Two 707's in one hanger......

Part of the 2011 Miami Airline Collectibles Show and Aviation Photography Fest Ramp tour of Miami involved an area on the north side of the field where repairs, painting, etc are done. As YYC Dispatcher had asked on the previous entry on the blog, did we see the Democratic Republic of Congo Boeing 707 - 9Q-CLK - the answer is a definitive YES! Not only that one, but there were two Boeing 707's in the same hanger - the other being N88ZL that I had previously captured at Opa-Locka.

First - here is the Congo Boeing 707 in it's Dreamliner type color scheme. It still has no engines on it, so no idea when it might be flying - I'd love to catch this in the air and landing.

I'd caught this private Boeing 707 - N88ZL - at Opa-Locka before as mentioned above - she now has a new color scheme - unfortunately, she was blocked so a clearer shot wasn't possible, but again, this is going to be another great one to catch in the air, on the ground and landing! I love this new color scheme.

Finally, and this was taken from the bus so excuse the window glare, but these A319's all came from Mexicana when it shut down. So far, there are 4 going to Aerogal (Galapagos) and two going to Brussels Airlines. I couldn't make out who the DC-9 on the end was going to, but it certainly looked interesting!

I've only been to Ft Lauderdale once in the past week - I got a couple of decent things that I'll try to post in the next few days.

In the meantime, more time spent behind the camera lens.

2011 Miami Airline Collectibles Show and Aviation Photography Fest Ramp Tours

Every year, this show comes to Miami - from what I remember, for the last 21 years! Each year, there has been a ramp tour of Miami International Airport. This year, for the first time, there was an additional ramp tour of Fort Lauderdale International Airport and I was lucky to be able to go on both tours this year. It's an amazing show organized by Joe Fernandez of Air 72 Aviation Photography and between him and Eddy Gual, they organize the most incredible ramp tours, as well as an amazing Collectibles Show and Photo Fest!

First, the highlights from Fort Lauderdale apart from the air Jamaica Boeing 737-800 that I added to the blog the day of the event. The airport was on westerly operations and so the first photography point was at the end of runway 27L. Capital Cargo operates a daily Boeing 727-200F into Ft Lauderdale.

Another of the Sunwing hybrid schemes - another from Thomson aircraft still retaining it's G- registration.

Being so close to the runway allowed us good access to some nice take off shots.

Another of the great take off's - this time a Continental Boeing 737-800.

We then spent some time over on the north side of the airport - somewhere where we normally get no decent shots at all because of the distance and the heat haze that messes up the shots. This time, close to the Monarch Air Freight area, we got their really nice Swearingen Merlin "Spirit of Freight Dog".

And on the Monarch ramp was their old DC-3.

A little bit further down the north side was this glorious float plane - first time I've seen this and I love the name - Whale Force One!

On Friday, it was on to the ramp tour at Miami. Just as well organized and co-ordinated, we got amazing access on Miami International Airport - and the first part of this was at the American Airlines Maintenance Center where we had total access to a Boeing 777-200ER and a Boeing 757-200 - thanks SO much to the great staff at American who left the APUs running so the cockpits were lit up.

First the cockpit of the Boeing 757-200.

Then the cockpit of the Boeing 777-200ER.

And thanks to Bryan Rivas who was on the tour with me, this is me in the important spot of the Boeing 777-200ER. Now hear this - this is your captain speaking!! :)

Then it was off to runway 9 - the South runway to get some landing shots. The first being the Lufthansa A340-300 from Munich.

Then a Miami Air International Boeing 737-800 coming in on a charter.

Air France with their Boeing 747-400 from Paris.

And British Airways with their first of two Boeing 747-400's from London Heathrow.

This Kalitta Air Boeing 747-400F was amazing. It taxied out from the cargo area, and so I assumed it would be a long roll and off carrying it's cargo. But, when it started it's roll, we could see it was empty of cargo - not sure where it went, but in just over 2,000' of runway, it was in the air and climbing like a rocket.

Another cargo plane - this time a very loaded Korean cargo Boeing 747-400ERF that took a lot more to roll than the Kalitta - unfortunately, it's roll took place when the sun was covered by this big dark cloud!

We also managed to get some unique shots as well, as we did at Fort Lauderdale. This Hewa Bora Boeing 767-200 was painted and destined for it's owners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but never left Miami - it's now stuck here.

There are so many more that I haven't had a chance to edit or get on here yet. But, for any aviation photographers that are wanting to explore Miami and Fort Lauderdale, this event is one of the best to by able to see everything. Keep an eye on Joe Fernandez' web site - and sign up when you can!

A lot of time spent behind the camera lens this week!!!!!

New Air Jamaica.....

I happened to be in the right place - at the right time today! As part of the Miami Slide and Collectors Show in Miami this weekend, a ramp tour of Ft Lauderdale was organized (with great thanks to the Ops Staff at FLL and the show organizers!). Lots of great time was spent talking with fellow photographers from all over the world. In the distance on downwind, I saw this brightly colored aircraft - that I'd never seen before. What it was, and what we were very privileged to catch was this brand new Boeing 737-8Q8 registered 9Y-JMA in a brand new color scheme! Definitely the highlight of the day!

