Two weeks ago, I was flying from Michigan to Johannesburg via Chicago and Frankfurt which created a very nice and lengthy layover in Frankfurt between my inbound flight from the US and connecting flight to JNB. This routing gave me a unique opportunity take in plane spotting at night when Lufthansa sends a few of their long haulers to Asia and Africa.
On typical trips, I arrive in FRA during early morning hours and my departures for the States typically take place by early afternoon. Having a 10:00p departure from FRA gave me an opportunity to see LH aircraft in a different light, or lack thereof….
While waiting for 10p to roll around, I ‘abandoned’ my wife to the capable hands of the Senator Lounge and set out to walk the length of Concourse Z which is typically where you’ll find most of LH’s long haul activity, especially at night. Fortunately the glass was clean enough and glare was manageable so that the pictures actually turned out quite well.
Enjoy!
747-8i, D-ABYL, ahead of her flight to Hong Kong
Another look at ‘Yankee Lima’
D-AISL, an Airbus A321, would head to Amman, Jordan
D-AISR, an Airbus A321, would head off to Bucharest, Romania.
D-AIGO, an Airbus A343, would head off to Qingdao-Shenyang
This would be our ride to Johannesburg. ‘D-AIMB’ aka Munchen is an Airbus A380, and is outfitted with the fantastic new Business cabin…..
Typically I do not see O’Hare as a Plane Spotting friendly airport. I usually am in the airport anywhere from 40-50 times a year and seldom found myself taking photos of any of the traffic. This is primarily due to the fact that O’Hare to me is a transit airport when connecting to other flights so there is typically little time. Additionally, with all of my travel to and from O’Hare being either on Lufthansa or United, I’m departing from terminal 1 or 2 which are not conducive to great spotting.
However, my opinion did change last week when I was flying to Europe on extremely short notice (18 hours) and needed to be in Slovakia ASAP. In order to get there in the fastest way possible I flew on AUSTRIAN which enable me to arrive in Vienna first thing the next day. For those not familiar with O’Hare, most international non-US carrier departures take place from Terminal 5. I say most because Lufthansa and ANA depart from terminal 1 making it convenient for United Airlines passengers. You don’t have to re-clear security when flying with them.
By flying Austrian, I had to go to terminal 5 in order to board my flight. I had not been in terminal 5 as a departing passengers in nearly 12 years and this was certainly years before plane spotting became somewhat of a habit. Once past security, I found to my surprise a great venue to watch arriving and departing aircraft along with aircraft taxiing to their Terminal 5 gates which create a nice mix of International and Domestic heavies.
I spent about 2 hours near gate M13 as well as in the SAS Lounge with camera in hand. I happened to be there during the peak arrival time for International flights so the variety was quite good. Enjoy!
SAS’ A330 approaches her Terminal 5 gate.
United’s 777
American’s 777 arriving at O’Hare
AeroMexico arriving from Mexico City
Iberia’s A330 arrives from Madrid
Cargolux’s 747-8F prepares for departure
United’s 747 begins her takeoff roll.
American (and United) Embraer aircraft are EVERYWHERE at O’Hare!
Virgin Atlantic’s A340 being prepared for her flight to London.
Speedbird as well being prepared for a flight to London.
Korean Air’s 777
ANA’s 777 taxiing to the runway for her flight to Tokyo.
And of course there are my favorite shots of the day. Lufthansa’s 747-8i, D-ABYI, dressed in her Fanhansa livery arrived from Frankfurt while I was taking my photos. As luck would have she would pull up right in front of me as if she knew where I was! 🙂
This aircraft would fly back to Frankfurt and then immediately turned around to fly to Rio de Janiero to pick up the German Soccer Team who had won FIFA’s World Cup.
Arriving from Frankfurt.
Approaching Terminal 5.
Right place at the right time for this shot, but unfortunately photo-bombed by a United 777!
Given the choice, I would always choose to do my plane spotting during day-light hours. For obvious reasons, its easier to see more aircraft and takes a heck of a lot less effort to capture aircraft when the sun is out. However, Plane Spotting at night done at the right location with the proper equipment can yield some great moments as well.
Paine Field is a perfect example of a place where you can see some very interesting things if you are patient and don’t mind standing outside in the middle of the night staring at an airport. ‘PAE’ has activity 24 hours a day/7 days a week. With Boeing’s operation running day and night, there is ample potential to see things here that you won’t see anywhere else. For example, the Dream Lifter fleet operated by Atlas comes and goes at all hours of the day transporting 787 components to and from Boeing’s Plant.
On this trip, I had the pleasant surprise of seeing an Antonov AN124 land at last light bringing 3 777 engines apparently due to an ’emergency’ need by Boeing. In addition to Boeing, Paine Field hosts companies who have contracts with airlines for fleet maintenance. Due to this, it is not unusual to see a variety of Airbus aircraft coming and going at all hours of the night as well.
On my trip, I dedicated 2 evenings to try and capture some of that activity that takes place after all the other plane watchers go home. I came away with some interesting perspectives including seeing 2 new 787s move through the assembly process and something as unique as a Kenya Airways 777 arriving with little notice. Hopefully the photos below will help show how great Paine Field can be at night…..
