I spent a little time at Haneda on a recent trip to Tokyo. It was not an ideal day for photography but it had its possibilities. One thing that really surprised me was that I seemed to see a bunch of planes with special paint schemes. I don’t know whether Japanese airlines just have a lot of specials or whether Haneda is the place that they all come but I saw a lot. One of them was from China too. Here are some shots of the specials from that day excluding one that will have its own post.
Lufthansa A350s are something I seem to struggle to get a good look at. They operate to a number of places where I have been but I either time it wrong or they are on the opposite runway from me so a distant shot is all that results. The closest I have got to them is at Haneda. There an example landed and taxied in to the terminal across from me. The light was at the right angle but the excessive heat meant that haze was a problem and I wasn’t going to get a good shot. It is the closest I have managed so far but I shall continue to wait for the opportunity to get something better. The fleet will grow and the route structure will expand so the time will come at some point.
The passenger 747 fleet is something that is shrinking fast. US operators have retired theirs but other operators still have fleets in use, some of which (like British Airways) are still fairly large. However, they are definitely not as common a sight as they used to be and seeing one from a different operator is a nice surprise. At Haneda I saw a couple of operators. A Qantas jet was parked on the far side of the field and, while visible, wasn’t much of a shot. However, a Thai Airways jet was on the gate when I arrived so it seemed like there was a fair chance it would move before I overheated and gave up.
It took a while but eventually it did push back and taxi for the runway I was watching. It then sat at the hold for what seemed like a ridiculously long time. It probably wasn’t that long but I was wilting in the heat and begging it to move. Finally it did line up and got off the ground pretty quickly. I guess the run to Thailand is not a long one so it wouldn’t have been very heavy. I wonder whether I shall ever see one of these again?
A morning at Haneda provided a few planes to shoot but the temperature was really oppressive so I didn’t hang around too long. A Gulfstream turned on to the runway for departure and I almost didn’t bother going in to the sun to shoot it. However, habit got the better of me and I was glad I did. It wasn’t a normal Gulfstream but one from the Japanese Coast Guard. It included a large radome under the front fuselage. I hadn’t seen one like this before.
While I enjoyed my visit to Haneda earlier this year, I was a little frustrated by one thing. Regular readers will know of my interest in trying to capture the articulated gear feature of the 777-300ER. Haneda provided a great opportunity to photograph this as the departing planes were rotating almost directly in front of me. It is also an airport that gets plenty of 777s. Unfortunately, all of the ones that came my way were 200ERs. There were 300ERs departing too but they all went off the parallel runway on the opposite side of the terminal to me. I could only see them once airborne and backlit. Someone in air traffic must have been trying to thwart me!
Have you ever heard of an airline called Starflyer before? If you have, you are one up on me. I saw these guys at Haneda in Tokyo. I didn’t know anything about them but the black livery they apply to their A320s does make them stand out from the crowd. A few of the planes came in and out while I was there. I guess now I know!
Haneda introduced me to a new airline. Air Do. They had a lot of traffic coming through Haneda, both narrowbody and widebody. In fact, one of their 767s took off in great light as I was walking to the viewing terrace which was a touch frustrating. It was a long time before another one took off but at least the evening light improved so the wait was worthwhile. Meanwhile, the 737s were busy and some 767s taxied past after landing so I got to see a few of them in action.
This 777 pulled onto the gate in front of my while I was at Haneda. The radome seems to have taken a bit of punishment. It looks a bit like some of those shots you see of jets that have gone through a hail storm. I don’t know whether that is the case for this one and it has, no doubt, been checked and found to be airworthy but it certainly looked out of keeping.
I nearly missed this one. A JAL 737 was taxiing in at Haneda and the guy next to me seemed very interested in it. He was shooting it when it was still a long way off and I didn’t know why. As it got closer, I could see two Japanese flags flying from the cockpit windows. I figured it must be something so grabbed a few shots. As soon as it was gone, he packed up and left. Talking to someone the following day, he told me that JAL currently has the royal transportation contract and that includes some flights on the narrow body fleet. I guess someone royal was on this flight.
ANA painted three jets in special schemes in association with Star Wars. They have an R2-D2 scheme on a 787-9 and a BB-8 scheme on a 777-300ER and I have shot both of them in the US. They have appeared on the blog here and here. The third jet was a C-3PO scheme that was on a jet that was used in the Asia regional flights so I did not anticipate seeing it. However, it showed up at Haneda while I was there. Consequently, I got to shoot it at last. Sadly, it departed off the other runway so I only got a distant backlit shot.
There was another 767 that also showed up with some Star Wars markings on it. It wasn’t a complex scheme like the first three but it was a Star Wars scheme. I guess I must have got all of them by now unless anyone knows of another one that is out there?
