by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 28, 2014 | Airlines, Featured, Plane Spotting |
A brief post this morning since I’m up in Anchorage on a part Mileage Run / part Plane Spotting trip. After my first trip to this fantastic city last year it was an easy decision to come back. However this year I waited until April instead of January so no sub-freezing temperatures and blizzard on this go-around.
I’ve been lucky with weather so far and even had the good fortune for the winds to turn 180 degrees today which increased the amount of traffic that I would see on the North/South runway. Last time I was only able to shoot take offs, but this time Mother Nature gave me a hand and turned the winds to blow out of the South which forced the ‘heavies’ to land in front of me for half the day as well as taxi down to my end of the runway prior to takeoff. No complaints from me!
These images are just a few of my favorites from Day 1. I’m testing some new equipment ahead of my trip to Europe next week so there was a bit of a learning curve to get through today. After 900 shots, I’ve narrowed it down to a few dozen at this point. Fortunately I have another entire day to capture a few more ‘moments’.
Click here to see Part II
Then there is this one, chewin’ & chompin’ for what felt like hours…..
by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 20, 2014 | Featured, Plane Spotting |
After enduring what has been the worst winter I have ever seen as far as snow and lack of ‘positive’ temperature is concerned, I am really excited about the next few weeks and months.
For those of you who are familiar with my site you’ll know that Plane Spotting is a passion of mine and in most cases my travels and vacations have their foundations based on the desire to photograph as many aircraft as possible. To this end, I typically have a normal rotation of my regular airports that I visit during the year and I try to add a few new ones along the way.
So with the last of the snow finally gone, along with serious weather related cancellations and other ‘irrops’ thanks to winter, I finally can be on my way out the door with cameras, lenses and memory cards in hand…..
Starting next week, I’m off to Anchorage where I’ll spend a couple of days standing along side runway 32 and watch a varied collection of long haul cargo arrivals and departures from EVA, UPS, Panalpina, Atlas, Fedex, Korean and others along with Alaskan specialists Everts and Era. Last year I made the trip to ‘ANC’ in January and had to contend with a day with blizzard conditions as well as a day that was absolutely perfect. This year I thought better of it, and decided on a spring visit and looks like the weather will be perfect.
Some examples of what is possible in Anchorage:
Then things really start to pick for my travel calendar as I head to Europe in the first part of May. It starts in earnest when I connect to my LH flight to Frankfurt from Washington DC where I’ll have a chance to spot from Lufthansa’s Senator Lounge. The lounge overlooks the tarmac between terminals and provides a good opportunity to see a few international ‘heavies’.
Once in FRA, I’ll spend a day visiting friends at Lufthansa as well as spending some quality time on FRA’s excellent observation deck before finding a duck or pork knuckle for dinner.
From there, it’s on to Hamburg for the Port Festival and HAM-DO.
While in Hamburg I’ll finally have my first ride on Lufthansa’s Junkers Ju52 when it flies over the opening parade of the Festival. In addition, HAM-DO will take participants behind the scenes at Airbus as well as Lufthansa Technik. No doubt, some outstanding photo opps are waiting.
Lufthansa’s Junkers Ju52 flies over the Hamburg Port Festival
After 2 days in HAM, it’s a quick run to Istanbul for a day in order to pick up a gift for a certain someone. I’ve built in a long layover in Munich in between flights from HAM to IST, which gives me plenty of time to take a photo or 2. Istanbul also presents spotting opportunities albeit through green-hued windows. In this case, the subject of the photos are more important than the quality. IST is full of unique carriers that I normally do not get to see, so several hours have been built in for spotting in IST.
From Istanbul it’s to Zurich via Vienna where I will spend 2 days dedicated to nothing but plane spotting in and around ‘ZRH’. The airport is perhaps the most spotter friendly airport in the world with 2 dedicated observation areas within the Airport perimeter as well as several spotter friendly areas around the airport. I hope 2 days will be enough! A big thanks to Twitter’s @easyspotting along with Tis, whose website, www.PlanePics.org, provides a fantastic resource and great advice for spotting in Zurich.
I had a few hours on a recent trip to Zurich which convinced me to go back. Here was some of my motivation:
I caught her through a window last time…This time, I’ll be outside waiting for her…
From ZRH, I head for home via Frankfurt where again, I’ve built in time specifically for spotting before boarding my LH flight back to the states. In all, 8 days, 6 cities and plenty of plane spotting opportunities. I can’t think of a better way to see Europe! 🙂
The calendar only gets busier….a couple weeks after this trip, it’s off to Seattle to see what new toys are coming out of Boeing’s Everett facility.
Winter is slowly becoming a distant nightmare of a memory!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 17, 2014 | Featured, Lufthansa |
20 Years ago today, Lufthansa celebrated two “FIRSTs” for the airline.
On March 18,1994 the first Airbus A321 entered service when ‘D-AIRA’ took to the skies for Lufthansa who was the launch Airline for the new type of aircraft. Thats ‘First’ #1.
The second ‘First’ to take place was that this A321 was the first Airbus that was fully assembled in Germany. A major accomplishment for a country just barely coming out of reunification in 1990.
