Sri Ramani K.

9M-AFA is now a -5B6. Anyways not much of a problem as the -5B4 engines with higher thrust ratings (27k) have been reduced to an all fleet rating of 23.5k pounds.

That is done using a towbar-less tractor. Can be done for any aircraft as long as the towbarless tractor is rated for that specific type. Normal convention way is using a towtruck and a towbar.

This is a splendid video taken on a splendid day! I wish everyday was/is like this. Unfortunately, it isn't. There are days when it rains like cats and dogs and you're still out there to rough it out and get the aircraft out. There are days when the ground temperature can get up to 40 degrees C with heat from the atmosphere, aircraft packs, APU & engines that fry you up. There are also days when you are halfway attending an aircraft and rain starts to pour all of a sudden and you can't leave to get your raincoats until the aircraft is out. There are also days when we're covered in hydraulic oil, fuel, grease, dirt, etc. My take? It's all part and parcel of the job, be it an engineering staff, or a tow-truck driver or even a cargo handler. If you think this is your dream job, then go for it. There are no regrets at all for sure.

Just another few more from Sunday morning spotting. A mandatory shot to share, 9M-MXC. Surprising enough to note, we managed to catch 9M-MLC right till 9M-MLI that whole morning! Been a while since I've seen Yemenia here. 7O-ADX Only see her when at work, but probably caught it once or twice. P4-KCB Must have been very very light to rotate very early! With the stickers supporting the Thai band, Bodyslam. HS-ABL

On the 3rd morning, after work spotted this bird idling in the terminal. Had high hopes of catching it departing but it was raining very very badly. Just talked to my friend on how nice it would have been to actually be able to catch it. Thank god he took a flight back in the morning and caught these for me. Credits to Jin! PK-GFM! Sorry for the quality as I told you weather was bad Credits once again to my friend!

Same cap ayam lense lah bro. Thanks to the shortening of runway 32R, these subjects rotated really late 9M-AFW was repainted @ SAE Hangar

Today's a Sunday, and a family day. But decided to do a half day spotting in KUL with Yong, Hon Kit and Benjamin. Nice meeting you Benjamin! Just a few pixies in 1024. Day started off with TG's A3B4 HS-TAK taking off when the light was just about to start smiling at me. Heard a real loud roar and expected something rare. True enough, it was a delayed 9M-PMW, B737-200 taking off. Can expect newspapers in either KCH or BKI to be delayed today eh? Thanks to the current runway 32R being shortened due to WIP at A11 and A10, a/cs have been taking off in between A9 and A8. Gave some nice opportunity to catch some nose shots to be dedicated to the nose masters of KUL, KS Ong and TK!! 9M-MPK 9M-MRM B-HNG - also dedicated to Keith NG. The main reason I went spotting was for this. Presenting to you, 9M-AFWilliams ooops! 9M-AFWhiskey! Bye bye Williams, we will miss you forever!

Here's a proper shot taken from AK's FB page. This was during the inaugural flight to PLM yesterday.

Just a few more to wrap up the spotting session yesterday.. TG sent in HS-TLB, an A345. Weather could have been better though. It feels somewhat good to be able to catch both the FY birds in good WX. 9M-FFA And it feels better to even get a 5J bird in good weather too! Thank you for flying into KUL in good daylight too! RP-C3261 And lastly, an usual visitor 9V-TAO. Only thing that differs is the wording "Turbotiger" below the captain's side window. Checked pics from my previous spotting in SIN and I believe that only this bird has that wording there. Anyone with any idea?

Nice pics from SZB guys! That N21H is certainly one kind of a catch! Congrats!

Really bro? Here's a proper shot of it for you. I have no idea at all why it was removed, Waiping. Just happened to notice it yesterday only when the lotus bird was climbing. Someone should ask TF this. Just continuing a few more shots.. A7-ACB Kari Express also looks pretty good with good light! VT-AXD Unfortunately no F1 livery this time around though. A9C-LJ Very very early rotation! Must be super light! 3B-NBM Took off all of a sudden when I wasn't even ready yet. Guess I was daydreaming lah Seen here is EP-IAC, which has a pretty long history. By this time the sun was already right almost my head. I left to the "afternoon spot" right after this. 9M-FFB More later

Just to share a few shots from yesterday. It was a great day for spotting with Chaity turning on the lights, Yong turning on the fan, and Hon Kit turning on the colours. 9N-ACB The blue on the fuselage really gels so nicely with the blue skies. VT-JBE One of the new leased 738, 9M-MLG. Looks like load seems to be good on board CX. B-HNE, B773. It is refreshing to see a young bird in KUL. A6-ECS, just above 1yrs ++ in service. Known for their notorious rotation as always! You can give them probably 500ms of runway length and they probably rotated just beyond the halfway mark! Seen here was N805FD. And whilst we are still in the season of the new livery, might as well post them first before they become a norm. 9M-MXC in great light! More to come later!

