Frankfurt spotting EDDF/FRA day 2, 2017.05.21

After the first day of spotting, a short night, the second and last day came. Early morning wake-up call in order to get some shots of the morning arrivals. We had a flight later in the evening so we wanted to use as much of the day as possible. The morning was chilly, which compared to the heat we got later during the day was a very nice thing. Our main goals for the day were the retro planes that we didn't manage to catch the day before, as well as the MD11s. Despite the heat, the limited amount of  combinations available I am happy with the results. We changed our location a couple of time and after ANA 777 BB8 c/s arrived we headed to give back our car and wait for the flight, hence the couple pictures from the terminal. After a long and exhausting day we later boarded the half empty flight to Warsaw. Overall, very well spent two days at FRA!

A6-EFL

EPWA 2017.05.05 Qatari

A delegation from Qatar visited Warsaw. They came on three planes, an A310, an A340, and A319CJ a 747-8. During their departure also the usual scheduled Qatar A330 departed for Doha. The first plan was to catch the 747 departing from runway 33 and then quickly shift for the rest of departures from 29. That's the reason for the shots of the 787s. Unluckily they decided to taxi at once, both the A310 and 748. A quick decision and I move for the A310 departure so I can only watch the 748 taxiing away. The sun did play some nice tones later during the day. In fact not the shots I wanted to get but I did take the risk being fully aware of what can go wrong.

A7-AFE

DUS pre-flight LO408 2017.02.26

Knowing that Düsseldorf airport has an open viewing terrace we decided to go the airport well ahead the time we’d normally go. After walking around the general area first we head towards the terrace where I’ll spend most of my time before it gets cold, almost dark, boring and the time will end. The terrace itself is real nice I must admit. Plenty of room. “Access” to a couple of jetways. Good view on the runways and taxiway. Some nice close-ups are possible with a longer lens. But if you have only a short one, don’t worry as you’ll still have plenty of photo opportunities.

EPWA 2017.02.09 Scandinavian retro

Yet another gloomy, dark, winter day in Warsaw. A sole exception the SAS retro A319. OY-KBO

OY-KBO

EasyJet A319 experience, 2017.01.08

08 January 2017
U24479 (1325-1540) LYS-KRK
G-EZEG Airbus A319

Returning home via Cracow. Easyjet to KRK and then LOT back to Warsaw. From the second sector there will be no entry. Checked-in well ahead, got some decent seats. After arriving at the airport with the tram I head to the furthest terminal, terminal 3 which at that time was under some reconstruction work to make all work better. Thus you have to walk quite a lot to get to the check-in area and later back to the gates area. Beside the gates there is a very small choice of shops and accessories in them. You can see that it's a rather low-cost terminal. The gates have a waiting area for passengers after they've been boarded. So we stand there like cattle waiting for the plane to be ready to take us on-board. An aspect I really detest when flying low-cost airlines in Europe. On board I get positively surprised that the seats do recline. Not much, but still. Legroom is as I expected. The better views (alps) are unfortunately on the other side. On the other hand we get a nice view of Cracow city on approach.
Overall, a low-cost flight - a low-cost experience. Not too comfy but gets you from A to B. Still, the reclining seat was a plus, one of the few... I did get what I expected, not much more, and a little less at Terminal 3 in Lyon.

EPWA 2016.08.27 Summer morning

I wanted to take advantage of the clear skies and sunny weather and take some morning arrivals shots. A plan is always good up to the moment when it stops being plausible. After two arrivals as planned on runway 11, one of the departures reported a heavy tailwind and all was switched. Back to the rather usual 29 ops. I planned to stay only around 1 hour but ended up almost 4. Nevertheless I'm happy about the outcome. Oh, and the MD11 which usually doesn't fly on Saturdays but because its flight got cancelled the day before it did on that day.

SP-LNB

EPWA 2016.07.07 Azerbaijan and USAF (E4-B, C-32)

Preceding the NATO summit in Warsaw, some of the equipment was brought in earlier. Delegations arrived at different times and dates. On the 7th of July came in, apart from other, the delegation of Azerbaijan (with a Boeing 767, an Airbus A319 and a Gulfstream G200), and United States Air Force arrived with an E4-B, a C-32. Additionally some pictures of other traffic in the light of a setting sun.

