Tag Archives: airliner

Virgin Atlantic Fin Looks Shabby

Virgin Atlantic’s jets usually look pristine. Getting the red of the nacelles and the fin to show up in images properly is a bit tricky, but they do tend to look pretty smart. Consequently, I was surprised when looking at some images I took of one of their A350s while taxiing in at Heathrow to see that the paint on the fin seems to be peeling off in chunks. No idea whether that is from the original paint when built or following a repaint, but it looks rough and I imagine that a repair will be demanded at some point soon.

Lufthansa Anniversary A380

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The conditions for these shots were not ideal, but sometimes you just have to take advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself. I don’t now live somewhere where I get to see the Lufthansa long haul fleets so the special liveries that they have been applying for their 100^th anniversary are not something I have seen until we were getting ready to depart Dulles. As we were on the gate in our seats, the Lufthansa A380 taxied in. I was only able to get an oblique shot through the window of our 777. We then taxied past it on our way out when it was on the gate at which point things were very dark. At least I have got one of them now.

One of These Planes is Not Like the Other

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After landing back at Heathrow from a work trip, we were taxiing back towards T5 and passing a variety of parked airlines. These two 787-9s caught my eye. Both are in Norse livery but one is labeled IndiGo. This Indian airline has been leasing jets from Norse. I guess only one got the change in titles. At the time of writing this, I understand the lease arrangements have ben terminated so maybe this was a lucky break to catch this before it wouldn’t be seen again.

Looking Out of the Window When Waiting to Depart LHR

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Sometimes, when I get the window seat at the airport, there is really nothing much to see. I am on the wrong side, and everything is out of the other windows. However, on this recent flight, I did have a good view of the parallel taxiway as well as the runway for departing jets. Sure, it was backlit and sometimes taxiing jets could block the view of the runway. Also, windows looking into the sun are not great for clarity. Even so, an A380 from Singapore or a Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 is worth a look and whatever shots the phone can manage.

Some Morning Heathrow Arrivals

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Another morning flight for a work trip meant another stop at the Pod Parking. Since the traffic had been light, I was there a little ahead of schedule so it would be rude not to get some shots of the arriving traffic on the northerly runway at Heathrow. Had I been there at sunrise, the sun would have actually been right around on my side, but I was a little later in the morning, so it had come around on the nose.

A Virgin Atlantic A350-1000 was nice to have but I got some short haul types from across Europe. The really interesting surprise was a Loganair ATR42. There are lots of poles in the pod parking and they make getting an unobscured shot tricky. I will confess that some AI removal tools in Lightroom have been exploited to remove some of the distractions. I have not taken out anything that was actually over part of the airframe, even though that can actually work quite well. These are just tidied up to allow the airframe be the focus.

Some Other Barcelona Movements

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As I may have already written, our return journey from Barcelona was undertaken with plenty of contingency in getting to the flight. Consequently, we had a bit of time to kill waiting for the gate to board our flight. What is a guy to do while waiting at an airport? I guess I will have to just look out of the window. The taxi route from the terminal on the north side of the airport to the southerly departure runway took everything passed us.

Not a lot of variety of angles but a variety of airlines. I think this is the first time I have seen Air Baltic with its A220s. Westjet is not a novelty with a 787-9 having seen plenty and ridden on at least one but seeing them in Spain was new. Transavia planes used to make it to the US when Sun Country would lease them, but I don’t think I have seen them operating for themselves. Add to that Egyptair, Wizzair, Air Arabia and I got some interesting variety.

Royal Jordanian Nose Job

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I have always been a fan of the liveries that Royal Jordanian Airlines adopts for its planes. They provide a welcome change from the variations on white that most airlines use. While at Barcelona, this Airbus landed from Amman. The livery looks great but is a bit disrupted by the radome that has been swapped off a jet that has a different generation of the paint. I wonder whether it will get swapped again or repainted at some point.

Levelling Up

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On our return trip from Barcelona, we gave ourselves plenty of time for the flight back given that there was a lot of discussion about the immigration delays. Things worked out pretty well, so we were through to the gate in plenty of time. What a tragedy that I have extra time at an airport!! Level is a low-cost operation that IAG owns. It was originally set up using Iberia aircraft and crews before it got its own AOC. Now it is a standalone operation.

There were a few Level A330s in view at our part of the terminal. Some were undergoing maintenance before their next flights while others were loading up and departing. I got a variety of shots of them as I walked through the concourse and one of them departed for Los Angeles while we waited to board. While most departures were going off the southerly runway which was the opposite side to us, the long-haul flights that needed longer runways came from the northerly runway which meant we got to see them.

Some Arrivals While I Wait at the Gate

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I had a short work trip to Scotland that involved a flight from Heathrow early one morning. The morning light was pretty good, and my gate was at the north end of Terminal 5 so I got to see a few of the arrivals while waiting to board. The Air India A350 was a nice catch but I got a variety of other arrivals. Aside from the regular British Airways short haul types, I did get and A380.

Add to that, there was an Air France A220 and a KLM A321neo. United also had an arrival. Shooting through the windows is not ideal and I was using the M6 which is really a step down from the R3 but has the advantage of slipping into my work bag easily so earns its place. I would really like to find something modern that has a similar form factor but is as responsive as current cameras. Sure, I really need another camera!

Flashback to the MRJ90

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Something brought me to some shots of a jet now sadly gone. The MRJ has shown up on the blog in the past. I saw one at Paine Field which showed up here. That wasn’t my first encounter with the Mitsubishi developed aircraft, though. While they were built in Japan, flight testing was undertaken at Moses Lake in Washington. Ferrying the jets across the Pacific meant choosing the route and one of the jets was routed from Hawaii to California. It landed at San Jose and, since I was living in the Bay Area in those days, I went to see it arrive.

San Jose has pretty reliably good weather and the conditions were about as good as you could hope. The light can be a bit harsh, but it wasn’t too bad. The arrival gave a good chance to get a shot. The stop was not a long one. Clear customs and refuel and then they were on their way north to Washington. Departure shots at San Jose are a little limited. The spot I had was a bit far down from the point the planes get airborne so they can be quite high by the time you get a good look, or the heat haze is bad when the angle is better. Still, I did get some shots that are okay.