LO92 PEK-WAW 2017.01.02

The last segment of the Taiwanese journey. The final flight home.

02 January 2017
LO92 (0845-1130) PEK-WAW
SP-LRB Boeing 787 Dreamliner

After arriving the previous day from Taipei via Fuzhou I get a sleep at a local hotel, where I catch the shuttle to the airport at 6. That means I have plenty of time to check my bag in (luckily no queue and I am able to change my seat to one that suits me better) pass all the necessary controls and browse the shops. Then, when the sun rises I still have time to take some photos through the windows in the scenery of a rising sun. After using Beijing Terminal 3 yet another time I must say that it really is decent and rather hassle free. Spacious, various shops and restaurants, benches to rest, get a nap, lie down, quiet areas. and the air condition works quite well.
But back to the flight. We depart with a slight delay which, due to winds will grown a little bit during the flight. I'm lucky to get the seat next to me empty (seated in row 24). The service comes right in time. Around an hour after take-off. The food is pretty nice. The crew walks around offering a top-up. For a minus, the windows have been blocked in a dimmed configuration for most of the flight. On a day flight... not a red-eye one, a day one. C'mon! Anyway. Time passes by slowly, movies, reading, music, small naps and finally we arrive in cloudy Warsaw with around 30 minutes of delay.
Summing up, I am content of the flight in total. Of the entire trip as well.

Beijing Capital Airport spotting; ZBAA/PEK 21.09.2014

Both before departing to North Korea and after arriving back to China I have had a couple of opportunities to spot a bit at Beijing Capital Airport. I can divide them into 4 parts where part 1: before departure from PEK for FNJ; part 2: after landing in PEK from FNJ; part 3: the main spotting part; part 4: before departure from PEK to VIE. Part 1 and 4 feature photos mainly made from the terminal area while part 3 is the more standard "beside the fence" spotting.
During my stay winds were mostly southernly thus runway 36L, 36R and 01 in use. Unfortunately I would not say that the weather was great. I'd rather say it was more of a typical Beijing aura with smog around.
For some detailed information about spotting locations in Beijing visit spotterguide

An Air China A330 landing at 36R (B-6079)

Queue from both sides to depart from 36R

Air Koryo Tupolev 204

This entry will be a two part one (divided in itself). The first part is getting to North Korea and the second one leaving it. Both of the flights I've done on the Tupolev 204-100 operated by Air Koryo. The -300 is just a bit shorter and apart of that doesn't differ much inside.

JS152
13.09.2014 PEK-FNJ
1255-1600
I got to the airport around 10am by the train that rides between the center and both terminal areas at the airport. There I met up with part of the group and later we passed through security prior to getting to our check-in area. Some unusually sized luggage could be seen checked-in. After getting my boarding pass with what looked like a good seat (10F) I proceeded on the yet another security check and the immigration counters. Airside, after localizing our departure gate I moved on to looking for a place to spot at, windows gave a couple good shots at aircraft that have been docked and one, in the "corner" had an overview on the main taxiway and one of the three runways at PEK. There many of my trip mates gathered. We spent the hour prior to boarding here taking pictures, notes and laughing together. We had to bond at least a bit, a full week with the company of us and only us was ahead.
It was boarding time, still before entering the jetway most of us made a slight detour for a photo of the 204. On board we were greeted by the friendly crew of todays flight. Just after a couple of minutes push-back commenced, engines have been fired up and taxiing started. A long one, with some stops due to traffic. Finally we were in the air.
In flight service was rather poor. The "Kim Burger" we got was rather a 1/10 than something you would like to eat. Fortunately the soft drink was kinda good!
Maybe it was just me, or it was the airplane or the way the pilots flew but I could feel practically every turn, something that usually doesn't happen in the "western world". One strange situation also happened. A slight bank right turned into a steep one, than the pilot suddenly over-banked left, tried to level it off and again banked right before finally leveling off. Someone even screamed at the back.
Finally after 1h 22min we touchdowned at Pyongyang Sunan airport, deboarded the plane and boarded a bus and traveled towards the terminal for our customs and immigration control. All of it did take some time and finally after around 8-9 hours we've arrived at our hotel.

In the tunnel from the train to the terminal

Landside in the T2, pre customs check