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**Thebuzu** · 2007-06-25, 11:42

Yes,
not really a trip aboard, but spotting here in LMML

It was a 'nice' day and there was a first flight from Clickair, B772 from Emirates and a delivery from ATR Stopping here on the way to Australia.

The weather was holding until the clickair was seen on final for runway 32. When this happened everything needed to take refuge because rain started pouring exaggarately.

i went home sad and discovered that there was a Blackwater Aviation CASA212 Aviocar at park 4, good for photos. So I went due to rain stopping pouring down. When I was approximately 5 minutes away from Park 4, rain started pouring heavily and returned back home.

Being a guy that I keep trying on and on again, rain stopped again and it was trip two for the CASA Aviocar, and again as soon as I was near the dreaded roundabout, rain poured heavily again and I returned back home again.

Rain stopped in the evening and I went back (YES AGAIN!) to take the CASA Aviocar. As soon as mum parked the car, rain started pouring down but this time since I was in the brim of exploding and shouting in the middle of the road to the grey clouds, I told mum to fetch the umbrella and go and take pics of the Aviocar.

Succesful this time! Cannot write what I did as soon as I re-entered the car, to the clouds (Explicit hand gestures and words)

This resulted in 5 photos taken.... and having the buzz of my life trying the unsuccessful attempts to photograph that Aviocar.

Ruben

**kukkudrill** · 2007-06-25, 16:37

How about a trip to Sydney, Australia lasting over a week, in which it was nice and sunny most of the time ... except the three days I had available for spotting. Still, at least I didn't get rained out ...

**Petertenthije** · 2007-06-25, 20:32

Ooh yeah, my VBird daytrip Niederrhein > Berlin. I written an extensive trip report on another forum. Here's it with some text cut.

First it took me a long time to get to the airport. First cycle to the train station, then take the early train, and then the shuttle bus to the airport.

It immediately became clear that this would be a long day. The fog had turned visibility very low. One by one all flights where cancelled until an announcement came echoing through the terminal that all flights had been suspended for an as yet unknown time.

Oh well, I figured, $hit happens. It was still early morning and my flight was not scheduled for another 4 hours (only 3 busses a day so that was my only option) so I could not be bothered. The fog would subside and I would fly off to the beautiful field of Sch�neveld.

Checkin was started an hour and a half in advance of the scheduled departure time. Both check-in ladies, Globeground employees, where fast. The security check did not go as fast. The metal detector was way to sensitive so that everyone was pulled "out". A metal beltbuckle or a lost penny in a deep pocket was enough to make it go crazy. Nonetheless the security check was done in time.

The flight was not on time though. It would be delayed until the plane arrived. In the end we got to board one of the planes that had sat idle on the tarmac for the entire morning. Perhaps operations could not see it due to the fog?

The total delay was one hour. Some 10 minutes where gained in flight so not big a problem.

At the airport I went in no time through the security. Then again, there was no security! Of course NRN to SXF is a domestic flight so the lack of security is not much of a problem.

Anway, after the flight I immediatelly went to the observation platform and noticed that the airport was rather quiet. At the far end some planes where parked. Amongst other 2x A319 and 1x A340 from Khaliffa as well as some Lufthansa B737s. They where too far for photography though. A bit later an A310 from African Safari Airlines came in and taxied to the terminal. From here it could be seen that VBird was not just about delays. They had a faster turnaround time then Ryanair!

At 6 �o clock the platform closed and I went back to departure level. There I saw a warning behind my flight, delayed by 1 hour 15 minutes! Figures.

Then I started to realise another problem. At NRN I have to take one of the 3 daily busses back home. I should have 50 minutes to get on the bus, but with a delay of 1 hour and 15 minutes.... well, you'll get the point.

I went to the check-in desk. Despite the sign on the boards, it was not yet manned. Ten minutes went by, 20 minutes went by, 30 minutes went by. 45 minutes after the announcement on the board the check-in lady arrived. I asked here if she could let the bus wait. She could not, but had the phone number of the servicedesk.

