Spotting Trips 2011

December - Madrid (3 Days)
I went to Madrid for 2 full days in December to catch a few of the South American airlines that serve the airport. It turned out to be an excellent trip, with one perfect day and one average day. I also had great company for the trip, with my Dad, Fraser, Gavin and Karl (a great driver !).

We arrived at Madrid on Wednesday evening onboard G-EZGR (the last EasyJet A319) in very thick fog (we were the last to get into the airport and 12 aircraft behind us had to divert!), and started graphing at first light on the Thursday as the AeroSur B747-400 was very nicely delayed 40 mins so that we could catch it in daylight !! After that we went to the mounds, then to another landing spot for the South American arrivals before going back to the mound until sunset. After this we went into Madrid in search of a curry house, and after a tour of the city looking for one we made do with a buffet.

The last day, the Friday was spent on the mounds, as the weather wasn't as good as the day before. Later that evening, we flew home on board G-EZGR again back to Manchester.

Day One
































Day Two (To be updated)

































October - Amsterdam (3 Days)

During October I found a cheap flight to Amsterdam, and with me needing the Martinair Retro I had to book it ! We departed on a Sunday morning on the early EasyJet flight (G-EZGK - A319) and stayed on the terrace each day, before flying home late Tuesday evening (G-EZGN - A319). Here is a small selection of what was photographed. (Will be updated when time allows)


Day One - Sunday (To be updated)




































Day Two - Monday (To be updated)









Day Three - Tuesday (To be updated)




October - STN - LTN - EMA - Mildenhall AFB
Last Wednesday/Thursday I went down to Peterborough to see family, and on the way there/home, we had to call in at a few airports !! :)

First we popped in at East Midlands for a couple of minutes as we were passing, and a ADB AN124 and South African Herc were parked up, as well as this cracking Rusline CRJ !!!


After calling here we went to Peterborough and called in at Mildenhall AFB for a couple of minutes with my family.





We spent the night, before leaving around 2 o'clock the next afternoon to come home...Since we had no set time to be back home, we headed to Stansted for a few minutes where this UAE Gvt B777-200 was parked up, next to a company B747-400 !!!


As it was still early in the day, we quickly called in at Luton before heading home, where a quick trip into the Monarch hangar was made to see a FedEx B757-200F !


FedEx was taken on my Blackberry mobile

August - East Midlands

Next outing was to East Midlands in early August to catch the new TNT B777-200F OO-TSA. After arriving just before sunrise, we were treated with 5 minutes of sun while the TNT departed and after that the sun didn't shine again for the rest of the day. Funny how some things work out like that ?









June - Frankfurt (3 days)

Two and a half weeks later, I spent 3 days at Frankfurt, Germany. We departed on the Friday morning onboard FlyBe Dash 8 Q400 G-JECL (wearing George Best on the forward section of the aircraft). Along the way, we were treated to clear skies, and great views of Manston, Ostend and Liege were seen. Then, around 3 hours later than planned we arrived at FRA and got our rental car, then drove to the Runway 25 spot and onwards to the Runway 18 area in the evening. Here a few highlights from the first day.



An overview of Liege Airport while enroute, note the TNT B747-400F, 3x Southern Air B747F's and Avient MD11F and DC10F are included on the ramps parked up.








































On day 2 at Frankfurt, we were down at the Runway 25 spot for the morning and early afternoon, before heading over to the terrace for some late afternoon Asian arrivals. After this, we headed for something to eat and while driving back to our hotel we found a great spot for Runway 18 line up shots !! Here are some photos taken on this day.










































The third and final day was spent in the same way as the second day, with most of the morning and early afternoon spent by the Runway 25 spot, then moving to the terrace later on in the day before of flight back to Manchester on FlyBe's Dash 8 Q400 G-ECOF.









Emirates A380 A6-EDK on Emirates 017 Super heading to my local airport Manchester (taken from FRA).

































June - Amsterdam

The next trip was in June to Amsterdam for the day. For £45 per person, and great flight times its hard to say no to trips like these ! We flew out early morning on G-EZTD (EasyJet A320), then spent the day on the terrace before flying back home on EasyJet A319 G-EZFN. Here is a small selection of photos taken.















































May - Palma De Mallorca (1 week)

In May I went on a college trip to Mallorca (Palma), Spain. During the weeklong trip, I managed 4 visits to the airport (including arriving and departing), one of which was a ramp tour of the airport as well as a day by the end of the runway. Here are some of the highlights.

We flew out on Thomson Airways B737-800 G-FDZA, and first visited the airport after arrival 2 days later for a ramp tour. During the tour I spotted the Iron Maiden B757-200 G-STRX pushing back and asked the minibus driver to pull over to take a few shots, and I was not dissapointed !!






Two days later, a few of us asked the coach driver to drop us off at the airport while the rest of the group went into the city. Again, this proved no problem and we happily spent the day graphing Air Berlin's and other european charters, and the Iron Maiden again !!














Three days later it was time to leave our resort to come home, and after a quick check-in and small queues at security we had almost 3 hours before our flight. During this time I had a walk around the different areas I could access to see what was parked up. After this I headed to the gate for my flight, and just before boarding G-STRX, the Iron Maiden B757-200 appeared again and this time with even better lighting and positioning !! We then departed onboard G-CDZL back to Manchester.


During the flight back as on most flights, my head spent most of the flight looking out of the window and a United B767-400 in Star Alliance flew just underneath. Here is a photo I managed.


Ferbruary - USA / Caribbean (2 weeks) In February 2011, I went on my 9th trip to the USA, as well as on a Caribbean cruise. During the 2 weeks, I visited Philidelphia, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Miami, St. Maarten (well, Maho Beach), St. Lucia, Barbados, The Bahamas, St. Thomas and Martinique. Here is a small selection of the stuff I photographed.

After departing Manchester on N277AY (US Airways A330-300), we arrived in Philidelphia with a few hours to spare before the flight to Fort Lauderdale.



After arriving at Fort Lauderdale late night from Phili on board US Airways A321 N177US, we went to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep, before heading back to the airport for a couple of hours.











The next day we drove down to Miami to read off what was parked up, and a quick run up cargo meant we saw this Tampa Columbia Cargo B767-200F pushing back ! Rude not to stay for a photograph ?




During our 10 day cruise, the first place we visited was St. Maarten. The day had to be spent on Maho Beach !! A very busy airport an some mixed weather provided a good days photographing.
















After the day on the beach, the next mission was to graph this cracking scheme on a YS-11 that some years ago was turned into a bar and restaurant.

Over the remaining time on the cruise, we visited Castries in St. Lucia (along with an amazing little airport !), Fort-De-France in Martinique (where shots were possible but very distant from the ship), Bridgetown in Barbados, Half Moon Key in The Bahamas and also St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.





After arriving back at Fort Lauderdale and dropping family off at a mall, we then headed to Miami. I have visited this airport on almost every visit to Florida, and the variety here is amazing, here are some of the highlights of our 4 hour stay.

















The next day, we spent a few hours during the morning and evening at Fort Lauderdale. Here is a selection of what we got.














The next day we called in at West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. After this we headed back to Fort Lauderdale, then flying back to Philidelphia on US Airways A320 N108UW and from there back home to Manchester on N271AY (US Airways A330-300).








April - London Luton

In April we went up to Luton for the day, which produced a few nice 'large' business jets and a few airliners. It was also nice to catch the EasyJet B737-700 before they leave the fleet.