EGCC - Manchester Airport 1-2/6/09

[Dave]

Was over in Manchester there for 2 days flying with Ryanair from Dublin, the usual £1 flights. Was extremely lucky to get some good weather, temperature hitting 28 oC, so I came home looking like I had spent a week tanning in Spain 

As for spotting... absoutely amazing, it knocks the socks off Dublin! (sorry Don)    

On the second day, I spent the first half of the day catching arrivals in some beautiful morning sun. I'll write more and stick up some more pictures later on, but for now, a taster



http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6616031   

[casper]

Fantastic shot. Looking forward to seeing more.

[George]

very nice mate

[Dave]

Thanks guys, I had an amazing time there, the spotting is fantastic. I'll start with the first day of the trip.

We had to leave Belfast at 3am for 6.30am departure from Dublin on Ryanair, and since that meant no sleep, we limited ourselves to 50mph on the way down. It was pouring in Dublin when we departed which led to fears it would also be bad in MAN weather wise, but it was not to be as we were greeted with some warm sun at MAN  .

We decided to head straight to the 'Southside Mounds', right beside runway 23L threshold to catch aircraft lining up for departure. It was also possibe to catch the arrivals on runway 23R if you timed things right between airport ariels between the runways etc.



http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6615701

Belfast's not the only place where vortices form from the propellor tips on takeoff


http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6615718



1400 pixel pic


My first close encounter with the 777, and damn, it was good!


One of Monarchs 2 A330's


Finally used the short 28-135mm lens


Argh the heat!




My friend couldn't handle the heat.




After 1pm, we headed to the Aviation Viewing Park, with the main aim to gorge ourselves from the little chippy there. By the time we had eaten, it rained so didn't get many pictures. Also by the time, we were pretty knackered so we headed to the hotel around 4ish.







Sorry about the over load of pictures From what I've seen, the pictures from day two are far more interesting!!!! I'll post some more pictures once I've finished editing the photos from the second day.

It's well worth visiting MAN for some spotting if you havn't arleady done so. I did the whole two day trip for £70 to £80.

Enjoy!

[casper]

Excellent series. Didn't realise it could be so cheap. Did you stay in B&B?

[Dave]

Thanks! I stayed in the Premier Inn hotel, costing £45 for a double room, thus split it would be £22 each. The hotel was fantastic, good quality rooms with TV 

Other costs; 2x £1 Ryanair return fares from Dublin, £16 return bus from Dublin, £5 bus between the airport, hotels and spotting location, £2 Aviation Viewing park entry, £20 on junk food at Aviation Viewing Park, and £5 on water for the two days.

The bus is great, as the main spotting locations on the Southside of the airport are accessible from the Holiday Inn, which is part of the specialised 'Southside Hotel's bus' that runs every 10 mins from the airport. The bus also stops at the Premier Inn. Before discovering this bus, £50 could easily have been wasted on the expensive airport taxi's!

So all in all, a cheap trip I have another identical trip booked for two weeks time but will only go if the weathers to be good.

[Chalkman]

Great shots,cant believe how close you can get.