Yeah I wish that Air UK were still around. The Shorts 360’s and Fokker 50’s used to be good but even the Fokker 100’s which were more common made a change. When it went over to KLM uk I thought that they may stil be around but they just disappeared. It then changed into Buzz, can you imagine a Fokker 100 in the Buzz scheme!

Wow that sounds brilliant interflug, all those old plaes! The airport has certainly changed rapidly. When I first started to go up there only about 6 years ago, I can remember seeing Air Uk Shorts 360’s and F100’s, Ryanair 1-11’s, European 1-11’s, MK Airlines DC-8’s and even a few private 707’s. Eventhough it is more interesting now that the airport is a lot more busy and more destinations are being served (mainly by Ryanair), the ‘quietness’ did some times have an advantage because if you were lucky enough you would get to see aircraft doing touch and go’s and if you were really lucky you could even see BA 747′ doing them. Another aircraft I can remeber screaming over my head was the Ilyushin-76, but I think these are banned from the UK now.

Yes I suppose I agree woundsinger, a fair point made. I have now heard that they are hoping to ‘patch the plane up’, probably with gaffa-tape or something and then get a certificate from the CAA to fly it back home. However, they need special clearance to fly at 15,000ft where the air pressure is not too much different before the aircraft is properly repaired. I do not think they are too concerned about having to repair it, just a bit of patchwork in the meantime.

Does any one know of a website that has information and operators/type of aircraft on all the worlds airliner registrations. I know that there are certain sites that list for example G- or F-, but is there just one that lists them all?

I also noticed that from Myrtle avenue if you look toward the maintenance areas, between the hangars you can see the aircraft taxiing toward 27R. If the aircraft have the last two letters of the registration on the tail, you can usually work them out and if they are at the right angle you can sometimes see the whole registration on the side of the aircraft. This is how I got the registration of the BWIA A340, which A330 Crazy seemed to be envious about!

PS LN Strike Eagle as you live locally to Stansted do you go there often? If so which spots do you think are best? I tend to either go to the fire training center if they are on 23 or just outside the long-stay car parks if they are on 05.