Civilian Aviation

I spent 10 hours at Heathrow last Sunday, mostly in sunshine but it clouded up for about 2 hours around midday, generally we were treated to excellent light. Most of the time I was at Feltham Park for 09R departures but a change of runways around 15.15 saw them landing on 27L so we went to the football club for the last 2 1/2 hours of our stay literally squeezing the last possible light out of the day,We saw around 300 aircraft during the day and with some catching up needed I photographed over 200 different aircraft - don't worry, they aren't all on here but there are about 150 in my flickr album so this is just a taster

first one of the day when they were only lit by the morning sun until they started to turn , if we had arrived much earlier much earlier the subjects would have been on the shaded side...
A6-BME B.787 Etihad Heathrow 20-03-2022 8374, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

one of just two biz-jets we saw9H-VIJ Bombardier BD-700 Global 7500 Heathrow 20-03-2022 8412, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Qatar Airways continue to use A380s whilst the A350 issues are being resolved
A7-API A380 Qatar Airways Heathrow 20-03-2022 8731 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and the only B747 that visited, I can't remeber the last time I saw just one 747 at Heathrow
ER-BBJ B747-400F Aerotranscargo Heathrow 20-03-2022 8798, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

one of a few specials that we saw, the Qatar 2022 FIFA world cup scheme on a 777
A7-BBI B777 Qatar Airways (2022 world cup) Heathrow 20-03-2022 9015, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and another 'special' Saudi 777 in the formula E scheme
HZ-AK43 B.777 Saudia (Formula E) Heathrow 20-03-2022 9093 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and one of the Malaysian A350s in the special scheme, I've seen them before but it looked nice in the sunshine
9M-MAC A350 Malaysia Airlines Heathrow 20-03-2022 9415 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

I hadn't seen this new MEA scheme before either...
T7-MEI A321 Middle East Airlines Heathrow 20-03-2022 0189. by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

this Air China scheme commemorates 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and France
B-2047 B777 Air China (50 years of French relations) Heathrow 20-03-2022 0253. by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

I've been after a Cargojet 767 photo for ages, I always seem to miss them both at Heathrow or Stansted (oe even when I visited Canada for that matter)...
C-FGSJ B767 Cargojet Heathrow 20-03-2022 0775, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and another 'special', the Emirates A380 in the 50 years scheme as it banked round, because of the ban on airlines using Russian airspace nearly all the far east traffic banked round to depart via Dover, only the Chinese and Koreans still have flying rights and the Japanese fly westwards via the polar route
A6-EEU A380 Emirates (50 scheme) Heathrow 20-03-2022 0833. by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

EP-IJB A330 Iran Air Heathrow 20-03-2022 1025 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

N4058J A321 JetBlue Heathrow 20-03-2022 1128 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

I do like the Egyptair scheme especially on the Dreamliner
SU-GEW B787 Egyptair Heathrow 20-03-2022 1205, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

then it was off to the football ground (the practice pitch is all fenced off now so I needed my membership card to get in - well worth it for £15 a year, if only for the parking!
CLUNK!!!
CLUNK! B777 Turkish Airlines Heathrow 20-03-2022 1441 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

first time I'd seen one of these as well...
S2-AJY B787 Bangladesh Biman (The Shonah Tori) Heathrow 20-03-2022 1522 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Iberia use an A350 on their evening flight from Madrid, the morning flight was operated by an A330 (photo in my flick album)
EC-NIG A350 Iberia Heathrow 20-03-2022 1743 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

DHL have registered this 757 in Austria OE-LNQ B757 DHL Heathrow 20-03-2022 1763, by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and as the evening light set in....
YR-MXB B737 Max Blue Air Heathrow 20-03-2022 1896. by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

VT-TSD B787 Vistara Heathrow 20-03-2022 1957. by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and last of the day at 18.08, there was nothing more of interest for about 20 minutes and the sun was setting and straight down the runway so we decided to pack up and head for home
LN-WEC Embraer ERJ-190 Wideroe Heathrow 20-03-2022 1985 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

as I mentioned at the start, there are loads on my flickr album so here's a link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125470545 ... 8256/page1

thanks for looking, C&C welcome
Andy

Lovely set Andy - Heathrow traffic seems to change every time I look or pass by. Types, operators and colour schemes come and go so quickly it seems. Must be an age thing I guess!

