Civilian Aviation

I took a careful drive to Stansted this morning as another Qantas 747 visited, this time there was bright sun rather than the mist of last time, also the Brunei 747-8 BBJ departed after being parked up for about 2 weeks so a bit of a bonus for me. There were also 2 other 747 movements, A6-GGP broughtin another batch of horses and the regular Cargolux was in for 2 hours or so (I missed getting a pic of that as I nipped off the the cafe on northside for a bacon roll and a cuppa (recommended!).A few other bits and pieces as well although from my vantage point I was a bit too far for biz jets really - but they weren't my intended quarry today! Here we go, got to start with the QANTAS B747 which left while the sun was still well to the south east to light it up as it banked round even giving a nice topside for me (occasionally it all falls into place if you try often enough!)....

VH-OEF B.747-400ER Stansted 29-12-2016 4698 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

VH-OEF B.747-400ER Stansted 29-12-2016 4724 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and two of the Brunei B.747-8 BBJ which made the short trip to Heathrow, the sun had started to go round a bit too far by then, the last banking shot was slightly shaded
V8-BKH B.747-8 BBJ Stansted 29-12-2016 4888 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

V8-BKH B.747-8 BBJ Stansted 29-12-2016 4933 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

while we are on 747s here's the nag carrier departing (A6-GGP)..
AG-GGP B.747-400F Stansted 29-12-2016 4852 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

this Ryanair 737 departed at the peak of the 'happy harp hour' in lovely early morning light - great that you dont ahve to get up a silly o'clock this time of year to get this sort of light - just lots of frost though
EI-DPP B.737 Ryanair Stansted 29-12-2016 4566 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

the EasyJets dont bank as hard unfortunately..
G-EZOZ A.320 EasyJet Stansted 29-12-2016 4624 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

some biz departures
G-SUEJ Emb.500 Legacyr Stansted 29-12-2016 4588 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

SX-KFA CL.600 Stansted 29-12-2016 4656 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

N757AG B.757 Stansted 29-12-2016 4843 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and a couple on the ground, north side.
a nice 727 (well all 727s are nice really!)
HZ-AB3 B.727 Stansted 29-12-2016 1336 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and finally a B.737 BBJ on the very north side....
VP-CPA B.737 BBJ Stansted 29-12-2016 4818 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

hope they are of interest, C&C welcome

there are a couple more of V8-BKH in my flickr album

Andy

Very nice Andy the Quantas banking is a beaut but A6-GGP aint bad!!
Cheers
Paul

Cracking images Andy

bunglebilly wrote:Very nice Andy the Quantas banking is a beaut but A6-GGP aint bad!!
Cheers
Paul

many thanks (both) Pauls.
I was particularly pleased with the banking QANTAS, I will probably change my POTM entry in favour of that. Will struggle to get another Qantas 747 let alone a banking one!

Some excellent shots there, the pick of the bunch for me are the 1st Qantas and A6-GGP.

Great frames, great light, great shots!

Superb shots, love the banking Jumbos, don't see may shots like this out of STN

Scuba 11 wrote:Superb shots, love the banking Jumbos, don't see may shots like this out of STN

Many thanks. It took me ages to work out where to go, still not perfect but probably nearest I can get on public land.

I'm still searching for better spots but it's hard work. I looked on FR24 and tracked the take offs at Heathrow and then took the measurements from Feltham Park which is the well know spot for 09 departures and then overlaid those dimensions on the map and take offs from Stansted to work out the optimum point to be at the centre of the banking turn and far enough to see the topside (I don’t like belly shots as much). Once I knew where I roughly had to be it was looking for ideal footpaths or roads and then several visits to try them out. They turn a bit earlier at LHR which makes them lower so you don't need to be so far away to see the topside but unfortunately they are a bit more distant at Stansted (both directions).

It's taken me at least 10 visits and literally hundreds of shots to get a photo like that one, sometimes a bit of effort is required but it's very rewarding when it all falls in place.

Andy

Full marks for effort Andy, looks like you've nailed it this time.

A nice set. That Quantas "banker" is a belter.

Andy - Are you willing to share the location from where these were taken?

TAA wrote:Andy - Are you willing to share the location from where these were taken?

Yes, I assume you mean the bankers! they were taken on the road on the western edge of Hatfield forest using a 100-400mm lens at nigh on full throttle. even then I had to crop the 747s a bit (the originals were only about 2/3rd of the frame).

It's too far for the smaller stuff really , especially the biz but I've spent the last few months trying different spots there some nearer to the airport to get slightly closer but then I'm behind them more as they bank and I like to get them slightly nose on before they start their turn. After lots of looking at the FR24 plots of departures and overlaying them on OS maps this is roughly centre of the turn radius. I'd like to be a bit closer but that would take me on private land and trees in the way but I have one place I want to try (might go today if sun plays ball) which is about 2/3 of the distance from the flight path but I fear it might be too close to get the topsides at the maximum bank, without getting that I might as well go much closer to the airport and get side on shots as there would be no banking effect in the pics. The other point about this place is that by 11.30 the sun is too far round and once they are in the turn you are looking at the shaded side, that happened with the Brunei by the time it was really banking.

Basically I'm trying to find a Stansted equivalent of Feltham Park! Slowly getting there but a bit more work needed and a few more departure plots to study.

HTH.
Andy

Great pictures Andy

Bob

andygolfer wrote:

Scuba 11 wrote:Superb shots, love the banking Jumbos, don't see may shots like this out of STN

Many thanks. It took me ages to work out where to go, still not perfect but probably nearest I can get on public land.

I'm still searching for better spots but it's hard work. I looked on FR24 and tracked the take offs at Heathrow and then took the measurements from Feltham Park which is the well know spot for 09 departures and then overlaid those dimensions on the map and take offs from Stansted to work out the optimum point to be at the centre of the banking turn and far enough to see the topside (I don’t like belly shots as much). Once I knew where I roughly had to be it was looking for ideal footpaths or roads and then several visits to try them out. They turn a bit earlier at LHR which makes them lower so you don't need to be so far away to see the topside but unfortunately they are a bit more distant at Stansted (both directions).

It's taken me at least 10 visits and literally hundreds of shots to get a photo like that one, sometimes a bit of effort is required but it's very rewarding when it all falls in place.

Andy

well all my working out where to go to get this shot paid off!

VH-OEF B.747-400ER Stansted 29-12-2016 4724 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

We had the annual photo competition at the Stansted branch of Air Britain last evening and the above photo was one of my entries and it won the competition, last year I was runner up in both categories (flying and on the ground) so this year was an overall improvement even though my ground shot entries didn't get placed.

I've got a new lens coming tomorrow so I'll be back there to try it as soon as the weather and subject matter is right!

Well done on winning the A-B Stansted photo competition Andy!

Is the new lens an EF 100-400L Mk2? Lucky you if so.

PorkScratching wrote:Well done on winning the A-B Stansted photo competition Andy!

Is the new lens an EF 100-400L Mk2? Lucky you if so.

no Nick, I thought about that but I've gone for the Sigma 150-600 to give me a bit more range for both aircraft and wildlife. I thought about the 100-400 but decided the cost was too much to justify and the gain would be more limited than going this route. The 150-600 has very good reviews so I hope I've made the right decision. It's also got a 1.4x teleconverter included in the offer! Just need some decent weather tomorrow afternoon!