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this summer was spend in France near Toulouse. As our house was quite close to the airport, I ventured now and then to it for some pictures. But only, if I saw something active on FR24. With the summer vacation in full swing at Airbus as well, flying was quite limited.
Those who have been to Blagnac before might know about the spotter hill on the West side of the airport on the Av. Latécoère. There is a restaurant there called Le 20eme Avenue. Next to it is a large gravel field which they use for parking. From there you can climb on the hill and have a good overview of the airport.
However, the restaurant is closed and the entry to the gravel field is blocked, which means there is no way to park your car on the Av. Latécoère. A year ago there were still some parking bays next to the road but these are all replaced with trees. If you still want to spot from the hill, you can park on the other side of it at Chem. de la Sabatere and walk from there. Which is a bit longer.
Anyway, as they were landing on runway 32, the hill is of less use, which meant I stood in the approach.
Some interesting things on 12 August were:
1. A Delta A330neo (F-WWKQ) doing a fly-by after its test-flight:
A339-DAL-FWWKQ-TLS12aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr2. A Delta A350-900 F-WZNP:
A359-DAL-FWZNP-TLS12aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr3. Of course a BelugaXL, this F-GXLI:
A337-AIB-FGXLI-TLS12aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr4. And the main reason for my visit was this lovely French Air Force KC-135 497, which popped-up on FR24 in the arrivals list and actually showed up. It came from Chateauroux and departed to Brest 10 minutes after landing:
KC135-FAF-497-TLS12aug24 by Anton Homma, on FlickrThe following day, 13 August, I decided to venture to Francazal to see what was there. Some of the more interesting things were:
1. There were 3 former Garuda ATR72s present, still in full livery. Only 1 of these still had its Indonesian registration, this PK-GAM:
ATR72-GIA-PKGAM-FRC13aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr2. I managed to snap, not 1 but 2 ATRs from Gabon, this ATR72 TR-ATR from Afrijet:
ATR72-AFJ-TRATR-FRC13aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr3. And this Gabon Air Force ATR42 TR-KJD. Unfortunately, this shot was a bit ruined by the heatwaves:
ATR42-GABAF-TRKJD-FRC13aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr4. Nice to have been able to still see an Airbus A320 from defunct MYAirline from Malaysia:
A320-MYA-OELGX-FRC13aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr5. Another exotic highlight at Francazal was this Air Burkina ERJ190 XT-ABV:
E190-BUR-XTABV-FRC13aug24 by Anton Homma, on FlickrThe next day, 14 August, I made a quick dash to the airport as an Airbus A350 was flying circuits.
1. But first I wanted to see if I could come closer to a colorful ATR that was parked near the cargo and general aviation apron. It happened to be the experimental ATR72 M-AMRM of Universal Hydrogen. It's fate is unknown as the registration was cancelled last year:
ATR72-UNI-MAMRM-TLS14aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr2. Another ATR72, but this time a FedEx Feeder:
ATR72F-FDX-EIHAF-TLS14aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr3. I was also able to snap Swift Air B737-800BCF EC-NXV:
B738F-SWF-ECNXV-TLS14aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr4. And my main reason to visit, A350-900 F-WZHE, destined for STARLUX:
A359-SLX-FWZHE-TLS14aug24 by Anton Homma, on FlickrOn the way back home to NL, we made a lunch stop in Chateauroux. Compared to my previous visits, the airport was much emptier, with less nice aircraft parked around. Some of the more interesting ones were:
1. This former AirX World Cargo A340-300 is now registered N192N and has lost the AirX-titles. It was briefly used by Air Atlanta as well:
A343-WLD-N192N-CHX17aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr2. Former Air Caraibes A330-200 F-HHUB looks a bit sad:
A332-CRB-FHHUB-CHX17aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr3. But not as sad as this former Hong Kong Airlines A330-200 OE-IDW (former B-LHA):
A332-HKG-OEIDW-CHX17aug24 by Anton Homma, on Flickr4. However, the award for the saddest aircraft might go to former Pullmanair B747-200B EC-JFR:
B742-PUL-ECJFR-CHX17aug24 by Anton Homma, on FlickrThat was all folks, hope you liked them.
Cheers!
