Firstly, my personal TOP5 photos from the year. No specific order. Tried to show a diversified range of shots. Not necessarily top quality, but all of them represent something that might be special to me (like let's say a memory) about it. Choosing just 5 wasn't easy, so I decided that I'll end up with 7 :P Sometimes I had to go with the one that has a bigger story behind it. Many great photos couldn't make it, and it was a real battle.
1. That one is for all the spotting in Warsaw and the experiences connected with WAW. Entry source.
2. That one for all the spotting trips done that year, for the diversity, for all involved and for more to come! For the MD-11, soon to be a rare sight in Europe. Entry source.
3. Here there will be two, for the shows during this year. A couple first times for me, first time a night show, my first time at SIAF in Sliac and some more. Surely both of these made a big impression on me. The photo from SIAF shows a very low pass by Zoltan Veres while the night shot shows one of the Aerosparx in action. Entries to be published soon.
4. These two are for all the flights, plenty of them this year. All the ones with a greater cause and all those just for fun, just for the flight. The long and the short, the bigger and smaller planes. Entry source (photo 1); entry source (photo 2)
5. This one for the trips, not the flights, the trips. The places and people invloved, the views and expeirences throughtout the entire year. Entry source.
And back to the beginning.
January, the year started really hard. After a NYE fireworks show at Taipei 101, a quick commute 'home' and a short sleep I got to the airport in Taoyuan near Taipei. 1125 was the departure time for my flight to Fuzhou. Xiamen Airlines was taking me back to Beijing. At first a 787 was planned for the second sector, but it got swapped to a 737-700
February was to be from under the sign of the A380 landing in Warsaw. Emirates did send it to celebrate the anniversary of flying to Warsaw from Dubai. Flights? Yes, Rzeszów there and back; Düsseldorf during the carnival (and some pre-flight spotting from the terrace).
March. Main features? Zielona Góra there and back and a crazy low cost carriers trip to fly both to and from Lublin. Mainly Wizz (4 flights) and 1 Ryanair.
April. There is a long stop between the flights in March and the next flights. Nevertheless, during the renovation process on one of the runways in Warsaw, well it had to be close so all the traffic had to use the second runway. Thus I decided to get some photos from that unique situation. For all the spotting entries from Warsaw visit: here.
In May, Warsaw was visited by an delegation from Qatar (including the A310, A340 and B747-8) and by the RNAF KDC-10. Not a daily visitor! Also, I got a chance to test the new addition to the fleet of LOT, the 737-800, compare it to the 737-400 after its retrofit (also first try) and get a chance or two for some spotting in Frankfurt. Connected with the flights to/from FRA were also the flights to WRO.
June... Brief. An not exactly planned from the very start short trip to England. Austrian round trip via Vienna. Tight connections, missed one, got the F100 in addition to the planned E195, A320 and A321.
July. Sooo, half of the year passed. During that month I wanted to get the E135 of BMI. So I flew to Munich with LOT, transferred, and got a BMI E145 instead. unlucky... The next day was brief, a turnaround in Katowice (there and back, but different planes) and on to Palanga in the evening. Later the return to Warsaw from PLQ and after couple of days a hop to Kaunas (taking advantage of the runway renovation at Vilnius, so most of the flights for that time flew to KUN instead of VNO. (Nordica flight to KUN) (and the flight back to Warsaw))
August. Main attractions for that month? Definitely the night shows in Gdynia (day one and day two) and the Slovak International Air Fest in Sliac. Well, I had to get somehow back from the tri-city, no better way to do that than in a Q400 :D of course with LOT. And, same as in July, a there and back to Katowice, this time with the same plane. (photos to come soon)
September. The last flying month of the year. Tested Blue Air (chartered by LOT) there and back to Rzeszów. Been to London once again, this time with Lufthansa (WAW-FRA and FRA-LHR) and Swiss (LHR-ZRH and ZRH-WAW). For an nice ending: a special flight to Zielona Góra, with a special occasion (IEG airport anniversary), this time on an E175 and in normal, not night, hours! Very fun trip! (photos to come soon)
October, November and December are months that we can not speak about. There was basically absolutely no aviation action during these months. So, one could say that my aviation year was shorter, a 9 month year.
Summing the entire year up: a massive flying year for me. Some new types (although not as old and rare as they could be), like the Swiss 77W or CSeries, new airlines (like HOP!), a couple new airports and routes (still, nothing exotic, PLQ, VCE, HAJ...). A total of 51 flights during the year, in fact during 9 months as I haven't flown since the end of September, my personal yearly best. TOP airline? LOT - 24 flights, TOP a/c? Q400 - 11 flights.
Over 82 hours in the air, more than 39k km - together with other statistics looks nice.
2018 will start slowly, very slowly. Nevertheless a couple of big, solid plans are in the making and hope that at least some of them will be completed. Almost for sure there is no way I'll get on as many flights as in 2017. Surely what 2018 will brin
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