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Birmingham 27th November 2011 Ian Ellington

A6-EBL

D-ABBB

EZ-A012

G-JMCL

G-OZBT

HA-TAB

HA-TAD

HA-TCN

OE-LGC

UR-DWF

UR-DWF

Click on an image for larger picture

The annual day out to the NEC for the 2011 motorcycle show resulted in me having several hours at Birmingham Airport, Once we arrived I headed to the old side of Birmingham airport while the rest of the coach load of leather clad bikers headed into the NEC for the Bike Show!! Normally I tend to go in for a couple of hours but today’s weather was real tasty, so I gave it a wide berth this year and made the most of the sunny but very cold weather!!

The old side at Birmingham Airport (Cargo Side) A46 Coventry road, now has a new Travel lodge and must be five stories high, so might be ok for shots, or for the spotter reading stuff off from a top floor room, But for me today it was onto the Multistory car park for the rest of the day where I stayed until dark! Not brilliant for photography as you have to be quick between the old hangers as the aircraft touch down if their landing on 33, but nice to get some shots as they head down the approach with the airport for a backdrop! But a bonus for the spotter is I'm sure the car park is free on a weekend, so you can sit there and read stuff off, just as you’ll be able to do from one of the high rooms in the new travel lodge??

I was last at Birmingham two years ago, and if I'm honest it seemed to be a lot quieter since my last visit, even with Sunday being a relatively quite day anyway! “However” today was about quality as appose to quantity, “Which I’ll take any day of the week!!!!”
Me being a shooter rather than a spotter!

As I mentioned earlier it was a relatively quiet day terminal side but once I got round to the cargo side things were totally the opposite!! Two Antonov AN26s and two Saab SF340s freighters, and also Atlantic Airlines B737-300F! Most ok for shots baring one AN26, but the best and highlight of the day was later on, arriving with the last rays of light disappearing fast!!!!

Up on the car park their seemed to be a few spotters turning up, so I went to have some crack with one! Glad I did as he told me there was a Saudi Government A320 and an Antonov AN12 due!! But then he told me later the bad news, Saudi A320 was canx and the AN12 delayed until 4.20pm!! If I'm honest, wasn’t bothered about the modern Airbus crap but the AN12 was devastating news as it would be dark!!! “Gutted” Anyway the guy who I spoke too said he would drop me off back at the NEC, I had to be there for 5.30pm and would be pushing it to wait for the Antonov to arrive and then get back for the coach back home! Thanks to him and a bit of luck at 3.50pm he got a text saying the Antonov was descending through 10.000ft!!!!!! It was early!!!!!! Result!! But the sun was down just as the usual nose down Antonov AN12 approach with smoke appeared, But what a welcoming sight it was!!!! Awesome!!

With the AN12 being truly worked on landing and taxiing it was off back round to meet up with the Hell Angles Characters and back home!!

Birmingham Airport 11.30pm – 16.45pm

HA-FAB/FAD Saab SF340F Fleet Air
HA-TCN Antonov AN26 CityLine Hungary
YL-RAD Antonov AN26 RAF Avia
UR-DWF Antonov A12 Meridian Aviation
G-JMCL Boeing 737-300F Atlantic Airlines
G-ECOI/K/JECH/P/X/JEDJ/K DHC,8-400’s flybe
EI-DLO/DYR/EKG/ENE Boeing 737-800’s Ryanair
G-MIDS Airbus A320 bmi (Star Alliance Colors)
HB-JVE Fokker 100 Helvetic (operating for Swiss)
PH-EZS Embraer ERJ190 KLM Cityhopper
G-CPEV Boeing 757 Thomson
G-OBMP/TOYI/L Boeing 737-300’s bmi-baby
F-GUGL Airbus A318 Air France
TC-JHF Boeing 737-800 Turkish Airlines
G-OZBN/T/U Airbus A321’s Monarch (T in new Monarch Colours??)
A6-EBL Boeing 777-300 Emirates
G-GREY Piper PA46 Malibu
D-ACNC CRJ900 Eurowings
G-UMMI Piper PA31 Navajo
EI-DVF Airbus A320- Aer Lingus
D-ABBB Boeing 737-800 Air Berlin
G-FBEA Embraer ERJ190 flybe
OE-LGC DHC, 400 SN Brussels (leased from Tyrolean)
F-GRJM CRJ200 Air France
EI-SLL ATR,72 Aer Lingus/Aer Arran
EZ-A012 Boeing 757 Turkmenistan Airlines

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