Stansted 9-2-13, in desperation to relieve boredom

[Sickbag_andy]

I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms today , my trigger finger for my Canon was twitching badly so as the weather wwas looking nice I decided to pop over to stansted for a couple of hours to try to get a pic of the ACG 747F, oh dear! The weather turned , I was cold and when it started to rain I gave up with the 747 still 1/2 hour or so away. I relieved the tension in the trigger finger by taking some shots of the arrivals but they were all regulars, the only interesting thing was the amount of vapour coming off some of the aircraft, anyway here's a few of them

not it's not a Boeing corporate job, it's Ryanair's EI-DCL, I flew on this to Bologna a while back



an ordinary Ryanair 737 shedding quite a bit of vapour


Thomson B757 G-OOBH in the new scheme:


and their 737 G-TAWI in the old scheme


The lunchtime pegasus B737 TC-ANP


Ryanair 737 EI-DLE was another with a lot of vapour coming off it


and finally an Easy Jet A319 G-EZGF,


the Airbusses didn't appear to be shedding vapour like the 737s (it looked like it was coming off the flap tips on the 737s), anybody understand the science of why it happens on some types of aircraft and not others, by the time I left it had got very dark and the vapour was no longer visible, a change in atmospherics I presume.

I wish the weather had brightened up, anouther hour or so and I would have got pics of the ACG 747 and the Silkways 767, and a Cargolux 747 dropped in abou tan hour ago as well so a bit of variety today - lets hope for better weather on another weekend soon.

[Mackrick]

the Airbusses didn't appear to be shedding vapour like the 737s (it looked like it was coming off the flap tips on the 737s), anybody understand the science of why it happens on some types of aircraft and not others, by the time I left it had got very dark and the vapour was no longer visible, a change in atmospherics I presume.

Ok try this ....

The trailing edge of the flaps cause a vortex to form. The reduction in pressure and temperature across each vortex can cause water to condense and make the cores of the vortices visible. This effect is more common on humid days.


Nice photos by the way.

[Aceyone]

Me likey what's the viewing .parking like at Stanstead ?

[Sickbag_andy]

when the sun is on the south side i.e. up until about 3pm there is nowhere ideal on the airport itself so I always go out on the approaches with the downside that i'm sure to miss a good departure, there are a few good spots for either runway such as where I was today. Once the sun moves round the bank along the north side at Belmer end is very good but you need a step ladder to avoid getting the fence in your photos, there is a mound near the aerial there that just about gets yuo clear of the fence buta set of steps still helps.

in summary there are spots but it's not as easy as many other airports in the UK

[Jigsaw]

Nice shots mate

[Aceyone]

when the sun is on the south side i.e. up until about 3pm there is nowhere ideal on the airport itself so I always go out on the approaches with the downside that i'm sure to miss a good departure, there are a few good spots for either runway such as where I was today. Once the sun moves round the bank along the north side at Belmer end is very good but you need a step ladder to avoid getting the fence in your photos, there is a mound near the aerial there that just about gets yuo clear of the fence buta set of steps still helps.

in summary there are spots but it's not as easy as many other airports in the UK

Thanks,I may give it a go soon