wisemanp 0 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 So, FINALLY, here is flight ATW027 from Banda Aceh to Bandar Seri Begawan, the Capital city of Brunei. Once a small peninsular that very few had ever heard of, Banda Aceh on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra was shot against its will into the public eye on 26th December 2004. As many of you will recall, this area of low building quality and standards of living was the closest point of land to the epicentre of a magnitude 9.3 earthquake that triggered one of the most disastrous tsunamis in history. Banda Aceh was completely devastated, and there is no way I could simply fly off. Before leaving for Brunei I took the time to look around at how the rebuilding of the coast was coming along. Having done some work on the ground in the past few days, today was investigation by air. I took off before 7 in the morning in the chopper to have a look. Skimming along the coast towards where it meets the Indian Ocean. And returning to the field to pick up a certain piece of cargo... The aircraft you see here is a Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 737-200. It was chosen ahead of anything smaller because political tensions in Borneo rendered a jungle-hopping trip impossible, whilst much bigger and I wouldn't have got out of Banda Aceh. Lined up and ready to... well. Pollute the environment with these powerpacks, I guess! Rolling An amateur photographer gets his ISO settings wrong and so we are blurred! Banking to get over the sea under new forest protection rules. Leaving behind the islands that were nearly wiped off the map. Settling into a cruise as we head down the strait between Indonesia and Malaysia. ???? On one side we still have Sumatra... ...But on the other we now have the Malaysian peninsular. Now heading over Malaysia, there is very little traffic around... some kind of strike, perhaps? Leaving Malaysian airspace already and heading back into Indonesian airspace. The baton carriers are being treated to a Royal lunch along with some of the Sultan's highest delegates! Having passed over a front, the sea is nearly obscured by cumulus clouds. One of Indonesia's 17508 official islands... Hitting the ToD and turning in towards Brunei Making our way down through FL300 Down under 15000ft as we cross the coast of the small sultunate that is Brunei. Crossing the destination signifies the start of approach procedures. We're getting quite close now! Crossing the coast again... 3 Greens, everything checked, all secure. Taken on extreme telephoto by the Sultan himself!! And Brunei would like to officially welcome the Around The World Challenge! Slowing at the end of the runway As we're a bit late, Captain breaks a few speed limits on his taxi back... Parked up next to the only other jet in. Doors open, just waiting for the steps! The good news is, the cargo hold has already been emptied and the baton taken whizzing off to the Sultan of Brunei by his majesty's own special request! Sorry it's late, I hope you enjoyed! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Well done, Phil - bit of a "Lanterne Rouge", but worth waiting for! Cheers - Dai. P.S. Looking forward to seeing your 'Tour' pics....... :smile: Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Well done Phil, at least we got there in style, super post as always Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Well done Phil. A good post with a nice polluting aicraft :-) Link to post Share on other sites
SEATAC 400 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I like that Royal Brunei livery. And some very imagintive shots there. Overall a great posting! Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I can only reiterate what Richard said. Great livery and lovely looking bird. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Great to see the 732 back Phil and superb shots! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 Great shots Phil... and it looks like there were more banda ache scenery to chose from for FS2004. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now