Chinggis Khaan International Airport

Waiting for the banks to open on a Saturday morning to check if the pilot's credit card and Belgian Defence airbus A310 can pay for handling and fuel, I had the chance to make this pano just before we hit the higher atmosphere for an 8 hour flight over Siberia, Scandinavia towards Brussels. This trip i've made was a photo assignment to cover the return of a Mongolian platoon operating with Belgian forces in Kosovo on a peacekeeping mission (Belkos 23) by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).

The atmosphere while waiting was also very strange since you can freely walk around the tarmac of the airport, visit the few planes that are based at this small airport (some Saab airplanes covered with blankets for the freezing cold. Traffic is so rare at this place (a few planes a day) that it is a very relaxing spot surrounded by a magnificent landscape. Try Google earth and you can exactly pinpoint were I was standing ;-)

Chinggis Khaan International Airport (IATA: ULN, ICAO: ZMUB) is the international airport serving Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It is the largest international air facility in the country, and the only facility to offer scheduled international flights. The airport is the main base of operations for national carriers MIAT Mongolian Airlines, Eznis Airways and Aero Mongolia. The airport was formerly known as Buyant Ukhaa Airport until it was renamed to Chinggis Khaan International Airport to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the establishment of a Mongolian State on December 21, 2005. The airport accepted only propeller aircraft for most of the 20th century. The airport expanded its runways, however, to allow larger aircraft.

http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?id=MG00001&sch=ZMUB

Asia / Mongolia

Lat: 47° 50' 35" N
Long: 106° 46' 0" E

Elevation: 1,300m

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Nikon D200 with 10.5mm on Seitz VR-Drive, Manfrotto tripod and PTMAc + Cubic Converter