Dublin Airport - Saturday 12th September

[Dave]

For once I might have Saturday off work and with the weather currently looking good at the weekend, I was thinking of nipping down to Dublin Airport on the Saturday and trying to catch the Air France 777 freighter... although im not 100% sure if it's still operating into Dublin on Saturdays? It may have been cancelled, but if it's still due in, I would like to head down to catch it.

The weather currently suggest it will be sunny with the odd cloud on Saturday and the wind direction suggests runway 10 useage... great for photos!

Just a heads up incase any Northerner's fancied heading down there or if any Southerner's wanted to meet up.

Dave

EDIT... I just looked at the logs from last Saturday and it was an Air France Cargo 747 operating the flight rather than the 777F. Also the Ryanair Dreamliner made an appearance that day (EI-DCL), and if you've been a member on this site for a while, you'll know thats one aircraft I am dying to catch!

[Hammerhead]

I will try to be there, but as the wife is working nights this weekend i might have a kid in tow...   P.S. Let me know what time you will be arriving at and the spotters bus will meet you...

[stcolin]

hmmmm, I've not been to DUB yet for photos, would love to get down there......

Dave, how do you travel down?

[Hammerhead]

Dave is there any way to find out in advance which aircraft will be operating out of EIWD ?? Like ringing the airline for info... or is it just a case of having to be lucky...

[Dave]

I'd either take the Dublin Airport bus at around 7am in the morning from Belfast City Centre (something like £18 return) or I'll head down with my dad and make a mini trip out of it.

Don, I'm not too sure if we can find out aircraft registrations but it should be do able to find the aircraft type before heading down. Don't worry about having to pick me up, it will probably be likely I'll be with my father. Don't worry about having the kids in tow, I'm sure they might enjoy a wee while at the airport.

For the larger aircraft coming from the States, www.flightaware.com shows the time, aircraft type and airline, of movements from the US and Dublin. It often also picks up the Air France Cargo so on Friday night, Saturday morning, I should be able to tell if its a 777F or 747F.

Dave

[Angry Turnip]

Be good to get it no matter what type it is but B747 would just edge it for me.
Pity about all the obstacles around the perimeter fence at Dublin ,plus you really need to look out for those pesky double decker buses that frequently get in the way

How far is it from Dublin Airport to Baldonnel? is it near Rathcoole? Can`t seem to find it in my olde map

[Dave]

There are indeed a lot of poles and obstacles, especially at the RWY 28 end, however when they're landing on RWY 10 (as predicted for Saturday), there's almost nothing blocking your path making photography alot easier. 

I'm sure Hammerhead can provide distances to and from Baldonnel, it's almost in his back yard 

[Hammerhead]

How far is it from Dublin Airport to Baldonnel? is it near Rathcoole? Can`t seem to find it in my olde map

Hi Angry... Baldonnel is very near Rathcoole.....Runway 23 takes the aircraft over the village..... heres a map that should help you get the location .http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=53.29744,-6.417389&spn=0.047809,0.109005&z=13.. The only thing is Bal dosnt be active on weekends except for the Garda helicopter or the Casa which leaves early and returns late.....

[Squad 701]

Saturday is looking like a good-day for a trip to Dublin,
weather is looking good and the wind is more than likely going to be north-easterly,
so maybe runway 10 will be in use, great for photography 
plenty of free-space, and I might even put in an appearance if Hammerhead can't make it 

[Hammerhead]

I might even put in an appearance if Hammerhead can't make it 

Are you saying that if im there you wont be?     ......I promise i'll shower and stand down wind...

[Dave]

Cool, will keep an eye out for you guys.

Dave

[Squad 701]

I might even put in an appearance if Hammerhead can't make it 

Are you saying that if im there you wont be?     ......I promise i'll shower and stand down wind...

Sorry Don, I missread your post, actually only read the first line, and got called away to the phone.

[Dave]

I havn't been able to find anything out just yet regarding the Air France Cargo (I hope it still operates!) however while scaninng the list of arrivals on Dublin Airport website, I came across an arrival from Lourdes at 2.40pm, the airline being Voronezhavia. I can't find out any info on this flight, or the airline for that matter, however the airline seems to operate a TU-134...

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Voronezhavia/Tupolev-Tu-134A/0297744/L/

Maybe... 

[Hammerhead]

Sorry to hear that work has stopped you from coming down today Dave...  Just to update the info on today Squad has just informed me that the Voronezhavia flight is a Titan aircraft.... He also says the Air France cargo is now a Sunday service and also operating a 747...    so i might sky+ the grand prix tommorow and try and get a few pic's of that...

[Dave]

Yea sorry about that, a bit gutted to not have been able to make it down for the day. I'd like to have caught the Titan 757 which was G-ZAPX

Anyhow, are you sure the Air France Cargo is on Sundays? The ACARS database shows an Air France Cargo 747 movement today at 3.42pm. How was the weather for you guys today? I have to go to work soon this evening

[Squad 701]

Here's some of the Bizjets from today in Dublin EIDW.

