A selection of my photos taken on my holiday and spotting trips during 2011
7th to the 9th December 2011 - Madrid
Our last trip of 2011 saw us fly out of Manchester on the late afternoon of the 7th on board Easyjet A319 G-EZGR, arriving around 1900 local time in thick fog !!
Not a lot could be seen so it was straight off to the hotel and a bite to eat......
8th December.
The next morning saw blue sky and sunshine and that is how it stayed all day long....Some great traffic and perfect light meant the following were captured from various points around the airport.
What can you say..... definitely one of the highlights of Madrid,
the superb looking Aerosur 747-400 CP-2603 on short finals in the early morning sun.
After catching the Aerosur it was up to the Barajas mounds for the morning
where the following were all shot...........
A320 EC-KNM wears special titles for "Bio Fuel" tests.
Early afternoon we were at the end of 33 Left for some landing shots.....
Then back to the Barajas mounds for the rest of the afternoon.....
The other major highlight of Madrid......
taxiing out around five hours late and in superb afternoon light,
The Conviasa A340 YV1004
A view of the lower mound as the Conviasa A340 passed by......
And that was it....
a great day in the sun and we went off to get some dinner and back to the hotel.
9th December.
A rather cloudy day but a few bright spells, the day was spent on the Barajas mounds.....
Qatar Amiri flight A320 A7-MBK parked up by T4,
unfortunately not possible to get a clean shot !!
Easyjet Swiss' first A320.... HB-JZZ
The great looking Iberia "Retro Jet" .... A319 EC-KKS
New Spanish operator Helitt.
And finally, the day ended with the Gestair Cargo 757F EC-KLD taxiing for departure
And so ended a great trip....
lots of nice subjects and some fairly good weather overall, we departed back to Manchester late evening, yet again on Easyjet's A319 G-EZGR.
lots of nice subjects and some fairly good weather overall, we departed back to Manchester late evening, yet again on Easyjet's A319 G-EZGR.
Another 76 new numbers in the book too !!
16th to the 18th October 2011 - Amsterdam
The 16th October saw us fly out to AMS on Easyjet A319 G-EZGK
We arrived around 0930 under blue skies and sun and we spent three days here with the mission being for Ashley to get some shots of the Martinair "Retro" 767, this was accomplished in the first afternoon.
The following were the highlights of the trip.
16th October.
Had to look twice at this Learjet...... pic taken just to confirm it was correct !!
17th October.
Not quite like yesterday, fog descended very quickly in the morning and took a while to burn off,
then it turned out mostly sunny.......
Nice to catch the ULS Cargo taxiing for departure at dusk....
18th October.
Up early again and this time it was heavy rain !!
It stopped mid morning and once again the sun came out......
This was a nice surprise, Lao Central Airlines 737-400 RDPL-34183
Towed out of the hangar but unfortunately the distance and heat haze prevented a decent shot !!
And that was that.... departed back to MAN on board Easyjet A319 G-EZGN.
A good trip with plenty of nice photos and 84 new numbers in the book !!
5th October 2011 - East Midlands
Whilst passing EMA we called in to shoot the new Rusline CRJ100 VQ-BNA that had recently been painted by Air Livery...........
24th to the 26th June 2011 - Frankfurt
The morning of Friday 24th June saw us on board Flybe Dash8-400 G-JECL from MAN-FRA for three days in Frankfurt. A mixed weekend weather wise but some nice sunny spells and some nice movements made it an enjoyable trip...... here are some of the highlights......
24th June.
25th June.
26th June.
Lufthansa's "50 Years of operating Boeing" special
And that was the end of the weekend..... we flew home late evening on Flybe Dash8-400 G-ECOF,
another great weekend with lots more new photo subjects and another 118 new numbers in the book !!
8th June 2011 - Day trip to Amsterdam
A cheap day out on Easyjet, flying from Manchester on A320 G-EZTD on the morning of the 8th June saw us on the terraces around 09.30, a mostly sunny day with some nice aircraft taxiing past.....
here are the highlights..........
One of the star movements at AMS, the Surinam A340 PZ-TCP.
Always good to get MD.11's in the sun, whatever the livery !!
PH-GGZ, one of two 737-800's leased from GOL of Brazil for the summer.
PH-BXO... the KLM "Skyteam" coloured 737-900.
A nice looking pair of Blue1 B717's...each one in the fleet carries a different colour scheme.
Nice to see a Delta Airlines 747-400, makes a change from all those A330's !!
Vueling's special "David Guetta" A320 EC-KDG.
Nice to get the China Southern "Skyteam" special AND a normal colours A330 on the same day
Saudi Arabian Cargo MD11's look soooo good !!
Unfortunately the TMA Cargo A300F was a little too far away, hence the heat haze.
We departed back to MAN late evening on Easyjet's A319, G-EZFN.....
Another great day out, a good selection of photos taken and another 54 new numbers in the book !!
February 2011- The USA and Caribbean
A family holiday to Florida and a superb cruise around the Caribbean in February saw me fulfil a twenty year dream of visiting St Maarten, to stand on Maho Beach and watch the aircraft landing over the sands !!
