KCLT - Charlotte/Douglas Airport, On-Going Thread

I'll try to join as well.

You can also get a taxi from the terminal or take the parking bus to Long Term 1 or 3 for a shorter walk.

Sounds good! I am looking at February 12. I will catch US and arrive around 0830. I'll probably walk to the spotting area. I don't mind the exercise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adscram14

Just saw this--I agree with Moose, it really doesn't matter what time of year; however, the summer is slightly better for two main reasons: First, LH uses an A340-600 on the MUC route, and second, the 6:00 PM hour offers great traffic with a cargo flight or two thrown in, so it is some much needed variety.

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Thanks for the info.

Doug

Went out for a few hours this afternoon. Clouds held off long enough for some reasonable light for the usual suspects.

Back to back, we had US Airways' oldest A330, N270AY...

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...0AY_001-XL.jpg

And their newest, N285AY...

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...5AY_001-XL.jpg

And just like clockwork, LH had its usual welcome to CLT.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...IKQ_001-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...6UW_001-XL.jpg

Caught a Southwest 737 cruising overhead.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...737_001-XL.jpg

Get them before they're all gone!

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...9AE_001-XL.jpg

You had to look close, but it had what's left of a yellow ribbon on the tail.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...9AE_002-XL.jpg

Doh! Stupid Intellicast. I will see if I can swing next Tuesday. Great shots by the way.

I've had a FlightAware alert set for N757AF for ages - several years, easily. Just last week, I thought about cancelling it, since about all it ever showed was LGA-PBI-LGA-PBI...you get the idea, but I never did. This morning, I checked my e-mail after getting up, and saw a message saying N757AF arrived in CLT at 9:09am! Turns out The Donald is in town at speak to some business group meeting today.

And of course, we had snow today...

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...7AF_001-XL.jpg

Of course, the snow gave me the chance to get some deicing shots...

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...Ice_001-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...Ice_002-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...Ice_003-XL.jpg

That's crazy it took several years to catch the Trump, and then only after you moved down there

FA was showing Trump scheduled to depart around 4:40 this afternoon. The skies were still dark, but there was a hint of sun poking through when I got back to CLT and shot the airplane without snow falling.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...7AF_002-XL.jpg

I had a little time to kill, so I headed to the overview for a bit. The wind picked up, the ceiling came down, and the snow started blowing. This view is out the windshield - that's where we usually shoot from. That dark line just above the top of the fence? That's the edge of the runway. They were landing Rwy 36, and a couple of guys reported breaking out right at mins. Line of the day goes to the US pilot who, after landing, told tower "This looks like Pittsburgh!"

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...now_001-XL.jpg

A few more deicing shots. This is one of the handful of US owned E-190s. I've only shot a few of them, and hadn't seen one at CLT before.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...Ice_006-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...Ice_004-XL.jpg

And this is what it looked like when I got home.

http://www.moose135photography.com/N...now_001-XL.jpg

Looked like Trump was cancelling for today, but FA shows he departed around 7:35pm. Would have been nice to get him in some good weather...

Thanks to John, I was able to catch the Trump 757 as well:

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9deb67b7.jpg

Went back later for the departure, but she didn't leave until late. I did catch a bit of deicing action:
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5caf266e.jpg

Driving home was a nightmare, people can't drive in the snow here!

I got a FlightAware alert that N422BN, one of the Roush Racing 727s, was heading down to Daytona today - both have been up and down over the past week as Speedweeks got underway. I let Adam know and headed to the airport. They were using Rwy 36, so I expected that they would pass right past us by the fence at the cargo area.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...2BN_001-XL.jpg

This was "the shot"...but shooting through the fence, I didn't have a chance to compose it, and cut off a bit of the tail. :frown: I'll take it anyway.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...2BN_002-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...2BN_003-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...2BN_004-XL.jpg

I already have this one, but I finally got a decent JB shot at CLT.

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...5JB_001-XL.jpg

Nice shots on the 727.

AJ

Great shots of Trump and the 727, Moose!

Thanks to John again for the heads up today!

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d00a439.jpg

Speaking of "The Shot", my dang autofocus was off on the longer lens so it came out like a blurred mess. Oh well.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2f8e978a.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5042746a.jpg

I love those 727 shots! I was going to try to head up there this Tuesday again, but rain is the forecast again. I'm destined to never make it.

You're missing all the neat stuff, Tim! The Detroit Pistons are in town to play the Bobcats tonight. Detroit uses its own MD-83 for team travel. I ran down at lunchtime, couldn't get a decent shot with other stuff on the ramp, and it was cloudy and getting dark by the time I got out of work, but I'll take what I can...

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...0DP_001-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/A...0DP_002-XL.jpg