Knowing that the viewing terrace at FRA was open again I wanted to plan a little spotting trip. It was either the train or flying and being an aviation enthusiast I of course chose for flying. As I booked AMS-FRA-AMS with LH, leaving with the first flight in the morning and coming back with the last flight the next day it gave me 2 nice full days of spotting at FRA. But spending the night at FRA was a little too “boring” for me, I looked for some other options to fly too and spend the night at. I saw a good fare RT to LGW leaving FRA late in the afternoon and flying back to FRA the next morning. Perfect for me as it still gave me 2 good days of spotting in FRA. Upon looking for an hotel I chose for the Marriott hotel which is in walking distance from the South terminal at LGW from which I will be arriving and departing. AMS-FRA-AMS will be operated with an A321 this time. FRA-LGW with an A319 and LGW-FRA with the good old B737. The map for this trip thanks to www.gcmap.com:
21/04/2012
AMS-FRA
LH1003 // 23A
A321 Lufthansa // D-AIRW
07:05 – 08:15
An early flight means an early wake up call. My dad was once again kind enough to drop me off at AMS. Woke up at 05:15 and after a nice shower, a little breakfast and 20mins of driving I arrived at Schiphol airport at 06:00, 1 hour prior to my departure time. I had already checked in online the night before so all I had to do was print my BPs and drop my bag off. So off I went to check-in area 8. Printed my BPs, and dropped my bag off within 10 mins. Now it was off to security. Security wasn’t that busy so I was through in another 10 mins. I then proceeded straight to my gate: B17:
My aircraft for this leg: D-AIRW:
Boarding started at 06:35 and I was of course one of the last to board:
Upon entering the plane I was kindly greeted by 2 female FAs and proceeded to my seat: 23A. Flight was around 80% full with the 2 seats next to me occupied. The view from my seat, quite a rainy morning at AMS today:
A kind welcome from the cockpit and with an announced flying time of 45mins we pushed back 5 mins late at 07:05:
It was a short taxi to runway 24, also known as the “Kaagbaan”:
Once at the runway it was our turn right away. Lining up:
Starting take-off roll:
And up we go!:
Left turn:
Between 2 cloud layers:
Leg room shot:
Seatback:
Flight crew consisted of 1 female purser and 2 female FAs. Once the seatbelt sign got switched off they sprung into action. Snack on this sector was a “cheese bread” and together with that I got an OJ and coffee:
Soon enough we started our descent:
And into final approach to runway 25R:
And touchdown into rainy FRA!:
Taxiing to our gate, luckily A11:
Parked at our gate:
I bid the crew farewell and deplaned. I entered T1, with the viewing terrace being in T2 that meant taking the Sky Line:
Spent a couple of hours spotting inside at the food plaza as the viewing terrace wasn’t open until 10 o’clock and it was still raining outside. Once the weather started to clear up a bit I proceeded towards the viewing terrace. Paid the 5 euro entrance fee and went through the security checkpoint. Here are some pictures of my nice spotting session:
MH // 777 // 9M-MRE:
EK // A330 // A6-EKT:
LH // A380 // D-AIMG:
Jettime // 737 // OY-JTE:
ANA // 787 // JA806A:
LH // A380 // D-AIMH:
S7 // 737 // VQ-BKW , OW c/s.. nice!:
MU // A330 // B-6545:
UA // 777 // N783UA:
The viewing terrace:
EK // 777 // A6-ECW:
WY // A330 // A40-DE:
It was now time to get a bite to eat and head back over to T1 and my gate. Had a menu at the McD and took the Sky Line back to T1. Once arriving at T1 I went straight to security for the B gates. Was through security within 10 mins and walked over to passport control. That took about 5 mins and I was now at the Int’l B gates. The FIDS, note SQ325 to SIN delayed until the next morning!:
21/04/2012
FRA-LGW
LH898 // 14A
A319 Lufthansa // D-AILT
17:00 – 17:25
Before arriving at my gate: B23 I got this nice view of my aircraft. D-AILT will be doing the honors for me on this leg:
Boarding started at 16:40 and I was one of the last to board. Upon entering the aircraft no greetings from the 2 FAs as they were busy talking to each other. I proceeded to my seat: 14A. A pretty light load on this sector at around 40% with the seat next to me empty and the aisle seat occupied. The view from my seat:
A welcome from the cockpit and with an announced flying time of 1h5mins we pushed back right on time:
Taxiing to the active:
A KE A380 had just landed:
Head on!:
Lining up:
Starting take-off roll:
And up we go!:
Right turn:
Through the clouds:
Leg room shot:
Seatback:
Flight crew consisted of 1 female purser, 1 male and 1 female FA. Once the seatbelt sign got switched off they came around with a snack. It was a bread roll with pieces of butter in it, together with that I got a sprite:
The cabin:
We started our descent towards LGW above the North Sea:
English landscape:
And into final approach:
And touchdown!:
We then taxied to our gate, 11:
Passing 2 Thomsonfly’s:
The “famous” bridge here at LGW:
HX A330 parked at the gate:
FR 737 parked at the gate, deplaning is however done via the stairs:
Our gate:
Parked at our gate:
I bid the crew farewell and before proceeding towards passport control I took one last picture of our aircraft:
A 5 minute walk to passport control:
Sultanils
