The Spotter's Journal

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www.aviation-photography.lu

N° 32 – March 2009

Index TF-ARM in new Saudi colours

TF-ARM in new colours 1 On 7th February the following Boeing 747-200, TF-ARM, left Luxembourg Evergreen Invasion 1 maintenance (to Brussels) in full Saudi Colours. The Boeing (ex. N744SA) went

Ruby Star & AeroVis Airlines 1 in September 2003 to Air Atlanta Icelandic and is now leased to Saudi Arabian Airlines. One engine still needs a repaint. TNT Boeing 757-200 2 West Air LX-WAW 2

Cargolux in Italy 2 Colourful AWACS at ELLX 2

Air Zermatt 2 Water Bomber & Boneyard 3

Luxembourg Movements 4

Evergreen Invasion in Luxembourg

After the Saudi Boeing, surprisingly an Evergreen Boeing asked permission to divert to Luxembourg due to bad weather th (fog) at Frankfurt Hahn. The first Boeing 747-200 was N488EV (left photo), followed by N487EV (right photo). On 17 February N488EV was back again due to another bad weather situation.

Ruby Star & AeroVis Airlines

Again on 7th February a Ruby Star Antonov An-12, EW-269TI (left photo), was present at Luxembourg Airport, departing in the afternoon. On 10th February another Antonov An-12, UR-CCP from AeroVis Airlines (right photo) was present at the Cargocenter.

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TNT Boeing 757-200 Westair LX-WAW

th This TNT Boeing 757-200, TF-FID, was on a Cargo flight A new Westair aircraft was present this month. On 5 through Luxembourg on 13th February 2009. February LX-WAW was seen at Luxembourg Airport.

LX-WAW is the latest BAe ATP added to the fleet.

Cargolux in Italy

Cargolux planned to base one of their Boeing 747-400F at Milan Malpensa to start longhaul cargo operations making use of the hole left by Alitalia, Cargoitalia and Ocean Airlines that have all suspended cargo operations in Italy last year. Cargolux has already applied for an Italian air operator certificate to allow it to create an Italian subsidiary to operate the aircraft at a later stage.

Colourful AWACS at ELLX

During the last months we had a lot of NATO 707 and AWACS traffic in the skies over Luxembourg. On 13th February finally another training flight brought us the colourful Boeing E-3A Sentry LX-N90443. This bird is still wearing the 25 years of AWACS missions in Europe.

Air Zermatt Visit (Text & Photos by Mike MORO)

During my holiday in Zermatt I paid a visit to the heliport (again) to check for fleet updates during the last 12 months. On 25th February, on a beautiful sunny morning, 6 (!!) helicopters were present at the Zermatt Heliport. 5 of them were doing sightseeing and heli-skiing flights. 2 of those helicopters were specially flown in from Raron to cope with the tourists. Only HB-ZEF (EC-135) was on standby for medical emergencies. Here are some impressions from the heliport and from the flight I took with HB-ZCX (EC-135).

HB-XSU departing for another HB-ZEF leaving for a medical sightseeing tour emergency

HB-ZKF followed by HB-ZCX

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HB-ZKF (Eurocopter EC-135) was bought in October 2008 by Air Zermatt and is the

latest fleet addition.

GPS position during takeoff at the Air Cross at the Italian side of the Matterhorn, The “Solvayhütte” (refuge) at 4007m Zermatt Heliport only 1m below the top of 4478m

Left: Rothorn Ski- Station at 3019m

Right: Gornergrat Station, Hotel and Astronomical Observatory at 3089m

Water Bomber & Boneyard in Victorville, USA (Text & Photos: Patrick GEORG)

Last November (2008), my wife and I spent our holidays in the Western Region of the United States, to see some of the Natural & Man-made Wonders this Part of the World has to offer. So, as we had a flight into Los Angeles and were heading to the Gamblers Paradise of Southern Nevada, I planned a weekend-stop in the Southern-Californian Town of Victorville, known for its logistics platform, being now established around the airport.

The airport at the former Military Base of Victorville has ample parking space for airplanes and one of the longest runways. Because of the arid climate of its surrounding deserts, this is a perfect spot for storing any kind of airplane, and there are some air-related businesses on site, such as maintenance, demolishing and paint-shops. The site is also used for different kinds of tests.

