Milan long weekend 12th - 14th September Ian Ellington, Craig McCorriston
My Penultimate trip this year was a long weekend in Milan for the very well organized enthusiast’s day at Malpensa Airport! It’s now a yearly trip on my list, being the third year running that Craig Mc and myself have attended it!
I did struggle to get decent flights with me leaving it so late to book them! “Something I won’t do next year! The only real option with regards to flight times and cost was Easyjet from Newcastle to Bristol, then Ryanair to Milan at midday on Saturday, returning Monday late afternoon! Still not to bad for £45 return for the four flights! The timings worked out well as I’ve been after shooting the Skybus DHC6 Twin Otter that operates through Bristol on a Saturday morning, so with me having 4 hours between flights I would hopefully nail one of these rare beasts!!
A very early start on the Saturday Morning 12th Sept was greeted by nothing of interest at Newcastle airport other than my Easyjet flight down to Bristol “which was onboard G-EZDL Airbus A319. The flight down was only 50 minutes and was surprising full!! I found out why when I started to notice all the Newcastle fans going to Cardiff for the weekend’s fixture with the toon! Enough said!!
Bristol Airport Saturday 12th Sept.
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Bristol Airport is having a lot of alterations done around the terminal and ramp, so really there’s only one good place to shoot from as the terminal is north facing! The only problem is you need a car! Which I didn’t have unfortunately! Basically it’s on the 09 end of the runway, But worth the effort if stopping a while as the sun is behind you most of the day! Similar to the Southside 05 end at DTV!
Of interest!
EI-DYH Boeing 737-8 Ryanair (My lift to Bergamo)
G-WOWD DHC8-300 Air Southwest
EI-REH ATR72 Air Arann
G-CBML DHC6 Twin Otter Skybus
G-CITJ Ce525 Citationjet
Milan Bergamo Saturday 12th September
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After landing in heavy rain I soon perked up as I seen one of the stars of the trip!! ATU Cargo Tupolev TU204F! Oh baby!! Things couldn’t get any better as by the time I got the hire car sorted the rain stopped and then the sun came out!! Perfect timing for the departure of the TU204!
Craig Mc wasn’t arriving until late evening so after working the TU204F on take off I then headed round to shoot a couple of long term resident’s at Bergamo which I missed last year!
Bergamo also has a short runway north of the main one and a couple of hangars for light aircraft and a club house. Once I got round it was straight into the club house for a drink, and then ask the question see if anyone would escort me out to shoot some of the light aircraft! No problems were had as a very friendly pilot “Mario” took me out and let me into the hangers etc! After shooting some of the more interesting light aircraft I then headed round to hopefully shoot some more long term residents in the shape of several Fokker FK27s! It seems though you have to get airside access to shoot these so went back and asked Mario! Unfortunately the guy he knows was on holiday so no luck this year! Maybe next year?? After shooting a couple of the FK27s from the fence I then followed the perimiter road clock wise round to a place where I stayed until Scotland’s richest man “Craig Mc’s” flight arrived! Good for shots but you need something to stand on to get over the fence! That’s where the hire car came in!! Once Craig had landed it was off to our hotel near Malpensa Airport. Tasty first day and the weather look good for the ramp tour tomorrow.
Of Interest!
I-MLCT Fokker FK50F Mililiner
G-BIKO Boeing 757-200F DHL
I-AIGI Boeing 767-200 Air Italy
I-ERJD Learjet 45
RA-64032 Tupolev TU204F ATU Cargo
I-MLGT/MLRT Fokker Fk27’s Miniliner
YL-LCD Airbus A320 SmartLynx
D-BGAL Do328-Jet Cirrus Aviation
G-STRH Boeing 737-700 Travelfly
OY-RCE BAe RJ85 Atlantic
OO-DLT Airbus A300F DHL
G-CELG Boeing 737-300 Jet2
“Stored Aircraft”
I-SIXA Fokker FK27 SixCargo Colors! ((Just been restored to G-JEAF!!))
I-FSTK Fokker FK27 Eureca Colors!
F-BPUJ Fokker FK27 Air France Poste Colors!
HA-FAC/FAE Fokker FK27s Both in Farnair Europe Colors!
F-WQVF Fokker FK27 Conair Colors coded 71
HI-683 Piper PA31 Navajo
I-TASE Rockwell Commander 690
OH-CMG Cessna 210 (Round the world Air Race 1982 badge on it!!
SE-LDC Yakovlev YK52
Malpensa Sunday 13th September
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It was a fairly leisurely breakfast as we didn’t have to get to Malpensa for the briefing until 10.15am! Once we arrived at the meeting point a few familiar faces started to appear! A couple of guys from the recent Russia trip and Mr Ian Bowley! Villa fan!! And of course Guido the guy who makes things tick! So with the briefing over and the 10 euros paid it was off on to the coach for a blast round to the ramp where several biz where parked! Kingfisher Airbus A319(CJ) and a very nicely painted Legacy with a pack of cards on the tail! Probably connected with the Italian Grand prix?? “Nice start.
We then had a couple of stops which included shooting Cargoitali MD11F then headed to the fire station near runway 35L where we stayed for several hours in what can be described as Caribbean weather!! Glorious sunshine!!
