Yup, a fantastic trip was had by all, definitely worth all the tiredness. The weather was perfect and we saw some interesting stuff.
In the morning, our tiddley 737
parked beside an Air China A330 and an Aerosur 747 which happened to be a new aircraft with the airline (originally a Virgin Atlantic 747) and her first flight being on the same day, yet none of us knew it! Here's a picture of the Aerosur 747 from airlines.net from yesterday, photo taken by Diego Ruiz De Vargas - Iberian Spotters http://www.airliners.net/photo/AeroSur/Boeing-747-443/1611743/L/ Unfortunately none of us caught the 747 as it unfortunately never moved from the gating area. Still an interesting aircraft so come across, particularly on it's first day with the airline. Also upon landing, we saw a cargo DC-8, although again, like the Aerosur 747, it didn't move during the time we were there.
Weather in Dublin was terrible when we left with heavy rain and strong wings; I've never seen a wing flex so much before in my life! Our flight arrived early at just before 11am, expected from Ryanair these days. We were greeted by a cloudless sky and 19oC temperatures.
After a long walk to the airports metro station, we hopped on to the metro and got off at the next stop, at Baraja's. Water was bought and then we headed to the spotting mounds with Squad701 and Hammerhead trying to get me to remember their instructions as a test. They had forgotten to tell me one important detail... to climb through a hole in a wire Fence!
We got to the spotting mound following a short walk from the Baraja's station. There were already a group of Portuguese spotters on both the higher mound and the lower mound so we opted to share the higher mound with them.
We saw a range of aircraft, perhaps surprising though was the huge amount of Ryanair and Easyjet aircraft we saw during the day, reminded me abit of being at a home airport. Runway's for landing and departure had changed from the trip Squad701 and Hammerhead had from their previous trip so it made catching aircraft more difficult as we would only be able to photograph if they taxied to the end of the arrival runway, something that didn't happen often.
Also all the Iberia A340's were parked a good distance away through the heat haze and departed on a runway seemingly a good distance away. Effectively only photos of taxing aircraft could be taken, but the mounds did offer some nice angles.
The only thing is the huge amount of poles and lightposts... never complain about Dublin again
The mounds also offered some good shots of cars, trucks, and motorcyclists which suited some of us cough Squad cough
We eventually called it a day just after 5pm when the sun was going down, and opted to go straight to Burger King located beside the Baraja's station, where both BHD and Hammerhead skillfully ordered the food, with BHD using Spanish, and Hammerhead using caveman terms and pointing at the menu making grunting noises.
Once back at the airport, we passed through security quite quickly and headed for some snacks before the flight home. Ended up parked between an Aer Lingus A321, also due to Dublin 5 minutes before us, an Air Comet A330, and also an Aerolinas Argentinas 747
The flight home was uneventful with most of us drifting off to sleep for a short while. Unfortunately during the process of the safety brief, the cabin was bustling with noise people not listening to the cabin crew, however the cabin crew kept their cool and continued regardless so credit to them.
We arrived back at Dublin slightly early again at just before 11pm concluding a great day had by all. Personally I had a great time and enjoyed the company from all three guys and would love to do something like it again. Thanks for the great day guys!
Dave
