| Went up to shanghai for a quick trip a few weeks back, eventhough it was a quick one i still had loads of fun on it. Went up on one of our 747-400 BCF freighters, as usual the weather up in PVG wasnt that good so we didnt see much of the landing. Before the flight departed HKG i got to walk around the plane n take loads of pics since the weather was great that day, u just dont believe how big a jumbo really is until ure stanging right next to it. It was noisy out there with jet engine all around u, the rumble n vibrations when a plane takes off just shakes u to the core. But during the duration of the flight we got to watch the normal procedures, on top of that we got to literally explore the upper deck and cargo hold while in mid-flight (The cargo hold was freezin tho).
As soon as i got to PVG had a meeting with the Cargo manager up there b4 lunch, after lunch had a tour of the airport from the superintendent of their airside staff after a meeting with them showing us the normal procedures of our crews on arrival Shanghai. It just make me wonder, Shanghai is one of the main airports in China but the security has abysmal. Eventhough the Shanghai Dragonair office applied a restricted area permit for me, the permit was basilally a piece of paper with my name and ID on it, there was no photo. I was never asked to show anyother ID n i just walked passed checkpoints. I guess thats what sets HK and China apart. On the way back we jumped on one of our passenger flights, we were delayed out of PVG due ATC (how typical  ), was a pretty normal flight with gorgeous flight attendents serving meals. Bout 30 minutes before landing i clipped on my KA staff card and asked the CP to inf the Captain that i would like to go onto the flight deck to watch the landing (at the time she had this puzzled look on her as none of the crews knew i was KA HQ staff on duty travel). After getting the OK from the Captain i just walked up the plane and into the flight deck, at this point i'm pretty sure the whole plane (passengers & crews) stared at me as i went in with utter clueless looks on their faces thinkin 'who the hell was that guy that just casually walked into the flight deck?". The landing into HKG was great, we had perfect weather and got to see every bit of the approach. Eventhough i had to write several reports after i got back, this trip was fun. I'm just wonderin if i can go to Japan next time, i might even stay one or two nights even if i have to pay for it myself hahahaha.
I'll try to upload some of the photo's from the trip when i have time. |
