Plane Spotting | Lufthansa Flyer

‘Paine’ Spotting February 2015: Part I

by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 17, 2015 | Airlines, Airports, Featured, Photography, Plane Spotting | 0 comments

If you’ve been visiting LH Flyer over the past few days, you might be thinking that the only things happening at Paine Field last week were related to Lufthansa aircraft. Granted, Lufthansa did take delivery of their last Cargo 777 (D-ALFE), they did unveil the much anticipated Retro Livery on one of their 747-8i (D-ABYT), and of course there was yet another 747, D-ABYS, that underwent her final flight tests ahead of delivery to LH. For those of you that may have missed some of these moments, you can find those posts here:

D-ALFE: Lufthansa Cargo’s last 777F

D-ABYS: Final test and customer flights ahead of delivery.

D-ABYT: Part I (First Looks & Inaugural Flight), Part II (Return From Inaugural Flight), Part III (Additional photos).

However it was a busy week at Paine Field for other carriers as well. Several airlines took deliveries of their newest birds, Boeing unveiled a few newly painted planes and a variety of test flights filled the 3 days that I spent there. I’m glad that I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Everett since it’s location right next to the airport made it easy to see everything that was going on, even in the middle of the night!

Because of the amount of photos, I’ll break this plane spotting post into 2 or 3 parts. Part 2 and 3 will follow in the next few days.

To see my other Plane Spotting related posts, please visit the Plane Spotting Index or Aero-Shots.com where you can see my growing collection (i.e. work in progress) of Airline photographs.

Enjoy!

Cathay’s B-KQV enters the runway for her test flight

A new United 787 departs on her final test flight prior to delivery.

TK’s TV-JJV 777 approaches Paine Field

Turkish 777 touchdown after ferry flight from California where she was painted.

Singapore’s 9V-SNA prepares for a test flight.

Qatar’s 787 A7-BCS departs for a final test flight

Its not all about modern AIrliners at Paine Field…..This DC3 prepares for takeoff.

A rare sight, an ANA 777 being moved in the Boeing Factory.

KLM’s 777 (new livery) prepares for her first-ever flight.

KLM’s newest 777 approaches Paine Field

a red and white airplane parked in front of a building

Hainan’s newest 787 minutes after being removed from the Paint Hangar.

Cathay’s B-KQV enters the runway for her test flight

A unique angle as this CX 777 executed an intentional missed approach.

Batik Air’s newest 737

a green and yellow airplane flying over a runway

American Airlines 737

LUFTHANSA’s D-ABYT ‘Retro Jet’: More Photos!

by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 16, 2015 | Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa, Photography, Plane Spotting | 2 comments

After having a few hours during my flights home yesterday I finally had a chance to screen through all of my 532 photos of D-ABYT. During this process I found a few more photos that I think you’ll enjoy.

If you haven’t seen my previous posts showing D-ABYT’s first taxi test and test flight, you can get caught up here:

Part 1: Taxi Test and Inaugural Flight

Part 2: D-ABYT Returns From Inaugural Flight

Entering the runway for taxi test.

Applying brakes during taxi test

Full stop – the brakes work!

Into the clouds….

Gear retract

Away for a B1 test flight….

LUFTHANSA’s D-ABYT ‘Retro Jet’ 747-8i Returns From Inaugural Flight

by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 15, 2015 | Featured, Lufthansa, Photography, Plane Spotting | 1 comment

As promised, here are a few photos that capture the moments soon after ‘YT’ returned from a successful inaugural flight at Paine Field today. With the way the winds were blowing she landed from the South while I was positioned at the north end of the runway about 9,200 feet from her touchdown, so apologies in advance for not having the best landing photos.

However, I think these photos show off her fantastic livery. Everyone that I spoke to today about her thought she was a beauty. As it stands now, we’ll see her head to Frankfurt on or about March 13. In the mean time she’ll take a few more test flights here before being certified for delivery.

If you missed my earlier post showing her departure, you can get caught up here and here.