Of Interest
EI-DBM Boeing 777-200 Alitalia
EC-KVU BD700 Global Express
F-GMLX MD83 Blueline
N900EM ERJ135CJ Legacy
D-CAWM Cessna 560 Citation XLS+
G-GALX Falcon 900
VT-VJM Airbus A319(CJ) Kingfisher
EI-UPE MD11F Cargoitali
SX-DVT Airbus A320 Aegean Airlines
N182DN Boeing 767-300 Delta Airlines
EC-JQZ Airbus A321 Iberia
A6-EYP Airbus A330-200 Etihad Airways
F-ORMH Airbus A321 Middle East Airlines
VQ-BCM Airbus A320 Aeroflot
B-2387 Airbus A340-300 Air China
D-AGEL Boeing 737-700 Air Berlin
D-AILH/I/AKNG/H/I/J Airbus A319’s Lufthansa Italia
A7-AEN Airbus A330-300 Qatar Airways
YK-AKC Airbus A320 Syrian Airlines
N352AA Boeing 767-300 American
SU-GBB/Z Airbus A320’s Egypt Air
OH-BLU MD90-30 Blue1
I-ADJK ERJ190 Air Dolomiti
9V-SWO Boeing 777-300 Singapore Airlines
F-OHGX Airbus A320 Royal Jordanian Airways
VQ-BAV Airbus A319 Rossiya
UR-42372 Yakovlev YK42 Donbassaero
EI-RJT BAe RJ85 Cityjet
EC-IOH Airbus A320 Spanair
EI-LVD Airbus A321 Livingston
CN-ROB Boeing 737-800 Royal Air Maroc
YL-BBK Boeing 737-300 Air Baltic
CS-TPG ERJ145 Portugalia Airlines
EC-HQI Airbus A320 Click Air
7T-VJS Boeing 737-600 Air Algeria
EI-DSF/K/W Airbus A320’s Air One
I-DAVB MD82 Itali Basic Airbee colors!
I-AIGH/I Boeing 767-200’s Air Italy
B-18723 Boeing 747-400F China Air Cargo
YU-AND Boeing 737-300 JAT
I-SMEB MD82 Meridiana
YL-LCD Airbus A320 Smart Lynx
EI-DFL ERJ170 Alitalia Express
SX-BGJ Boeing 737-400 Aegean Airlines
SU-BPY Boeing 757 Euro Mediterranean (Basic Air Italy colors!)
EC-KRD Boeing 737-400 (Ex Futura still here stored!)
N593FE MD11F Federal Express
OE-LCQ Regional Jet 200 Austrian Arrows
M-LJGI Falcon 2000
EC-KUM Gulfstream G550
OE-HRJ Do 328-Jet Jetcom
N969JD Learjet 60
4X-EKS Boeing 737-800 EL/AL
PS-72 Bell 206 Jetranger Italian Police
I-ADLK/S ATR,72’s Air Dolomiti
PT-MSL Airbus A340-500 TAM
ER-AXP Airbus A320 Air Moldova
VP-BEK BD100 Challenger 300
EI-EED/I-LLAG Boeing 767-300’s Blue Panorama
LY-AQV Boeing 737-300 Aeroservizi
PS-89 Bell 214 Italian Police
D-ACRJ Regional Jet 200 Lufthansa Regional
F-GIXD Boeing 737-300 Europe Aerpost
TC-JCT Airbus A310-300F Turkish Airlines Cargo
PS-B09 Vulcanair P68 Italian Police
TS-ION Boeing 737-600 Tunisair
EI-DOS Boeing 737-400 Air One
EI-IRE CL601 Challenger
TS-IMI Airbus A320 Tunisair
I-GURU Lerajet 40
I-NEOX Boeing 737-800 Neos
I-EEZO Airbus A320 Eurofly
At about 6.30pm we headed back to the terminal where we thanked Guido for a tasty day and said our goodbyes! It was off then to have a drink and a bite to eat and chill! What a day!!!
Milan Bergamo Monday 14th September
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This morning we were planning on visiting Linate Airport, but after hitting the world’s worst car Park!! “Well nearly as bad as the M25” we decided to give it a miss and head straight to Bergamo instead! Our flight back to Bristol was at 3pm so we headed back to the spot I was at on Saturday! The weather had changed dramatically from yesterday to light rain and cloud! So we waited for a few tasty arrivals then dropped the hire car off and checked in for our flight to Bristol!
Of Interest
SX-DVW Airbus A320 Aegean Airlines
SU-PBH Airbus A320 Air Memphis
EI-DFK ERJ170 Alitalia Express
YR-BAC Boeing 737-300 Blue Air
YR-FKA Fokker FK100 Carpatair
CN-NMB Airbus A320 Air Arabia
I-EEZE/I/N Airbus A320’s Eurofly
HA-LPF/LZ-WZA Airbus A320’s Wizzair
I-FORU Learjet 45
HB-SDN DA40 Diamond Star
HB-ZWA SE315B Lama
SU-LBH Airbus A320 Lotus Air
Nothing in at Bristol so just had a burger king while we waited for our flights to arrive! Both of us were using Easyjet to get home! Craig back to Edinburgh and myself back to Newcastle where I boarded G-EZJW Boeing 737-700 for the 50 minute flight.
What a great weekend! Nice weather and a well organized ramp tour at a major airport “but what makes this hobby so frustrating of ours, is the fact that most European/world airports seem to cater for us Aviation Enthusiasts and try to accommodate us! Whether it’s a viewing deck or ramp tours etc! Something that doesn’t exist here in the UK!
In a nut shell there’s no way this would happen here at DTV let alone Gatwick/Heathrow! “Which at times makes my blood boil!! So for me now it’s a trip abroad as appose to listening to some power crazed Security Guard/Airport Management saying “sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to move!! If only some of these characters would have a look and learn from other airports on how they try to accommodate us rather than chase us away, then our hobby would be a lot more enjoyable!
Ian Ellington, Craig McCorriston