hey all!
visited the local again with Uni friends yesterday; one of them is doing flying lessons at the mo, and he invited us along as passengers for the flight. I just couldnt say no (meant i could go airside, see 😎 ).
So, there I am, camera in hand, photographing the poor Piper to death on the ramp outside the flying club, and what should come taxiing past – 30 metres in front of me? None other than a bmi A320 in Star colours, heading into the bmi hangar.
dreams had come true all in a few hours: to go airside, go flying, and have a 320 taxi right in front of me and best of all – no fence! 😮 😀 😎
Anyhoo, had a great flight in the Piper, was doing circuits for the duration.
Then, to top it all off – landed, left the flying club building, started walking back to the bus stop, walked to the fence by the flying club and the bill pounced on us.
They were waiting for us. they had parked just along the road, we were at the fence for no more than a minute to get a shot of the tail of the 320 in the hanger. They could blatently see we had just come out of the flying club, so surely we werent up to no good.
this is the best bit – they asked one of us to place our camera on the bonnet of the car and walk out of reach of the camera – as if the camera was some of sort of dangerous weapon. they then asked us to show us what photos we had taken – i was sh*t scared that they were going to ask us to delete our photos.
i suspect that bmi reported that there were three guys on the ramp outside the flying club with cameras, and the police came along to check us out – like we were a security threat – one of us was actually completing pre flight checklists for the piper that we were about to fly in – surely pretty obvious that we hadnt evaded security.
sure, the police are doing a good job but its all a bit of an over reaction i think. RANT OVER.
on the with the photos!
of interest – notice that the special livery still has the Ansett Australia logo still applied, along with the other members of the alliance
By: Si Jones - 5th November 2006 at 18:25
Great shots Adam….It’s great when you can get to the other side of the fence! Must admit I get very frustrated at being pulled by the Airport Police, I am all for the upgraded security but and am actually willing to pay for security checks to get closer to the aircraft. We get looked at suspiciously for having a hobby, we get bigger fences put up, we get viewing areas closed and then the airport authorities have the audacity to ask plane spotters/[hotographers to report any suspicious movements around the airports….my rant over!
By: adamdowley - 5th November 2006 at 17:03
thanks for the comments guys, here are two more:
By: Manston Airport - 5th November 2006 at 15:58
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Great shots Adam 😀 but this shot makes me feel funny by the person in cockpit looking at you makes me wanna shout out what you looking at.
JAmes
By: DJ17 - 5th November 2006 at 12:57
Great shots and some interesting angles,
By: adamdowley - 5th November 2006 at 12:56
thanks Paul for the edit – certainly an improvement. 🙂 It was a dirty window more than anything – here’s wishing that light aircraft windows were kept clean! 😀
By: PMN - 5th November 2006 at 12:52
Excellent shots, Adam. I’d pretty much be in heaven if I’d have done that!
I hope you don’t mind, but I had a go at getting rid of a bit of the haze on the aerial shot…
Must’ve been pretty cool flying around over EMA!
Paul
By: adamdowley - 5th November 2006 at 12:10
packed DHL ramp – there was also an Atlantic Airlines aircraft on the ramp
not strictly commercial – but im sure mods wont mind :diablo:
my ride –
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November 5, 2006 at 12:10 pm