Flight-Fight! A Day of Spotting Planes
- Flight-fight? Fight-FIGHT!
- Round 1: Booking and Check in
- Off to Birmingham Airport
- Round 2: Aer Lingus EI263 Birmingham to Dublin Airport
- Interlude: Spotting in Dublin
- Back to Dublin Airport
- Interlude: Finding the perfect Guinness Mug.
- Round 3: Ryanair FR666 Dublin to Birmingham Airport
- Quickie ride home
- And the knockout blow goes to…
A day of watching planes!
Exiting from the back of the plane, I got a free view of the ramp operations that were going on. Well, it beats a bus ride around the airport.
Aer Lingus A320 and an American Airlines A330 tail
A message for our pilot friends.
Heading across the tarmac, I found the stairs back up to the jetbridge, and then to the terminal.
Up we go!
From there it was time to head to immigration.
Meanwhile down below, the US Pre-Clearance area is busy
This being a Saturday, the Non-EU queue was packed with arrivals from the Americas, whilst the Irish and EU queues were comparatively short.
It only took a couple of minutes to be seen to (whilst the people in the non-EU queue looked on jealously).
The passport check was carried out by, eye, and I was admitted into the Republic of Ireland.
Passing through the luggage carousels -there wasn’t much to worry about for me (mainly as I was luggage-free).
I headed out of the secured area (and the final duty free shop) into the public area.
Busy Saturday arrivals.
This is always a good thing – Dublin Airport showing off its stats.
As I had some time before I was meeting my friend, I took the opportunity to get some water and do a couple of things… including a speedtest of how badly 3UK performed on 3Ireland.
That went as well as a lead brick being dropped from a tall building. Seriously… I might as well stuck with semaphore signals for the speed and quality of data.
Wow. Such high-speed data. And such low latencies. This is the problem when you route your data back through London…
Signs you’re in Dublin. Tayto products. Just give in. I did.
With those things done, it was time for me to head out and meet the wonderful @EssieJosie who would be my guide for the day.
Here’s some of the variety that I encountered on the day.
Waiting for my ride.
And so we watched planes on and off all day.
Why? Because. Planes. Do you need a reason to spend time with friends? I don’t. And planes are a good excuse.
Scandianvan Airline System CRJ-700 (Operated by CityJet)
Aer Lingus Boeing 757-200
United Airlines Boeing 757-200
American Airlines A3330-200
Air Transat A310
Aer Lignus A330 climbing out
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER
British Airways Airbus A319 heading back to London.
Luxair Boeing 737
Delta Airbus A330
Aer Lingus Green Spirit Airbus A320
Aer Lingus A321
Air France Cargo Boeing 777F arriving
Luxair Boeing 737 taking off
Aer Lingus A320 taxing
Air France Boeing 777F taking off
Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-900ER landing
ASL Airiens Boeing 737 Classic taking off
Travel Service 737-800 landing
Ryanair 737-800
Jet2 Boeing 737-300
Aer Lingus A330-200
Another Rynair Boeing 737-800….
and another Ryanair Boeing 737-800, this time in a mixed Boeing/Ryanair house colours scheme
There was even a buggy passing by… because this is Ireland.
Thanks again to @EssieJosie for being my guide for the day.
Next: Back to Dublin Airport
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