Amsterdam spotting, day 1. 2016.05.14

After arriving earlier that morning from Warsaw, picking up my bag, I headed to the viewing terrace first. A couple of shots over there while waiting for my friends to arrive. When Robert, Mike and Simon got to the airport I met up with them and we headed off for some approach shots. Later, after a brief lunch stop when the sun wasn't well situated we headed for the Polderbaan. My first time spotting in Amsterdam and that was amazing! There we spent a couple of hours taking some classic, great shots. The weather was very chimeric. One moment pure sunshine, the other clouds all around. Wind like hell, and later came the rain. Finally we left the spot and drove home. A couple of first for me, a couple of shots I'm very happy about. The highlights: surely the cargo 747s (both -400 and -8s), the rotations of all heavies (747, 767, 777, 787, A340, A330) - phenomenal! The DHL A300. Unluckily the MD11 of Martinair was not given to us that day and it was one of our highlights on the 'to do' list.
So I ended the day with my first 748 shots, and that plane, I must say, has so much power! It's even better live then I thought!

PH-BFL rocketing out of the Polderbaan

VQ-BRH

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.

N431UP

B-8117

Mahan Air A300B4-600 THR-MHD-THR

The day nearing its end, we slowly proceeded again to the airport for a round trip flight to Mashhad and back. Scheduled was a Boeing 747-300 but unfortunately it broke down a couple of days before our arrival and it was swapped for an Airbus A300-600. Unlucky, but still not very easy to catch. First flight in business class and accompanied with a visit in the lounge at THR and the return in economy. Our plane will be EP-MNQ, an ex Lufthansa bird.

Tehran Mehrabad spotting OIII/THR 2015.10.02

During my stay in Tehran, we had a opportunity to spend some time at the end of one of the runways. The sun was going slowly to sleep giving us some nice conditions for photography. All didn't last long so just a couple of pictures:

EP-SUS