I hate to back trips right up against eachother, but if you want any significant amount of days off later in the month, you really need to compress all of your flying to do so. So right after the last Paris trip on the 6th to the 8th, I put in a Manchester trip from the 9th to the 11th. You have about 24 hours at home in between, so that's plenty of time to mow the lawn, say hi to the family and put critters to bed (my two daughters) and catch up.
Manchester leaves at 8 p.m. and takes about 6 1/2 hours to get there. I'm more of a night person anyway, so I don't mind the late night flying. Besides, it's about the only way I'm ever going to see the sunrise, as I surely won't be getting up that early at home.
I've been taking so many stills of the sunrise and sunsets, but I figured I'd whip up a video clip and send it to YouTube via this new iMovie '08. It's not a good program anymore for making movies like the Paris trip flick, but it does clips really well.
Here are a couple of pictures of Manchester. We're still a good 20 miles out when this was taken, on a very high downwind leg.
CA Tony is about as Italian as they come. He's fun to fly with and since he flies Manchester quite a bit, he's familiar with all the good restaurants, especially the Italian ones. But I was planning on spending my afternoon in Manchester working with iLife '08 that I picked up while heading out the door for my trip. I have a friend who's selling his house and paid me to make him up a website and ad. So I didn't have any big plans for dinner, other than to meet up at least for a drink with Tony and 3 of the flight attendants. But, as is often the case, after a Guinness, you tend to lose motivation and I found myself trying out the fish and chips at the Bank restaurant in Manchester which is very popular among the crews.
For the flight home, Jamie (who posts here regularly) positioned himself at the 'spotters hill' in Manchester so he could get a few shots of us and the other airplanes departing. I've mentioned it before, but it looks like an ideal location to take some great pictures of a wide variety of airplanes.
I managed to snap this shot of the photographers on the hill. Jamie is in the middle I think. At least that's where the waving was coming from.
And these are pictures from Jamie's side of the fence. Thanks Jamie!
7 comments:
That sunrise video is just so serene- it really is beautiful. I would imagine that it is tiring to Paris, flying back, and then the day after going on another trip.
another great blog entry.
2 questions:
Do your fellow cockpit occupants mind if you are snapping pictures in the takeoff roll? I seem to remember seeing one on your flickr taken during a landing flare at night.
And does the FB sit in the cockpit for the exciting moments (takeoff and landing)?
Brilliant sunrise you captured there!
The spot at MAN is brilliant for departure shots (23L) in the morning because the sun is behind you. If you ever go be prepared to climb over two fences. :p
and btw, im ordering my camera tomorrow!
Jamie
Great report Kent, love the sunrise vid. Really nice picture from Jamie too - look at the size of the 752 compared to the little F50 behind it!
Dave
Thanks guys...
Chris,
I've been trying to only take pictures above 10,000 feet for just that reason. Ground shots are when we're waiting in line with the brakes set. That landing picture from a few years back was actually taken at altitude going past Boston with the shutter set for a few seconds to get some blur and show movement.
At the captain's discretion, the FB can either sit in the cockpit for takeoff and landing or the back. 99% of the time it's in the cockpit.
Thanks for the questions and comments!
Ah okay. The reason I thought it was taken lower was because of all the lights outside the window, which I assumed were airport area lights.
You mentioned an aviation museum in California a few posts ago. Is it worth a visit?
You bet, Chris. Although it has been about 25 years since I've been there. But the Planes of Fame in Chino has some of the rarest stuff (N9M flying wing, Zero, etc...) in the world. And they all fly.
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