Civilian Aviation

My employer sent me out to China for 3 weeks recently (two weeks in Beijing and one week in Nanchang). Because it was a business trip and I was with somebody who wasn't an aviation enthusiast, I didn't have much chance to photograph aircraft unfortunately. We were travelling business and first class too, which meant we were whisked in and out by car further reducing the chances for photography (the lie-flat seats in the Air China A330s are nice though!). Here's some highlights from the airports, all shot through the airport or aircraft windows:


B-5570, Air China Boeing 737-89L, Beijing Capital by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-5570, Air China Boeing 737-89L, Beijing Capital by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-5045, Air China Boeing 737-79L, Beijing Capital by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-2288, China Southern Airbus A321-231, Beijing Capital by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-6829, China Eastern Airbus A320-214, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-5277, XiamenAir Boeing 737-75C, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-5277, XiamenAir Boeing 737-75C, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-2503, China Eastern Boeing 737-7W0, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr


B-6803, China Eastern Airbus A320-214, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr

I've always liked Cheyennes, so great to see a Chinese one.

B-3625, Piper PA-42-720 Cheyenne IIIA, Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr

If only I could have got closer to these at Nanchang! Here they're shot from the window of an Air China 737-800 as we departed back to Beijing.

Helicopters at Nanchang Changbei by nickchalloner, on Flickr

Great set, I wish that my company would send me somewhere as exotic for 3 weeks !

Wow - what a selection, thanks for posting them Nick. Sounds like a nice trip.

the sky looks a bit hazy on some of them - was it mist or pollution?

Great shots in the circumstances. Ooh Beijing. Yes it gets very smoggy. We had three days there in 2012. First day we could not see more than ten yards it was pea soup. Next two days totally clear. Wonderful airport. Will have to dig my photos out....

Great pic's, especially the Cheyenne

Martin

Thanks all. Andy it seems we were lucky with the smog. Beijing has a reputation for having many smoggy days in winter, but we only had it for a few days. It was more misty than foggy actually, but on you could smell the pollution - it smelt like burnt coal (I only know what that smells like from taking my daughter to Thomas the Tank Engine days!). If you think the aircraft above are interesting, you should have seen the stuff I didn't get chance to shoot! On the blue sky days I would happily have sat around outside for hours shooting stuff, despite the temp not getting above 0deg.C all day.

The blue sky days were perfect for visiting the Great Wall and wandering around the other tourist spots, so we were very grateful for them. The only other aviation activity we did was visiting the Beijing Military Museum which had some great aircraft in it, but not really suitable for this site! Oh, and on the shuttle bus between the two university campuses we were working at in Beijing, we drove past a Nanchang CJ-6 dumped at the side of the road. Luckily I had my camera armed and ready because I was taking photos of anything of interest as we passed by.

If I get a chance to go back I want to visit the Beijing Aviation Museum which looks to be fantastic - loads of aircraft parked outside, so great for photography. The guy I was working with said he wouldn't mind going, but we didn't have the time on this trip because while in Beijing we simply had to visit all the main tourist sites.