Toshbaf

Very good! But not complete. Guess more!

Oh, the Concorde stopped flying to Miami at the end of March, 1991. Before then, it flew to IAD then to LHR, not non-stop.

WHBM

Letter from Dubai … and Sharjah

Hello all from the extraordinary aviation hub here at Dubai. It didn’t even have an airport until 1960, and that was a sand strip only suitable for DC-3s, the proper runway opened in 1966, and since then the growth has been stratospheric.Dubai airport (DXB) is still (for now) pretty much downtown, hemmed in on all sides, and well known as the vast base for Emirates widebodies, while at another terminal is FlyDubai, with it’s own substantial fleet of 737s. Just a couple of miles north is Sharjah, a separate Emirate, whose airport is now home to an equally very substantial fleet of A320s of Air Arabia, and is one of those places close enough to another airport that they have had the odd mistaken landing there for DXB before now. Down at the south end of town is the vast area of the desert marked out for the replacement Dubai airport, Al Maktoum, ultimately to be way larger than DFW, which is starting to get going now and where the all-cargo fleet of Emirates already runs from. An hour’s drive down the road and you get to Abu Dhabi, base for Emirates’ big competitor Etihad, another worldwide A380 and others operation. Etihad actually have a check-in in central Dubai, with a bus that takes you over to Abu Dhabi.

All in all, it’s a vast aviation hub area, and that’s before you start counting visiting carriers from just about everywhere else imaginable – when we arrived there was an Air Canada B787 alongside one of the various obscure Iranian operators that hop across the Gulf. There are plenty of destinations where all four of the main hub carriers operate to.Another feature is everything seems to operate 24x7, at DXB departures at 2am are just as plentiful as at 2pm. About 95% of the population of Dubai are “expats”, principally from India and Pakistan, but also from a whole range of places around, and much of the air service has developed bringing them to and fro. Just about every jet-capable Indian airport has services to combinations of the airports here.

Sharjah, the quite open border running along the north side of DXB, has a notably different feel to the buildings, and a different style. Shorts for men are fully acceptable in Dubai … but not in Sharjah. Drink, readily available in Dubai, is banned in Sharjah. Property prices are way lower. And so on. But the Sheikh has funded a SPLENDID airline museum. And here it is https://www.google.com/maps/@25.3458306,55.3947684,3a,75y,82.56h,91.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTec-YC4YUfElj-aiGvenow!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 . It’s the original old Sharjah airport, actually a British RAF base, the RAF left in 1971 but the buildings remain. Principal sponsor at the opening was the main carrier, Gulf Air. Now Gulf Air have very much retreated, Emirates, Etihad, Air Arabia etc taking their place, and they now only operate a reduced fleet out of Bahrain. But the museum rolls on, immaculately clean, great exhibits – just nobody there.




First airport in the region ... and proud of it.



Ours was, alas, one of only two cars in the immaculately swept parking lot

WHBM

15513 - OK, a question. What are these two?

WHBM

15514 - and these ?
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WHBM

15515 - and this ?

WHBM

Going to have to wait for the rest - I've wasted more of my time on this photo loading interface than I would have believed possible ...

jrl767

Toshbaf

..and this? (last photo)

That's an Auster Autocrat, the one that slightly resembles a Cessna 172.

Seat 2A

WHBM, you are as always a great source of information on all things aviation related. Thanks for this latest bit on the scene in and around Dubai. Where once I figured my two day visit there would suffice for my interests, I can now see planning a return visit via the stopover provision on Emirates and visiting some of the places you've mentioned.

Earlier today I had my first visit to Pittsburgh International Airport since my days of winging around the region on unlimited mileage Liberty Fares aboard Allegheny Airlines DC-9s and BAC-111s back in the late 70s. (88 flights in two weeks on one of them!) I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with the old terminal and its high ceilinged central commons area, but NO! Unbeknownst to me, the old terminal had been demolished in 1999. The new terminal looks quite nice and modern though - wide concourses, appealing carpets and furnishing, attractive shops and restaurants, even an Admirals Club lounge - in all a very nice airport that I'll look forward to visiting once again in October when I commence a fall foliage tour of northeastern U.S. excursion trains - as well as Amtrak's Adirondack and Cardinal trains.

