Favorite catches of 2014

[jerslice]

Let's see your favorite catches of 2014. They don't have to be your best shots (I'm sure a best-of 2014 thread will pop up soon), but they do have to be something rare, or that you've been chasing for awhile, or were just plane pleasantly surprised to see on final!

For me there were four:

NOAA P3


Surinam Airways A340


Super Guppy


Chengdu J-7:

[eric8669]

[megatop412]

I had a great year catching up with all of you here and in person, and snapping away at these beauties in particular:

[NickPeterman]

Had a very late-breaking entry to my favorite catches of the year, taking the top place at the 11th hour

IMG_5227 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


IMG_9839_filtered by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


IMG_0113_filtered by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


IMG_1962_filtered by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


IMG_1567_filtered by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr

[moose135]

I didn't even know they had one of these until this taxied past me while I was waiting for a flight at T5!



This was never going to visit CLT (or even JFK) so I'm glad I was able to catch it at SEA, again, while waiting for a flight.



Another one of those "I didn't even know it existed" until I caught it at CLT for a NASCAR charter.



Probably the first time I've seen a Garuda plane of any sort - they're not exactly regulars at CLT.



Final DC-9 flight by a US airline, arriving at CLT for the museum. I ran down to the airport on my lunch hour, and was refreshing FlightAware on my phone every 23 1/2 seconds to track its progress, hoping it would arrive before I needed to head back to the office...



Insel comes into CLT once a week, and always uses the "wrong" runway for spotting - I have plenty of distant, heat-hazed shots of it arriving on Rwy 23 - so when I saw it taxi up to 18C, next to the overview, on a nice day, I knew the spotting gods smiled on us!

[SengaB]

We still have several more days in 2014 but so far here are my most memorable (NEW Catches for me for 2014 so far). After having 2-3 year lull in worth catches 2014 proved to be the exact opposite. I think I enjoyed getting the RSAF A330MRTT and the TUAF Airbus A400M and the JMSDF C-130 and the Kuwaiti C17 the most.
Note: I had already shot the Netherlands AF KC-10 and the Israeli AF 707 However the 707 is in the updated dark grey colors now and the NAF KC-10 is a solid shot considering what I got years back. I will let others deal with the excessively over shot visitors from this year.

I will start with my top from 2013
Open Skies TU-154M


Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force C-130


Saudi Arabian Air Force A330MRTT


Turkish Air Force A400M


Kuwaiti Air Force C-17


United Arab Emirates 787-800


Netherlands Air Force KC-10


Niger 737-700BBJ


Israeli Air Force 707-300


Indian Air Force C-17


Pakistan Air Force Gulfstream 4


Ireland Air Force Gulfstream 4


Honeywell CVLT


Pakistan Air Force C-130


Netherlands Air Force Gulfstream 4


Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force C-130


Turkish Air Force KC-135R


Belarus TU-154M


United Arab Emirates Air Force C-17


Oman A320


United States navy P-8


Turkish Air Force A330-200


Mauritania Airlines 737-700


Panama Air Force Embraer 135


Mali 737-700

[Hiflyer]

[IMG][/IMG]

PLAAF Ilyushin IL-76 20541

[IMG][/IMG]

Antonov Design Bureau An-124:100 UR-82008

[IMG][/IMG]

Royal Australian Air Force B737-7ES Wedgetail A30-005

[IMG][/IMG]

Westar Aviation Group B727-23 N800AK

[IMG][/IMG]

Air New Zealand B787-9 Dreamliner ZK-NZE

[Zee71]

Thanks to Rich and Chris I was able to get this shot at BOS


While on a work related trip I was able to catch this bird at MCO in March


Though I been to Vegas a bunch of times, it was nice to see this come into LAS during my first spotting trip


While in the LA area for work, I took a ride to Victorville


A few rare visitors to JFK
















From UN Week, but taken as I was departing off 31L


A late addition

[RWB]

2014 was a very good year for me. A few rare encounters here in San Antonio that I probably won't see again.
Caught a DC-6 coming here for maintenance, 1st time to see one ever.


Got to see a brand new Embraer Legacy 500 that was here on demo.


And the Honda Jet


This just popped in one afternoon


Never thought I see the inside of a Gulfstream 650, thanks to Mike at Landmark for making that happen.


And recently a fire bomber that came for maintenance

[AA757]

Great catches everyone, here are a few of my favs:































Stopped at Pease ANG base on delivery flight enroute to MIA



Rich B

[USAir767]

I didn't have that many good ones this year, but here are my favorites



Don't know it this one counts, but it's the carbon fiber A350 flying over CLT on its way to DFW


My first time seeing a 787


First time catching a "west" US Airways plane


That's all for me.