Air Transat advertisement

An advertisement of Air Transat on a public billboard that I photographed. Click on image to enlarge:

Why I prefer HerpaWings and Aeroclassics to DragonWings.

I'm not such an avid collector of scale models as I used to be, nor do I collect models in airline livery since it's the plane I'm after, not the airline or unless it's an airline I've been on.

But occasionally it's nice to own a model of a beautiful and highly ranked plane. I used to prefer large 1:200 snap fit models regardless of the brand as long as the quality was good. But there were a few issues sticking to 1:200 snap fits. One was that they lacked detail and accuracy. And that shouldn't be surprising given they are made of plastic as opposed to the metal that 1:400 diecast models are made of. The second was that there are models of classic aircraft not available in 1:200 scale.

Also another problem is 1:200 snap-fit models of classic wide body airliners are rare to find. Others of classic wide-body planes don't even exist.

So when I'm forced to choose between diecast models, I realize the mistake I made by purchasing DragonWings models. Not only are they highly priced, but they're also delicate and require their landing gears to be fitted in.

Aeroclassics are expensive also, but they come with their landing gears attached and their build is much more solid.

The same is true for Herpa Wings with their models coming not only with full attached landing gears but also their wheels rotate. The only thing I don't like about Herpa Wings is their 1:600 scale models which are cheap in quality and almost identical to the unpopular Schabak. DragonWings on the other hand seem to produce models with delicate wings, landing gears that need to be attached and can get lost easily and overall expensive planes.

Herpa Wings can also be small in their 1:500 scales, but I actually realize they are still great quality and more solid than Dragon Wings models and less pricey. Upon this analysis, I would recommend collectors not to go after dragon wings models. It's simply not worth the price, especially after the landing gears get lost or the delicate thin wings break off.

Making salute ceremonies less wasteful

As seen in the above photo of airport fire engines giving a salute ceremony to an airline upon it's first arrival. It appears to be an airport in Washington DC, but it doesn't really matter where it is. The problem here is fresh water being used to give the plane a salute ceremony is being wasted and falling into concrete.

At first I was completely against the idea of giving salute ceremonies because water gets wasted. And in a world of more than seven billion people, wasting a natural resource like water is simply unethical.

But then I had an idea. If the water canons were set to shoot water where it would fall on the grass it would save watering them for one day at the same time give a proper salute ceremony.

PAF developing "Super F-16" :: F-16.net

An interesting piece of news:
PAF developing "Super F-16" :: F-16.net

Hyderabad airport needs a cargo terminal

Back in June the agriculture minister of Sindh proposed turning Hyderabad into an international and cargo airport.
Also according to my memory, former Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali made the same proposal during his time in office as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

I could not agree anymore. Though I still think we need to grow the domestic aviation cargo market before thinking so far ahead. Flights should be launched from Hyderabad to destinations in the Balochistan province as well as Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Items from ginger to produce non-alcoholic beer to other agricultural products.

Instead of transporting these products to the sea port in small amounts and in so many trucks, they should just be all packed into a cargo plane and flown directly to the Gulf.
The cargo terminal could also provide a direct cargo air route from Hyderabad to other major cities in Pakistan further away in the north like Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar etc.

This would also save farmers the burden of having to ship them all the way to Karachi. The trucks transporting them could also be used for transporting other things instead.

Transporting agricultural products by air also allows the food to be fresh upon reaching it's journey. Having a cargo terminal at Hyderabad airport will also improve the city's economy and provide job opportunities to local people in Hyderabad weather as airport security officials or on loading/off loading cargo onto aircraft.

The cargo terminal could also bring large amounts of products directly into Hyderabad much faster via air. It would also boost Sindh's agricultural economy.

These are few examples of the wonders a cargo terminal at Hyderabad airport can do. The terminal should not be that big or take up too much natural land. Nor should there be heavy traffic, but a small and sizable amount of traffic, enough to meet local and international demand.

By all means Hyderabad airport could do much good with a cargo terminal.

Latest addition to my collection

Airbus 300-600 by Herpa Wings. The scale is quite a bit small at 1:500 but it's still fairly detailed and even has moving wheels unlike the Dragon Wings models (click on images to enlarge).

Saving stored planes for back up and relief operations

I was recently watching some YouTube videos and reading of incidents involving PIA flights being stranded at unscheduled stops due to technical problems.
Not only was the plane unable to continue the flights due to these technical problems but the passengers on the flight were stranded along with the crew. Passengers expected to fly on the plane on the return journey on the plane back to Pakistan were also delayed for hours.

PIA was forced to send another plane with a relief crew to repaid the faulty plane and to pick the stranded passengers, only adding to financial losses by the airline.

I know it doesn't happen that often that a plane is stranded due to technical or other problems and is forced to suspend it's flight, but when it does happen the consequences can be devastating.

Using the PIA case as an example, it got me thinking why airlines don't used stored planes as backups in case a plane is stranded far away. Take for example Gulf Air's recent storage of their B767-300s to save maintainance costs. If I'm not mistaken, Gulf Air's route network is small so it did not need it's B767-300s.

But suppose Gulf Air had an incident of stranding the plane. A stored B767-300 of theirs could be dispatched to transport the relief crew and pick stranded passengers without diverting planes already in use and scheduled for other flights.

PIA also had temporarily grounded it's B747s to save fuel costs. While being grounded, the 747s should still have been equipped and left prepared to meet any emergency needs in order to minimize disruption.

PIA has a crew of experienced captains and crew members to operate B747s and to keep crew members of grounded aircraft types up to date, airlines should use flight simulators.

I've also read unconfirmed comments from various individuals that Qatar Airways plans on selling it's Airbus 340-600s as soon as it inducts the Airbus 380. If Qatar Airways was wise enough it would keep a few Airbus 340-600 for emergency situations.

This will help during unexpected emergency situations no matter how rarely they occur.