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Amsterdam Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th  August 2011 - Dave Anderson, Dave Rose, Ian McMaster & Aidan Williamson

Amsterdam Schiphol Saturday 6th August 2011

"Use it or loose it" was the message from the airport about our scheduled services, so we used it, well the only one we could really, a weekend return to Amsterdam the only option available for a trip, it was up early for the KL1530 joining the other 20 passengers on the KLM Fokker 100 PH-OFN. Arriving into Amsterdam on time and landing on runway 06, the weather was warm but cloudy. So after a marathon walk around the gates we picked the hire car up and headed off for a drive around the perimeter to the bizz parking area and to work out which runway was in use for the best vantage point. Schiphol offers some of the very best official spotting/photography spots of any airport in the world (link to Scrambles spotting info for Amsterdam), however due to its size and number of runways that can be used (up to 5 at once at certain times) it can be difficult to see all movements. I decided to give the radarbox and lap top a run out, this turned out to be very useful, though a problem with the car charger reduced the time that we managed to use it each day. Through the day the prime runway for landing was 18R (the Palderbaarn), a large official spotting area alongside the runway that gives excellent photo opportunities over the 1mtr high fence! has both toilet & food facilities. We stayed here until the evening before heading off to the Ibis hotel for a few well earned beers and a good nights sleep (well that's another story).

Click here to see a good selection of Dave Rose's photo's from the trip

Not listed are KLM, Transavia & Arkefly.

Amsterdam Schiphol Sunday 7 August 2011

It was up early, the sun shining it was off to check out the runways, once again 18R & also 18C were in use for landings, we headed for a spot in between the two runways, this time there was no fence, just a dyke to prevent access to the airport, all very civilised. However by 9am the weather changed and a heavy storm came over the airport so it was off to McDonalds for breakfast. The weather soon cleared and after another run around the perimeter we dropped off the hire car and headed for the panoramic terrace. The terrace is a huge free area with food, drinks, toilets, shops etc overlooking some of the aprons, the hold for runway 24 which was being used for most departures, as well as views of runways 18L, 22 & 27 all in use at varying times during the day. In addition 18R was still being used for most landings and can't be seen from here, a number of aircraft can go to stands that also can't be seen from the terrace, but the majority will come past for departure. As you can see from both days there is a good selection of movements, including some nice regular freight flights. After long day in the hot sunshine we headed down to the gate to catch the KLM1539, guess what 1 1/2 hour delay! our return was on Fokker 70 PH-KZR with approx 50 passengers arriving back at 2317. All in all a very good weekend in very good company.

Only new movements are included in this list.

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