City-Scapes from the USA

For my latest travels I am going to the USA. For work and for Pleasure this week long road trip will see me cross the continental USA with nearly 10 stops. 

From my last trip though I managed to get some wonderful pictures of New York and San Diego. Im delighted to share these pictures on the Plane Sight Images website

Also please stop by the all new Plane Sight Images Facebook page and LIKE us now.
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As an example of what you can expect on the site see below, remember these images are available to buy as 6x4 prints, or indeed any other size you want, or if you want it on a canvas, mug etc... 

Sunset in San Diego

Boats in San Diego Marina

San Diego's skyline at Night

Sundown over the office buildings of San Diego

SO-CAL's beaches

The Chrysler Building in Manhattan

Looking west from Long Island City to Manhattan

The Freedom Tower, nearly complete at Jan 1st !

A beautiful shot of Manhattan on DEC 29th - 2012

Sunset on the 30th DEC over Manhattan 

Midtown in Black and White

The Empire state building

Rockafeller Center at Christmas

The UN Building

A Brief Guide to Plane Spotting at Taipei Songshan TSA

Back in March 2011 I had the pleasure to visit Taipei's mostly Domestic airport or Songshan (TSA). For nearly two hours there was a steady precession of airliners from a variety of Taiwanese airlines, along with a planes few from Japan and the Taiwanese Air Force. 

As always pictures for purchase or your personal viewing are available on my website, in the Taipei Gallery :

Plane Sight Images Gallery List

For cheap flights to and from Taipei / Taiwan have a look at :

Eva Air Website
China Airlines website
Uni Air Website

Great views are possible from the Runway 10 End of the airport. This is the predominant runway used at TSA. "Lane 180" is about a 5 minute taxi ride from TSA's terminals and is well served and within walking distance of the Metro system. Walking down Longjuang Road, Turn left and follow the small road/lane that leads to Lane 180. When you arrive, expect few issues with Police, but also some locals a mix of spotters with camera's and those just interested to see what your doing! The undershoot to the runway appears to be an allotment / rubbish dump? Along the side of the runway great views are possible, but these are south facing. After midday is best at the end of the runway for sun placement.

Aircraft range from Islanders, to Dash 8-300's to B737 types. In additionl some A330's are possible from Eva Air and China Airlines. For most pictures a small 18-100mm lens will do the job.

An ERJ-190 approaches, seen from Minzu East Road

EVA Air A330-200 on short final over the allotment, with the landing lights clearly visable

Local Spotters and visitors on Bikes clamour for a picture as an Eva Air A330-200 lands on Runway 10

Special Liveries also appear, such as on B-16829 of Mandarin Airlines ERJ-190

1315, a C-130 of the Taiwanese Air Force shares the runway with Civil Movements

B-15233 is a Dash 8-300 of Uni Air operating domestic flights

From the other side of the runway, Taipei 101 can frame your pictures.

British Airways - To Fly To Serve

British Airways is on something of a resurgence.

Its latest advert, shown this week for the first time, is carrying on its predecessors new work in showing BA as a full service carrier, investing in its fleet and product, emphasising Value For Money, not low cost and above all pushing its new slogan To Fly To Serve

To Fly To Serve Advert

BA mainly operate out of London using Heathrow, Gatwick and City Airports, but also Cargo flights out of Stansted are run on a BA liveried B747-8F. BA are park of the ONE World Allicance including major airlines like Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, LATAM, QANTAS and JAL. Their Executive Club rewards can be redeemed on all these carriers. 

After buying bmi last year, the full integration of that carrier has allowed a number of new destinations to be launched such as Leeds-Bradford, Eindhoven, Zagreb and most recently Austin, TX using the newly delivered Boeing 787-8. 

Have a look at some of the best BA images i've taken of British Airways aircraft on the link below. Should you be looking for travel or want to know more about BA, then check out ba.com for pricing and offers.

British Airways Pictures on Plane Sight Images

BA website

An A320 recently arrived at Barcelona

A Boeing triple 7 arrives in Bermuda

During a turnaround in Bermuda this Gatwick based Triple 7 basks in the sunshine

In Innsbruck an A319 awaits de-icing

A Boeing 747-400 in a right turn from runway 09R at Heathrow

American Airlines, a oneworld member, Boeing 777-200 cuts through a contrail leaving Heathrow

A BA 319 leaving Heathrow and an RAF C-17 above

Some friendly crew in Amsterdam

a brief guide to Winter Plane Spotting at Innsbruck (INN) & Salzburg (SZG)

With the end of summer looming into sight in the Northern Hemisphere  im starting to look at some Winter trips especially over Russian New Year (Different to us here in Europe) to go to the Alps in Austria and the Tirol region to get pictures of planes at the major ski "Hubs" of Salzburg (SZG) and Innsbruck (INN).

With amazing snow covered land scapes,  Shear rock faces, Pine Trees as well as more general houses, with snow tops roofs forming unique Backdrops, its a great chance to photograph some rarely seen planes in Europe.

Spotting is easy at both locations, even for those on foot. Both terminals have Viewing decks with excellent views. For Salzburg, a short walk takes you to open fields where mounds offer views over the fences for easy picture taking shots.Follow your nose and you wont go wrong!

For cheap flights, Easyjet, BA and Ryanair are given a run for their money by Flybe, Monarch, Thomsonfly and even Thomas Cook! So shop around. 

Below is a look at some of the highlights of previous visits, for more check out :
www.plane-sight-images.photoshelter.com   

Innsbruck Pictures

Salzburg Pictures

Take Off shots are possible from the Viewing Deck at Innsbruck

As are Night Shots, with care

Often the ramp gets congested at Innsbruck, making for a great photo with stunning backgrounds

Although just one plane is all you need!

Salzburg in Busier, with more diverse types, but the castle makes a great backdrop

As do Logo jets!

At Russian New year, YAK-42s are much in evidence

Sometimes you can get lucky with the weather at Salzburg

And Lucky with aircraft, here a TU-214 Taxi's to stand

At sun up, the ramp is covered in bright light

Making the colourful visitors stand out

Spotting here is very easy and there are few problems

A Russian New Year visitor in 2009

One of my favourite Salzburg shots

Guide to plane spotting in Saint Maarten (SXM)

Thought it was about time to blog a quick guide to plane spotting in Saint Maarten (SXM)

St Maarten, shared between Holland and French interests, is the ultimate location to visit for most plane spotters. The great thing about it is that the hotels around Maho Beach, offer great views, easy walking to teh beach itself, some nightlife and even gambling!

Maho Beach itself is dominated by the sunset bar, filled with spotter and holiday makers alike. Great for beers, food and views of the comings and goings - it is complete with surf board come arrivals board. Its well known, any taxi driver will gladly take you to the beach bar.

For those after other views, around the terminal side of the airport, apart from the problems with taking pictures into the sun, there are very few spots. Pictures from inside the terminal once airside are possible with care.

Driving along the road from the terminal, it wraps around the end of the runway, from which some pictures of departures, especially heavies are possible. The large hill at the end of the runway, which aircraft turn to avoid, also offers great views of aircraft as they depart and turn, plus some great, if distant views of the airport and maho beach.

For a full look at my pictures taken last winter, please follow the link to :

Plane Sight Images - St Maarten Photo's

Movements are sometimes well spaced out, but on the most part Insel Air MD80's, Carribean Airlines B737-800, LIAT Dash 8's and DAE F100's will come and go regularly. Supplemented by daily US carriers and most excitingly the Heavies from France, the traffic is exciting enough, but then throw in many regional aircraft from the neighbouring islands and based Winair Dash 6's - it becomes a perfect place to watch planes. Finally getting up early on several mornings will reward any spotter with Amerijet B727'F, Shorts 360 and best of all DC4's!

For flights to SXM, all major East Coast cities are served, as well as direct flights to Paris and Amsterdam. Intra Cariibean links are numerous and frequent allowing you to visit for a day or two, or holiday for a lot longer! check out teh following websites amongst others....

www.liat.com, www.jetblue.com, www,flyklm.com, www.airfrance.com, www.winair.com, www.delta.com, www.fly-inselair.com, www.flydae.com 

Don't forget for any aircraft or aviation images, log onto my site to buy or download images, pictures and branded merchandise @ Plane Sight Images, Galleries 

Caribbean Airlines B737-800W taxying onto runway 20 at sunset

B727-200F of Amerijet arriving at 8am

A Fokker 50 at Sunset

The mighty Boeing 747-400 shortly after take off

The Danger signs around the runway can frame a perfect picture

Classic B727-200F on short final

Not often you see a Shorts 360!

Even less a DC4!

Dusk makes this J31 shot all the better

Classic B747-400 over Maho Beach

Bizjets arrive regularly

Pictures from the terminal are possible with care

Sunset Bar arrival "Surf" Board

You'll see this Dash 6 a lot

Perfect Dash 8-300 shot