Delta Airlines Boeing 727-200, N518DA A mix of Delta Airlines and Delta Express

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A collection of Delta L-1011 Tristars and Omni Air DC-10 United Airlines N196UA stored since October 2008

Since the economic crises stroke around the globe, many airlines got into trouble, or even went out of business, so that at the time of my visit there were, amongst many others, four 747-400 from Oasis Hongkong (which ceased operations in 2008) stored and waiting for (hopefully) being reused soon.

But not all the planes parked in VCV are being reused; once they are written-off by their owners it’s the scrappers who are going to do sooner or later their jobs. The impressive ‘’Boneyard’’ around is showing clear evidence of this.

During our visit in November, the weather was exceptionally hot for the season, and there were big fires in the area north-easterly of Los Angeles, which is very hilly and covered by bushes and forests. In addition there were strong winds blowing from the south, the so-called Santa Anna Winds, making it a very difficult task for the fire-fighters to do their jobs. Since Forest fires in Southern California are very common during the warmer months of the year, there is a Water-Bomber operator based in Victorville called ‘’10 Tanker Air Carrier’’ operating two DC-10 Jets registered 910 (N450AX, photo) and 911 (N17085).

As these fires were only about 100 kilometres away from VCV, there were some flights on Saturday, operated by 910, and I was lucky enough to see some of the take-off and landing operations. This was my first visit to Victorville, and I’m sure it will not be my last one …

Italian Air Force Boeing KC-767A, N767TT / 14-01

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Luxembourg's Logbook: Passenger and Cargo Visitors

01.02.2009 D-IIVA AirGO Flugservice Piaggio P-180 Avanti 02.02.2009 D-BUBI Private Bombardier BD-100 Challenger MM62172 Air Force – Italy Dassault Falcon 900EX MM62174 Air Force – Italy Airbus A319-115X(CJ) 03.02.2009 LX-WAW West Air Europe British Aerospace ATP VP-CEO Private Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 04.02.2009 LN-MMM Sundt Air Hawker B200 King Air MM62203 Air Force – Italy Piaggio P-180AM Avanti 05.02.2009 D-CRIS Challenge Air IAI 1125 Astra SPX 06.02.2009 TF-ARM Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-200 07.02.2009 EW-269TI RubyStar Antonov An-12BP N487EV Evergreen International Airlines Boeing 747-200 N488EV Evergreen International Airlines Boeing 747-200 08.02.2009 OH-FEX Airfix Aviation Dassault Falcon 2000EX 09.02.2009 CE-02 Air Force – Belgium Embraer ERJ-135LR N125XP Private Raytheon Hawker 800XP 10.02.2009 TC-ATA Government – Turkey Gulfstream G-IV UR-CCP Aerovis Airlines Antonov An-12A 11.02.2009 69-024 Air Force – Turkey Transall C-160D HB-VNZ Jet Aviation Business Jets Cessna 550B Citation Bravo 12.02.2009 F-GTCR Darta Aéro Charter Beechcraft C90B King Air G-RHMS Astra Fire Embraer ERJ-135 Legacy 13.02.2009 LX-N90443 NATO - Airborne Early Warning Force Boeing E-3A Sentry

TF-FID TNT Airways Boeing 757-200 15.02.2009 G-OGSK TAG Aviation Embraer ERJ-135 Legacy

17.02.2009 N488EV Evergreen International Airlines Boeing 747-200 18.02.2009 D-BOOK Private Dassault Falcon 2000EX

F-HBPP Air Taxi Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 UR-CAG Meridian Airlines Antonov An-12 19.02.2009 EC-JJU Soko Aviation Cessna 525A CitationJet 2 21.02.2009 HA-TCS CityLine Europe Antonov An-26 UR-CGV Meridian Air Antonov An-12 22.02.2009 N523MC Atlas Air Boeing 747-200 23.02.2009 EW-275TI RubyStar Antonov An-12 24.02.2009 4X-AXL El Al Cargo Boeing 747-200 N840PN Private Rockwell 690C Turbo Commander 25.02.2009 N45JB Private Dassault Falcon 200 MM62029 Air Force – Italy Dassault Falcon 50 26.02.2009 D-IPOD Regional Air Express Cessna 525 CitationJet G-MKBA MK Airlines Boeing 747-200 27.02.2009 CS-DGQ Masterjet Cessna 525A CitationJet CJ2 I-RPLY Private Bombardier Learjet 60 28.02.2009 TC-MNC MNG Airlines Airbus A300-200 TS-IOM Tunisair Boeing 737-600

Editor: Mike MORO Luxembourg Aviation Photography

E-mail: [email protected] www.aviation-photography.lu

In cooperation with LUXSPOTTING (www.luxspotting.eu)

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