I’m not dead!
Well that’s one way to start off this topic, but it is indeed true. It’s been a while since I last posted a spotting topic, but I have been quite busy. Go check out my last topic as well by the way: An Old [Expletive] Visiting Brussels .
Today I will be showing you some shots that were not taken in Belgium for a change. In fact I went just over the border to the Netherlands right after an exam just to catch these extremely rare beauties.
If you know anything about Woensdrecht Air Base, it’s that they host the main facility that maintains Fokker aircraft from all over the world, but they also work on BBJ (Boeing Business Jets) and ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jets) aircraft. This means that the diversity at this one small airport is higher than some international airports in the BeNeLux area.
I was lucky enough to finish my aircraft systems exam on time so I could go see the arrival of two very special aircraft.
Basic information:
- Landing runway: 07
- Departing runway: 07
- Camera: Fujifilm X-T2
- Lens: Fujifilm XF 100-400mm
Right, let’s get on with it shall we?
The first aircraft to come in after a test flight was this tiny little Jetair Caribbean Fokker F70 (PJ-JAC) which did a short little flight over the North Sea. Jetair Caribbean has two of these F70s, which have to be maintained at this location. This means that they have to fly from their home in Curaçao, to the U.S. East coast, up to Canada, over to Iceland and then finally to the Netherlands.
Here I caught it after backtracking runway 07 to go and park.
And the 2nd catch of the day was not any less special. As I stated above, Fokker Service also work on BBJs, which we can see here. This Royal Thai Air Force Boeing 737-800 (HS-MVS) came in after cabin depressurisation testing over Germany and the North Sea. First it did a go-around/missed approach.
Before it came in for a landing.
And then, like the F70, it backtracked runway 07 to go and park.
Here we can see it being towed to the parking stands, since they’re unable to use their own engine power for the risk of damaging other parked aircraft.
And well, that was it! I was stood there for well over 3 hours just to catch 2 planes. The things I do for photos. It was definitely worth it though!
I hope you all like the shots! Let me know what you thought of them, and as usual I’ll be plugging my socials.
My Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tim_loves_aviation/
My JetPhotos Profile:
