Rare Stuff at Southend

You certainly don’t want to visit Southend around the Olympics time, as there’s practically nothing (of any description) due. Summer is also the quietest time of year for the maintenance movements. Even I’ll be migrating to Stansted…

To have a chance of getting something decent at Southend you need to be able to visit at a seconds notice. Even when things are supposed to happen, they often don’t. However things are much better at Southend now, as it is unofficially the ATR 42 capital of the UK, and has a few easyJet flights for entertainment!!

Hey I am relaxed and I enjoy the banter. This is an interesting thread.

I live 8 miles from Manchester and visit very regularly and never find it boring – there is nearly always something turning up that I don’t expect. Ok not every day but over the course of a few weeks certainly.

Sure it doesn’t have the mix of Frankfurt, CDG or Heathrow but i does get some gems.

Even though I visit Heathrow less often so potentially would get more photos of stuff I have actually been bored !

Each to their own though. I would love to visit Southend esp around Olympics time but it’s a bit of a treck if there is only one or two aircraft in rare as they may be and I would need a decent photo of them as I don’t collect numbers.

Agree with EGTC, I’m afraid Culpano. I think it is true that over the last decade more airlines have been to SEN than MAN, you would be very, very surprised. A little anecdote, I was passing through Moscow Domodedovo, and I wasn’t compelled to get my camera out as I did not see a single airline which came in photographing distance which hadn’t been to SEN!

However this debate is purely academic, as this is over a period of 10 years, and for day to day spotting MAN is far superior. The rare stuff can be seemingly few and far between. but sometimes there are runs of days with lots of incredible stuff, the fact it is so unpredictable makes it all so much more engaging.

Culpano, relax. I don’t find MAN that exciting. I grew up living by LHR so most of the LHR stuff is run of the mill for me. I’ve been to MAN a few times, and don’t get me wrong it’s nice for spotting locations but when it comes to types/airlines it’s not really an airport that I feel I need to get to as much as possible incase I miss something. I’m not ‘dissing’ your local, I just don’t find it as ‘exciting’ for airlines/types as you do.
As Aeropics has said, Southend has seen some pretty unusual visitors and that does give Southend a certain appeal.

Most of the pics I have of late are mainly private jets, because I work around them, but they are often different.

Still chuckling over the “far more airlines” in Southend than LHR, LGW and MAN.

I’ll eat my hat if that’s the case. Some really decent stuff granted but far more airlines give over !

Great photos 🙂

(Having my two pennys worth) I think MAN is a great place for special planes to just show up in like a day. Me and Matt could be at the airport and then suddenly a special plane that we didn’t know was due in would fly by which always makes the trip more exciting to what we may see. Also with the Air Livery hangar, its a good place to see some rare birds.

Rob
🙂

Very interesting. In what time frame are we talking ?

Can we have some facts then please – I am working on a Manchester list as we speak. Not having people dissing my local airport 😀 – it’s one of the most interesting airports in the world and does get some unusual visitors as well as a nice mix of regular traffic. Recently we have had Air Bahrain A319, Sky Chile A320 (full reg too :cool:), China Southern Cargo B744F, Windrose Aviation (Ukraine) Embraer – yeah very boring + many others.

EGTC says airlines/types nothing to get overly excited about but what do you expect if it’s in the country you live ? I spent two days at Seoul Incheon in Nov 2010 and everthing that moved was exotic. Try telling that to a local spotter who visits every week. He would be yawning yet if we told him an EasyJet A319 was coming in he would be jumping up and down ! It’s all relative.

Very interesting thread this is and I agree the Aerogal was truly astonishing – I said it at the time (nearly fell off my chair) and I would have driven down to Southend especially for that gem.

I would suggest that over the years far more airlines have visited Southend than Gatwick, Heathrow or Manchester. My shots really do scratch the surface. And certainly in terms of rarity, some very rare and unusual airlines have visited Southend which are never otherwise seen in the UK. Anyone fancy producing a shot of a Starbow or AeroGal (except Norwich of course) somewhere else in the UK?

But Southend has a better variety ??? Also a better variety than Heathrow ? Well I stand to be corrected. Yeah right. Do you want to see a variety of airlines I’ve photographed at Heathrow and Manchester over the last few years and compare it to Southend ? Am I thinking about the wrong Southend here ? Hee hee !

and better than Gatwick ??? Blimey what an airport Southend is !

Oh yeah better than what Manchester gets ?

Are you having a laugh ? 😀

No i’m not having a laugh. MAN is alright, it’s good for spotting locations but the airlines/types are not really anything to get overly excited about.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice airport.

Yep nice pictures. I don’t get to the airport much now, and miss my early morning bacon sandwiches 🙂

Very nice pics mate, thanks for posting.

Yep. full Chilean reg as well. 😎

Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate the feedback as always. Can certainly get some interesting stuff at Southend.

Manchester spotters don’t fret, I’m sure you’ll see plenty of G-LSAN, albeit once its been repainted into Jet2 colours…

On a more serious note, Manchester did also ‘steal’ a Sky Airline A319 which was ferried all white from SEN-MAN for painting.

Oh yeah better than what Manchester gets ?

Are you having a laugh ? 😀

Wow, that is some variety! That’s better than what the likes of LHR, LGW and MAN get.

All I can say is wow. Ghanaian 146 😮

Excellent variety and a cracking range of schemes.

Cheers,

Mark