens and they even brought their own ladder to shoot over the fence. There were more than 20 cars that morning at the helligrill because Saturday+snow+sun...
There was a guy from Cambodia who came to shoot the Thai 346 specifically but was disappointed because by that time, the weather was not very good anymore. There was even a French Ah Moi with a Minolta 5D and Bazooka (Bigma)!
Walter - most of the de-icing action takes place behind the E-dock. Maybe if they open the E terrace in winter as well then we can shoot some...
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then some snow clouds started moving in and the sky turned grey... game over...
a bit grey here but check out the wing flex:
Anyway, wanted to share some other pics with you:
ZRH is spotter friendly- note the tour bus and spectators from the hourly airport tour to the right of the front wheel of this SQ... that's really close to the action!!
Rnwy 16 - look at the alps in the background! In the early morning, final approach means flying towards the mountains and then turning back to land on runway 34. Great view!
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after 10am, I went to get some groceries at the Carrefour nearby (as per my wife's orders - must compromise between spotting and chores maa....) and then I went to the helligrill at 11.00am. No need to rush home to put the frozen chicken into the freezer... it is cold enough outside and the sky still looks brilliant!
nice livery for the snow...
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cleanest aircraft competition:
trying to be Mr. Azahan
jolly good weather, luv...
"smile in the sky"
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hmm.. looks a bit cacat (Pieter: physically challenged).
Does this mean more fuel burn?
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More from today -
LX289 from JNB (2 shot sequence)
this one used to the cold alredi...
not cold ah?
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SNOW!!
minus 8 degrees this morning... nevermind, hentam! (pieter: just whack!)
TK/pieter - you missed this by a few days!
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some more...
jumbolino with bum open
bye bye...
waah TK... good view from your office! Was very nice to finally meet you! Will see you again soon ya! Oh... girls with shorts? Next time you should really come to the city and have lunch with me, in the summer... then you see girls by the lake lying in the sun... bring your sunglasses...
So everyone remember, when you come to Zurich, keep your camera handy. Especially when you arrive in spring/summer and do the southern approach over the alps... magical!
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waaahhh... Pieter, Delta shot brilliant!
Should have come out to the airport on Tuesday as well- look at the Thai!
Guys, this morning I woke up and everything is white... 10cm of snow so far this morning in Zürich. Traffic jam... Hmm do I go snowboarding or spotting this weekend??
Walter, yes, it's my wife's VW Golf V. I had to pinjam (Pieter: steal) her car because it already has winter tires on and mine doesn't (obligatory here in the winter months).
Ibrahim/Chaity - Radio Shack scanner... it's the USD120 one which I bought for USD90 at a sale in New York.
I think Pieter is very much set on the dark side..
he was stuck to TK's camera all the time. I managed to hold the Nikon for a few seconds - it's bigger and heavier. With the Sigma 70-200 lens it was maybe 1.5kg. Mine with the 70-300 lens weigh about 1kg. The extra few hundred grams and size meant that I could hold the Nikon steadier in the cold weather. On the other hand I wouldn't be able to leave it hanging around my neck for more than a few minutes... (although most of the weight is because of the lens, and not camera). Will post more pics tonight!
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It snowed quite heavily for about an hour and then it started to drizzle...wet.. so the snow did not stay on the ground this time. Wait laa.. when there is snow on the ground, I'll go and shoot a few pics. (looks like more snow is expected this weekend...)
TK told me that he went back to the same place the next day... gila.. (Pieter: crazy).. temp was just above zero, but at least no more snow. TK is driving MRB back today.
Zurich airport is very spotter friendly. If you look at the website, choose departures and then "masterflights", you will also get the regos...
http://www.zurich-airport.com/ZRH/default....te=1&sp=en&hp=1
Helligrill is spotter heaven - The grill is really a small cabin selling burgers/sausages and kebab so you will never get hungry, and yes it was open even on a quiet snowy Monday. Equivalent to having a gerai at the observation hill, I suppose. McDonalds drive-thru is also nearby.
