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Malta in the Summer 2011 - Roy from Phoenix

I have always wanted to go to Malta to take pictures of Aviation as Malta is a staging post for civil and military aircraft that’s being delivered, and as the Libyan crisis is on I knew there would be some very interesting aircraft passing through. I arrived in Malta around 2300 hrs (Maltese time) after a 2.5 hours flight from London Gatwick on a Thompsonfly Boeing 737-300. When I got to Malta and we were on the bus taking us to the terminal I noticed on stand a An-12BP UR-CEZ and thought great let’s hope she is still there in the morning.  My hotel was north of the island at a place called Qawra which is about 45 mins drive away. The first day to the airport was by taxi this cost me 25 euro’s each way which I thought was a little expensive but then I was on holiday, the taxi driver told me he will drop me off at the Spotters Platform, I have heard of this platform but had no idea how to get there so I was pleased he was going to take me straight there. I got there around 11am and the sun was in my 3 o’clock position so the sun was right down the runway. When I arrived there I was greeted by one of the local spotters who was very friendly and knew just about everything that was coming in that day. You tend to get the usual traffic (like you see back in England) you get the Ryanairs and the easyjets then you get airlines European airlines like Lufthansa, SAS, Alitalia, Finnair  and Vueling Airlines. After about three hours there and many Ryanairs the airport went a bit quite so I thought now is the best time to go and find those two Libyan Air Force Mirage F.1’s so I packed up my camera and went looking for them, as I got down the road I saw a Royal Air Force Hercules taxing out for take off she was going back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire England to swap crews over. I carried on down keeping the airport to my right and ended up a little road where I saw an old RAF English Electric Canberra T.4 WT483 looking pretty sorry for itself as the nose gear was missing but was told later that a new nose gear had been delivered and the Canberra was going on show outside the control tower, I took a picture of the Canberra (see below), just a bit further up this road I came across the two Mirages sitting there with (unfortunately) with silver engine and cockpit covers on, I was told later that when they both arrived they had just been in for a service and the paint scheme was brilliant now they are dirty and covered in dust. I finally got back to the spotters platform with the sun now behind me and at 32c, one of the first aircraft to arrive in the afternoon was the Red Cross Beech 1900D 9H-AFH followed by the United Nations Gates Learjet 55 D-CUNO later that afternoon we saw the arrival of ERJ170LR SU-GDJ of Egyptair Express followed by Emirates A330-243 A6-EKS, the good thing regarding Emirates pilots they all seem to get airborne just in front of you and this makes a very good pictures (many thanks to Emirates).

On day two I decided to try out the local buses to the airport it was bus number X3 that goes to the airport from the hotel this time it only costs 2 Euro’s 60 cents much cheaper than going by taxi but the bus does take around 1.5 hrs to reach the airport, once I got to the airport you have to get out and take a 20 minute walk under the runway to reach the spotters platform. Today I have been informed by the locals that today was going to be busy, the day started off with your usual Ryanairs and easyjets then we heard on the radio that a U.S. Marine Corp KC-13J Hercules 165738 was coming in to do some touch and goes, in the end he did three go rounds and then headed out to sea. A short while later we saw taxing past us was a CL-605 Challenger A7-CEB of Qatar Executive then took off just in front of us which made another brilliant picture. We were then blessed by a departure of a CL-300 5A-UAA from the Government of Libya. Later on in the day we had a SH-60B Seahawk 01-100 from the Spanish Navy, she did a run down the runway and landed in the military area of the airport. About 10 mins later we had the Lufthansa Retro A321-131 D-AIRX come in this was very interesting to see as this was the first time I have seen it even though it has visited London Heathrow on many occasions. Then at the end of the day at the same time in comes Emirates A330-243 A6-EAH and two Condors Boeing 757-330 D-ABOE & Boeing 767-330ER D-ABUC so I waited until the Emirates took off and I strolled back to the airport where I treated myself to a McDonalds Big Mac meal before catching the bus back to my hotel.

On day three I got the X3 bus again and got to the airport around 11am, I walked back round to the Spotters Platform where I noticed the An-12BP UR-CEZ had gone but was told it was towed over to the military side during the night and in it’s places was a South African DC-8 (registration not known) from a cargo firm called Saifycargo, this aircraft did not move all the time whilst I was in Malta. The Beech B200 MPA AS1126 of the Forzi Armati Ta’ Malta (Maltese Defence Force) landed and parked up at the military end of the airport. Then later in the day a Boeing 737-5H3 TS-IOJ of Tunisair came into land and about 10 mins after this arrival we heard on the radio that a Royal Canadian Armed Forces CC-150 15004 was going to come in and do a touch and go before heading back to it’s temporary base in Italy infact he did three touch and goes before heading for home. Over at the business park they towed over a BAe 146-300 5A-DKQ of Air Libya they paked it on the apron fueled her up and then it took off possibly back to Libya. By the evening all the Air Malta A319’s & A320’s all started to come home, at one time I counted at least 9 on the ground at once but only only 1 remained in Malta over night, then about 5pm the Emirates A330-243 A6-EAJ turned up, once this took off I headed back to the airport to pick the up again to take me back to the hotel.

Day four as usual I took the bus again to the airport and arrived again round about 11am first to arrive where the usual traffic Ryanair and easyjet but later on we were blessed with a KC-130T-30 165162 of the U.S. Marine Corps to do touch and goes this one only did two runs before heading off (this aircraft was seen again at RAF Mildenhall Suffolk England a few days later), also from the business park a DHC-8-102 9H-AEW Med Avia-Mediterranean Aviation Company taxied over onto the apron was refueled and later took off to an unknown destination. Later in the evening we were  blessed with the arrival of an MD-83 5N-RAM of Dana Air of Nigeria it was not carrying any passengers it went straight up to the maintenance hangar and same time as usual the Emirates A330-234 A6-EAR arrived but it left about ½ hour late due to loosing it’s slot time. Later one we had three Boeing 737-7K2 PH-XRA and 8K2 PH-HSC & PH-HZV of Transavia.

Day five this was my last day at the airport and not a lot happened on this day, around 12pm a Westland Lynx HMA8SRU of the Royal Navy flew down the runway and went back to it’s ship HMS Liverpool that was moored up in Valletta harbor. A few biz jets took off (Cessna 560XL YR-RPR and Cessna 560XL CS-DXS and a CL-605 Challenger OE-INS), also a Scottish Aviation Bulldog AS0023 of the Forzi Armati Ta’ Malta took off but was not seen again (this might have landed on the cross runway), later on in the day we had three Boeing 737-7K5 D-AHXA/XC & XE of Air Berlin.

If anyone is going to visit Malta in the near future here is the directions from the airport to the Spotters Platform. Leave the terminal (on your left) walk along until you reach the main road. Turn left and and follow it until you go under the runway via a tunnel. After the tunnel turn left at the roundabout walk along for about 400 yards and you will see the raised platform, this platform looks over the fence at the main runway 14/32 it faces the terminal and the apron.   

A320-216 EI-DSX Air One

Boeing 737-7K5 D-AHXA Air Berlin

A330-243 A6-EAH Emirates

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