AvGeek Archives - KN Aviation

Kosice’s Museum of Aviation: The Final Resting Place of Slovakia’s Yak-40 and Tu-154

Aviation Museums / By Keishi Nukina / January 20, 2021 January 20, 2021

Kosice, Slovakia’s second-largest city is home to the country’s best-known aviation museum. The city’s Museum of Aviation, or Letecke Muzeum Kosice as it’s known in Slovak, first opened its doors to the public in 2002 and is a branch of the Slovak Technical Museum. While most of the aircraft on display are military, there are …

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2020 in Review: Looking Back at My Highlights of Last Year

AvGeek / By Keishi Nukina / January 2, 2021 January 2, 2021

With January 2021 here, it’s time for the fifth annual review of my aviation activities. While I mainly do this to have a place that I can go back to remember some of the flights I took and aircraft I saw, I also hope you enjoy reading through it and through some of the articles …

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Flying on a “Super Dolphin” and a Brief History of ANA’s 737s

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / August 22, 2020 August 22, 2020

On June 14, 2020, ANA operated its last commercial Boeing 737-500 flight. That left only the Next-Generation “-700s” and “-800s.” in its fleet. Considering that JAL and other Japanese airlines nowadays only operate the Next-Generation 737s as well, the era of 737 Classics in Japan came to an end. While I didn’t have a chance …

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Oriental Air Bridge: A Vital Link to Nagasaki’s Outlying Islands

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / April 23, 2020 April 23, 2020

While airlines like ANA and JAL represent Japan around the world, there are also much smaller Japanese airlines that, among other things, focus on connecting the country’s main islands with its smaller outlying islands. With Nagasaki Prefecture being home to 51 of the more than 300 inhabited ones, it is no surprise that an airline …

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Fifth Freedom, First Class: Onboard Cathay’s Flight from Vancouver to New York

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / October 15, 2019 October 15, 2019

Flying Cathay Pacific’s first class on its fifth freedom flight between Vancouver and New York is arguably the most luxurious way to get between the two costs of North America right now. Unfortunately, earlier this year, the airline announced that it would be discontinuing the flight next spring. Looking at its reservation system reveals that …

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Flight of Dreams: The Home of ZA001, the First Boeing 787 Test Plane

Aviation Museums / By Keishi Nukina / August 28, 2019 August 28, 2019

Significant amount of Boeing 787 components are being made in and around Aichi Prefecture in Japan. Because of that, in 2015, Boeing donated the first Boeing 787 test plane (ZA001) to the city of Nagoya. After sitting on the apron of Centrair airport for a couple of years, it found its new home in Flight …

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MRJ Museum: A Peek into the Production of Mitsubishi SpaceJet

Aviation Museums / By Keishi Nukina / August 11, 2019 August 28, 2019

MRJ Museum near Nagoya Komaki airport combines several exhibits related to the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (now known as the SpaceJet) and a tour of its final assembly facility. Together with Boeing’s tour in Everett and Airbus’ tour in Toulouse, it’s one of the three publicly accessible airliner factory tours in the world. Access, Opening Hours …

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Plane Spotting: What Is It and How to Get Started?

Plane Spotting / By Keishi Nukina / July 15, 2019 August 9, 2019

While over the years, my aviation hobby has evolved a fair bit, there is one thing that remained unchanged. And that is my love of plane spotting. I visited an airport for the sole purpose of watching aircraft back in April 2006, and since then have been to quite a few airports around the world …

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Flying on the NASA DC-8: Observing an Airborne Science Lab in Action

Special Flights / By Keishi Nukina / June 22, 2019 February 20, 2020

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center operates a number of aircraft out of Building 703 at Palmdale airport. Among those, two airliners from yesteryear – a Boeing 747SP and a Douglas DC-8 – that found a new life as research aircraft can be found. Last year, I had a chance to fly on the larger one …

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