Review Of 2003-1

American Trans Air used to have a short summer program at Glasgow mainly using Tristars and 757's but it ceased a few years ago so this Airline is a rare one at Glasgow these days.

It was operating a Military Charter flight taking UK Troops on an exchange visit to the United States and arrived in late afternoon so I had the chance to go into the Terminal building and take a few shots through the Windows.

European Airlines 747

In 2002 European had a short one month flight program to Orlando and in 2003 they were back again with the same mid summer Friday flight.

I was in position for it landing on Runway 05 at a raised area of ground and could see it was coming in much lower than usual and sure enough it touched down about 200 yards short of the normal spot on the Runway.

I wouldn't have fancied the landing because it really hammered into the Runway and you can see that with the smoke it kicked up, the two of us shooting it went "ooooohhhhh" at the same time when it crunched into the tarmac and lifted off staight away and touched down again more than 100 yards further on.

American Trans Air 757

This ATA 757 was the return flight of the one from the 12th of July bringing back UK tropps from the States and as it arrived about 5pm this gave me the chance to shoot it departing from the North side a couple of hours later, it has to be about 5-30pm onwards for the sun to go behind from here in the Summer months.

British Airways 777

When the weather is poor I don't pay much attention to what might be coming in so didn't hear this 777 arriving with a full emergency reporting smoke in the cabin and it was only later on that I went out for a look and managed to find an angle for this one about an hour after it landed.

SE-RBE MD82
Aviajet
(Glasgow 12-8-03).

TF-FIG 757F
Icelandair Cargo
(Glasgow 20-8-03).

HA-LND CRJ
Malev Express
(Glasgow 26-8-03).

G-FCLD 757
Thomas Cook
(Glasgow 30-8-03).

LX-TCV 747
Cargolux
(Prestwick 25-9-03).

Icelandair Cargo 757

Edinburgh Airport sees occasional visits from this Cargo 757 but it doesn't come to Glasgow so when it diverted in due to weather at night this gave me my only chance so far to get some photos of it parked here on the Stand 8.

Considering how dull it was and that I had to shoot it through the Terminal windows the result was not too bad.

Thomas Cook 757

I had made a few visits out to the Airport after dark for some night shots but found that in darkness the lighting made it very difficult to get a reasonable result due to the strong yellow cast so it was only when taking this one that I realised it was possible to achieve some sucess.

The trick was to wait until just before complete darkness when there was still a little light left in the sky as this helps to avoid the yellow cast.

Shooting in RAW mode and then using a blue Filter has the best effect of avoiding the very stong yellow/red effect that most Airport light cast at night.

Cargolux 747

The Aviation highlight on 2003 in Scotland was undoubtably the visit to Prestwick of an Antonov 225, the largest Cargo aircraft in the World originally built to launch the Russian Space Shuttle and the only one still flying.

It was parked here on Apron F all day after arriving during the previous evening and this gave a chance try for some "two in one" photos of departures just above it when climbing away.

The best one of the day for this was the Cargolux 747 so when it came out from the Terminal and headed to Runway 13 I walked further down and fortunately chose the best spot to catch it at just the right height I was looking for, also in this photo is a Royal Navy Sea King Helicopter hovering just behind the huge Antonov.

RA-85722 TU154
KMV
(Glasgow 9-10-03).

10007 Saab 340
Swedish Air Force
(Glasgow 11-10-03).

OE-LSP EMB145
Rheintalflug
(Glasgow 14-10-03).

ZS-SJP 737-800
Excel Airways
(Glasgow 18-10-03).

A6-AUH 737-BBJ
U.A.E. Government
(Glasgow 26-10-03).

KMV Airlines TU154

This TU154 brought in the Lithuanian Football team two days earlier on a dreadful dull day, I was out for that but couldn't use any of the photos because they were way too dark.

Interesting thing though was that it went straight over to the short Runway on landing rather to the Terminal so I decided to go over for a look anyway despite the horrible weather and 10 minutes after getting there three buses came out for the crew and passengers to take them to the Terminal.

The following morning it was on the front page of the Scotlands biggest selling daily newspaper that people had been detained by Immigration for illegal entry.

Rheintalflug EMB145

I had been experimenting with night photos at Glasgow not long before this EMB145 visited going out a few times after dark to shoot ones through the fence parked on Stands 33 and 34 at the International Pier but found it very difficult due to the yellow tinted lighting but thanks to making the odd trip out after dark I noticed the lighting at General Aviation was good enough for some shots if a good visitor parked at the right angle.

This Embraer 145 parked on the "Royal Pan" and fortunately there was nothing sitting in front of it so allowing me a chance to shoot it, anything parked here tends to need about a 10 second exposure at F6.7 so it needs to be calm weather to avoid blurring due to camera shake.

