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

EPWA 2017.04.24

The weather was nice, plenty of free time so I decided to get out for some spotting of the afternoon departure wave. Mostly LOT 787s, some shots of the Nordica CRJ900. All departures from runway 29 due to the closure of runway 33 (usually used for departures of the 787s)

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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.

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.

LO92 PEK-WAW 2017.01.02

The last segment of the Taiwanese journey. The final flight home.

02 January 2017
LO92 (0845-1130) PEK-WAW
SP-LRB Boeing 787 Dreamliner

After arriving the previous day from Taipei via Fuzhou I get a sleep at a local hotel, where I catch the shuttle to the airport at 6. That means I have plenty of time to check my bag in (luckily no queue and I am able to change my seat to one that suits me better) pass all the necessary controls and browse the shops. Then, when the sun rises I still have time to take some photos through the windows in the scenery of a rising sun. After using Beijing Terminal 3 yet another time I must say that it really is decent and rather hassle free. Spacious, various shops and restaurants, benches to rest, get a nap, lie down, quiet areas. and the air condition works quite well.
But back to the flight. We depart with a slight delay which, due to winds will grown a little bit during the flight. I'm lucky to get the seat next to me empty (seated in row 24). The service comes right in time. Around an hour after take-off. The food is pretty nice. The crew walks around offering a top-up. For a minus, the windows have been blocked in a dimmed configuration for most of the flight. On a day flight... not a red-eye one, a day one. C'mon! Anyway. Time passes by slowly, movies, reading, music, small naps and finally we arrive in cloudy Warsaw with around 30 minutes of delay.
Summing up, I am content of the flight in total. Of the entire trip as well.

Daily Air Twin Otter KHH-CMJ-MZG 2016.12.30

During my trip to Taiwan I had to get on one of the island hopping flights. At first I thought I'd get on a Dornier 228 but a Twin Otter isn't too bad after all. As they don't operate in Taipei I had to choose a destination that would nicely fit with all the scheduled times. After all I decided to fly from Kaohsiung to Qimei and on to Magong with Daily Air and return to Taipei from Magong with Far Eastern Air Transport and their MD80 (a separate post will come for that). I took to THSR from Taipei to Kaohsiung, hopped on the MRT and arrived at KHH with tonnes of time to spare. So I walked around, took some pictures until finally, one hour before departure I could check-in and proceed through the security area. The waiting area is general for all flights and the 'gate' shows up moments before boarding. We area taken to the plane by bus, seats are assigned I get on my cosy 1C with the best view in town. My head nearly touches the ceiling and my bag sits at 1D. Awesome flight with glances into the paperwork, the FMC and other visible systems. The pilots surprised to learn that I'll be flying with them on the next sector, I disembark, grab some fresh air, wait for the plane to be loaded, papers filled out, the crew to rest and well, I had to check-in for the flight at the local check-in desk. The terminal looks sufficient for the needs of the locals. No belts, everything is manual. Unluckily the weather was gloomy and windy, which after all was a good thing because I did not regret the short stay. I'll have to return one day for a walk around the island.
On the second sector I sit in the fifth row, behind the wing. The only thing I want is for the plane to land in Magong. Wind and the size of the plane together with our low altitude come together for some pretty solid turbulence. Unlucky that there is a storm nearby. Lucky that the flights did even depart. The day before all Daily Air flights have been cancelled due weather.

Overall, I may surely recommend flying those short hops around on those tiny machines. I am still am after the Do228 though ;)

EPWA 2016.11.21 Austrian Boeing 767

A sunny morning in Warsaw. Austrian came by with one of their 767s for maintenance. Apart of that the usual Qatari A330, Emirates 777 and the unusual Slovak Yak 40 and an Open Skies An-26

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EPWA 2016.11.04

For the winter season Travel season leased one Airbus A330-200 from Air Transat for flights to warm destinations far away. Here it is seen resting at PPS12.

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MAD pre-flight spotting 2016.10.22

The next goal of October was to fly the Tarom A310. The story of all the troubles and adventures that I had before flying it at last will be in a different post. Here, to make it short, I'll just say that I've managed to take it on the MAD-OTP sector. I flew into Madrid with Ryanair and had around 12 hours to my flight to Bucharest which I decided to spend at the terminal. Terminal 4, used by Tarom, is quite nice for spotting both during the day and the night.

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EPWA 2016.09.21 Air China inauguration

Another foreign airline in Warsaw, what is more, from a country not so close. Air China started flights on the route from Beijing to Warsaw. Adding more capacity on that route to the current 3 weekly flights of LOT. In the winter two flights per week, more in the summer. A long layover with a early morning arrival. Here the first landing and departure.

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EPWA 2016.08.23 Kazakh Government A330

Another day, another delegation in Warsaw. Thanks to that visit, among others, Poles will soon have the possibility to travel to Kazakhstan visa free.

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EPWA 2016.07.15 Small Planet Afriqiyah

Sometimes, this season more often, Small Planet airlines got different (non-Polish) planes to fly their routes. We even got one in a hybrid livery of Small Planet and Afriqiyah. Being a fan of the Libyan airlines livery passing on that photo opportunity would be a shame.

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EPWA 2016.07.13 Western Global MD-11F

Every MD11 is currently a gem. In Warsaw, every being not a UPS one is a bigger one, even if it's white all over. Here a Western Global Airways.

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EPWA 2016.07.09 NATO departures

After the middle of the night arrival of the Air Force one, I hoped for a daylight departure. Couple more minutes and that wouldn't happen. Quite nice weather gave the opportunity for some decent photos of most departing delegations. Various planes, various liveries, all of them not a daily sight.

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EPWA 2016.06.25 Omni 762 and RAF KC2

A evening like many but with some unusual planes and carriers coming into Warsaw. This time a Omni Air International Boeing 767-200 (N225AX) and a Royal Air Force KC2 Voyager (ZZ331).

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N225AX

Amsterdam spotting, day 2. 2016.05.15

After being unable to catch the Martinair MD11 on the first day we returned to the airport on Sunday with the sole goal of getting it! The runway usage was rather unfavorable. We made our bets on the one that it would have a shorter taxi to. It didn't use it. It taxied all the way to 36L for departure so we drove after it, racing with time. On the route a police car got behind us so we couldn't drive to fast.. And we just saw the MD getting closer and closer to the runway. The last stretch, it's slowly lining up, it's rolling, we are nearly at the spot... We desperately stop, get out, take the shots that we are able to. All in all, not the worst, especially after that drive. Well, as we are already at the airport we stay there for a short time. Get some pictures of the "morning" departure wave from 36L. The sun is a little nicer than the day before. A couple nice heavies depart pleasuring us. After that we return home again and set for a well earned rest. The next day I have the morning flight back to Warsaw to catch.

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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

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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 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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