After flying to Amsterdam from Manchester on PH-BXV (KLM B737-800), we had a little time until our flight to Minneapolis. During this time, I walked round to the long haul gates to see the Surinam A343, and this China Airlines B744 was sat in a great position.
After this, we then flew on Delta A330-300 N806NW to Minneapolis. Here we had a couple of hours before the flight to Orlando, so we headed to the observation deck to catch some of the Delta commuter aircraft.
Next was a flight on N590NW, a Delta B757-300 to Orlando. Due to arriving late night here, we headed for our hotel. In the next few days, we called in at Orlando to see what was parked up (most interesting aircraft were 2 stored BAC 1-11's) and headed to Tampa before catching our week long curise.
During the cruise, we went to Cozumel, where we saw a Mexico Air Force B737-200, and a Delta CRJ-900 and onto Belize where only an Italian Air Force A319 was seen. The next day saw us at Roatan (an Island off Honduras) which was one of the best places i've ever visited. Here we logged several TACA Regional ATR-42's as well as a few exotic LET-410's like the example below.
After the cruise we spent a few more hours at Tampa, before driving down to Miami where we would stay for a couple of nights.
Here is a selection of photos taken from Miami. Most are taken by the fence, however some early morning shots were taken from our hotel window.
This LAN Oneworld B763 was taken just after sunrise out of my hotel window (reason for bad quality).
This Aerolineas Argentinas A340-200 was also taken from our hotel.
This TAM B767-300 is one of two daily in MIA, however they only usually arrive in darkness and depart early morning.
We then drove up to Fort Lauderdale, where we caught the main thing I wanted that flew into there (the AIRES B737-700) as they had not long since started.
Although the quailty is poor of the above Avianca B757-200, this turned out to be the last photo I would take of one as they were retired not long after. After this we spent a few more days in Orlando, before flying to Detroit on another Delta B757-300 N594NW. During our waiting and taxi out of Orlando, I managed to get these special schemes.
When taxiing onto stand at Detroit, I took this photo of a NW scheme B757-200. This was the last photo of a Northwest mainline fleet aircraft I would get in their scheme.
After a short connection time, we boarded another Delta A330-300 being N815NW that took us rather quickly back to Amsterdam. Upon arrival we had some more time before the flight back to Manchester, so an hour or so was spent by the main taxiway and runway before boarding PH-BXC back home.
In July 2010 I went down south for RIAT at Fairford and Farnborough Air Show. During the few days I spent some time at Heathrow and Luton. Here is a small selection of photographs I took.
In October 2010, I spent 4 days spotting/photographing in Antalya, Turkey. The reason for this was that the IL-86 was retired just one week after, and will never fly again. During the trip, we managed to get all 5 IL-86's remaining in service, as well as some old the older russian aircraft (e.g. the now banned TU-154B2) and various Eastern Bloc / Russian / European charters. Here is a small selection of what I managed to photograph.
We departed Manchester early afternoon on G-OZBT, a Monarch A321 and arrived in Antalya later that night.
The first of many German special schemes we would catch on this trip, and this was also my last Condor a/c.
While at a supermarket a few hours later, this departed right over me and it was a sight / noise I would never forget !!
Photowise, the above photo has to be the highlight of the trip !!!
The now banned TU-154B2 on a late afternoon arrival, just a shame the sun went in !!
