Quick visits yield good results.....

Over the past week or so, ever since the Iron Maiden arrival, I've been taking short, quick trips to Ft Lauderdale focusing on some specific catches. The first one was a quick lunchtime visit, and while I did not expect this, it was a great sight to see. I've seen this twice - the first time, it was in line for departure one morning while I was on my way to work and while I tried my best to get to the viewing park at Ft Lauderdale in time to catch it, I just saw her powering down the runway and it was terribly heat hazed. The second time was coming home from work late one evening and in the last light of day, there she was departing. This time, it was different - 20 minutes out of a lunchtime, I was about to leave when the lunchtime Delta flight called in - it was a little late - I saw the winglets in the distance - thought the gray color was from the cloud cover - but - fortunately, it was not - the domestic SkyTeam in all her glory!!

I was alerted by a very good friend that the next one was an equipment sub for the usual early afternoon Delta flight from Atlanta - my first catch of a Delta B767-300ER with winglets! I love the size of those winglets - it's almost like they dwarf the plane as a whole!

While waiting for the B763W above, I heard the "Ruby" callsign - unusual for Ft Lauderdale - Vision has had a few flights into here, but I've never seen the B737-800 - but - the additional surprise was the Direct Air titles. She came in from Punta Gorda (the other side of the Florida peninsula) and what was fun after the landing was the tower asking where they were parking. The captain replied that they had been trying for the last 45 minutes to find that out - so they stopped close to the terminal while he made a call! I got distracted by the B763W to hear the final outcome of parking.

The last one over the past few days was another quick visit at lunchtime - and this time, a very rare visitor - a Lockheed Jetstar II in immaculate condition! A bit of research found she was built in 1977 and she is actually for sale according to a website - don't have the money at the moment, but what a buy she could be for someone!!

Hopefully some more quick visits might yield another few good sightings soon!

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

A VERY rare Heavy Metal Visitor....

Ft Lauderdale was graced with a very special visitor today, Friday 4/15 - Capt. Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden and Ed Force One graced the Ft Lauderdale skies as a stop on the Final Frontier tour. Of course, when there is a special visitor like this, there was perfect sunlight 5 minutes before landing and perfect sunlight 5 minutes after landing, but during the approach and landing - there were a couple of errant clouds that obstructed direct sunlight, but, still, there was enough good light to be able to catch this rare visitor. On this trip, there are only 2 US dates - Ft Lauderdale on 4/16 and Ft Myers on 4/17 before they head back to Europe, so to catch this is for me is a once in a lifetime experience and I was glad to be able to get it! She leaves Ft Lauderdale sometime on Sunday morning - I'd like to try and get a departure shot, but, that depends on the weather and the time...but...who knows!

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

A welcome return....

It's been a while since I've seen a Viking in Ft Lauderdale - and - in this case, it's the call sign of Thomas Cook Scandinavia. A year or so ago, they used to be a standard charter every two weeks, but this winter season, have been conspicuous in their absence. However, last Monday, I saw the VKG (Viking) call sign on Flightaware coming in from Stockholm and after a short visit, heading out to Aruba. Not sure if this was a one off charter or if it's going to turn into a regular charter again, but it sure was a good sight on a perfect day.

A little more time spent behind the camera lens....