This is a multi-part message in MIME format... ------------=_1046502598-29990-0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary My trip report of Don Muang 2 years ago, it seems now you can still pay to have ramp trip. 911 tension passed. Hereby I would like to provide my personal spotting experience of my 7-days strip to Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang, BKK/VTBD) at the end of March 2001; to add those information has been provided by others on the Internet. There are two runways at BKK Int'l: RWY21R/03L and RWY21L/03R. RWY21R and 21L are the runway in use most frequently. BKK related ATC radio frequencies are VTBD ATIS: 126.4MHz, VTBD Clearance Delivery: 120.4/133.4/125.95/128.4MHz, VTBD Ground Control: 121.9MHz, VTBD Tower 118.1 MHz, VTBD Arrival 125.5MHz, and VTBD Departure 119.1/121.7MHz. The New Bangkok Airport is only under construction now so the Don Muang Int'l I believe will still be operational until 2005. Before I leave for BKK, I applied for ramp shots with BKK Airport Authority. And I found out that their Airport Operation Manager contact has changed again. The newest contact personal is: Anirut Thanomkulbutra Managing Director Director of Airport Operations Department Bangkok International Airport 171 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road Bangkok 10210, Thailand Tel: (662)535-1111 Fax: (662)531-5559, 535-4061 Website: http://www.airportthai.or.th E-mail: aatbia@KSC15.th.com The mail they sent to you will instruct you to contact 'Airport Operations Control Center (TEL: 535-1705/1650)' at Terminal 1... actually you don't have to. You can directly go to the Airline Office Building next to Terminal 1 and head to the Airport Administration Office (2nd or 3rd floor... I forgot) to find the Managing Director Mr. Thanomkulbutra. According to my permit and actually indeed, they've raised the ramp shot fee as 3,210 Baht for the first three hours and 1605 Baht (with VAT, but VAT non-refundable when you leave Thailand) for each of the following hours. I'LL CALL THAT EXPENSIVE! Almost three times then that before! But on contrary to my original thoughts that they raise the fee on their own will, after you pay the fee the airport authority accounting office will give you an official receipt with the exact amount on it... And you have to take care of three things, first of all, they do not accept ramp visits on weekend days. Secondly, the Managing Director ma! y only accept your visit under the circumstances that he has enough (extra) staff that day. But I believe if you had requested before, then he will arrange extra staff for your needs. So you HAVE TO state the exact days on your request letter. Third, to my belief, they will only allow you to stay at Pier 2, 3, or 4 stationary. You may the personnel who guard you inside the airport to change spots if you think the spot you first come is not good enough, anyway it's your money. But they will not let you walk more than... well, I'll say 50 meters around the pier. And my personal suggestion is Pier 2 is good for RWY21R landing shots, and Pier 3/4 are good for take-off shots... as far as you might mostly concerned, I think pier ramps shots ARE TOO CLOSE TO A/C which are wide-bodies. I even cannot include all the a/c in with my 20mm lens! And if RWY21 is in use, you can only get sunny side shots in the afternoon, be advised. And another good place I found is the top floor of car park of Terminal 1. You can observe the a/c taxi after landing and those a/c taxi out from domestic ramp. And... you might want to climb up to the signboard of "BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TERMINAL 1". I personally do not recommend this because it might be dangerous, but you could have good shots up there. (You know what I mean...) Two other spots sometimes mentioned are the golf course between the two runways and domestic car park. According to the Managing Director, the golf course is not allowed for ramp shot photographers, and is belonged to the Air Force. I believe any of the photographers would not think the domestic car park is am good place to stay... forget about that one. Submitted March 2001 by Phil Hawks, hawkseye@ms47.hinet.net The airside ramp pass is still available, but the price has gone up significantly. It is now a whopping 3210 Baht (even with the more favourable exchange rate, that still works out to about $70) for the first 3 hours, with an extra 1605 Baht ($35) for each additional hour! Hmmmmm - whether this is now worth the money I'll leave up to you to decide. I hadn't actually brought that kind of cash with me anyway, so I decided to decline their offer on this occasion (the fact that the weather had also become rather cloudy, they were digging up the far taxiway - the best one - and most landings were unusually on the far runway did help me to make up my mind here :-)) My original letter didn't seem to have been received, but that didn't seem as though it would have been a problem - as long as you have a copy of the original you'd probably be able to get the pass when you turn up (as long as you pay, of course!). In terms of getting free photos, there are two places to go. The first i! s the spectators area on