Rome, the Alps and London Heathrow: Not a Bad Way to Live Right?

##Hey guys!


I wanted to share some photos from my trip back from Rome. I was flying the BA767 domestic. The flight was just a little over two hours, the route taking us over the sea, Alps and mainland Europe. Overall the 767 was amazing, and I would recommend it any day over the A320 family for BA short haul, despite the old age.

I got to the airport 5 hours early, hoping to find a good place to spot. There was nowhere at all in easy reach, and certainly nowhere in the terminal to a large extend, especially landside. I was a few cool aircraft, as Rome does seem to attract the newer ones; the China Airlines A359 being a nice spot. I also managed to catch the daily A340 service to Argentina. However, this was all behind glass of course, so many photos were ruined by reflections.

As always, the quality has had to be vastly reduced to fit on the forum. I use a Canon 760D, so the photos are of top quality before uploading. You can see more on my Instagram here.

On the Ground at Rome

Up High at FL360

We ended up at FL360 if I remember, and I was not aware we would be flying over the Alps, as I had not noticed on the outbound leg. They really are amazing, stretching as far as the eye can see, especially from up so high. I had forgotten that we were going so fast, so again, the images to a large extent were blurry. I am not really bothered about this as I will never forget the experience myself, and to me that is all that counts.

The Ultimate Show-Offs

On the way, we crossed paths with many aircraft, however many of them being too far away to photo. This one, however, did come right below us. I believe it is a Brussels Airlines A319, heading southwest on an outbound flight. What was amazing, however, was seeing two Eurofighter Typhoons (I believe) doing acrobatics. The photo is, of course, blurry as they were far away and faint, however, you can clearly see the trail of where they had been; they both did a barrel role of sorts. You can see the aircraft as two small black dots if you look hard enough. To me, it looked like they were practising dogfighting, however, it would have been more fun if they were just messing about.

Landing, Taxi and Shutdown

We landed at around 7 pm at Heathrow on runway 27R. I did not film it as I wanted to have my camera ready for photos on the ground. However as it was sunset, many images were distorted by the glare of the sun on the aircraft window. Nevertheless, in person, it looked amazing. The light was everywhere, from the aircraft, through the windows of the terminals and reflecting off all the ground equipment Cliche; it was magical.

Oh, to be a Pilot

Lastly, as we all do, I waited until last onboard and walked slowly past the open cockpit to have a look in. To my surprise, the pilots openly invited me in despite me not asking. I had a good conversation with them, talking about things such as what I wanted to do in the future (pilot obviously), how they got to their positions, and what they are planning on doing when BA retire the 767 next November. All in all, the 767 is pretty cool, and those guys are lucky to fly it.

So that concludes my short hop to Heathrow. I was in Italy for 6 days to give some wider context, so those in the lounge can, of course, look forward to some fun photos. If you made it to here; 1) I hope you enjoyed it 2) You could have probably done something way more productive instead 3) You can follow my Instagram for more aviation photos, of course of the highest quality only (lol). There is a link to my personal account on there if you would like to see photos of Italy.

https://www.instagram.com/heathrow_aviation_photography/

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Awesome photos Misha! Hope you enjoyed your trip.

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Nice photos @MishaCamp! Hope you enjoyed Rome!

Oh my. You got the complaint first… by 3 seconds.😉

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😂 awesome, next time I’ll let you go first

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Thanks for sharing the pics! The B767 was the first in app purchase that I got with IF, and I got that after flying a BA flight in one down to Athens and back a few years ago. They generally use the A321 on the longish inter European routes. Glad you found one to fly on!

Plot twist:they’re global photos

Seriously tho, awesome trip with an awesome plane, definitely gonna add to my list of must flights for global!

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What is is about that China Airlines A350 that is so nice?
And I’ve just saw some of those pics on your insta 😉

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What did they say?

Great pictures! The first picture looks amazing though. Also that Aerolineas Argentinas A340 looks old, doesn’t it?

Think that the LH Ex B767 is now handled by the B787-8, whilst the SH European work will be handled by the A321 fleet.

Misha, when did you fly from Rome? I was there last week.

Well… but what about the pilots? Will they go to those planes… will they change airline, will they fly the A380 because why not?

Nice photos, Sir Flighty. Sad to hear Speedbird is retiring their 767s.

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Definitely a great way to “live” (see what I did there 😂)

Early April. Italy is lovely I must say. They are all crazy though

Indeed. Very dirty too. Soooo nice though

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Depends on their seniority in the airline I guess!

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Wow, I find those images you have previously taken and posted on this thread of all the carries you saw that are based in and or around the Roman region pretty interesting for some odd reason!

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What was their response?

The Captain is going to retire and apparently go become a farmer…The [senior] first officer said he will go where BA place him. He was only 2 years into his BA career, and within the first 5 years they can apparently place you more or less anywhere they see fit to a large extent. So long story short he didn’t really know.

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