Monday, September 25, 2006

GLASS COCKPIT JET

Athul, one of my readers prompted me to put this post up and as promised earlier, I have posted pictures of the Premier 1 jet that got delivered to India with the Indian flag. I am instrumental in being the first to bring this Aircraft in Indian flag colours for commercial charter operations in India. I am sure some of my compatriots are proud.


Me at front door, see Indian flag above


One high tech jet for India


Me on the acceptance flight day

The Premier 1-at 0.78Mach, she's the fastest civillian in the skies here


View of the front steps and the galley inside


Plush Interior with club seating and personalized DVDplayers


Glass cockpit Proline 21 avionics

Hope these pictures, long awaited by some, are illustrative of a modern jet. India's market for such jets and turboprop executive Aircraft is growing at a fast pace. I am fortunate to be a leading player in facilitating such Aircraft. There are two more turboprop new generation executive Aircraft here in Singapore that I am customizing. I'll post pictures of those as soon as possible. I am doing the acceptance test flight of one of those Aircraft next week. Some of the top corporates in India are buying more such jets and larger ones too and as I deal with them, there will be photos and details of those Aircraft as well. Look forward to more.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was awesome ,
just loved it ,, . i was waiting for to see this plane from the day u said that u had brough this plane to singapore for customising,, .

infact seeing the indian flag on it make us proud , thinking that we r going up the ladder in aviation .

And one day ill fly one of those,,

Anonymous said...

That was awesome ,
just loved it ,, . i was waiting for to see this plane from the day u said that u had brough this plane to singapore for customising,, .

infact seeing the indian flag on it makes us proud , thinking that we r going up the ladder in aviation with such advanced civilian planes .

And one day ill fly one of those,,

Quodlibet said...

It is very nice! I bet it was fun to fly it home!

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thanks Athul and Quodlibet. I flew the Aircraft in its previous colors from Sydney to Singapore before the Indian client bought it. I flew it again when the upgrades were done and in Indian colors during the acceptance check flight where we took off from Singapore headed into Johor Bahru (Malaysia) to shoot an ILS instrument approach (it was actual instrument with thunder, lightning, heavy rain and very poor visibility!) and then we went up to altitude over the sea to check the rest of the test flight parameters.
No defects, and I signed the acceptance letter a day later. A friend of mine flew it to India from here. I heard it is turning heads in New Delhi on the tarmac. I was busy with the next Aircraft a King Air C90B which is also very recent, low time and getting the exterior and interior customized here at Hawker Pacific Asia Singapore.
The C90B turboprop is getting a new style interior with a legal two place dewan and full swivelling chairs. It should be finished by the 3rd of next month and I'll have pictures of those when I do the acceptance flight for that Aircraft. Then we are going to replicate it on the next C90B as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anup,
Great bird there. I may never get an opportunity to sit in one of the those seats. But being with you on the mymysore group gives us the "inside" view of great machines. Thanks and keep up the great job. You are making us very proud.

Anonymous said...

That's top class! The "glass cockpit" looks pretty too! Of course, we are all proud looking at that Indian flag on that mean machine!
When's your next trip over to little rock, AR? Oh by the way, I had been to a AAAE fly-in. will post pics and send link to you... some nice little general aviation airplanes had flown in here. twas pretty nice...

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thanks Madhukar. Thanks Nikhil, yes please do send the pictures. I am not too sure about my nexttrip to Little Rock, Arkansas at the moment but I am back in the States next month.

My Blogs said...

Its amazing. Wish one day I will accompany capt. Anup just to round the world in these beautiful and glamorous charter planes.

Anonymous said...

Great to see your prfile sir.I really appriciate that after your busy schedules, you could post all these informations. I liked Indian Tri color at the entrance of your Premier.Hats off to you!!

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thanks Mr. Sarkar. The only thing that keeps me from blogging more is the lack of time. A friend of mine told me that finding time or managing time is an art. I am yet to learn how to manage time!