Obviously she gave the wrong number, but they where kind enough to get me the right number. There another young employee got to speak to me. A lovelly girl, but utterly useless. She did not know anything at all and proposed I'd sleep at the airport. That would be hard as you'll see later.

I called my parent to let them look for alternatives to get me of NRN and to Arnhem. It quickly became obvious that there where none.

The flight back was quick but obviously not quick enough to let me catch the last bus service. I asked the lady at the information desk what my options where.

Shock, horror, the terminal closes overnight! Sleeping at the airport benches like I have done twice at AMS is not possible! A hotel had to be booked at 22:30. Fortunately the tourist office at the airport could help me out. A room in hotel "Der Goldener Schwan" was booked in Kevelaer. A taxi would bring me there. Eight kilometer and 16 euros later I was in the hotel. This is a great hotel and if you ever get stranded at NRN I can thoroughly recommend it!

Next day I took a cab back to the airport (another 14 euros). From there I took the shuttle service to Arnhem. But the badness did not stop there! I had not realised that my return train ticket had lost its validity due to the much longer than expected trip! And for the first time in half a year I got a ticket check in the train (operated by the total idiots of Syntus)! Suffice to say I was fined 27 euros above the normal fare. My cheap day out had suddenly become quite a bit more expensive than a similar KLM flight.

Ooh, and the bike I had parked at the station.... it was stolen. A fitting end to two days in which everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong!

**LX-A343** · 2007-06-25, 21:05

If Soren's story sucked already, Peter's story is a complete nightmare ... worth to make it eternal in a comedy movie though

And no, so far, I didn't have any such trips. I can forget to change batteries, to insert a CF card and so on, but that's all....

Cheers

**Paul Maier** · 2007-06-26, 00:58

During a trip to Europe last year, i attempted to shoot at
Toulouse, CDG, Nice, Pisa Klagenfurt, Vienna, INN , Salzburg GVA and ZRH and had RAIN or extremely bad light or could not find ideal spotting locations!! i did get a few shots here and there though.

**CPH Aviation** · 2007-06-26, 06:46

Damn Peter what a story! I can see I'm not the only unlucky spotter around!

Soren

**MaxPower** · 2007-06-27, 00:43

Hey Soren.I know it has nothing to do with spotting, but I thought I wanted to share it anyway. One of my friends were flying in europe during the thunderstorms around Germany and France that you're talking about. His flight was originally CDG-CPH but became CDG-MUC-FRA (had a stopover at FRA but couldnt continue the flight.) the flight commenced to CPH the day after. He was happy to get vouchers for compensation :P

**sluger020889** · 2007-06-27, 02:11

Well I lost the CD with the originals from my LAX ramp tour....

I should get more organized.

**paulc** · 2007-06-27, 06:21

I did a coach trip a few years to the French AF show at Chateaudun and French Aeronaval show at Landiviseau. Arrived at Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Caen. Unfortunately the ship had a tech problem (rudder fell off apparantly!) so were 6 or 7 hours late leaving. Arrived at the AF show about 4pm so only had about 1 hour to take pics etc. Long drive to get to overnight hotel when on arrival found that the restaurant was closed - so not much in the way of food available. Early start the next day for the drive to Landivseau when we spent all day standing in a cold, wet and draughty hangar. Flightline was a long walk away with no access (security was tight) and the static aircraft were few in number (logged 1). The weather was so bad nothing flew all day and we could not wait to get back on the coach and leave.

**AASuper80Fan** · 2007-06-27, 20:04

Well, Yea I have had that when I was in Milwaukee NOTHING took off or landed, my Poor Grandma was fine with it, she felt bad for me, that we wasted a afternoon for nothing.