We departed Manchester on board US Airways A330 N277AY for the 7 1/2 hour flight to Philadelphia where we had just over five hours before our connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale.
Arriving in Philadelphia
Two of the few photos taken in PHL, this is due to it being mostly US Airways and the fact that while it is sunny you are shooting in to the sun at this time of day.
We departed at 1845 to Ft. Lauderdale on board US Airways A321 N177US arriving just before 21.00 where we collected the hire car and made our way to the hotel.
The next morning a short visit was made to the top of the car park at FLL before breakfast where the following were seen........
The next morning we made a quick visit to Miami and Opa Locka for some "numbers in the book" but no pics taken at Opa Locka as it was mostly all the same as our last visit in 2010 and only a couple of shots taken at Miami as it was still a little early for many movements, just a Tampa Cargo 767-200F pushing back off the cargo terminal and a LAN Cargo 767-300F departing.
Later that day we boarded our Cruise Ship, Holland America's Ms Noordam at Ft. Lauderdale for our ten night Caribbean cruise visiting St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados, Martinique, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay (Bahamas).
First stop was St. Maarten and it was straight off the ship and straight to Maho Beach !!
As it has been said so many times.... this place has to be seen to be believed.... what a superb day spent here, only slightly dampened by the torrential downpour early afternoon !!
Highest approach of the day award goes to this Winward Express Islander !!
This regular visitor to my local looked so much better only a few metres above the beach !!!
Mr A's very smart looking Falcon 7X lining up for departure......
Bye Bye Maho Beach..... we will be back again one day !!!
It was then in to a taxi back to the Cruise Ship, via a quick stop in Phillipsburg to see the YS11 PJ-WIK which is now a Bar / Restaurant in this great looking green colour scheme !!
Next port of call was Castries, St. Lucia where you sail past the end of the runway as you enter the port !!
The runway at Castries as viewed from the ship as we sailed in to port early morning !!
Parked up by the hangar as we sailed in to port.
Taken from the deck of the ship early morning whilst docked at Castries !!
Climbing out in the morning (taken from on board the ship)
(Taken from the ship)
(Taken from the ship)
A little distant but this is one of the few aircraft on the St.Lucia register.
A view from the port area looking across the water....... paradise !!
One of the three St.Lucia Helicopters AS350B's climbing out on another Island Tour !!
We departed Castries mid afternoon to sail down the Island and on to Barbados the next day !!
Didn't visit the airport at Barbados due to enjoying a great day Jet Skiing and lying on the beach but a fair few aircraft were seen inbound in the distance once back on the ship in the late afternoon.
Next up was Fort de France (Martinique) where the ship docks on the aprocah path to the airport although the a/c are quite distant so not much good for photography, didn't bother going up to the airport as the mornings are very quiet but did manage the following shot from the ship... yeah, not very good, I know !!
Didn't visit the airport at Barbados due to enjoying a great day Jet Skiing and lying on the beach but a fair few aircraft were seen inbound in the distance once back on the ship in the late afternoon.
Next up was Fort de France (Martinique) where the ship docks on the aprocah path to the airport although the a/c are quite distant so not much good for photography, didn't bother going up to the airport as the mornings are very quiet but did manage the following shot from the ship... yeah, not very good, I know !!
Next stop was St.Thomas (US Virgin Islands) where you get a distant view of aircraft climbing out from the airport but we did get to see a couple of the Seaborne Airlines Twin Otters coming and going from the port area whilst docked.
We left St.Thomas for the sailing back to Florida with just one more island visit, Half Moon Cay which is the cruise line's own private island, a lovely bit of paradise in the Bahamas which was a lovely relaxing end to the voyage....... no airport there though !! ;-)
That was it, a perfect cruise over and just a couple more days of the holiday left back in Florida.......
A few hours were spent the next day at Miami where the following selection were taken.
Unfortunately the Hewa Bora 767 that is on long term maintenance wasn't parked in a friendly spot that day !! That was it for our afternoon at Miami.
The next day saw us up early again for another visit to the car park at Ft.Lauderdale for a couple of hours before breakfast where the following were seen..........
Nice to see this "classic old lady" taxiing for departure at dawn.
The "sports charter" Air Canada Jetz A320 parked up on the Biz Ramp !!
Off out shopping for the day, making a short return visit in the evening for the following before Dinner.....
This DirectAir 737-400 was the only "out of the ordinary" one to photograph for me in West Palm Beach, while the following were taken back at FLL before breakfast and whilst in the terminal awaiting our flight back to Philadelphia.......
Nice to see the old "GB Airlink" Skyvan still going strong !!!
Then it was on to US Airways A320 N108UW for just over two hours to Philadelphia.
(Departing Ft.Lauderdale)
(Climbing out over the Bahamas)
We arrived at Philadelphia at dusk for a three hour transfer before boarding A330-300 N271AY back home to Manchester......
That was it, the end of an amazing holiday, a superb cruise around the Caribbean and a few nice photos and nearly 800 new aircraft in the log book !!!!!!!!