Liew brought them over. Since I was around the vicinity already, decided to join them until it started pouring for a while. Late rotation, yes! Why? Read below.. ...which caused 3 heavies to take off via 32L This included

That's right flee. Air Zimbabwe lost its old colours and now dons a pretty simplistic livery. I'd say a white one. Well the cheer for the day had to be these two for sure.. 9M-XAA, only my first time catching it. Dedicated to Yong who FFK me, and also to our two Russian spotters and also to our grand master Chaity. B-KPL

I'm sorry flee but couldn't catch either one. I was catching departures the whole of today and JAL only comes in about an hour or so from now. So yes, another game... Which airline is this?? Looks new?????? Newcomer kah? No credits for those referring to A.net because there is one picture which looks 95% the same. (p/s: no more games after this, need some time to edit pics)

Errr, almost right. It's Proton btw.

I have a lot to share which will come later, but one to keep the momentum going.. Lets play a game. Guess what's missing? (no prizes for guessing yeah ) 9M-AFY

Confirmed that one A330 diverted to PEN (XXA). Most of the flights departing to KUL from other places would have been informed by delivery regarding this matter and it's solely up to the pilots/company on whether to carry on. If they have enough fuel to just circle around the area until they get clearance to land, believe they would have or else just divert to the nearest possible where they can refuel. Maybe Capt. Radzi and the gang of pilots can further enlighten us on this matter.

http://www.klia.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=195&catid=46

Believe that many have done that for donkeys of years and they're yet to see change which we should have seen 5-10 years back. My personal opinion is as long as they're stuck with the GLC mentality, they're never going to move forward or even move ahead. They seem to look like they're being held back all the time and most of the time slow in making quick decisions. This is not some "kedai runcit" (grocery store) business, but they seem to take everything so lightly. It can take a million BTPs from a million IJ and they'll probably be where they are currently (or even worse). But hey, I'm just an average joe so nobody's going to be bothered about what I say. So why do they deserve my benefit of the doubt?

Agree with what you have to say. Problem seems to sound as if they're making money elsewhere and losing it all in their core operating business. Just like buying a multi million dollar home and having no money to pay for the utilities. Probably what flee meant here is for them to cut down some time beautifying the icing and making sure the cake turns out well first.

I find the previous articles misleading as they keep warning that reintroduction of fuel surcharge looks almost viable should oil prices remain as what it is now or move up higher wherelse in this article from The Edge, Tony kept reassuring that there are better ways to tackle the fuel surcharge issue. I believe he has already taken the first step which you can read >HERE.

I wonder where this 727 came from. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/25/nation/20110225135319&sec=nation

Just to add.. http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/23/nation/20110223195535&sec=nation

Hello Mr Kwek, how are you doing? Definitely we love SIN as much as we love KUL Hi kanehoshi, believe it should have been in T3. Anyways continuing my last set of pics. Again as I said previously, spotting in SIN is never complete without an SQ bird. Seen here is 9V-SQA, SQ's first B772ER. She has gone through some rough time of her life being stored in VCV for some period of time before being put back into service not too long ago. Another visitor that we spotters in KUL will dread for her to come, BA's 744 G-CIVW. Unfortunately, no special stickers for us this time around though. Also another good day to catch the arrival of 3 "big" birds in the space of 30 minutes or so. VH-OJE operating QF 6 from France. She was parked beside my AK flight back to KUL that very night. 9V-SKI operating SQ 321 from LHR. And VH-OQG operating QF 10 from LHR too! In between all the heavies, this small baby appeared out of nowhere too! Seen here Asialink's F27 rego PK-KRL coming in from Batam. Also another small fella decided to pop in and move up to the center of the stage. A LJ35A bearing the rego HS-CFS with the titles "Chiron Flight Services" on its fuselage. It was this particular plane we were waiting for before deciding to call it a day. However AF only decided to send F-GSQM still bearing the old AirFrance titles. All in all, it was a great day to be in SIN. We saw the sun, rain, clouds and finished off the day with the sun just smiling at us saying "Hope you had a great day in SIN"! Hope to come back again to SIN in the near "future" and just a last picture to keep the momentum going. The fight between AK and MH will never end. To be continued....