Saudi Arabian:JED->MED:747-100:pics

[SaudiFlite]

Alain and babypurin,thanks very much for your comments.
Nick.....Thanks for your appreciation...You should know that I am not an Arab or English,but I speak both languages perfectly
All the English I learnt is the result of TV.....thats right....And I havent lived in any english country though I'd like to try the USA.

[Nick_in_Atlanta]

@SaudiFlite: Your english is perfect and you must speak Arabic because you live in KSA. Did you live in an english speaking country for a while where you learned english?

[uy707]

Thanks for sharing this report providing for an insight of Saudia domestic operations. Interesting to read of the older 747-100s around alongside much newer 777s.
Alain

[babypurin]

Great Report. Your so lucky to fly such an old aircraft.

[SaudiFlite]

FLIGHT REPORT
SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES(SV/SVA)

ORG: Jeddah-King Abdulaziz Int'l(JED/OEJN)
VIA: --
DEST: Madinah-Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Int'l(MED/OEMA)
FLIGHT NO: SV1529
AIRCRAFT : Never found out....
REG: Never found out....
SCHED DEP: 0915
ACTUAL DEP:Never found out....
SCHED ARR: 1005
ACTUAL ARR:Never found out....
TIME TAKEN:Never found out....

If you haven read my previous M90 report...read it now.

The next day,my sister left for the Int'l Departures Lounge at 0700.Then I had breakfast(Fries with fried chicken fillets and a coke) while looking at the tarmac..now the windows have been..uh the stickers have been removed so you can see the ramp and the runways too.
At 0740 I went to the departure lounge....Again Immigration was no problem,and I headed in to the lounge...Sat infront of the big gold clock.As the seconds ticked by,I watched 777's and 747's taxi by the windows on the right.
At 0830 I was ready to rush to the Gate..as soon as it would be announced..then 0850 and I got worried...then 0915...then 0945 and finally:
'May I have your attention please...Saudi announces the cancellation of flight 1529 to Madeeeeeenah due to technical problems(yeah right,they said that when there was a bomb on board).We apologize any inconvenience it may cause you..."

Anyway I asked one of the gate agents for assistance,he took me along with 30 or 40 other people to the...Airport Hotel...
He told us that we could have free breakfast and lunch,compliments of Saudia and we should be at the airport at 1300 for our next flight.
P.S-I doubt that guy came to work the next day.
Anyway,I had a quick breakfast,dropping my fork twice(It doesnt come naturally).
Then I went to my room,and more cable till 1230 when I left to have lunch which was a mixture of Arabic(Kabsa Rice and Hommos),Indian(Beef & Fish Curry and Biryani rice) plus Salads...Unfortunately there wasnt any Dessert...I had to drink 2 cokes and at 1245 I was on my way to the airport.The 1 min 30 sec exposure to the Jeddah heat is enough to make you sweat.


ORG: Jeddah-King Abdulaziz Int'l(JED/OEJN)
VIA: --
DEST: Madinah-Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Int'l(MED/OEMA)
FLIGHT NO: SV1524
AIRCRAFT : 747-168(classic yeah!)
REG: HZ-AIG
SCHED DEP: 1450
ACTUAL DEP:1450
SCHED ARR: 1345
ACTUAL ARR:1330
TIME TAKEN:0040 mins

At 1420 boarding was finally announced.I got to the gate and a Saudi guy with his 3 kids jumped infront of me...then one of his kids got left behind in the lounge because she didnt want to leave her pepsi,and he held up everyone for 5 minutes while he dragged his kicking and screaming kid to the line.Meanwhile,I politely made my way to the gate by going around.Others followed me too and the poor guy ended up at the back of the line.
An annoying thing that has happened in Jeddah,is that the Mobile Lounges have been grounded and now its buses and stairs.Anyway,I got down using the escalators and boarded the air conditioned Orange Airport Bus.
Well that annoying guy came on board and as the doors were closed,the bus started moving,the guy realised that his daughter was missing.He started yelling at the driver and then yelled at the couple of gate agents and they all started looking frantically for her.They found her on the same bus....Sitting a couple of seats behind where her father had been...Well the heat can make anyone crazy...
Finally the guy got back on the bus and we headed out to the ramp.
I saw an Iran Air A300 and an Air Universe B747 classic(chartered by Iran Air).
Then we turned where the Saudia Widebodies were parked....Ok....I started praying for an A300....
But hey surprise!we turned at the first Slot(Am I right?) and infront of a 747 classic,HZ-AIG.
Ground crew were cleaning up the toilets,and a couple of pinoys wearing masks were running around the Rolls Royce Engines which were screaming loudly even though they were probably at idle.
Well I got on board.It was pretty dark there and I was welcome aboard by good looking Pinoy Flight Attendants.I got to my seat 45A.surprisingly the other 2 seats by my side were empty.
This 747 classic had those small luggage bins covered with a net.
Anyway we started push back and a 777 moved out behind us.
Since we were parked at the very end of the ramp,the taxi to the runway was relatively short.The purser did one of those announcements when you think they have swallowed the mic.Anyway the safety demo was still on as we turned on to the runway.Flaps were lowered and then...we waited till the demo was over and the captain(or FO) came on with 'Good Afternoon Flight Attendants,be seated for takeoff' this time the Saudi Accent was a bit light.Immediately the throttles were pushed to 100% and I saw a Falcon 900 which operates for the royal flight division...The VIP must have asked why the 747 was so loud and why his plane had to wait for it..



Take off was surprisingly short around 40 secs and almost immediately we made a huge right turn then a left one and flaps were closed immediately.
We climbed through smooth Jeddah Skies and reached our cruise altitude of 21000 feet.Drinks came around and I had another coke...
Around 20 minutes later,we slowly started descent into the turbulent afternoon skies of Madinah.Little patches of turbulence every now and then but nothing serious.Finally I saw the igneous rocks which was a sign of MED airport.



We kept descending and made the Kai Tak like turns.
The gear was lowered and very smoothly too,while the flaps were being lowered the captain came on with a noticeable Pakistani/Indian Accent and asked the attendants to be seated.







I saw the ring road and then a highway and finally one big bump in the air and another bigger one on the ground , spoilers were deployed and after 30 secs of reverse thrust a little bit of brakes and we turned off via the last taxiway.



We taxied for 2 minutes to the terminal and parked infron of arrivals.I headed out and took one last look at the interior of HZ-AIG..made me rush out.



Out of the terminal,in a cab and one last look at the tail of the 'Goose' towering the terminal...this was the conclusion of the greatest trip I had in 2004.
thanks for reading.