EGPK - Prestwick - 04/3/09

[Dave]

Hey guys, I was across at Prestwick today courtesy of Ryanair, to trial out some of the spotting there. Whilst there was not much aircraft movements during the entire day, we were extremely lucky to catch all the decent arrivals during the two hour period we were at the airport.

It had snowed last night in parts of Scotland and the temperature remained cold today so afterwards I was frozen but it was worth it. As well as the usual Ryanair 737's, we saw 2x C-17 globemasters and a Cargolux 747F all arriving. Unfortunately we had to leave before we could see them depart, but still, it was great seeing them, especially in the snow. I had hoped for some diversions but it wasn't to be

I havn't editted any photos as I'm currently knackered but I know several people here are thinking of visiting Prestwick some time. The taxi from the airport to the spotting location cost £4 however calling the taxi company for the return trip back to the airport proved difficult with the company and myself unable to understand exactly where the pick up point would be. In the end a nice local bloke gave us a lift to the airport and we slipped him £10 to show our appreciation.

I also met another fellow jetphotos.net photographer whom often visits Belfast so that was another highlight of the trip for me. Will post some photos within the next few days. I have 3 further PIK day trips booked this month however will not know whether I will be travelling until the day before due to work commitments. Anyhow, I ought a small update with regards to Prestwick spotting would be nice!

Regards,

Dave

[Dave]

As promised, heres some of the best photos from yesterday. By the way, anyone else getting the heavy snow that Belfast's getting at the moment?

The first of the two C17's. Thankfully the sun was out for their arrival. My favourite shot of the day.


Prestwick's old timer, the Ex Polar Air Cargo 747-100.


My first picture of a helicopter... almost! This aircraft emerged from the maintainance hanger, performed some circles infront of the resident 747, and then headed down to the terminal. I ended up flying home on this aircraft.


Even the 'boring' Ryanair aircraft were getting in on the action.


Pitty the light disappeared for this arrival


All in all, a fantastic trip. I'd almost go a far as say the short 2 hour trip was more exciting than my visit to MAN last week!

[casper]

Nice ones. Would love to a C-17 in the flesh. I think a wet runway makes any 'boring' aircraft more dramatic

[String]

A worth while trip i think, nice c-17

[Dave]

Yea, the C17's were just amazing to see. I had a lot of fun there photographing them so I'm surprised I found the trip more exciting than MAN. Perhaps I'm just discovering the military side of me

Of course I was lucky to have the sun for most of the day so I imagine the rest of the trips will not be as exciting.

[vortex003]

Great pics!Nice catch with the C17.

I'd like to see one on finals for EGAB sometime

[Dave]

Thanks Vortex.

I was back at Prestwick this morning however the trip was doomed from the start as after we spent 20 minutes in a holding pattern above Prestwick in the glorious sunshine, a small patch of fog was covering the runways thus we eventually diverted to Glasgow with 6 other aircraft. Ryanair organised a bus to transport passengers back to Prestwick, and after an hour long wait for the bus, it finally arrived. Following this it was only a 40 minutes bus ride to Prestwick which flewpast as I think I drifted in out out of sleep in the sun.

As the trip was quite short, only 4 hours, we only managed to squeeze in 1.5  hours of spotting which was better than I expected. I made some friends with the local spotters there whom are a very tight knit and friendly bunch of guys. We were given a lift back to the airport as well and they refused to take the £10 offered to them for their help. I  will hopefully meet up with them again next week (and the week after!)

Knowing I wouldn't be as lucky as last week, I didn't expect to see much today. We only saw a Whizz Air A320, an ATR 72 freighter and a small but impressive military aircraft with alot of antennas etc etc. Also lots of small prop planes  so decent enough.

Will post the pics some time. Now back to my shameful silence!

Dave

[Angry Turnip]

Thanks Vortex.
 Ryanair organised a bus to transport passengers back to Prestwick, and after an hour long wait for the bus, it finally arrived.

Dave

Are you sure you weren`t dreaming??!! That`s not like Ryanair!!

C-17`s are impressive beasties and highly manoeuvrable on the ground-they can turn them selves around with reverse thrust which is a very nifty party trick

[Dave]

One of my photos from the previous trip made the front page of Jetphotos.net Thats made me VERY happy!

Are you sure you weren`t dreaming??!! That`s not like Ryanair!!

C-17`s are impressive beasties and highly manoeuvrable on the ground-they can turn them selves around with reverse thrust which is a very nifty party trick

Yea, I was pleased with how Ryanair dealth with the whole situation. The only downside was the one hour wait for the bus but it could've been a whole lot worse so Kudos to Ryanair. I have yet to have a bad experience with them!

The C-17's are pretty powerful, and managed to brake before the main taxiway leading off runway 13 which was disappointing. Had they missed it, they'd have taken the last taxiway and wouldve taxied right past us.