Anotonov’s AN124 arriving at 9:20p carrying much needed 777 Engines for Boeing.
Speedbird’s newest 787
This was a last minute surprise, a Kenyan 777 arriving in Paine Field at 9:30pm.
One of several LAN 787 at Paine Field.
Qatar’s 787 shortly before being towed from the factory.
Qatar’s 787 being towed out of the factory. The next stop for her is the paint shop.
LAN’s 787 shortly after being towed into the final assembly position on the 787 line.
Here is a brief video showing LAN’s 787 being brought into the final assembly position on the 787 line. As you’ll see, its a very delibrate and slow process. I wish I had my tripod with me at the time, its not easy to hold still for several minutes while standing on bushes! 🙂
This 787 belongs to the Saudi Government. Specifically for use by their Economic Ministry.
This United 787 is parked in front of Boeing’s Paint Hangars.
What the Paine Field flight line looks like at 10:00pm!
I arrived in Seattle late on the afternoon of June 19 and after dealing with Seattle’s miserable traffic, I finally got to Paine Field in the early evening so there was not much to see as far as traffic coming and going. However, the flight line was full of aircraft destined for a wide variety of airlines. One thing that struck me was the number of 787s that were present. The 787s easily made up 70-80% of the aircraft sitting on the various ramps. The 747-8i and -8F made up most of the difference aside from 1 or 2 777s. Seeing this reminded me a bit of Henry Ford’s attitude: “You can have any color on your car, as long as it’s black”. Boeing’s version would be “You can buy any airplane you want as long as it’s a 787”. It is nice to see the 787 continue to gain acceptance despite some of her early growing pains.
The highlight from yesterday’s abridged plane spotting was ironically a non-Boeing moment. At 9:00p, an Antonov AN-124 arrived from Columbus, Ohio’s Rickenbacker Air Force Base. Interestingly, the aircraft did not go to a ramp for parking, but rather was parked on a taxiway, surrounded by boeing vehicles. I speculate, but perhaps there were some pieces and parts aboard not designed for public viewing. I say this because Boeing has a VERY SECURE area within its assembly building where access is limited to the military and their contractors. Basically, it is the area where the 767s are being built to military specs to be used as tankers, so some secrecy is warranted.
Below are a few shots from the 2 hours or so that I had at Paine. Today (and tommorow!), I plan on spending virtually the entire day along side the runway hoping to catch a few great shots. If it works out, I’ll be back with some great shots…. 🙂
This 747-8F was previously decorated in a special Seattle Seahawks livery.
United’s First 787-900 (a bit blurry due to how far away she was parked!)
Right before sunset, the sun broke out behind a dark cloud cover to create some great light effects.
Lufthansa’s next 747-8i, D-ABYP, is also Boeing’s 1500th 747 to roll off the line. ‘YP’ will fly home on June 28 after Boeing commemorates the occasion on June 27.
British Airways’ next 787 receives her finishing touches.
This AN124 was the highlight of day 1. About 30-40 people turned out watch the arrival at 9:00p.
It is unusual to see an uncovered/unpainted aircraft in the open. Typically they have a green coating to protect the surface. My best guess is that this 747-8i belongs to Air China (Vertical Stabilizer provides a hint). Please correct me if I am wrong.
This 787, sporting Boeing’s newest ‘Incognito’ livery, belongs to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry.
On a recent trip to Europe, I had built in an 18 hour visit to Istanbul in order to pick up a Birthday present for my wife and to visit one of my most favorite eateries in the world, Durumzade. Of course I had to build in some plane spotting time as well…..
I had arrived in Istanbul from Hamburg (via Munich) at approximately 1am and my flight to Zurich would take place at 6p the same day. The plan was to be at the airport by 1 or 2p so that I can explore the nooks and crannies of the airport and find the perfect spot for photos.
I had been to Istanbul previously but plane spotting was ‘not allowed’ to be on the itinerary. This time, traveling solo, it WAS the itinerary! 🙂
For you spotters and ‘avgeeks’ Istanbul offers a wide array of traffic that most of us in the USA or Europe do not see on a regular basis. I love these kinds of airports because you just don’t know what you’ll find (like a Turkmenistan airliner for example).
The one critique that I have of ‘IST’ is the fact that they used green-tinted windows throughout the terminal which skews the colors in a photo. The reason for the tinted window makes sense as it is designed to help Air Conditioning be more efficient. Unfortunately the designers and builders failed to take into account what that would mean to plane spotters and their photos! 🙂
Anyway, after spending some quality time in Turkish’s fantastic lounge, I wound up having about 3 hours to walk through the gate areas to find a few good spots. Among a few that I found, my favorite and the one I would recommend is the area around Gate 26. The spot gives you a great look over the cargo ramp as well as having the ocean serve as a fantastic backdrop as you catch aircraft landing. There are a few other spots that give you a good look, but none nearly as good as Gate 26.
Here are a few of my favorite shots during my time in IST. As you can imagine IST is dominated by Turkish Airlines so I did not list every single photo that I took since many of them are TK aircraft. After all, how many Turkish 777s and A330s do you need to see, right? 🙂
If you’d like to see my other Plan Spotting posts, you can find them on my Plane Spotting Index page.
