Raining in Miami, Sunny in Ft Lauderdale....

Well, this day didn't work out as planned - and in some ways I was glad. The plan was originally to spend the day in Miami, shoot the Transaero 777 and what ever else was around. When I left home in Fort Lauderdale, the sun was shining, but as I got closer to Miami, I knew the day wasn't going to go well with westerly operations and a cloud base that letting intermittent sun through. I headed for one spot on the south side of the airport that allowed the viewing of operations on runway 27 and spent a little time there. I did manage to get one new capture that I've been looking for for quite a while - a LAN Cargo B777-200LRF landing on runway 27.

There were also two Centurion MD-11's around as well, one lifting off runway 27

And the other landing on runway 27. I was hoping one would have been the new Sky Lease Cargo - but no such luck.

After spending a few hours at Miami hoping that the operations would change to easterly and the cloud would lift, shooting the Transaero 777, Alitalia B777 and LAN 767 with winglets in heavy cloud, I looked to the north and the sun was shining, so I headed off to Fort Lauderdale for the rest of the afternoon. And, I was glad that I did with some special operations, easterly operations and glorious afternoon sun (I'm sure that Miami changed right after I left as well....)

I've managed to catch one of the Continentals with it's new titles - that being a Boeing 737-800, this time was a Boeing 757-200.

Another of the rare catches - the Delta Boeing 757-200 with Dali titles on the nose.

This is the second year that I have managed to get a Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737-800 with in Transavia colors. From talking to several people, Caribbean has leased two of these aircraft from Transavia this year - this one was PH-HSA when home in the Netherlands.

Finally, this is not so much of a special scheme or capture, but the second approach of this Allegiant MD-80 that afternoon - the first attempt was a go-around with a Southwest Boeing 737-700 still on it's taking off roll.

I'll definitely be heading to Miami again some weekend to try and get the Transaero in better light and better conditions. In the meantime, more time spent behind the camera lens.....

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my readers - hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

The past week or so have been very busy with a trip to the last NASCAR race of the season and a few lunchtime trips to Ft Lauderdale. This long weekend has a plan to go to Miami on Saturday - Transaero has a new flight into Miami from Moscow that has been operating for a few weeks now, so I'd like to catch that and I'm hoping the spotting gods will also allow the skies to be graced with one of two oneWorld special schemes, maybe an American Flagship Freedom scheme, whatever they would like to pass my direction! Pictures and a normal blog entry will follow soon!

Fall weather has started.....

The weather has started to change - we have had a week of totally fantastic weather and light for photography. The movements have been a little slow - with the exception of "The Herbert D Kelleher" - a Southwest classic in gold - named for the founder of Southwest - seen here in perfect light.

Spirit has been getting it's A320's and they come into Ft Lauderdale with great regularity.

This week has also seen a substitution of the lunchtime Delta flight from Memphis - for two days in a row, a MD-90 has been operating instead of the usual A320 - the first picture was taken from the top of the Hibiscus parking garage as she flared for landing on 27R - westerly operation that day - the second approaching 9L with easterly operations. Having flown on one of these, they are a really comfortable ride.

The great weather and light showed off this jetBlue Embraer 190 as it approached runway 9L.

Another shot from the top of the Hibiscus parking garage shows this Delta B737-800 flaring for landing. The lunchtime flight from Atlanta has been really varied this week - one day this B737, the next day a B757 - that's quite a capacity change.

Not often you see these A320's in the old US Airways colors these days. This approaching 9L on a day of easterly operations.

And finally, one of my favorite biz-jets - a Bombardier Global 5000 - this model, with her larger sister, the Global Express have the most amazing take off performance - I just love watching these aircraft with their minimal take-off rolls before they seem to head straight up into the sky.

I'm hoping this weather lasts for a while - so we can keep getting all these wonderful days. There are a lot of overseas spotters in South Florida at the moment from Europe and they seem to be enjoying the great weather as well - just wish I could spend the same time at the airport during the day that they can.....but...during the week, it's lunchtimes. Hopefully there will be a trip to Miami on a weekend day in the offing soon...

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

New blog coming soon.....

Hooray....the weather has been awesome! The fall season has started and the weather has changed - stunning lunchtimes...I'm still in the process of editing pictures, and that's why the blog is a little behind...please check back in a couple of days though....