Mark's Wildlife and Adventures Blog

As i finished work early on the 19th November at 12pm i decided to spend the afternoon and early evening at Gatwick and experiment with sunset shots with my Canon 1000D camera.

Emirates 777-300ER.



easyJet A319.



As the sun began to set i found it trickier to take photos using my ISO 100 F8.0 setting, i got told that i need to adjust the shutter speed to more than 1/250 - tricky to do on Av mode but i will get the hang of it soon hopefully.

BA 737-400 at sunset.




Iam getting the hang of it too which is good, i used ISO200 for this easyJet A319.



The sun began to set into low cloud at this point so i went back to the station and caught the train home. It was interesting to do this, i had wanted to do it in the Summer as its better light but was too busy but i can practice on Winter low light shots/

Hope you enjoyed that folks, will look forward to any tips and advice for sunset/low lighting shots thanks!

Iam hoping to get a better lens one day as they say the Sigma DG 70-300mm lens produces softer images, would like to get a better one but am ok at the moment with what i have got.

It was a nice day for spotting at Gatwick today and i took photos of lots of planes and here is the Norwegian 737-500 before it had an emergency.



I didnt hear much at first, due to the radio scanner being muffled at point of takeoff, but apparently he had had a Bird strike, this is when a passing Bird is unwittingly sucked into the engine of the plane. This caused a Virgin 747-400 that had lined up for takeoff to about its takeoff run due to bird debris on the runway. Looks like it hit a flock of Pigeons!

Now Bird Strikes dont usually cause a plane to crash, (with the exception of the US Airways A320 earlier this year, this one hit a flock of Geese in both engines) the Norwegian pilot shut down the engine and circled the airport ready to make an emergency approach.

A couple of planes did Go Arounds while the Virgin 747 was still on the runway and others in the hold had to shut their engines down to save fuel....... iam not sure why the Qatar Airways A330 was cleared to line up. Here is a couple of videos i did.





I did think how exciting when something unusual happens, it was also caught by another youtuber at the other end of the runway, here is his video, credits to GatwickSpotting. Have both windows open so u get the ATC transmissions aswell as we were both filming roughly around teh same time.



The Norwegian 737 landed safely with firetrucks routinely checking it out, by routinely the entire fleet follow it from the runway to parking stand. While they do that the airport is closed for about 30 minutes. Iam glad they landed safely, but poor Pigeons!

Some of the Go Arounds, Aer Lingus A320.



Thomson 757-200.



Aer Lingus A320 cleared to land after 10 minutes when the runway was cleared to reopen again.



Local Sussex Police Helicopter on routine patrol, nothing to do with the incident though.



A few more arrivals.








Foxy at Gatwick when the runway changed direction.



They changed the runway end at 3pm due to the wind direction changing, this is routine but made photography difficult so i went home at this time. Had a great time though and the emergency landing was exciting for me anyways lol! hope you enjoyed it.

Rest of photos from todays visit here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21967655@N08/sets/72157621862094959/

My new Canon 1000D was very impressive! The Sigma 70-300mm lens was superb in taking cracking shots like these!.

Aurigny ATR 42.



BA 737-400.



easyJet A319.



Thomas Cook 757-300.



BA A319, note the Seagull....... you heard about that crash due to birdstrike?!



Flybe E190.



NWA 757-200. - being taken over by Delta soon.



A high flying Continental 757-200, a bit better but would need an even stronger lens for that!



TAP A319.



To say iam really pleased with my new camera is quite an understatement lol Iam so impressed by it! Some photos here need improving due to too much brightening on photoshop.

Emirates 777-300ER, note i overbrightened him too much!



I started some through the fence shots until they found out and told me not to do that due to the new rule, i took a few here.

Big and beefy Virgin Atlantic 747-400 turning onto the runway.



Thomas Cook 757-200 holding for takeoff.



The 747 kinda steals the show!



but i wasnt to be dissapointed at being told to go back to where i was because my new camera had another trick, it can zoom THROUGH the fence!

Another Virgin Atlantic 747-400, i kinda like this one!



NWA 757-200 holding for takeoff.



I also could zoom to aircraft that are 3 miles out on final approach! Here is an A320.



I also got a plane that retired from service this very day! Monarch 757-200 G-MOND has been serving for 25 years! , It will be scapped at a place called Lasham, shame to see it go but at least i got a good memory of it!



Here is the flickr link to all 84 of them! I stayed from 8am to when it clouded over at 2pm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21967655@N08/sets/72157612487728728/

I also got 22 accepted on photos Aero too which was very impressive and they were really pleased with my camera work!

http://www.photos.aero/search.php?q=Mark%20Jones&t=ph

Hope you enjoyed that, i certainly did.

I went to Gatwick and started taking photos using Aperture mode with excellent results. They increased the standards on photos.aero and iam still meeting them which is good.

Virgin Atlantic 747-400 in old colours.


Excel Airways 737-800.


easyJet A319.


I took many more, but will only show the ones that got through as they are really good, the weather clouded over at times which increased the rejection rate but i couldnt do much about that.

Here is a photo of th animals on the train home!


Its nice going to the airport and geting better at taking photos of the planes, I use Gatwick for practising as its a nearer airport. I will go to Heathrow again one day when the weather is nicer and when iam not busy. Its not long until the Farnborough Airshow on the 19th, iam looking forward to thst.

Here is my photos.aero accountso far with 92 photos in.
http://www.photos.aero/search.php?q=Mark%20Jones&t=ph

It started off sunny which was good but started to cloud over but i had a nice time and caught some sunrise shots. At least its warmer today with none of that snowy nonsense i had earlier in the week!

Virgin 747-400.


Thomas Cook A330 sillhouette.


Air Zimbabawe 767 and Nationwide 767, these two usually land before 5am, but were 2 hours late so i caught them!



XL.com 767 looking very shiny.


NWA A330.


Air Wales aircraft, either a Dornier or shorter Dash 8, very rare sight at Gatwick, nice to see.


BA 777 looking sharp.


Virgin 747 G-VFAB in the LHR hold.


Qatar A330 with vibrant colours!


Couple of Go Arounds, due to the windy conditions on approach.



Virgin 747 G-VROM lining up for takeoff.


BA 777 waiting for its turn to line up.


One of so very many easyJet A319's.


It started to get really cloudy by 1pm so i started to go home after a special Greek Air Force military aircraft camein, it was a C-27, i had help from photos.aero on this.
Took a couple of pics of it as it passed by.



Lasly as i was waiting for my train,G-VFAB, who i saw in the LHR hold, came to Gatwick as VS808P - this is a maintenence positioning flight number that they use so he must have been due for a spot of TLC at Gatwick, nice suprise to seem him twice!


He may seem to be dipping quite sharply but this is an optical illusion as they do this in the glide to the runway and if viewed from a distance it appears they are rather nose down!

I had a great time and it was good i got home when i did because it poured with rain for th rest of the afternoon

Here is a short vid of a BA 737 landing that i took.