75-0125 and SP-LRB

4K-8888

EPWA 2016.04.26

Yet another day at work. This time the extraordinary aircraft was a Ukraine Air Force Antonov 30. Apart of that a photo of a soon-to-be-painted into the Small Planet livery A321 (ex Aeroflot) and a Helvetic Airways A319 accompanied by a E75 being pushed back.

EPWA 2016.02.25

Just another morning shift at work. For the start some beautiful contrast and light play. Later on some cold winter white light during the day. Only at the end did gray clouds arrive taking the sun away. So did Lufty's Die Maus (D-AIRY).

SP-LIA

SP-LIA

EPWA 2015.12.02 EK B777

Day like every other, shady, cloudy and a bit rainy. Today the treat was an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER taxiing up close, my lens was not enough for what I wanted to get at the final stage ;) but the sheer view of the 77W taxiing up to me so close is incredible.
Moreover an Adria A319 as an replacement for the usual CRJ and a picture of an El Al 738 and a UIA E190.

SP-EQL

A6-EGN

EPWA 2015.09.16 B77F Etihad Cargo & Trade Air F100

Last year we had a Etihad cargo triple seven visiting WAW, this year the story repeated. Twice even, with some horses this time. Coincidentally the day of the Etihad departure a Trade Air Fokker 100 operated a charter to Warsaw. Both arr and dep.

9A-BTD Trade Air F100 departure

A6-DDC departing

EPWA spotting 2015.06.08

A short trip to the airport for an attempt to get a couple sunset photos, the sun didn't play exactly as I wanted, but the two last photos are rather ok.

F-GTAJ

Jula private King Air 200 SE-KXM

P4-MGU at EPWA 2015.06.05

Two, quick photos of this A319 ACJ resting, or rather having a sauna, in Warsaw.

P4-MGU
Global Jet Luxembourg
Serial number: 5445

Type: 319-115XCJ
First flight date: 18.02.2013

Geneva spotting, LSGG/GVA 2015.05.29

After my flight on the Belavia Tupolev 154 from Minsk, I have decided, together with a friend of mine, to go spotting and catch the departure back to Minsk before we go to to city. And so we did. Using the spotterguide for Geneva we directed ourselves to spot #4 which was already had a couple of visitors. The departure itself got delayed by over two hours. All in all it was a good thing. Thanks to the delay we've manged to catch a couple of planes we would surely miss if the plane would have departed on time, like a Islamic Republic of Iran A321, or the 200th Easyjet Airbus. Between them there was a Swiss A319 performing a go-around, a United 767, a Swiss A333, a MEA and Royal Jordanian alliance liveries plus something I've been looking out for a little bit: the Etihad Regional Saab 2000.
Later that day I had to return to the airport to catch my next flight. This time it was to Copenhagen on a SAS CRJ900.

I-PBRA

HB-JXC

Air Serbia experience

Back in January I flew with Air Serbia from Warsaw to Abu Dhabi via Belgrade. Why? A couple of reasons. New places to see, new airline to fly and more. 4 flights on the Airbus A319, 3 of them Air Serbia and one Etihad but operated by Air Serbia so it counts as Air Serbia as well. The routing was very simple. A round trip WAW-BEG-AUH-BEG-WAW. On the short flights (to and from Warsaw) the service was modest. A bag with a sandwich, a cookie, a little bottle of water and tissues was handed to every passenger. On the longer flights we had a full meal, we could even choose :P Most of the flights were during night hours. We had sun shining only for the landing in Abu Dhabi. This is the reason for not so many pictures from the flights. This and the fact that those have been simple A319s, so photographing every detail made no sense.
My opinion about Air Serbia? Why not. The service is of decent quality, planes have been rather clean, crew made no problems. The food might not be of highest quality but it is eatable so ok. As you can see the sandwiches were pretty poor. I'd surely prefer to pay a little bit more and get a properly made bun. Transiting in Belgrade is easy and as JU has good connections from WAW to AUH. I might use them again on that route. One thing that might bother some passengers is that you fly a A319/A320 for a long time, and on the night flights you've got to sleep on it. Well, in business class there are proper seats (if anyone is interested) but in economy it's nothing special.
During my stay I also had an occasion to go for spotting both in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai and visited the aviation museum in Belgrade. Check the links for more. There is a seat review video at the end of the entry.

JU635 (2045-2225)
WAW-BEG
YU-APJ A319

The food bag