The good thing about Digital is being able to take as many shots as you want so as it was rather breezy this night I shot 14 of it and all but three of them were blurred, as it happens I fogot to turn off Image Stabilisation when taking them and it is important not to use it due to the Giro's adding extra "shake" to the photos.

There isn't many occasions when a good visitor night stops on this parking area and if it happens they tend to be buisness jets such as Gulfstream which I rarely shoot these days but if I hear of anything that interest me arriving late I like to check if it parks on this spot for a chance of some night photos with Tripod and cable relese.

Excel 737

The Airline leased a 737-800 from South African Airlines and it was the only one with Winglets to fly for Excel in 2003, at Glasgow it visited quite a few times but mostly on the one Sunday midday flight coming in from Zakynthos so I eventually managed some good sunny photos of it.

I like the view from Runway 05 better than 23 but it requires an Easterly wind and this does not happen that often, when it does I use an elevated vantage point on a rubble mound which is ideal for shots just before touchdown with a nice background.

PH-BQA 777-200
KLM
(Prestwick 1-11-03).

N795UA 777
United Airlines
(Glasgow 4-11-03).

SU-BKX Beech 1900
Egyptian Air Force
(Glasgow 5-11-03).

PH-BQB 777
KLM
(Prestwick 12-11-03).

KLM 777 (1)

KLM's first Boeing 777 came to Prestwick for a full days training before it entered service with the Airline and I noticed it on the Internet early that morning so paid a visit for a few hours to get some photos of it doing circuits.

Unfortunately the weather deteriated from late morning and ended up raining in the afternoon so that limited my oppertunities but at least in late moring it was reasonably bright.

After uploading a few shots to Airliners.net I received an email from one of the Pilots involved in the training stint who said there was 10 Pilots onboard and they did 46 touch and go's in all.

United 777

This United 777 was an emergency diversion into Glasgow late at night with a fire onboard that was put out by the crew and it stayed here for 2 days before flying out for further repairs.

I wasn't able to get out during the previous day to shoot it but managed some shots when it was parked on remote Stand 6 and I had to hang about for a while waiting for the usual Easyjet and Loganair aircraft that park on this Pier to be clear so as not to block my shot.

Egyptian Air Force Beech 1900

I was quite lucky with the Egyptian Air Force Beech 1900's that came through Glasgow heading to the States for maintenance and I only missed one of the five.

After the work was carried out they all came back again and fuel stopped at Glasgow and the one that you see here was their only Beech in camoflage colours as the others were all grey.

KLM 777 (2)

KLM's second 777 also came to Prestwick for training just after it's delivery to the Airline and like the first one 11 days earlier it stayed from 9am until 6pm doing circuits with usually a full stop after 3 touch and go's for a Pilot change.

The weather was much better this time and it was sunny all day so I watched it for hours doing right hand circuits, a good crowd developed during the day on the always popular "mound" viewing spot.

An RAF Jaguar departed in late afternoon and it worked in well with the 777 lined up on Runway 31 in the background so I managed a two in one shot.

KLM 777 (3)

AS I had plently of time with this one I figuered out an angle to get the Prestwick Control Tower in shot along with the 777 coming in behind it, always wanted to try that and after a circuit to figure out the best spot to Stand I got the photo above just after it appeared in view from behind the Tower.

N377NW A320
Northwest Airlines
(Prestwick 22-11-03).

D-ABNL 757
Condor
(Glasgow 25-11-03).

071 CN235
French Air Force
(Glasgow 28-11-03).

N68155 767-200
Continental Airlines
(Glasgow 30-12-03).

Click on an image to enlarge

Northwest A320

All Northwest Airbus A319's and A320's deliveries have went through Prestwick while heading to the States usually leaving Finkenwerder about 9am and arriving at Prestwick between 1030 and 1100.

I was on the lookout for their first Northwest A320 to be delivered in the new scheme and had a good idea this one would be their first on this Airbus type after the previous A320 had came through in green primer.

French Air Force CN235

If there are oppertunities for night shots I am keen to get out after dark with a Tripod and have a go but it is difficult to do this at Glasgow due to the heavily yellow tinted light bulbs used here.

There is a nice spot at the International Pier where you can prop up a camera against the fence and get a good angle for aircraft parked on Stands 33 and 34 but the main drawback is the poor lighting which is particularly bad after dark and in my view ruins the look of them due to the yellow cast.

One spot I have found that is okay after dark is here at General Aviation Parking but it's only if something is sitting on what they call the "Royal Pan", this is where the French AF CN235 was parked.

I am not one for shooting many bizjet types and on the odd occasion something parks here it tends to be one of those so my chances of night shots here are quite limited.

One of the most frustrating misses for me in 2003 was when a TR- Dash 8 from the Gabon parked on the same place for a one hour fuel stop and I went out for it after dark only to find a locally based Cessna 310 was parked right in front of it blocking my shot.

PAGE 1(CLICK HERE)
PAGE 3(CLICK HERE)