REQ: India / current situation and hotels

[redcan]

Hiya,

Can anyone advise me about the current situation regarding our hobby in India (we're into numbercrunching only, no photo's, no SBS). I know that a lot of guys went there in the past but I also recall that many ran into trouble.
Together with a couple of friends I want to visit Delhi and Mumbai in April and, as our main-target is seeing the majority of the liners and bizjets flying around in the country ( plus the Air Force Museum in Delhi) we figured that 4 or 5 days should be sufficient.
Are we correct in assuming 4 / 5 days in total at these airports will do the trick or are we overlooking something big?

As far as I recall, in the past it was possible to spot at both airports from a nearby situated hotel. Can anyone provide details which hotels these are? Also, information like their attitude towards our hobby, specific rooms overlooking the action, nearby places to go for food and drink (without the necessity to mingle with the locals), etc. are highly appreciated

If you can think about more useful information which might come in handy, you're welcome !

Many thanks in advance for your help


Chris & Co.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[CJ]

Chris, I stayed at the Orchid hotel at Mumbai Apt 7 years ago. No idea about current situation.
They didn't use the X-RWY unfortunately.
Good luck.

[marcel32us]

Hi Chris,

It's been a while, but in 1998 I spend quite some time at Delhi Indira Ghandi. Not in a hotel, but just along the fence. I was busy reading the serial of an AF Alouette III and when I looked up there suddenly were 3 or 4 policemen standing within 50cm from me, staring at me and my binoculars. I thought it meant trouble, but turned out all they wanted was to have a look. After all of them had a look through my bins, they left me alone to do what I had to do. It seemed no problem at all.

But then again, this was 15 years ago, things may have changed...

Good luck out there!

Marcel

[Sjaak]

Chris, I stayed at the Orchid hotel at Mumbai Apt 7 years ago. No idea about current situation.
They didn't use the X-RWY unfortunately.
Good luck.

As far as I know the Orchid no longer allows viewing planes from the rooftop terrace upon request from the airport authorities..

reg,
Sjaak

[Gulfbiz6]

Hiya,

If you can think about more useful information which might come in handy, you're welcome !

Hi Chris,

In 2009 i visited India for a holiday. Did not that much spotting unfortunately but i did visit the AF museum in Delhi. What i can recall is that it was hard to find a taxi driver who knew the exact location of the museum. So prepare as much details as possible to give them the right direction. If asked the taxi driver will wait for you untill you finish your visit.

The museum is nice if you like the military stuff but the main reason for my visit was that the museum property is right next to the AF base with all the based AF VIP aircraft like the BBJ´s and Legacy´s. With some trying it is possible to have a quick look over the museum property wall and note the aircraft present. There is some security in the museum but i borrowed a chair from one of them and standing on the chair i took some pictures from the other side of the wall.

Here you find some of the pictures i took. Obviously only for the registrations.

http://gulfbiz.blogspot.nl/2009/11/secr ... -2009.html

Have a great trip!!

Greetings,
Ron