Dubai 15-17/04/2016

[jerryrowe]

This was the start of a cruise holiday with my wife - 2 days in Dubai then aboard the Queen Elizabeth to sail back to Southampton with a number of stops en route. Neither of us had been to the Middle East before so sightseeing was a priority, but spotting opportunities were taken when available!

Overnight flight from LGW on the EK10 A6-EOO. Approaching DXB we were told it was raining(!), we spent 40 minutes in the stack and aborted our first approach at 100ft as we were too close to the plane in front so arrived 1 hour late.  After a coach tour of the Dubai coastline including the famous Palm Island we checked into our  hotel the Taj and were in our room by 15.00.  Fabulous view of the Burj aj Khalifa (world's tallest building) but more importantly sight of DXB departures. 30R was used while we were there, FR24 worked perfectly (PlaneFinder less so) so on screen I could watch them taxi, line up and take off and around 20 seconds later they would appear briefly in a gap between two skyscrapers. Once I worked out where and when to look, not much was missed, though in the morning looking into the sun a few escaped me!

I only recorded what I thought were frames or scrapes, so what follows is not a complete log.  Obviously the main user is Emirates, but I only made 2 of the 5 A380s I needed and 7 of the 12 777s. FlyDubai was more successful, with 44 of their 50 738s seen (including 3 scrapes, the ones used by Ryanair). Once aboard the ship departures were almost overhead and inbounds from the north could also be seen, but Wifi was ridiculously expensive, and I relied on PlaneFinder playback when I got home yesterday with mixed success.

Frames made at DXB listed below (The Air Arabia were Sharjah departures).  Some successes at other ports, may post those later.

9K-AKH A-320 Kuwait
9K-AKK A-320 Kuwait
9K-CAI A-320 Jazeera
9K-CAJ A-320 Jazeera
9K-CAN A-320 Jazeera
9V-STO A-330 Singapore
A40-DH A-330 Oman
A40-EA EMB.170 Oman
A40-SA 787-8NZ Oman
A6-ANA A-320 Air Arabia
A6-ANG A-320 Air Arabia
A6-ANM A-320 Air Arabia
A6-ANN A-320 Air Arabia
A6-ANQ A-320 Air Arabia
A6-AOB A-320 Air Arabia
A6-AOI A-320 Air Arabia
A6-AOL A-320 Air Arabia
A6-ENE 777-31H Emirates
A6-ENN 777-31H Emirates
A6-ENZ 777-31H Emirates
A6-EOU A-380 Emirates
A6-EOW A-380 Emirates
A6-EPE 777-31H Emirates
A6-EPF 777-31H Emirates
A6-EPH 777-31H Emirates
A6-EPJ 777-31H Emirates
A6-FDC 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDG 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDH 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDI 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDK 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDL 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDM 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDO 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDQ 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDR 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDS 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDT 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDU 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDV 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDW 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDX 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDY 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FDZ 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEA 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEB 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEC 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FED 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEE 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEF 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEG 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEH 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEI 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEJ 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEK 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEL 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEN 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEO 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEP 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEQ 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FER 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FES 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FET 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEU 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEV 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEX 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A6-FEY 737-8KNW FlyDubai
A7-ADB A-320 Qatar
A7-ADD A-320 Qatar
A7-ADJ A-320 Qatar
A7-AHL A-320 Qatar
A9C-AB A-320 Gulf Air
A9C-AC A-320 Gulf Air
A9C-AE A-320 Gulf Air
A9C-AF A-320 Gulf Air
A9C-AG A-320 Gulf Air
A9C-AH A-320 Gulf Air
AP-BLZ A-320 Pakistan
AP-BMO A-321 AirBlue
B-LAN A-330 Cathay
B-LBA A-330 Cathay
EP-FQV RJ-100 Qeshm
HS-TBA A-330 Thai
HS-YBD A-330 Thai
HZ-AQL A-330 Saudia
HZ-AS1 A-320 Saudia
HZ-AS13 A-320 Saudia
HZ-AS19 A-320 Saudia
HZ-AS23 A-320 Saudia
HZ-ASW A-321 Saudia
VP-BCP A-320 S7
VP-BRF 737-8LJW Aeroflot
VP-BTF A-319 Ural
VP-CXJ A-320 FlyNas
VP-CXN A-320 FlyNas
VP-CXS A-320 FlyNas
VP-CXY A-320 FlyNas
VQ-BWA 737-8LJW Aeroflot
VT-AXN 737-8HGW Air India Express
VT-AXU 737-8HGW Air India Express
VT-AYB 737-8HGW Air India Express
VT-AYC 737-8HGW Air India Express
VT-GHA 737-86NW Air India Express
VT-IAP A-320 Indigo
VT-IAY A-320 Indigo

