London City airport

A few days ago I arrived at London City airport [ICAO code: EGLC] for my flight to Edinburgh. I was looking forward to this, as the airport has a reputation for steep takeoffs and landings and a good view of London city :-)

My flight was on BA CityFlyer, on an Embraer E170, similar to the one pictured below. After takeoff [and yes, it felt really steep!], we had awesome views of London itself - along the Thames, the London Eye, all of the "central' city and much of the suburbs as well. I reckon the 60 pounds I paid for the flight would have been worth it just for the scenic flight over the city! Unfortunately, my camera was in the overhead locker, so no photos of this. The inflight service was good also - a choice of breakfasts and something to drink, then a smooth flight to Edinburgh. The arrival into Edinburgh was very nice. As soon as we got below the cloud, we flew along the harbour with great views over the entire city. Nice!

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from the airport:

British Aerospace Avro RJ-85, EI-RJG, registered to Cityjet. Note the runway just in the background.
Embraer E170-100STD, G-LCYI, registered to BA CityFlyer

London's Science Museum, aviation exhibits

My recent visit to London's Science Museum included an unexpected benefit; a floor with a number of aircraft displays, including the aircraft, many engines, even a 1 meter deep section from a Boeing B747!

In addition to some relatively "common' types, I saw the following aircraft, only one of which I had seen before [the SE5A, albeit not in a "skywriting configuration]. Enjoy the following pictures. For other [non aviation] photos from the museum, see my World Travels blog.

Top to bottom are:

Short SC1 - the world's first VTOL aircraft, from 1957! 

H.S. 125, G-ASSM, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland

Hawker P.1127, first prototype, leading to the Harrier Jump jet

Vickers Vimy

Royal Aircraft Factory SE5A, G-EBIB, with extra equipment for skywriting!

Europe Trip #34: Bye bye England

All too soon it was time to start the 30+ hours of travel back to New Zealand. The trip back was the reverse of the trip over, namely London Heathrow - Hong Kong - Auckland - Wellington.

We arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time, and as we experienced with the rest of our travels, there was very little in the way of hold ups. Check in was a bit of fun, if only because the airline systems had been flagged as my parents and I needing special assistance [stop laughing you lot!]! We were all able to walk and find our way around so none was required, although it would have been quite funny if I had asked for a wheelchair for each of us :-) ha ha

Just a couple of pictures this time... some scruffy looking fella airside at Heathrow [I've scrubbed up better since getting home :-)], then a picture of the sunrise over southern Russia and the "desert" of northern [central???] China.

I particularly like the sunrise picture - I took a few of them as did a member of the cabin crew I was having a chat with at the time [they are a friendly lot at Air New Zealand]. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Europe Trip #19: Aircraft Over London

During my various sightseeing days I managed to photograph a few of the many aircraft flying over London. I'm not sure which airports they were headed in to [I never got my head around where the various airports were in relation to the city!].

Anyway, here they are:

British Airways [Connect], Avro 146, G-BZAY
City Jet, Avro 146, EI-RJS
VLM Airways [???], Fokker 50, OO-VLK
British Airways, Avro 146, G-BZAU
Air France, Avro 146, EI-RJP ???????????? *** Pardon??
[???], MD 900, G-EHMS - rescue helicopter
Lux Air, Embraer EMB-135LR, LX-LGK
Helicopter - unknown ID or details

*** can anyone explain why an aircraft with Air France logos would have an EI- rego? Is this just a leasing thing?