Lovely set and some nice special schemes.

Great set of images Andy

Lee.

Nice set of shots Andy, and not a single Panam DC-8, TWA 707 or British Eagle Britannia in sight.

Some stunners there!

You can't beat Heathrow on Easterlies. Great shots Andy.

Didn't know that the ATC B747s were turning right on departure so I'll be keeping a eye out for that shot in the future.

Denis.

wiggy wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:28 am

You can't beat Heathrow on Easterlies. Great shots Andy.

Didn't know that the ATC B747s were turning right on departure so I'll be keeping a eye out for that shot in the future.

Denis.

Nearly all the long haul going eastwards are going out via Dover at the moment Denis - all avoiding Russian airspace. Many of the USA flights were going right and then turning again to head westwards as well. Feltham Park has benefitted quite a lot by the Russian restrictions. Only the Chinese flights seem to be going over Russia now

Andy

Excellent shots Andy!!

Nice to see whats going on there at the moment, over 300 planes, christ my pen and notepad would have melted

Didn't know Wideroe were going there, is that a new operation?

Lovely shot of the Cargojet as well, seen loads over the garden for Heathrow, not seen one close up yet.

Surprised its the first Biman Bangladesh 787 you've seen as well? They've been on Heathrows for a few years now IIRC? I'm no LHR expert mind just sure I've copped ones on Heathrow approach before.

Need to get myself back over there, I still need some of the newer BA stuff for sight, like the new batch of 777-300s, Neo's, a couple of A380s, and A350's. I've not seen a Virgin 350 close up yet either.

Comments above about 707s etc, a 35 year old me is saying no A340s but I do miss the Iberia A340 evening arrival!

james143611 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 02, 2022 8:30 pm

Excellent shots Andy!!

Nice to see whats going on there at the moment, over 300 planes, christ my pen and notepad would have melted

Didn't know Wideroe were going there, is that a new operation?

Lovely shot of the Cargojet as well, seen loads over the garden for Heathrow, not seen one close up yet.

Surprised its the first Biman Bangladesh 787 you've seen as well? They've been on Heathrows for a few years now IIRC? I'm no LHR expert mind just sure I've copped ones on Heathrow approach before.

Need to get myself back over there, I still need some of the newer BA stuff for sight, like the new batch of 777-300s, Neo's, a couple of A380s, and A350's. I've not seen a Virgin 350 close up yet either.

Comments above about 707s etc, a 35 year old me is saying no A340s but I do miss the Iberia A340 evening arrival!

thanks James, 300 is probably a bit below the pre-pandemic level but it's certainly getting busier and I expect will be even moreso with summer schedules kicking in.

Wideroe are doing 2 flights a day but only started recently, pre pandemic they were operating a daily flight to Stansted but must have spotted an opportunity to switch to LHR. I think they also went to Gatwick briefly.

I've seen a few Bangladesh B777s over the years and DC-10s before that but didn't see any of the 787s pre pandemic - most of their 787s were less than a year old when the pandemic suspended their operations in spring 2020.

I should have seen a Lufthansa A340 on the day of my visit - one diverted in on a medical emergency early afternoon and I was looking forward to catching a pic of it as it departed but just as it started to taxi they switched from 09 ops to 27 and it departed off 27R so missed it completely, couldn't get anywhere in time to see it go I'd like to say one for another day but that is probably wishful thinking. There are still 2 BA A380s that I haven't photographed but they are still in storage so I need to be patient, some of the other newer aircraft have eluded me so far as well.
Andy

Ah sorry must be confusing my 787's they are newer than I thought, just checked my freebird list which confirms I need all the Bangladesh 787's, thinking about it now I must be confusing it with the China Southern ones which have the 787 titles.

Cargojet was a regular operation from the pandemic IIRC?

Nearly got one of the new BA 777s at Blackbushe, sat in the car doing Heathrow arrivals through the bins, got distracted with an overhead then completely missed G-STBM on approach