**NF Spotter** · 2007-06-28, 00:48

CYQX Fighter Trip

On a Thursday morning in a late February I received a call from my brother that a flight of F-15s and a KC-10 tanker were on the tarmac at CYQX (Gander). I live in St. John's, a 3.5 hour drive from Gander so I was tempted to drive out to see the -15s but I did not want to make the trip only to find they had already left.

I soon found out though, that all the planes now had their FOD covers in place and a favourable forecast for the next day helped me make up my mind to go. As transiting fighters going through Gander are usually gone by late morning the next day, I figured if I left St. John's by noon I could get some decent later afternoon shots of the F-15s and then get some departure shots in the morning.

So I took 2 days off from work and then I made good time getting to Gander, only to find that a disabled VC10 (I don' t usually complain about military aircraft on the tarmac but...) was blocking the best angles for photos of the F-15Es lined up on the tarmac. The KC-10 was easily photographed but I mostly could only get tail end shots of the f-15Es. I did mange to get some front quarter shots of the F-15s through the terminal observation deck but that did nothing for photo quality. Once that was done however the early February sunset quickly brought an end to my plane spotting day.

The next morning I headed directly back up to the airport to make sure I did not miss the fighters head out. Alas the only activity was around the tanker, which quickly packed up and took off from Rwy 21 around 11am. There wasn't a soul to be seen around the fighters. It is not often you see a tanker leave its fighters behind , so I was baffled.

Around noon a Frontier A319 landed, after crossing the pond. A common sight in the US it is a rare treat in these parts. Unfortunately winter stroms were now forecasted for the weekend, so I sadly had to turn around and drive back to St, John's without seeing the -15s in the air. Anyone who has driven in a Newfoundland snowstorm can understand my concern of being weather bound.

Turns out the -15s hung around, weathered the storms and flew out early that Monday morning. Apparently the alternate landing sites for their flight to England were snowed in and thus their departure was delayed until the weather cleared.

I always love to see fighters but it was supremely disappointing to make such a trip and not see any sign of 'burner

cheers

Mark

**CPH Aviation** · 2007-06-28, 08:35

Originally posted by sluger020889

Well I lost the CD with the originals from my LAX ramp tour....

I should get more organized.

Now that realy sucks!

I can see from the storys in this thread that some spotting trips do go badly wrong!

Soren

**MaltaAirSpotter** · 2007-06-28, 11:33

You guys are gonna hate me for this, but when I go spotting abroad, I always make sure I take the Maltese sunshine with me in my camera bag.

You see:

London 2000 - 10 days in October, always sunny, The only day it rained, we had a trip to Bristol booked, and yes, it was sunny in Bristol

Heathrow 2006 - sunny as always, and even had winds for 9L throughout the day!

Toulouse, last March. Weather reports confirmed thunderstorms in Toulouse, but when we landed, it was nice and sunny. When we came to depart, storm clouds started gathering... which I enjoyed taking photos of during the climb phase!

If anyone would like good weather when spotting, all he has to do is invite me along, pay my tickets, and I will bring the sunshine!

**CPH Aviation** · 2007-07-02, 18:53

Originally posted by MaltaAirSpotter

You guys are gonna hate me for this, but when I go spotting abroad, I always make sure I take the Maltese sunshine with me in my camera bag.

You see:

London 2000 - 10 days in October, always sunny, The only day it rained, we had a trip to Bristol booked, and yes, it was sunny in Bristol

Heathrow 2006 - sunny as always, and even had winds for 9L throughout the day!

Toulouse, last March. Weather reports confirmed thunderstorms in Toulouse, but when we landed, it was nice and sunny. When we came to depart, storm clouds started gathering... which I enjoyed taking photos of during the climb phase!

If anyone would like good weather when spotting, all he has to do is invite me along, pay my tickets, and I will bring the sunshine!

I've hyad many good and sunny spotting trips over the years, but that Frankfurt trip realy hit the bottom!

Soren

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