the 4th floor of the international terminal , where there are plenty of big windows overlooking the runways, the main taxiway and some of the international gates. Most of these aren't tinted, and reflections didn't seem to be a problem, so you can get good shots of taxiing aircraft and those using the relevant gates from here. Unfortunately, even the near runway is a bit too far away for decent shots, though. This is definitely the best place just for spotting, however. The other good spot is right down at the far end of the domestic terminal, overlooking the commuter ramp. This is the best chance you'll have of getting shots of the smaller stuff (which are really too far away elsewhere), and just about everything else will have to come past you at some point as well, whichever runway is in use. You're also outside (but there is some shelter), so you don't have to worry about shooting through glass or anything. Security was never a problem, as long a! s you don't pay too much obvious attention to the military stuff over on the other side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is advised to ask for a platform permission prior departure to Thailand. Send the request to: Airports Authority of Thailand The General Manager 171 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road Bangkok 10210 Thailand Permission of the airlines is needed, but that is no problem usually. Arriving at the airport, report to the General Manager and show him the letter you recieved from him. Tell him how long you think you will stay and pay . After that, you're free to go and take the pictures you want. You will be escorted by someone of the Airport Authority. Between the two parallel runways is a golf course. To get here, you have to cross a main taxiway. From the golf course, planes take of quite close to you!. It is not known if the golf course can be accessed without a permit Another report by Stefano Pagiola, submitted February 2000 For ramp access at Bangkok, you need to contact the Airport Authority AHEAD OF TIME. The address is Mr. Sucharit Suetrong, Director, Airport Operations Dept, Airport Authority of Thailand, 171 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok, Thailand, or you can fax to 66-2-535-1065. In the letter you should state (i) names of all people coming; (ii) whether you plan to take still or video photos; (iii) the purpose of the photos ("hobby" should be fine); (iv) the date and time you would like to shoot at (see below). The timing is important because you pay for the time you spend outside. The first three hours are B1,100 (about $30), additional hours are B300 (about $8), per person. The pass does not give you access to the entire ramp area. Rather, you will be escorted to the end of one of the piers (you can choose -- I suggest pier 2, since it's closer to the touchdown point for landing shots). You can walk around some in that vicinity, but not a whole lot. At that point, the two taxiways will be right in front of you, and the main landing runway will also be within easy short telephoto range (even an ATR72 will be shootable there, with about 300mm; since most aircraft are widebodies, 100-200mm is fine for most landing shots). The biggest problem is that any widebody taxiing on the inner taxiway will be too close even with a wide angle. Another reason pier 2 is better is that many aircraft will make a left turn after passing it, to taxi onto the apron in front of the hangar area, so you get an additional chance to shoot aircraft as they do so (747 will be about 50mm when they turn). >....Tyler, > >When Bill Hough and I were there about 15 years ago, >we paid about $20 bucks or so (I still have the >receipt on my bulletin board) for the Thai Airport >people to take us out on the ramp at Don Muang and >shoot pictures....we were out there in the morning as >I remember, then had a long afternoon....They didn't >speak any English, but were very accomodating, >carrying us around anywhere we wanted to go....We just >kinda pointed and faked it.... > >In Thailand 'anything is possible', and the people >there are very gracious, (especially the women, watch >out for that!, but that's another story entirely....) >I would check around with the administration people >there at the airport, and see if such an arrangement >is still available today..... > >You are going to love BKK....Great place! ..And if the >service on TG is anything like it was when I flew it >many years ago, you will be impressed! > >Bryant Petitt >Cumming, GA > >--- Tyler Munoz <Tyler.Munoz@razorfish.com> wrote: >> Leaving next Friday for my first trip to Asia. Here >> are my flights: >> >> UA BOS-LAX >> THAI LAX-BKK >> >> Bangkok Airways while in Thailand >> >> THAI BKK-HKK >> UA HKK-SFO >> UA SFO-BOS >> >> Anyone have details on what equipment Thai operates >> from LAX? Also, are >> there any good commercial aviation sights to see >> while in Thailand or HK >> or restrictions on photography. >> >> Sick of the US shuttle after eight flights in the >> last six weeks. >> >> tyler > > >__________________________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more >http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------=_1046502598-29990-0--