Emirates A380 in Warsaw 2017.02.10

For the fourth anniversary of launching flights between Dubai and Warsaw Emirates decided to send an Airbus A380 to Warsaw. Winter weather was almost at it's best. Unluckily the heat haze was active thus some of the photos didn't work out as good as they could. Both the departure and landing had to be on runway 15 on that day due to the size of the aircraft. Also, taxiing space is limited for the A380 at Warsaw Chopin airport. Both flights were on time, more or less. In addition some shots of other movements, the Air Transat A330 flying for Travel Service, LOT Boeing 787s and other smaller machines.

Prague spotting, day 2. 2016.05.11

The moment news about the Antonov 225 "Mriya" coming to Prague spread out I started planning and scheduling a visit in the Czech capital. Together with three other friends we made up a team and planned everything. It ended with three nights and two full spotting days, plus one short, just for the departure of the 225. Everything will be divided in three entries, link to other parts are available at the end of the entry. This was my first visit in Prague for spotting, and I must say, that the spotting locations are good! sometimes you need to walk a little, but hey, that's all in it!

We spent the second day almost entirely at the hill near the crossing of the runways. Early in the morning we caught the arrival of Hainan (and couple more) on runway 24.
That days spot gives us the opportunity to see both landings, taxiing and departures from runway 12 and 06 (which is not in use). Highlights of that day? Heavies, a couple special liveries and some nice light.

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Prague spotting, Antonov 225 arrival LKPR/PRG 2016.05.10

The moment news about the Antonov 225 "Mriya" coming to Prague spread out I started planning and scheduling a visit in the Czech capital. Together with three other friends we made up a team and planned everything. It ended with three nights and two full spotting days, plus one short, just for the departure of the 225. Everything will be divided in three entries, link to other parts are available at the end of the entry. This was my first visit in Prague for spotting, and I must say, that the spotting locations are good! sometimes you need to walk a little, but hey, that's all in it!

The first day we had to choose a spot from where to catch the landing of the giant. We had to gamble a little. At first we decided to go to the "safest" place, which was beside the crossing of both runways. After deciding that the heat haze was very unsatisfactory for us, we returned to our car (quite a walk) and switched for the approach to runway 12. The entire operation of landing and later taxiing of the 225 was complicated. It could taxi only via the runways and had to park next to the threshold of runway 24. Winds were not favorable either. We risked, but had it worked out, the photos would be phenomenal. (it didn't). The Antonov landed on runway 24, made a u-turn and backtracked, despite the winds. Though luck. We had to get on with what we had.
My highlights for the day (excluding the 225): Delta 767, Emirates A380, CSA A330, Swiss 777, all the shots over the canola fields and the night panning training session was also fun. Especially the Czech A330 was something I wanted to catch. Take a look on day 1 at PRG:

UR-82060 taxiing to its stand seen with a crowd of people that wanted to see him

A6-EES approaching runway 12

Paris CDG pre-flight spotting LFPG/CDG 2015.06.23

Yesterday we returned with Robert home pretty late, the night was not going to be very long. Before ending our day we packed our suitcases and checked-in for our flights back home. He was bound to depart in the morning (7am-ish), my flight was 3 hours later. The plan was easy, we drive to the airport, I return the car to the rental service and he goes for his flight. Meanwhile having a couple of hours to spent I decided to walk around the airport and perhaps take some pictures. I couldn't leave my bag anyway before check-in for my flight opened. My conclusions after the morning? Terminal 3 has nearly no spotting opportunities, Terminal 2 is hard and not many spots, Terminal 1 is on the other side pretty nice. Open air, planes very close and so on. Most of the pictures where taken from T1. For more info and pictures of the terminals visit my entry about LO332.

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Paris CDG spotting LFPG/CDG 2015.06.22

Monday came quickly. Three nights in Paris have passed since my arrival. During that time I've been at Le Bourget for the Air Show and at Orly airport for some spotting. This was supposed to be my last day in Paris, after the night I had to catch the flight back home. So we decided, together with my friend, to go for a little spotting at CDG - which is the main airport in the Paris metro area. After planning nearly everything out before arriving to France we knew that the distances were huge and without a car it would be nearly impossible to get some decent results. We did rent a car the day before (it was needed at ORY) and had a schedule of what arrives or departs when so that we could have a chance of catching everything (or at least most of the things) we came here for, which was: Air Tahiti Nui A340, LaCompagnie 757, the Air France 747s and A340s, UA/AA 757s and other plane+livery connections that are usually unavailable in Warsaw. To the "cooler" things we got I could add: FedEx 777s, UIA 767, TK A330, SAS retro jet, Egyptair 777, Air Transat A310 and more! Well, I can't say I am disappointed with the results. Although the weather was from the poor kind, in the morning full overcast, and later during the day rain came so we started spending more and more time in the car :P (of course lets add the trips for food to nearby villages).
Overall, Roissy offers a wide range of pretty good spotting locations, but to get to them easily you need a car transport. There are, more or less, a couple of parking spots in the area of mosts of the spots. If you are interested in a decent guide check this spotterguide out. It did help me out with a couple of problems. And remember about the permit, we did encounter a check during our stay.
Have a look what came out of my camera:

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Paris Air Show 2015

Every two years a Air Show is held in Paris. To be exact at Le Bourget airport. It is one of the biggest shows and trade days in the industry. Well, more trade days than a show. Anyway. I decided to go for the event in 2015. I visited the venue on Saturday, some machines have already flown away (the Boeings) but anyway being their and seeing all the excitement in the people, the A350 and A380 departing for the dynamic display and performing it was awesome. Apart of that I had the possibility to go into a experimental F100, see the newest baby of Antonov, photograph a ANZ ATR with colorful props and see the A350 for the first time live. Enjoy my little gallery!

Dubai spotting, OMDB/DXB 2015.01.20

During my short visit in the United Arab Emirates I did spend a couple of days in Dubai. Of course I had to go to the airport to take some pictures. I decided to go to the parking near the Emirates headquarters. Also, because of temperatures and plans that I've made for the day I chose do go rather in the morning than the evening. As a matter of fact, because it was quite windy, the heat haze continued quickly to arise I decided to get back to the city and continue with my preplanned itinerary.
See also spotting in Abu Dhabi and my flights to/from the UAE with Air Serbia.