Rajeev's World: Up In The Air .... Part 7

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Up In The Air .... Part 7

This was a short but interesting work-trip to Jamnagar on a Dassault Falcon 900EX business jet sometime in January this year. We boarded the aircraft which was parked at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport's charter terminal at Kalina.

In a few moments after we settled in, we began taxiing towards Runway 9-27.

A view of the Air-India hangars - here you can see an Air-India Express Boeing 737-800, an Airbus A310 and a Boeing 777 to the extreme right.

As we were turning on the taxiway on to Runway 9-27, I got an opportunity to capture the magnificent Air-India Boeing 747-400 - the palace of the skies! Sadly, these Boeing 747-400s will not do commercial flights for Air-India anymore. They would be used for VIP flights only. In a few months, we'll see the Boeing 787 make these hangars their home!

The Falcon 900EX requires just 1,500 meters of runway length to take off - just a fraction of the entire length of 3,445 metres of Runway 9-27. The takeoff thrust was perceptible because of small fuselage of the aircraft. You would never feel the accelerating thrust in a bigger jet!

Here we overfly Madh Island.

There you can see Borivali and Gorai on the right.

On course to Jamnagar!

Magnificent clouds appeared as we headed in a north-westerly direction!

Approaching the Saurashtra coastline. The sea always appears chocolaty brown here!

The barren landscape of Saurashtra. But change is coming here with the waters of the Narmada canal reaching this parched landscape! I am always fascinated by the way Gujarat is transforming itself.