Here's some of the photos from Tuesdays trip.

First appearance of this airframe at PIK according to a local spotter.


I didn't even know that freighter ATR's existed. This is usually operating by an AN-12 however today it was a tiddley ATR 72.


Lots of aerials!


Last but not least, this little Beech B60 Duke is quite rare.


All in all, another very lucky day with the sun (despite the diversion to Glasgow). All flights to PIK after the end of this month are daily so there will only be one flight a day between PIK and BHD, ruining any opportunities for short day trips. The only other option is via Dublin which can be tiring.

[Angry Turnip]

Some nice shot`s there Mr Chips-that one with the aerials is a Beech 1900 KingAir underneath all the technology,but I suspect you know that having uploaded it to Jetphotos.
Like the Wizzair A320-got a few shots of them into BFS but they ususally come in after dark.

ATR42 Freighter's are fairly common-you would rarely seem them during daylight hours at BFS-they sometimes carried the Sunday papers up late on Saturday night from Dublin.
I hated unloading the papers as the bundles stretched your arms,you can`t stand up straight in most of the smaller freighter's.

Sometimes they were used on the mail flights out of BFS,but again these went out in the wee small hours.

[Dave]

Some nice shot`s there Mr Chips-that one with the aerials is a Beech 1900 KingAir underneath all the technology,but I suspect you know that having uploaded it to Jetphotos.
Like the Wizzair A320-got a few shots of them into BFS but they ususally come in after dark.

ATR42 Freighter's are fairly common-you would rarely seem them during daylight hours at BFS-they sometimes carried the Sunday papers up late on Saturday night from Dublin.
I hated unloading the papers as the bundles stretched your arms,you can`t stand up straight in most of the smaller freighter's.

Sometimes they were used on the mail flights out of BFS,but again these went out in the wee small hours.

I knew it was a Beechcraft of some short but that was about it. Outside my range of aircraft!

I didn't realise BFS got the odd Whizz Air. I've only ever seen Whizz Air at Prestwick (and Glasgow possibly due to the diversons on Tuesday).

Apparently there are a load of unusual cargo aircraft flying into BFS during the early hours that most people havn't heard about. Would you know of any? I've heard that Titan Air use their Avro/BAe 146 in during the night. I know that there was a Lockheed Electra but I havn't seen it recently when at BFS.

The guys a Prestwick really are a great group of people and all are connected, so if some unusual aircraft is heading in, everybody knows about it. Puts us NI folk to shame!

[casper]

The guys a Prestwick really are a great group of people and all are connected, so if some unusual aircraft is heading in, everybody knows about it. Puts us NI folk to shame!

Maybe not in the same league as them but I have seen a few alerts posted here.

Excellent shots by the way.

[Dave]

The guys a Prestwick really are a great group of people and all are connected, so if some unusual aircraft is heading in, everybody knows about it. Puts us NI folk to shame!

Maybe not in the same league as them but I have seen a few alerts posted here.

Excellent shots by the way.

Several of them are in the air traffic control I believe so they're already at a huge advantage. I think us guys do pretty damn well as well! There have been quite afew alerts and events posted which would otherwise gone unnoticed by me. Plus the Prestwick folk are not blessed with a site like this one! 

[Angry Turnip]

Re night flights into BFS,I left the airport two years ago but the main night flights were:

Jet2/Channex B737-300 converted from PAX to freight.
Titan BAe/Avro 146
Royal Mail-various types including small Antonov`s and BAe ATP
Air Contractors ATR42/72 Freighter.
Emerald Air BAe ATP, HS178
MNG F-27

These were mainly Mail flights,but some were newspapers etc

There were other flights in but I didn`t work on them so didn`t have time to notice what they were usually.

[Dave]

Due to the fog this morning, there were widespread flight disruptions at Belfast City Airport, and despite the glorious sunshine, Ryanair cancelled both Prestwick flights today which was abit disappoiting as I was due to see two C-130 Hercules and a Austrian Dash 8 Q400. Umph. Ah well.

I have a feeling next week, fog will cause another cancellation of our last Prestwick trip.

On the up side, Ryanair fly Derry City to Prestwick so a daytrip is possible if your willing to fly out of EGAC and into EGAE on the return leg.

[casper]

Unlucky

I was due to see two C-130 Hercules and a Austrian Dash 8 Q400

Where'd you get the info?

[Dave]

One of the spotters I made friends with over there works in ATC there I believe. He found out last night about the Q400 whilst last night myself I discovered the C-130's were stopping over night.

Theres a few sites that allows you to keep up to tabs with the movements at PIK.

The two main ones are;

A yahoo group called PAMG for aircraft in advance - http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/PAMG/

A dedicated site, mainly aircraft after they arrive - www.egpk.com

A trip over there is definitely recommended. They get the new Air France 772F as too does Dublin on Wednesdays.

I'm suffering from planespotting withdrawl symptoms