The A321 model compliments the A320 family (A318/A319/A320/A321) by being an aircraft with 30% more capacity than the A320 while at the same time being 43% more efficient when it comes to carbon emissions and 10% more efficient in terms of fuel consumption. According to ‘Wikipedia’ there are 891 A321s in active service today around the world. For Lufthansa it represents the largest part of its fleet with 62 A321s in operation.
D-AIRA is still in service today. The photo at the top of this post was taken when I was plane spotting in Munich last year in the Fall.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jan 1, 2014 | Airports |
During my run this past weekend, I had scheduled an overnight stop-over in Lisbon so that I would have a chance to see the city instead of just transiting it. Since it was my first time in Lisbon I thought this made sense and I’m glad I did (more on my stay coming soon).
Almost always when I travel, I seek out opportunities for plane spotting and usually will pick my destinations based on this addiction. Lisbon was going to be a challenge because it is not known for its plane spotting (at least within the airport) because of the gate designs. Reviews that I read on Lisbon plane spotting were not positive and some reviewers stated it was impossible for decent spotting within the airport terminal. They must have had their eyes covered by their lens caps because nothing could be further from the truth.
Though ‘LIS’ is not known as a global gateway and is dominated by Portuguese national carrier TAP, it still provides great opportunities to see aircraft up close and to even see a few unique carriers and liveries as well. Is it FRA, MUC, LAX or ZRH? No. But is it worth packing your camera and exploring? Absolutely.
There are however a few challenges with LIS. One, most of the glass in the older part of the terminal has a dotted coating and a green hue to help with glare and Air Conditioning efficiency. However, if you make your way down to the new part of the terminal, specifically the large glass walls near Gate 26, you will be rewarded with clear views of LIS traffic and less tint in the glass. Incidentally gate 26 give you a good look at the Non-Schengen ramp so you’ll see most TAP ‘Heavy’ and international long haul flight departures.
Most of the following pics were taken from the gate 26 areas. Some were taken at other locations and aboard aircraft. I’ve indicated the locations in each photo’s caption.
Hi Fly’s A310 – notice the ‘less is more’ livery…. 🙂 Taken from aircraft while taxiing to takeoff
Plenty of European regional activity – This AF A319 is heading to CDG. Taken near Gate 22
Angolas TAAG 777 – taken from aircraft
Another view of D2-TEG, this time from terminal – notice the green cast? That’s due to the tinted glass in some parts of the airport.
EK’s 777 prepares for departure to DXB. Taken from Gate 26.
TAP heavies lined up at the non-Schengen gates. Taken from Gate 26.
Lufthansa’s A321 ahead of departure to FRA. Taken from Gate 16.
My SWISS ride to ZRH arriving from ZRH. Taken from Gate 26.
Sata is the Azores national airline. I love this livery. The metallic blue paint scheme does not come through here, but it is fantastic! Taken from aircraft.
TK’s 737 arriving from IST. Taken from Gate 26 as she parked at a non-Schengen gate.
LIS is the home base for TAP so there are tons of medium range TAP aircraft everywhere! Taken from aircraft.
A TAP A330 making her way to takeoff
Another example on a TAP A320
Another efficient livery – this time it’s Euro Atlantic’s Boeing 767 – though I suspect she will be heading to the paint shop soon based on other ‘YU’ aircraft I saw at the field. Taken near Gate 24
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 31, 2013 | Airlines |
On my recent 4 day / 10+ segment mileage run that took me to Washington DC, Frankfurt, Vienna, Zurich, Lisbon, Newark and finally home to GRR, I had a great opportunity to visit Zurich’s beautiful Observation Deck atop Terminal B.
I’ll have more on the observation deck in a future post since it merits a better and more detailed looked. For now, I’ll share some of the images I was able to capture during my 2 hour visit to the deck. I had a 4 hour layover so I did not have as much time as I would like but I took what I could get (and I wish I had packed ‘BIGMA’). Safe to say now that I’ve had my first taste, I’ll be back for a 1 or 2 day visit in the spring when another area on the airport is open for spotting as well.
For now enjoy some of what I saw in ‘ZRH’! :
A face off between the 747SP of the former ruler of Qatar and a ‘Jumbolino’
Turkish operator ‘tailwind’
Taken through glass hence the ghosting near the engines, but still a good catch!
This was the ‘Best Of Show’ while I was in ZRH. This 747SP is the private aircraft of the former ruler of Qatar.
A departing Swiss A340-300
Austrian’s A320 gets a push back from her gate
An AVRO RJ100 ‘Jumbolino’ arriving to Terminal A
SWISS’ A330 being prepared for departure
A departing SWISS A330
SWISS’ A321 HB-ION climbing out of ZRH
An A321 pushes back from her gate.
A Swiss A319 making her way to the active runway.
What will become a rare sight, A Lufthansa 737.
KLM’s ERJ190 taxis to the runway.
this Jat 737 actually now belongs to Air Serbia
SWISS’ A320 leaves the gate
NIKI/Air Berlin A320 push back from her gate
this SwissJet AW139 passed very quietly overhead…..almost missed her!
Darwin’s Saab 2000 being prepped for service. DARWIN will become Etihad Regional in March 2014.
Delta’s 767 departing for the USA
‘Speedbird’ A321 arriving from England.
Air Berlin A320 rolling towards runway…..
Air Berlin A320 departing ZRH