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21 Nov. morning... minus 3 degrees.. sun is up... pick up TK from the hotel to greet Pieter flying in from AMS... not at the terminal, but at rnwy14! :
Pieter, look left! 2 Malaysians spotters at ZRH!
Ayooo... look at the frozen bushes...
Picked up Pieter at terminal, then went to the famous Heligrill:
Landing on 16... must have requested a shorter taxi.
Takeoff 28, immediate left turn to "Gasometer"
One of the 2 takeoffs from the short rnwy28 every morning by LX343s... half fuel for the relatively short flight to Cairo or Tel Aviv.
To Dar Es Salaam
to ATL
to JFK
and new in ZRH.. two ACs... one to Delhi and the other to Toronto!
Started to get very cloudy... visibility getting poor
Then it started snowing... oh oh... nevermind, we went to the Buch Aviation Hobby shop... TK knows Zürich really well!
More coming from Pieter and TK! Special thanks to them for making the trip to ZRH.
Thanks for viewing. Some nice comments would make me warm again
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I think the results are skewed, if not biased towards the Brits.
Terminal 4 better than Copenhagen? No way! And what about the other terminals? It's like giving Changi first and second place for terminal 1 and 2 respectively.
Also, Swiss tops the rank as the most punctual and reliable? Earlier this year there was a survey about the best airport in the same category and the Swiss people were aghast when even Madrid was ranked above Zurich. So if Swiss is the main operator out of Zurich, something does not match.
This is a popularity contest. I have heard a lot of people in England say that they "hear" that Emirates/SQ/Virgin etc. is very good, but have never flown them.... Just like Swiss - everyone associates the name with punctuality and reliability, but in reality, it is not true.
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Fitri,
I really like this lens. I tried a friend's 70-200F4 L and liked that, unfortunately it is out of stock everywhere (because there is a rebate now CHF900-150 = CHF750=RM2200). While waiting, this new lens came out so after reading some reviews I grabbed it. Slightly smaller and lighter and BLACK! Costs the same as the L glass (CHF745). The IS is really helpful. Focus not as fast as the L. Quality of pics... I'm not good enough to tell.
Some close ups : @300mm (bear in mind I was shaking a bit because it was cold)
100% crop @250mm
not cropped @300mm
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Here's some more pics. Got the new lens a week ago. Weather mostly all fogged up... suddenly the sun came out and I rushed to the airport. Timing not so good because I just missed the SQ744, and most flights were Swiss. Plus I only have lunch break.. not a lot of time...
A330 to Dubai
to Boston
to Miami
to Narita. Female co-pilot! Didn't know they do heavies. And upon arrival at narita... do they get female baggage handlers in makeup and safety helmet?...
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Norman,
Thanks for all the tips - I have to try. Watermark? Good idea! I did not even realize that the shots were not level. Have to learn to see properly.
Min Chun.. wait lah.. Dec/Jan it will be below zero... Then go snowboarding at minus 20....
Ibrahim... grass the same... only I don't have to mow the lawn between Nov. and March...
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Thanks Ibrahim, very subtle changes.. I think now I'm getting it!
Hot day? We are in winter
It was 5 degrees and my hands were shaking while taking the pic... not used to the cold yet after a nice warm autumn. Thank god I have the Image Stabilizer on the lens! -
Thanks guys. Sounds like the general preference is for pics to look as natural as possible with just a little bit of pp. So I tried out the contrast adjustments and unsharp mask (why do they call it unsharp?) and here's the result.
Original
Processed
The more I play around, the more I realize that I like the original.
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Hi guys,
maybe some of you pros can help - I tested a new lense today when the fog here finally lifted... was happy with the pictures straight out of camera. Then I pressed the auto levels button on A.Elements and I see a big difference. I'm not sure which is better... straight up or with PP? What do you think? I only used the "auto levels" function and can already see some potential... Any hints on how to PP this even better? Or would you suggest that I adjust the settings on my camera instead? Thanks very much for your help.
