So what do you do when you visit New York with wife and daughter for the first time, you’ve got one week and you’ve wanted to spot at JFK ever since you first set eyes on a Pan American or TWA Boeing 707 flying in over London in the 1960s?
Well, I could be one of those people that looks back to “the good old days” but I prefer living now, for the day, so I figured :idea: I’d drop NYC Aviation an e-mail to ask for some advice. Advice I got and a whole lot more when Tom Alfano offered to pick me up at JFK the day after we arrived.
Friday of that week came and it was a 0630 start for us for the drive over to Heathrow for our first flight with American Airlines.
24AUG07 ...
1106 GMT: AA105 (LHR-JFK) N780AN ... waiting to board ‘7AL’.
1229 GMT: AA105 (LHR-JFK) N780AN ... ex 09R, passing Terminal 4.
19.26 GMT / 14.26 EDT: JFK ... watching the cars as we pass over the Van Wyck Expressway before turning onto the ramp at Terminal 9. Little did I know that I’d be in a reversal the following afternoon when our car passed underneath the taxiway bridge as an American 777 passed overhead. The wing overhang above us was just awesome!
25AUG07
Tom, Chris Weyer and Florian Trojer had been out since early morning but the weather had been against them. Having picked me up we made our way to a parking lot with a good view of the approach for 31R to try our luck with the lifting cloudbase.
1300: EI-DRE ... still misty but if you’re based in the UK an Aeromexico B737 in any weather is OK!
1331: N401JS
1338: AP-BHV ... go-around, and as we waited for her to come around again we finally caught glimpse of her on finals ................ for 31L.
1350: N780AN ... so pleased to catch the aircraft I arrived in from London the day before, and I managed to pin the beacon as well!
1355: By this time we had an ever growing group in the parking lot. Sorry Chris, I tried 3 shots at waist height but only managed to get you half in shot.
1422: B-2447
1430: OE-LAE ... one for Florian t o feel at home with, naturally!
1455: SU-GBX
1456: “G-ULLS” ... quite a few of them :)
1457: N517UA ... nice to catch a new livery UA757 after catching the old livery at KIAD earlier this year.
1506: N714CK ... B747, always a good sight to see.
1546: Over to a new location after the runway change.
1554: N231JB ... OK, so I know you locals must get fed up with them, but the 190s do look good from any angle.
1606: B-16111 ... over at The Mounds for the 22L arrivals.
1609: XA-UBU ... my first Baby Bus in camera, dedicated to Mario ... for obvious reasons!
The next hour or so proved a little bit frustrating as LTU, LOT, Swiss, Lufthansa, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Finnair and Aeroflot heavies all landed against the sun on 22R :(
1705: N929RD ... good looking 757 and the light was turning quality 8)
1720: 9Y-BGI ... oh yes! ... oh no!, what a nasty sticker!!
1735: EI-DBL
1748: A6-ERG
1748: A6-ERG and Matt ... New York Times headline for the following day: “Latest political initiative questioned as Bush attacks photographer” :mrgreen:
1756: D-AIHS
1815: N160BS
1817: N70072
1907: AP-BHV ... taken from the Air Train on my way back to Manhattan.
The rest of the week was spent seeing the sights with the family but I managed to get a little time to look in on the action at Downtown Manhattan Heliport ...
N407MA
N318PD
N19TD
31AUG07 ... homeward bound
0734GMT, AA132 (JFK-LHR) N750AN ... dawn about half an hour west of Ireland.
09.06GMT, AA132 (JFK-LHR) N750AN ... ‘7BJ’ over Hatton Cross on very short finals, 27L.
Such a good time. Hope to see you all again some time!
Paul
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