Sweet dreams at Heathrow 29-12-13

[Sickbag_andy]

Until Sunday I had only seen one Dreamliner but managed to make up for it somewhat with my first (and only) visit to Heathrow for 2013, all 4 BA examples showed up during the day but the Brunei aircraft had arrived and was barely visible by the time I arrived......

Early morning dreams! G-ZBJB arriving at 08.29 with the sun still very low (I was there from 08.00 when it was almost too dark for photos)


then 'JD followed an hour later


and then there were 3 - 'JC at 09.55


then at 10.25 a different airline, Air India's VT-ANH




and still they kept coming Qatar's A7-BCA at 10.38




and United's N27908 at 11.50


then they stopped coming until 13.40 when the China southern one (B2732) landed




the United one departed at 2pm


and then the 4th of the BA fleet 'G-ZBJA was towed out ready to do a service

more of the other types to follow on a later post

[Jigsaw]

A trip well worth making mate

Nice shots

[Aceyone]

Nice pics,where did you stand please ?

[Sickbag_andy]

Nice pics,where did you stand please ?

on my set of steps!

I was around the end of Cains lane, spot G on this guide:
http://www.plane-mad.com/airport-spotti ... -egll.html

unfortunately I only took my short steps which only gain me about 0.7m height, for most of the shots I was on the grass verge of the A30 on the Cains lane side, some of the guys had taller steps and were on the airport side of the A30 but I started there and found the fence impinged too much so I moved to the south (Cains lane) side of the road. A set of steps giving at least a 1.2m rise would have been much better and would have been useful on the airport side where 1: lorries are less likely to drive in front of you at the vital moment and 2: a bit more opportunity for panning as the aircraft land as the lamp posts obstruct and you need to shoot between them!

The ground shots were taken through the airport fence but as a security man said I couldn't use steps within 3m of the fence (he was alright about it, just doing his job) I had to stand on tip toe - another 6" would have made all the difference so I will have to take something to give me that extra bit of height next time (even a couple of bricks would have helped). I had an awful lot of failures there with the fence wire blurring the edges.

Another point re lenses, I was using my 100-400 while on the south side of the road but even down at 100mm I was struggling to get some aircraft (eg 777-300 and 747s) in the frame, it was very tight once they were side on but okay shooting along the A30 as per the first Air India & Qatar shots. I also had my new Sigma 18-250 zoom on the other camera so was having to swap cameras which I had to be very quick at! Once I was against the fence I used the 18-250 as with a 62mm dia glass the wire didnt interfere as long as I didnt fill the frame with the aircraft, I was only working at about 60mm on the runway shots and then cropped them - 100mm filled the frame with an A330. I could have used my canon 18-55 which is a smaller glass but then I couldnt have switched from the landers over the perimeter road and through the fence as the landers needed about 200mm+

Finally if you park in Cains lane DON'T PARK ON THE GRASS VERGE ON THE RIGHT as you face the A30, the local traffic wardens were booking people for parking on a grass footpath! I had parked that side but as I was on the road surface and not grass I got away with it, others didn't! Seems a bit silly as it encourages people to narrow up the usable road but that's what they prefer.

Sorry it's a long answer but hope it's useful

[Aceyone]

Thanks very much,a good detailed reply,so do you reckon my Canon70-200L would be a good lens if I go ?

[Sickbag_andy]

Thanks very much,a good detailed reply,so do you reckon my Canon70-200L would be a good lens if I go ?

for that spot I think it would be ideal for over the fence (and with 1.2 - 1.5m ish steps) but if it is the 67mm dia and you wanted some through the fence you might struggle a bit because of the mesh spoiling the edges of the images.

[Aceyone]

Thanks very much,a good detailed reply,so do you reckon my Canon70-200L would be a good lens if I go ?

for that spot I think it would be ideal for over the fence (and with 1.2 - 1.5m ish steps) but if it is the 67mm dia and you wanted some through the fence you might struggle a bit because of the mesh spoiling the edges of the images.

Thanks for that,yes it is 67mm so steps are the thing !

[Sickbag_andy]

yes but if you can take a smaller dia lens as well for shots through the fence you might do better still

[Aceyone]

yes but if you can take a smaller dia lens as well for shots through the fence you might do better still

Didn't think of that

[Si Ed]

I was on that China Southern flight! Came in about 40 mins early from Guangzhou.