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Same crazy person leaving nasty comments on my blogs, I am in Mysore from 14th evening onwards, you mention that you will be there as well, lets meet and expose the fraud that you are! Bring along all your fake friends as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi Captain Murthy

Visited your blog after some time..have been doing some travelling, obviously on commercial airlines and suffering dearly for it. So once again, I envy your job ! Also, great to see you in action.

Its interesting that you point out how acquisitions of executive jets are going to go up in India as it already happening. I had a few questions for you here !

1. Given that we will be adding four or so (large) aircraft to the Indian aviation fleet every month for the next three or four years, what would this mean for overall airport congestion. My sense is that most calcuations take into account commercial airline expansion and aircraft acquisition.

Yes, private jets do not clog up infrastructure within terminals but I would imagine they impact everything else, movement on runways, ATC ops, overall ground handling etc.

2. Do you see more people wanting to fly direct to smaller airports. I've for instance flown on the Falcon Jet and a Citation Jet from and to Jamshedpur and Vijaynagar airports, both are small and private. Is there a chance that such a trend may balance the infrastructure pressure on main airports.

3. I've seen the new Mumbai airport master plan..its interesting..we will surely have a better airport in a few years, with, hopefully, better access. However, the second runway looks unlikely now and therefore we will be capacity constrained.

I am attaching a recent link/article I wrote as well..would like your views..

http://www.business-standard.com/search/storypage_new.php?leftnm=4&leftindx=4&subLeft=1&autono=260414

Govindraj

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thanks Govind, I have been traveling as well. I was in Cambodia (Siem reap) for a week exploring Angkor Wat and other ruins and had a great time. Have do do a blog post on that one soon. Just got back to Mysore and will be here through Deepavali, may have a trip to Mumbai before I go back to Sing.

Thanks also for the link to your article. I could not find anything to disagree with, in your piece. You are quite right and I am also of the opinion that Airlines must be allowed (and must) sink if their operations are not viable. Non stop acquisition by all carriers is not based on commercial consideration as it should really be based on that. It is being based on one upmanship in terms of fleet size and who is the biggest player in the end, with the idea that the biggest player will have "economy of scale" and will be able to therefore control routes and pricing.

In the Indian scenario, there is too much congestion, especially with the lack of any significant movement in infrastructure. I do see a lot of movement regarding private turbo props and jets. As we speak there are a whole bunch of them coming in and most of the will be used between non metro sectors such as the ones you have mentioned. One company is acquiring an aircraft through me to do their industrial sectors such as Bhuj and Baroda and Ahmedabad etc. Similarly there are others with similar intentions. However, the ATC system is antiquated and does need to be upgraded soon because, again you are right, the airspace is going get clogged as well, as it already has on the metro sectors.

Hope I covered the questions. If I forgot something, please let me know. Good to hear from you, please do look out for a small piece on a turboprop that i did and another one about Cambodia.

Venkat Ramanan said...

Amazing pics Bosss!!!!!!!!1
Awesome... And, Yes I have mixed emotions regarding growing civil aviation in India because
1) Infra doesnot match the demand and supply
2) Airlines, citing all these issues have formed lobby groups (Airlines Association types) so that they indirectly control pricing etc!
What do you think sir?
Cheers,
Venkat.

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Thanks Sir Venkat and I agree with you about the lack of infrastructure problems. I don't see any sign of a "frantic" planning and development in terms of this basic need of the industry, so, woe is us!
The newly formed airline lobby did try and put in a "congestion fee" but the Civil Aviation Ministry is asking the airlines not to do it.
As for the airline4s, their current pricing and revenue models are not consistent with a business that is supposed to make profits. In a fight that has no winners, they have all prcied their tickets well below what they can afford to operate. hence Kingfisher's recent loss of Rs.240 crores, jets losing, so is everyone else. Who's making any money and how can they, with the kind of business plans they have? The name of the game is longevity, i.e. the guy with the deepest pockets who can continue to subsidize his losses, is going to wait until others fold up. Thats when the prices will really go up. Lets see who blinks first!