Hey there!
It’s been quite a while since I posted my last topic here, but since I got so many pics last week I thought it would be a good opportunity to once again share some of them with you.
Since traffic in Munich doesn’t bring specials on a daily basis at the moment (despite some rather interesting planes I might share in another topic), me and a friend decided to make a little 4 day spotting trip to three airports in western Germany and Luxembourg. Since our first stop was Luxembourg, I’ll start with quite a lot of heavies and specials that were flying in and out of the country’s rather small airport.
When we arrived at the spot (after being stopped by Luxembourgish customs officers for a few minutes, apparently I look like either a drug dealer or a rich guy who wants to evade taxes by bringing his money out of the country), the very first aircraft we got was already one of the Cargolux special liveries - this one celebrating the 50th anniversary of Cargolux.
After that landing we wanted to check out the rest of the airport and were lucky enough to immediately spot the helicopters of Luxembourg Air Rescue, who operate a fairly interesting aircraft type with the MD900 Explorer series, a helicopter without a real tail rotor. (Spoiler: this should not be the most interesting heli we spotted during our four day trip)
Not only Cargolux operates their 747s to and from Luxemburg, the airport also gets visits by airlines like China Airlines Cargo or Silkway West Airlines, seen here departing back to Baku.
Not a 747, but still a frequent cargo visitor is Qatar Airways with their 777s. In the two days we’ve been spotting in LUX, we saw at least 5 of their aircraft which use LUX as a stopover between Doha and the US.
With the last light of the day, the subsidiary of Cargolux, Cargolux Italia arrived and taxiied to the ramp in beautiful light. We just need to have a talk with the greenkeeper.
The next day unfortunately started with underwhelming light, but at least there was a little bit of it for the departure of one of the famous Cargolux livery, this one wearing a mask along with Luxemburgs COVID motto “not without my mask”.
But not only Carglux has special liveries, Luxair has them as well. While I spotted their Sumo Artwork livery on the Dash 8 in Munich before, our trip offered the chance to also get a shot of the 737 version of the livery.
Did I say Dash 8? They have special colors as well! Applied in Pride Month, this Dash 8 is wearing a special colorful pride livery.
But back to the main traffic in Luxemburg: Boeing 747s. Luckily, we were spotting in Luxembourg right on a day where all their special liveries were operating at the home base so we also got a nice arrival shot of the beautiful retro livery.
Retro in another way is the following 747-8 - the Cutaway livery has been around quite a while now and the stickers start to show their age by starting to fade away - still nice to spot it after all.
Back to the 747-400s though since another Cargolux Italia 747 arrived from Milano with a nice cloudy contrast.
I hope you liked this little 747 selection - if you didn’t, there will be a lot more traffic from Frankfurt in another upcoming topic.
My Equipment:
Canon EOS 80D
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM (99% of pics)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS II USM (for wide angle pics)
Backup / Old Lenses
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (for the 1% of the cases where I needed a wide angle lens, replaced by the 24-105 now)
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS STM (for the majority of my very old pics, bascially completely replaced by the 100-400 now)
You can follow me on twitter and Instagram to get more shots on a daily basis. Also, keep your eyes open on Flightradar24 where you might see some of my recent shots.
Jetphotos
Recorded Flights on my YouTube channel
My spotting topics on the IFC (sorted by years since this is slowly getting endless)
2018
Spring Spotting 1
Spring Spotting 2 with Lorenzo
Spring Spotting 3 (feat. Hekla Aurora)
August spotting with some sunrise shots
September 30 with quite some special liveries and bizjets
Spotting in Zurich on the way to Cosford
Spotting Laura and more in Birmingham
Spotting in fog with a sunny end
2019
Special planes at Munich - Munich Security Conference feat. E-4B
Valentine’s Spotting 2019 - Civil Traffic around the Munich Security Conference
Retro Time - British Airways BEA A319
First weekend in Innsbruck - Charter Flights in the Alps
Second Innsbruck Spotting Weekend
Bringing Israeli soldiers to Munich - El Al 747
Another visit of ElAl’s queen - El Al 747
Spotting in the Morning Sun - South African Special Livery A340-300
A full day of Spotting
London Calling - Spotting at MUC and LCY on the way to London
London Heathrow Evening Spotting Before the Meetup
London Heathrow Meetup Spotting
Last Day at Heathrow: Landor, Negus and more
Government Jets and New Perspectives at Munich Airport
One Day Spotting Trip to Frankfurt Airport
Spotting Trip to Berlin
A lot of Specials at Munich
Quick after work spotting for a private A340
Another Sunny Spotting Day in Fall
Spotting with a Female closer than 5 miles, so definitely click even though she’s in none of the Pics!!!
Day and Night Shots at Munich
Deicing and more
Condor’s new colors and a big chopper
Stunning Condensations and a Royal 747
Azimuth Superjet and more for the last topic in a decade
2020
Birthday Spotting
The Final EXPO A380
Special Cargos in the Evening
Zurich’s Airline Traffic during the WEF Week
Air Force One Ramp Tour
Air Force One Arriving in Zurich
Heavy Contrasts for Air Malta’s Retro Jet
First Two Days of SiKo - Kuwait A340, Russia Il96
Amazing Security Conference Perspectives feat. Kuwait’s A340 and more
Etihad’s Choose China Livery
Security Conference Final
Trying A New Position for Condor‘s and United‘s New Liveries
Last Specials Prior to the Corona Break
First Spotting Trip After the Corona Restrictions With Some Cargo Specials
50 Years Special Livery on a Rescue Helicopter
Spotting AN-22 in Leipzig
Spotting the Last Departing A340s of Lufthansa
First Visit of Qatar’s OneWorld A350-1000
AN124 and Other Specials in Munich
Spotting in Frankfurt With Several Specials
Early Morning Cargo Movements
Government Flights at Munich
Military & Special Spotting at Ingolstadt and Neuburg AFB
DC3, Hekla Aurora and an EXPO livery at Munich
The First Visit of an Airbus Beluga XL
Summer Spotting Ending with Engine Light
IL76 Spotting in the Summer Heat
Two Weeks of Specials Summarized
Two More Days of Specials in Munich
Special Movements in September
Covid-19 Fall Spotting
P3, F18, A400M and more
Night Deicing, going to Frankfurt and more
2021
Not the Best Weather for Spotting, but at Least There Were Specials
Spotting in Spectacular Winter Light Part 1
Spotting in Spectacular Winter Light Part 2
German Air Force 1 and more specials
National 747, a Special Bizjet and a Rescue Heli
Departure of a C5 Super Galaxy in Munich
A little Eurofighter Air Show
Honorable mentions, TLDRs and Reminders
TL;DR service for @dush19: Planes, Planes, Planes.
@MrMrMan: Look, something new to quote again!
@Nathan time to visit this place again
@Balloonchaser since you will come here anyway… you’re so amazing
@JulianB just want to be sure you don’t miss it
@CaptainHugh
@AndrewWu