VT-IEF A320 Indigo
VT-IEJ A-320 Indigo

VT-JBB 737-8HXW Jet

VT-JBH 737-85RW Jet
VT-JBM 737-86NW Jet
VT-JBX 738-8ALW Jet
VT-JFZ 738-8ALW Jet
VT-JGU 737-85RW Jet
VT-PPE A-321 Air India
VT-PPQ A-321 Air India
VT-SZJ 737-8GJW Spicejet
YI-AST 738-81ZW Iraqi

Scrapes included B-HLW A330, EP-IEE/F AP-BLS/T/U/MC, A7-ADF, VP-CXV A320s, UR-WRO A321, EP-MMR A340 and A6-FDD/E/F 738s

[billsamuels]

Hi Jerry,

Sounds a great trip mate and some fantastic planes there... haven't been to Dubai for about 25 years and certainly before the BIG BUILD started...

When I used to visit (customers) I'd have an armed guard escort me through customs/immigration (used to be important in those days!!!) and the airport had a dozen or so aircraft in, at any one time... In fact I'd flown on both the original Emirates A310's and loads of Gulf Air L-1011's B-737-200's, Saudia B-737-200's/B747 and Cathay B747's on the LGW-BAH route... Very different place in those days...

Anyhow, I've now fathomed out how to print logs from ADU so I'll post my Far East log from last month in a moment...

Cheers.

Bill

[graham]

Cracking log Jerry, thanks very much for posting it here for us all to drool over.

[deanoitfc]

Very nice log.

Its amazing how many hotels in Dubai have a view of sorts and always some goodies out there especially the hard to get Indians.

[jerryrowe]

A few more made at DXB, A6-EPG 777, HZ-AS16 and VT-EXC A320s.

Our first ports of call were Muscat and Salalah, Oman. Several arrivals and departures seen, but PlaneFinder replay did not tie up with the times and directions so nothing logged.  Similar story at Aqaba, Jordan, several movements at Eilat, Israel just across the harbour but seemed to have been censored by the Israeli authorities, nothing showed on PlaneFinder. Took a trip to Petra ("rose red city, half the age of time") picked up a foot infection which restricted my movements for the rest of the trip but at least made 5A-LAU A330 of Afriquah overhead.

Through the Suez canal and on to Istanbul.  Got up at 05.00 to watch our arrival and was treated to a steady stream of inbounds to IST, all Turkish, made TC-LNF A330 and TCJVI/O 738s plus scrape TC-JAI A321.  Having docked and waiting to disembark also made TC-JTG A321 and ER-AXP A320. Spent the day in the city, but on departure found ourself on the flight path into SAW, made TC-AHP/ASP/SBE/SCE/CPE/IZB 738s and TC-DCC A320 Pegasus.

Nothing more to report until Valencia, steady stream of overflights but usual European stuff, just made a couple, CN-NMJ of Air Arabia Morocco and PH-GUV 738 of Transavia on Summer loan from Brazil

That's it, back to the run of the mill UK stuff!