Capt's Blog:FBO Asia.Resource: May 2011

Welcome to FBO Asia.Resource.

Capt's Blog Stardate 17032011:

Hello and welcome to FBO.Asia.Resource. The objective of this blog is to share experiences and impart some of the knowledge gained so others may have a better picture of what to expect when they operate into Asia. Landing at an unfamiliar foreign airport and trying to get your pax safely through CIQ and turn around your aircraft can be overwhelming if you don't know who your handlers are or what services they can offer. You may try to call your flight coordinator if you get your mobile to work, but sitting in a cubicle in Houston half a day apart , they cannot help you much either. So here is where I will share some of our experiences. At the moment I am operating within SE Asia and China. hopefully I will be flying into more exciting cities in other parts of Asia. I have heard stories about landing and handling in India so that would be a good experience to write about.

I will attempt to get a few contributors who flies to different destinations or uses a different handler so the wealth of experience and knowledge will be even greater. At the end of the day, your pax are happy, you feel safe and secure that your aircraft is ready and we can all head for the bar and get our well deserve drinks.

20110517

OTBD

Capt's Blog: OTBD/ DOH Doha International Airport is the only commercial airport presently in Qatar. It is also one of the longest at 15000 ft, soon to be replaced with another one with parallel runways in 2012. For our arrival, we were radar vectored for the ILS RWY16 and at FAF 2200 feet brings you right on top of the spectacular city high rise! After landing we were directed to the GA/VIP stand A6. Handlers and VIP limos were from Qatar air services that will whisked your pax and their bags to the VIP lounge. Because we were night stopping we did the toilet services there before repositioning to the opposite side GA apron at E23. The ground handlers will tell you which stand and have a follow me vehicle on standby after you have crossed the active. Before departure, the handlers will meet you at one of the international departure counters then lead you through to a shuttle bus. We repositioned at A4 for departure and refueling were no fuss at all.
The city is about 45 mins away and we stayed somewhere in between at the Wyndham grand regency. Gave great rates for crews but unfortunately it's a dry hotel. We were there for only 24 hours and hope to explore more the next time around.

Coasting in from the Indian ocean.

Vip Stand A4 before departure.

Doha City!

Hotel Lobby.

VRMM

Capt's Blog: VRMM/MLE Male International airport is the main international gateway into Maldives. Always wanted to come here and in a short span of 30 hours landed here twice but unfortunately only tech stops.VRMM is a long runway with ILS on RWY36 but since there's no taxiway, coming in during some peak hours you can expect some delays. Even for a single runway it offers a lot of STARs and SID. First arrival was a DME arc to hold for our EAT of +12 mins even after slowing down. Coming back at night for RWY 16 from the north we requested for RNAV arrival and approach which was smooth and fast. It was raining on our first arrival, marshaler and handler was waiting for us although we have to wait for a few minutes for our bowser. It was interesting to see float planes coming in next to the runway doing steep approaches.
Except for fuel receipts no other paperwork were required and we were on our way under an hour. It was faster at night. Hope to comeback someday for with night stops.

Wet wet morning! Final RWY 36

Outlying atolls as we departed.

What happened to sunny paradise?