In the meantime, greetings to one and all from seat 2D aboard Alaska's 737-890 N592AS, winging it westward high above Ohio enroute to Seattle. Tomorrow I'll board Amtrak's Empire Builder for the 2000 mile journey east to Milwaukee, Wisconsin - there to enjoy a couple of beers (Not Miller, though) with fellow Denalians before winging it back to Seattle and beyond to Alaska.

Thanks to Toshbaf for taking the reins - however briefly - with a question or two. You guys (I'm assuming none a youse are gals) all have the experience and the intellect to put forth some pretty good questions if you want to. Indeed, intellectually speaking I am unquestionably the low rung on the ladder amongst you all, so there's your challenge: Go out there and up the game! Why put up with more middling queries from the likes of me when - with just a modicum of effort - you can challenge us with a superior set of your own questions? Do it, boys! Rise to the challenge! Otherwise you're gonna have to wait for JL's next batch in June and then... yes, that's right... another mind numbing collection of mediocrity from yours truly. You want to put that off as long as possible, don't you? So get to it! If you don't have access to your own OAGs, you can purchase them on eBay or you can go to sites like departedflights.com or timetableimages.com and utilize the schedules therein.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with! ^

Good luck!

Toshbaf

I managed to visit the old terminal before it was demolished. There were weeds in the parking lot but not high enough for a rental car to knock them down without damage to the car. Reports are that US didn't want WN to reopen the terminal.

The new terminal is going to be partly demolished. Two legs of the "X are going to be combined into a landside terminal and the currently train and landside terminal demolished. The commuter terminal, which was connected to the landside terminal and the beginning of the train was demolished several years ago. That terminal dates back to when the new terminal was built in the early 1990's or so.

Seat 2A

Curious about your tagline there...

What constitutes "fun" as opposed to merely "enjoyable"? Per most definitions, "fun" means "amusing, entertaining or pleasurable in a lighthearted way"

Did the pilots put you through a couple of barrel rolls or something? Perhaps go into a supersonic dive?

Toshbaf

It started with a tagline of "(commercial) aircraft that I've been aboard". It started to possibly look like bragging so I shortened it to a few variants that I have been aboard and liked. In most cases, I suspected that the flight would be one of the few times that I would be aboard that variant so I tried to inhale deeply and enjoy the experience.

With the 747SP, I have only been aboard it on two flights. With the A340-500, only one flight. With both planes, short of being the Sultan of Brunei, it won't be possible to do it again. Another not listed, but similarly, rare and I knew it at the time is the 737-200QC.

With the L1011-500 and BAe 146-300, I didn't know when the last flight for me aboard these would be but I knew that there wouldn't be too many more.

The last time I flew aboard a MD-90 was in 2015. I deeply inhaled because I thought it could be the last for me. It is still possible to fly aboard a Delta MD-90. The last time I flew aboard a 717 was in 2017. Still easily possible but unknown if I will.

Now, when I fly within the continental US, it is almost always 737-800/900ER or A320. That's it. In 2014, I flew on Westjet. I was hoping it would be a 737-600 but it wasn't.

WHBM

Home in London.

A slightly disorganised BA 777 along the way; they have a couple of different configs to them, and substituting one type for another from the London end caused considerable chaos, especially as all the special meals had been documented against the original seating configuration !

Dubai DXB has been preparing for a while for a big runway (one of their two) reconstruction, which started while we were there and has led to restrictions on flight numbers for two months. A considerable project, already much of the runway had been ripped up down to the base sand. BA have substituted two 777s with one A380, but on the opposite flights to ours.

Herb687

Tower Air 747?

Toshbaf

You're thinking odd possibilities but try again!