Canon 350D with the new 70-300mm IS USM
original:
Processed:
original:
processed:
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Fuyoooo....
Superb guys! Just lurve all the shots!
Just got dark here... must try this as well.. This is a good idea for winter - always dark here... but.. sejuklah...
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wow, wonderful shots! Love all of them.
weather looks quite good too for LA
(judging from when I was there last month).Did you do any PP or are these all straight from the camera?
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I dont think MH is behind SQ in terms of efficiency...MH handles incidents and unavoidable interference absolutely well...everything is done fast..and quick to ensure pax are happy...well talking bout incidents..forget the SQ 744 incident in NZ....u shld have told ur colleague to think back about the SQ 744 incident in Taipei..and say.."thts why i never fly SQ"Well Sanjay, my wife was once flying ZRH-KUL and was diverted to Dubai (engine problem or something). The whole thing could have been better handled by MH (don't want to elaborate too much and go off-topic).
Once I had a severe delay of about 11 hours for ZRH-SIN on SQ and everything was handled perfectly.
Once I flew Swiss ZRH-NRT... I never made it. Got almost as far as Russia and turned back.. was rescheduled but I was going to miss my important meeting anyway so I went home. Swiss made a mess of it. Of the 3 experience, SQ was the best, and MH second. It's good, but not as good as SQ.
As things like this do not happen all the time, I will always choose to fly MH.
Oh yes, Taipei, I forgot about that - I was just focused on tailstrikes.
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To me, MH is behind SQ in terms of efficiency (especially when something goes wrong, eg. unavoidable flight delays, etc.) , but MH makes up for it with the warmth and genuine service. Therefore, I find them to be equal.
On the other hand, I also find it interesting how Singaporeans view MH. Most of the Singaporeans I know would talk about MH like it is a less than 4-star airline, and none of them has even flown on MH. Last year, just after the MH tail strike in Zurich (which was all over the news over here), a Singaporean colleague who happened to be here that week said to me "see, that's why I only fly SQ!".
Hmm... wasn't there a SQ 744 incident in New Zealand a few years ago? -
There was an interesting programme on Swiss TV last night. I can't remember all the details:
a german research firm seems to have proven that 23% of the time, biometric information is recorded incorrectly, i.e., you arrive at the airport, do the fingerprint thing or the retina scan, and whaddaya know, it doesn't match the passport you are holding = big trouble at immigration.
Then, they showed how they can download a shareware software which allows you to edit the biometric information on the passport
. Wahh.. give my wife blonde hair and blue eyes lah, can or not? (oh and she says she is 3 kgs less too).The step by step changes implemented by the US makes it particularly complicated -
1) Switzerland is on the Visa Waiver programme so passport holders do not need a Visa for a US visit
2) As of October last year, it is compulsory to have a machine readable passport, otherwise, a visa is required
3) If your passport is issued after October this year, it must have a digital photo, and if you don't, then you need a visa. The Swiss govt. will not be issuing this kind of passports yet because they want to wait until the biometric thing starts in Oct.2006. Therefore, Swiss passport issued after October 2005= no digital photo = visa required. If you have a machined readable passport issued before October 2005, they you are excused until your passport expires.
Geez... I wonder about our malaysian passports. We have the chip thing on in for ages now. Wonder if I can get a shareware software to edit the details? Does anyone know of any research done on the reliability and accuracy of our passports? Is there a plan to update our chips so that it stores the required information?
Ahh.. just found this:
http://www.vdr-service.de/web/service/down...812-usaengl.pdf
Capetown airport closed 27nov2005
in General Aviation
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There are 2 runways... been there a few times but I have never seen the other one being used. So I assumed that the second one is used as a taxiway only. My bad...