2026 Trips

  4th January 2026

Heathrow & Luton Day Trip

With a forecast of full sun and a couple of subjects on the photo hit-list we decided on a quick run down to Heathrow arriving just after sun up at 8am. First main target was the departure of the Riyadh Air Dreamliner which was sadly delayed an hour meaning we missed out on a couple of arrivals. A few pics of 27 Left departures were taken in the meantime.





Riyadh Air B787-9 HZ-RXX eventually departed shortly before 11am, a very pleasing catch in this great winter light.




We then made our way around to the 27 Right approach to await the arrival of our next target, 







At 11.40 the main reason for the visit arrived, American Airlines' superb looking "Retro" B777-300 N735AT




Happy with that catch we returned to the southside to catch LOT's newly painted "Star Alliance" B737-MAX8 SP-LVF departing.


With nothing much of interest due at Heathrow after this we had noticed that there was a very nice movement due in to Luton so decided to route home that way. 

After a quick run around LTN's perimeter to log the Exec Jets we headed to the multi-storey car park where the following were taken.

The one that tempted us this way ..... Wizz Air's new "250th" special A321 Neo 9H-WMR arriving just after 2pm from Warsaw. So nice to catch this so quickly considering that the airline now have such a large fleet!



We departed for home just after that, a very early finish for us but very happy with what we'd caught.

A very good day out in the end with a few decent subjects caught by the camera and a total of 35 new numbers in the log book between the two places.


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  1st March 2026

Madrid Day Trip

A long day trip over to Madrid saw us depart Manchester onboard Ryanair B737-MAX8200 EI-IJK just after 6am arriving in the Spanish capital just after 9am, over thirty minutes early which was a great start.


Due to the changeable wind forecast on the day we decided to stay airside and view from the departure lounge windows with the following seen throughout our time there.


The highlight of our day, Azul's A330-900N PR-ANV which wears the "Pink Ribbon" special, raising awareness of Breast Cancer 



Lufthansa A320N D-AIND wears their 100 Years anniversary scheme.

Very nice to catch Aeromexico B787-9 N815AM wearing their new scheme.





Democratic Republic of the Congo Gulfstream G4 9S-CGC was a nice surprise.

























A very successful day with some great subjects caught by the camera and ninety new numbers added to the log book. 

We departed back at Manchester just after 10pm local on Easyjet A320 G-EZTX arriving Manchester at 23.20. Thanks to Ashley, Gary and Fraser for another excellent and laugh filled day!


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31st May to the 1st June 2026

Two Day Vienna & Copenhagen Trip

Following the painting of SAS's A330-300 LN-RKR in their great looking 80th Anniversary scheme a trip was needed to go and photograph it in Copenhagen, this left us wondering how best to make it in to more than just a one day trip without spending it all in the Danish capital! After looking at reasonably priced flights around Europe Ashley found a routing incorporating a day in Vienna (another new airport for us all) and on to Copenhagen for a night and day there. 

Sunday the 31st May saw us departing Manchester early morning on board Ryanair B737-MAX8200 EI-IKK arriving in Vienna just before 10am local following a flyby of the airport on our downwind leg,

Passing Austrian Airlines B787-9 OE-LPM on our taxi in, our first of three seen that day.

We made our way landside and up to the top of Car Park 3 which has a view of some of the ramp and runway 29 which was in use for departures, the following were taken from this vantage point over the next couple of hours.












As there wasn't too much moving for a little while we decided to relocate airside to see what views were to be had there ....... sadly it wasn't great!

We eventually settled by the windows in Terminal 2 between the two piers which seemed like the best option, the following were seen over a very slow few hours.











Even though the day had seemed very slow I still managed to make 35 new numbers to go with a handful of new subjects for the camera, we were pretty happy to get away though when Austrian Airlines A320 OE-LBM departed to Copenhagen at 21.15 arriving there just after 22.30. We made our way straight over to our hotel for the night in nearby Tarnby. 

Up early the following morning we left the hotel just after breakfast and caught an Uber to a vantage point to try and photograph the departure of the Air Greenland A330-800N. Sadly the weather was pretty dull first thing meaning that the shots weren't much good.



We then took a long walk from this spot all the way around to the famous "Flyvergrillen", well timed to arrive just at their opening time of 10.30. We spent the next five hours here watching the arrivals on 22L and departures on 22R with the following being of most interest.



The star movement of the day for us, even managing to catch a little sun on its departure roll .... 
SAS A330-300 LN-RKR in the 80th Anniversary special scheme - 




Happy catching this, anything more would be a bonus .....










As we wanted to catch a few inbounds on 22L we caught another Uber around the perimeter to one of the long stay car parks where the following were taken,








As the cloud had now rolled in we walked over to the terminal and went through airside to spend a little while by the windows before departure, 







A pretty good day with another 38 new registrations added to the log book and a few decent images captured by the camera.

We now had an extended wait due to a very delayed Easyjet A320 arrival from Manchester, the aircraft actually leaving MAN after it should have been departing CPH with us on board! G-EZUA eventually landed at CPH just before midnight, almost two and half hours behind schedule. We departed Copenhagen shortly before 1am landing back at MAN just after 1.20am local time.

A decent trip overall despite a couple of setbacks, seventy three new numbers and a handful of new photos including the prime target, my thanks as always to Ash, Fraser and Gary for their company and keeping the mood positive when it mattered!


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Next Trip Coming Soon ......





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