CX Airbus A330-300 Arriving at Boarding Gate

Cathay Pacific Airways
Equipment: A330-300
Registration: B-LAP
B-LAP taxiing and arriving at Hong Kong International Airport's Boarding Gate.

I do apologize that stabilization was used but it's still a bit shaky!
Hope you enjoy the video.

CX Airbus A350-900 Arriving at Boarding Gate

Cathay Pacific Airways
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Registration: B-LRB

This video features CX400, from Hong Kong (HKG) to Taipei (TPE), taxiing and arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan Airport (TPE)'s gate B7.

Hope you enjoy it!

SQ | Singapore Airlines SQ212 Flight Report | 08FEB2017

Flight Information
Airline: Singapore Airlines (SQ/SIA)
Flight Number: SQ212
Date: 08 February 2017
Route: Sydney - Singapore
Airliner model: Boeing 777-300ER (B77W)
Registration: 9V-SWS
Engines: GE90-115BL
Flight duration: 7 hours 5 minutes
Crew: 18
Pax: 253

Departure Information 
Departure Time: 09:05 (Local Time)
Airport: SYD/YSSY
Parking Bay: 59
Runway: 16R

[Sydney Local Time - (GMT+11)]

07:00 - Arriving at SYD Airport Terminal One

07:10 - Lining up for check-in

07:45 - Heading to the Departure Area for immigration and x-ray

It takes around 8 minutes to walk to gate 59.

08:25 - Waiting outside Gate 59 for boarding

08:30 - Boarding commenced

I found it quite comfy, with a lot of legroom, even though I'm 6 ft 4.

Boeing 777-300ER's economy 3-3-3 seating configuration

Inflight Entertainment System

Galley at the back

Flight stewards and stewardesses distributing hot towels after take off.

Welcoming Drink

Amenities

Breakfast - Cheese Scrambled egg with Chive
                 With chicken sausages and roasted potatoes

Special Meal - Low Fat Meal (LFML) - Breakfast

Inflight Magazines, Menu and motion sick bag

Love this lighting XD

Lunch - Thai style Masaman curry beef, seasonal vegetables and streamed jasmine rice.

Special Meal - Low Fat Meal (LFML) - Light Lunch

Icecream

Arrival Information

Arrival Time: 14:15 (Local Time)

Airport: SIN/WSSS

Runway: 02L

Terminal: T3

Gate: A10

Conclusion

It has been awhile for me to fly with Singapore Airlines. I have been hearing friends around me praising Singapore Airline's excellent services. Fortunately, I had the chance to try it.

I was really impressed by the interior design of the flights, more importantly, the flight attendants. Audrey, Venoth (FS) and Michelle were serving the economy cabin on that day. There were pretty strong turbulences on the flight after it flew over Australia's soil, however, all of the flight stewards and stewardesses could manage to deliver the meals to the customers with confidence and a big smile. I was really amazed by them. I can see that all of them are well-trained and serve customers with professionalism and efficiency. They delivered the food and services with a smiley face, making me, as a customer, felt very warm and comfortable. 

Good job, SQ!

Commercial Planes Identification - Airbus A330 vs Boeing 777

If you have seen my previous post on how to identify Airbus A380 and B747, you should have realized that I love Boeing more than Airbus, that's true. It is said that "If it's not Boeing, I'm not going." I have to say I love Boeing 777 the most. However, when it comes to booking air tickets, I will take the seating configuration into consideration. If I am traveling with my mom, or my love ones, I'll probably choose those with 2-4-2 seating configuration. If I am traveling by myself, I don't really care as long as I have a window/aisle seat, I'm happy enough. 

Alright, so let's start with our discussion on the two wide-body twin-aisle airliners - Airbus A330 vs Boeing 777. In fact, both speed birds are very popular in the aviation industry. According to Airbus, there are a total of 1600+ A330s orders, and there are almost 1300 A330s operating in the world. On the other hand, Boeing states that they have a total of 1902 B777 orders, and 1460 of them are in operation and flying across the globe.

The Boeing Family consists of Boeing 777-200, 777-200ER, 777-200LR (Long Range), 777-200F (Freight), 777-300, 777-300ER. Moreover, Boeing has launched the Boeing 777X series, it is based on it's Boeing 777 family. The newly developed 777X will feature new GE9X engines, with folding wingtips, and more. 

On the other hand, Airbus A330-200, A330-200F (Freight), A330-300 are the most common variants under the Airbus A330 Family. Moreover, they are making the state-of-the-art A330-800neo and A330-900neo (new engine options) which share the same fuselage length as the A330-200 and A330-300 but with new engines and better design. 

Moving on to identifying them....

Let's have a look at the Boeing 777s:

• Cockpit window is different from Airbus'
• 4 doors on each side of -200(ER)s and 5 doors on each side of -300(ER)s
• 6 wheels on each side down under the wings
• No winglet on the wings
• CPU at the back is vertically flat

↑Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200(ER) [Registration: ZK-OKB] 

Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

↑ American Airlines (AA) Boeing 777-300(ER) [Registration: N720AN] 
Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |


Now let's compare it with the Airbus A330 Family:

• Cockpit window is different from Boeing's
• 4 doors on each side
• 4 wheels on each side down under the wings
• There are winglets on the wings
• CPU at the back is conical shaped

↑ Cathay Pacific (CX) Airbus A330-300 [Registration: B-LAL]

Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

↑ Cathay Pacific (CX) Airbus A330-300 [Registration: B-LAE]

Taken at Nagoya International Airport, Japan | 29 January 2016 |

Can you see the conical shaped CPU at the back? 