Friday is the ramp tour at Miami International Airport - and - with the hopes that the weather is going to hold, it should be an awesome day!

In the meantime, some more time spent behind the camera lens.....

A visit to Miami - in great weather..

My son and I had the opportunity to spend a long afternoon at Miami (KMIA) - we again tried to go and get the Transaero B777 from Moscow, but it was not bad weather in Miami that got us missing the plane - but the bad weather in Europe - it was over 3 1/2 hours late coming in, arriving after dark. But there were some good sightings to be had on a great afternoon with a few clouds about to start increasing into the late afternoon.

This is the first time I've been able to catch the Surinam Boeing 737-700 - a nice first time catch.

Lufthansa had 3 flights this particular day - this Boeing 747-400 coming from Frankfurt landed on the south runway (runway 9) - the A340 from Munich and the A330 from Dusseldorf both landed on runway 12 - the cross runway.

Sky Lease Cargo has one MD-11 in full colors - the other two are plain white at the moment, and by chance, we got the full colors.

My first time getting a Korean Cargo Boeing 747-400 at Miami - the other plane from this cargo carrier I caught in Anchorage.

Insel Air operates MD-80s from Curacao - the second time I have caught this airline - the first time with the large titles.

Avianca brings so many different types into Miami, A320s, A319s, Boeing 767s, but it's been a long time since I've seen one of their A330s in Miami.

Amerijet is famous in South Florida for their Boeing 727s - but have recently received a couple of Boeing 767-200s.

There must be a story behind this Atlas Boeing 747-400 - yes - it is a -400 even if you don't see a winglet - on the other side - there is one. This has been operating a few weeks now without the winglet on the right wing. I'm not too sure how it was lost or when it is going to be replaced, but there must be some kind of performance degradation without the second winglet - I would think they would want to have it fixed.

The last two are things I have wanted to get for a long time - the first being the American Eagle Embraer E145 with the pink Susan G. Komen sash - I've caught the Boeing 757 with the sash, but the Boeing 777 still eludes me.

Finally, I've been wanting the get the Air Berlin A330 for a long time but each time I've been there - it always goes to the runway on the opposite side I have been standing at - this time though, she came in right in front of me...

The Transaero still eludes me - one day I will get it - in perfect weather I hope. But, in the meantime, the first of many trips to Miami in the future I hope seeing as it's now just a quick 35 minute drive from home to Miami.

In the meantime, wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and, some more time spent behind the camera lens....

Merry Christmas to all!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!!!

Amazing what can happen in 10 minutes.....

Today was quite a special day - first off, the weather was absolutely perfect! Blue skies, a coolish day, a few small clouds in the sky, but the main reason was a couple of very special captures, and they both happened within about 7 minutes.

Knowing that there are hybrid schemes all over the place at the moment for the Canadian charter airlines, the South Florida spotters always try to keep an eye out on what is around when Canjet or Sunwing come around - today was no different. Having received an email that a special was around, I headed to FLL to get it - a Jetairfly B738 that is leased to Canjet for the winter season. Thursday is the next big charter day, so hopefully there will be others around - Sunwing has the Hapag Lloyd retro orange scheme from Germany and it's been seen in South Florida already...so...here's hoping...

The second catch was something that I have wanted to get ever since I heard about it and saw the first pictures - the American Airlines tribute to the troops - Flagship Liberty - with the subtitle "In support of all who serve" . Particularly at this time of year, the holidays approaching, there are many men and women servicemen who are far away from home serving their countries. It's small things like American has done with this B737-800 and the other aircraft they have, a B767-200 called Flagship Freedom that remind us of those who serve to protect us.

In case I don't get to post another entry before the holidays, wishing all my readers and visitors a very peaceful time with family, a Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanza.

In the meantime, some more time spent behind the camera lens.....

Introducing.....The Bandit.....

This has been a very long wait - something I've been trying to catch for a very long long time - The Bandit - the private jet of Russian billionaire and businessman, Roman Abromovich, a Boeing 767-33A/ER registered P4-MES (home country Aruba) - he is also known in the soccer world as the owner of Chelsea Football club in the English Premier League. While I've seen her once before at West Palm Beach, but she was not in a shootable, and not even very viewable position, so when I looked at Flightaware this morning and saw a flight plan from St Maarten to Ft Lauderdale, I was keeping a keen eye on the time. Operations at Ft Lauderdale were westerly, so I knew I was going to be on the top of the parking garage to get her arrival. And, on time and using the callsign P4-MES Heavy, she approached runway 27R in what were perfect conditions on a cool Fall day. Fortunately, the approach was high so it offered a great shot in front of the refinery towers.

Then the even approach to the landing on runway 27R.

I'll have to get down and edit the last few in the sequence that I took because, while the approach was graceful, the landing certainly wasn't as there was bogey bouncing (left main gear, then right main gear, then back to left main gear) down a long section of the runway, accompanied by the obligatory tire smoke, before rolling out all the way to pretty much the end of the runway. I'll try and edit that section and get it posted soon....

But in the meantime, welcome to a view of one of the ultimate business jets plying the routes around the world.

Some more time spend behind the camera lens.......