G-FBLK Citation Mustang, TAG Aviation UK Ltd. Farnborough.

G-CITJ Citationjet, Centreline Air Charter. Bristol.

N777DY Citation CJ2, Oregon Flight Services LLC. Portland, OR.

EI-JJJ Hawker 900XP Private Sky.

OE-GVA Learjet 40, VistaJet. Salzburg.

[Hammerhead]

Nice Pic's there Squad... amazingly i have some that look the same......

[Squad 701]

Yea sorry about that, a bit gutted to not have been able to make it down for the day. I'd like to have caught the Titan 757 which was G-ZAPX

Plenty of the usual stuff today Dave, pity you couldn't make it, maybe next time.
G-ZAPX indeed was there, twice and masquerading as Voronezhavia.

[Dave]

Plenty of the usual stuff today Dave, pity you couldn't make it, maybe next time.
G-ZAPX indeed was there, twice and masquerading as Voronezhavia.

It's likely that I will be down in Dublin all day tomorrow, so if you're not all plane spotted out, I might bump into you there. There are a good number of aircraft I'm hoping to catch tomorrow, included is the Titan 757 masquerading as Voronezhavia.

Norwegian Shuttle... 9.35am
Delta 767-400ER... 10.00am
Atlantic Airlines Lockheed Electra/ATP... 11.45am
Air France 747F... 2.35am
Etihad A332... 14.25pm
Titan/Voronezhavia... 6.45pm

I gather the light will have swung around to the far side of the airport at around 5 to 6pm hence the Titan 757 will have to be caught from the other side of the airport?

Dave 

[Dave]

Ended up heading down to Dublin today having missed the opportunity yesterday. It turned out to be a fantastic day, not a single cloud interfering with the photography throughout the day. Enjoyed the great company of Squad 701 for the majority of the day, and even smelly Hammerhead made a brief appearance! Sorry I couldn't stick around Don, your timing as terrible, arriving just as we were heading off to lunch!

I love your set up Squad, your lens had fantastic sharpness, made mine look like sh*t!  Will be interesting to see how your new one works out in a few weeks time!

There was a good few people enjoying the aircraft and weather so there was a nice atmosphere all around. Arrivals started of on RWY 28 and then switched to RWY from noon onwards. Although the switch should've been made earlier, as a Swiss A320 nearly had a tail strike whilst landing with the tail wind! Only edited a small number of shots but lots of stuff I've personally neve seen before.









FINALLY caught the Ryanair Dreamliner aircraft  This actually made my year! How sad!




This little beechcraft belongs to the US Navy.


The Air France made appearance as well, the thing is just massive at Dublin.

[Angry Turnip]

Some great shots Dave-especially like the Piaggio

[Squad 701]

Some great shots Dave-especially like the Piaggio

Hi Dave, glad you had a good time it was a lovely day, as your wonderful pictures show.
Great to eventually meet up with you, and say hi to your Dad - he's a Gent.
I just missed out on the Piaggio (not the moped) and the US Navy Beechcraft (Danger Danger Propeller)
Here's a few of mine from today.
Cheers.

Dublin EIDW 13-09-09

CS-TKL Airbus A320-214, Sata.

EI-DCL Boeing 737-8AS Winglets, Boeing Dreamliner-cs, Ryanair.

OY-RCD BAe Avro 146-RJ85, Atlantic Airways.

LX-LGZ Embraer ERJ-145LU, Luxair.

EC-LAQ Airbus A320-214, Iberworld Airlines.

OY-RJE Bombardier CRJ-100LR, Cimber Sterling.

OK-CEC Airbus A321-211, CSA.

A6-EYF Airbus A330-243, Etihad.

EI-EDY Airbus A330-302, Aer Lingus.

F-GIUA Boeing 747-428ERF (LCD), Air France Cargo.

[stcolin]

Very nice lads, perfect weather.

Squad, I seen you use the 50D going by your flickr. The lens seems to be a 70-200, but which version? f2.8 IS or the f4?

[Squad 701]

Very nice lads, perfect weather.

Squad, I seen you use the 50D going by your flickr. The lens seems to be a 70-200, but which version? f2.8 IS or the f4?

Hi stcolin,
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, trouble in paradise 
Correct Canon 50D with 70-200 F4 IS USM, for Dublin airport anyway it seems to be the perfect focal range,
and I truely do believe it has the edge on the bigger f2.8 IS after comparing results from the two.
But having said that there's only a hair in it, and I would be more than happy to have either of them.
If your business is Photography the 2.8 IS is the one to own, bearing in mind an updated version is rumoured to be in the pipeline.
If you were strictly into Aviation photography, either the 100-400mm IS or 70-200mm f4 IS are the business in the Canon L zoom-range.
Cheers.

[stcolin]

Cheers mate.

Yeah, I've been using the 70-200 f4 and now have the 100-400. Shaprness wise, there isn't much in it, however the 70-200 perhaps just pips it.