↑ Qanats Airways (QF) Airbus A330-200 [Registration: VH-EBQ]

Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

Commercial Planes Identification - Airbus A380 vs Boeing 747

Before we start, let's have a look at the two airplanes......

↑ Qanats Airways (QF) Airbus A380-800 [Registration: VH-OQH]

Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

↑ Qanats Airways (QF) Boeing Boeing 747-438(ER) [Registration: VH-OEG]
Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

Can you distinguish between them? Yes, the first one is the double-decker Airbus A380. The one below is the famous Boeing 747, we also call it the Queen of the Skies, or the Jumbo Jet. Can you spot out their differences?

Airbus A380-800 is the only variant in the A380 Family at the moment. It is said that Airbus will produce a variant of Airbus A380-900 and A380-800neo (neo stands for new engine option). On the other hand,  Boeing's B747 Family consists of B747-100, B747SR (Short Range), B747-100B, B747SP (Special Performance), B747-200, B747-300, B747-400, B747-8. There are freight versions, like B747-400F and B747-8F, and extended range ones like B747-400ER which equips with better engines. Airlines like Qantas, Thai Airlines are still running their B747-400s. However, many airlines like Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways (ANA) have retired their B747-400s. Some passenger and cargo airlines like Korean Air, Lufthansa, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific Cargo are using B747-8(F) at the moment.

The major difference is that Airbus A380 has two decks, while the B747 has its "hump" upper deck only. Moreover, they have different cockpit windows, different numbers of wheels. Let's have a closer look on their cockpit window.

↑ Qanats Airways (QF) Airbus A380-800 [Registration: VH-OQH]
Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

↑ Thai Airways International (QF) Boeing 747-400 [Registration: HS-TGO] 
Taken at Sydney International Airport | 10 October 2016 |

Can you spot out that they got different shapes? Personally, I like the Queen of the Skies more, I think its shape is just perfect. On the contrary, the A380 is a bit too fat, haha!!

Moving on to the wheels, have a count~

[Image courtesy of Airbus]

[Image courtesy of Boeing]

Have you got the answer? Yeah, the Airbus A380 has 22 wheels. 2 at the front, 6 at each side of the fuselage and 4 on each side of the wings, making it a total of twenty-two. On the other hand, the Jumbo Jet has 18 in total. 2 at the front, 4 at each side of the fuselage and 4 more on each side of the wings, comprising a total of 18.

Next time, we shall have a look at the Airbus A330 and B777. See you soon!

Commercial Planes Identification - Introduction

I got a friend who asked me a question today, she looked at a photo on Qantas' Facebook Page and was curious on how to distinguish between one plane from another, so I decided to put it onto my blog. 

To be frank, these speed birds are easy to be classified, and some aviation lovers can actually know the plane models who they hear the sound from the engine.

Basically, Boeing and Airbus are the two world known airliner manufacturers, you might know these two companies as you will definitely encounter their names when you book your flights. Boeing is based in the United States of America. On the other hand, Airbus is another manufacturer based in France. In addition, you may also be familiar with Embraer, Bombardier, ATR and so on.

We can simply divide the major airlines into three groups: regional, narrow-body and wide-body airliners. Regional speed birds have less than 100 seats; Single-aisle airliners have used for medium-distance routes; Twin-aisle airliners are designed for long-haul flights. However, some airlines will use twin-aisle planes to operate a short-haul flight, like those which are less than one hours as there is a huge demand for air travelers.

For the coming days, I will explain how to spot out whether a plane is a Boeing 777, or an Airbus A330, and so on.

I will kick off by introducing the two airlines which are famous for their huge capacity: the Queen of the Skies, Boeing 747, versus the double-decker Airbus A380. Stay tuned for my next post!! 😊

I will then move on to the discussion of on Airbus A330 vs Boeing 777, followed by the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, and a lot more to go on the coming days!!!

© Victor's Aviation Photo Page 2017

Thank You Card Preparation - February

Woohoo!!!!

Five days before my departure back to hometown - Hong Kong. I will be taking Singapore Airlines (SQ) this time, from Sydney to Hong Kong via Singapore. I realized that I have not been flying with them for around 10 years. I still remember that last time I flew to Malaysia via Singapore with Singapore Airlines. 

Since 2016, I have been making postcards and give them to all the cabin crew and the flight deck crew. I still remember that once I was flying with Qantas Airways from Hong Kong to Sydney, Australia. One of the flight attendants came to me and told me that they seldom receive souvenirs from passengers. On the other hands, passengers often ask them for souvenirs, like playing cards, and he was so happy. Another flight attendant also approached to me, showing me the one that I gave him on the previous flight (from Sydney to Hong Kong). It's touching to me as he kept the postcards. It is obviously a good memory for both the flight attendants and myself, definately.

This time, I will be flying for six sectors:
SQ | SYD | Sydney --> SIN | Singapore
SQ | SIN | Singapore --> HKG | Hong Kong 

CX | HKG | Hong Kong --> TPE | Taipei, Taiwan

CX | TPE | Taipei, Taiwan --> HKG | Hong Kong

SQ | HKG | Hong Kong --> SIN | Singapore

SQ | SIN | Singapore --> SYD | Sydney 

Postcards for all the SQ flight crew.

Postcards for all the CX flight crew.

Looking forward to flying with SQ and CX!