Frankfurt spotting EDDF/FRA day 1, 2017.05.20

After arriving earlier that morning from Warsaw, together with a friend first we walked to the hotel, left our unnecessary belongings in our room and got picked up by different friends (who arrived in Frankfurt the day before). Later on all of us moved to the first location. There was a plan for both days at FRA (3 days for some). The main goal being undeniably the MD-11F of Lufthansa Cargo. My personal small goals? Basically almost everything else. From the Lufthansa 747s and A380 via Asian carriers to such cargo companies as Saudia Cargo, Air Bridge Cargo or Asiana Cargo. In fact the majority of traffic was nice, all the 747s, 767s, 777s, 787s, some A330s, A350, A380s and so on, and so on. Companies and liveries very different to those seen in Warsaw. What we didn't manage during the first day we left ourselves for the second. The weather could have been better, but it wasn't tragic. A long day, a short night later on with an early morning wake-up call. All well worth the effort!

D-ABYF

LOT Boeing 737-800 experience (LO381 WAW-FRA) 2017.05.20

20 May 2017
LO381 (0745-0945) WAW-FRA
SP-LWA Boeing 737-800

On a trip to Frankfurt on board the newest addition to the LOT fleet. The Boeing 737-800. The load on that flight wasn't great thus I was able to walk freely and sit both in the front and at the back. The seats on the plane are exactly the same like on the 734 after their retrofit. The seats are quite comfy, but unfortunately don't have an adjustable headrest, which is a minus. Only the front rows have power sockets (the 734 has them in all rows). With a Y186 configuration it is pretty dense, but you don't get a cramped feeling. Service is basic. Overall I'd say a pretty good product as for the times. LOT did a nice job with choosing the seats (I must also add that the backrest is adjustable). A next change in quality is said to come with the MAX, soon. Can't wait to see what it will be. I must say that LOT did do its homework well and can compete on an equal level with others.

Taxiing

EPWA 2017.05.17 RNAF DC10

A rare visit of the Royal Netherlands Air Force DC10 Tanker in Warsaw. A type rarely seen lately in Europe. Luckily it did give Warsaw and opportunity to listen and see it one more time.

T-235

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 2017.04.27

Just some simple shots with the hope of getting some water spraying action. But the heat haze won with me.

TC-JRL

Double Jumbo (LY, AI) 2017.04.26

Two Jumbos almost one after the other. Not a daily sight in Warsaw. An El Al Israel and a Air India plane arrive in Warsaw.

4X-ELC

EPWA 2017.04.25

A little spotting in the morning (~9-10am) and some from the evening wave (~5pm)

4X-EKH

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)

SP-LLG

ES-ACC

Low cost day, Lublin by Wizz Air 2017.03.26

One day I decided that I wanted to fly to and from Lublin airport. That flying from and to is different. Plus I didn’t want to have to get back from Lublin by bus or get to Lublin by bus. Wizzair has one plane based at Lublin so the flights are schematic. After some research the final routing was chosen, mostly based on the price factor. The day was to be a sad day for my back anyway, so at least my wallet wouldn’t suffer that much. It ended to be a WAW-LTN-LUZ-NYO-GDN-WAW routing with Wizz and the last segment with Ryanair. 6 am departure from Warsaw and back in Warsaw after 8 pm. Sounds like a plan. I checked-in for my flights rather late, with hope that maybe some “better” seats could be allocated, I got 3 times an aisle, one middle and one window seat, at least at the start. As I didn’t plan on too much photography (no camera) as I was traveling very light that wasn’t too big of a problem. Of course the window seat was on the flight after which I had the shortest connection. When buying the tickets I had 25 minutes in Gdańsk. Later Ryanair changed their schedule giving me only 10 scheduled minutes to change planes... But step by step:

Boarding a @wizzaircom plane at Lublin Airport #wizzair #luz #lublin #airplane #a320 #airbus @airbus #wing #avgeek #aviationgeek #aviation #plane #flying @lotniskolublin

Post udostępniony przez Konstanty Dobrzyński (@tinek6_hd_aviation) 5 Maj, 2017 o 1:10 PDT

(IEG) Zielona Góra by LOT, LO3983 & LO3984

17 March 2017
LO3983 (2235-2335) WAW-IEG
SP-EQL Bombardier Q400

18 March 2017
LO3984 (0545-0650) IEG-WAW
SP-EQL Bombardier Q400

For a long time I wanted to fly to the small airport in Babimost in western Poland. Flight to and from Zielona Góra – Babimost have been long operated by Sprint Air on the Saab 340 but the schedule didn’t make it possible to get a one day trip from Warsaw. After their contract ended, LOT scooped up the new contract for the flights and now flies 5xweekly on the Q400. The flights still don’t allow to get a one day trip from Warsaw but they do allow for a short night stay during the weekend. The flights leave late from Warsaw and leaves early from Zielona Góra. So after LOT announced the flights I got tickets for one of the rotations. Straight from work and then straight to work. Not many passengers during this time of the year (23 for WAW-IEG and 16 for IEG-WAW). Now, during the summer, the loads are better. At IEG, they have a separate arrival terminal to which you are taken by a bus. The departure hall is small, has no classic gate, boarding is performed by hand by the staff and you walk to the plane. My entire experience was very positive, because of (its grotesqueness) the small details that I found new, and hard to believe. The ‘gate’ area would be crowded if the Q400 was full, I don’t want to think what would be happening there if a full plane of the size of a B737 or A320 would arrive or depart. At the speed that the security check was performed, two hours would surely not be enough to check everyone, the space behind the security check would be full and overcrowded for sure. Lucky for them that they don’t have such situations although they probably would love to have more flights and more passengers.