Glw Apt 2015 September

Just a very small round-up for September 2015 as I was on holiday for most of the month, my wife and I making our second self-drive tour of Namibia. Although it took three flights from Glasgow to reach the country`s capital city Windhoek, the long journey was a small price to pay considering the fantastic time spent touring. All flights were with British Airways, starting with the Shuttle to London Heathrow. The outbound ten-and-a-half hour overnight flight to Johannesburg was served by a Boeing 747 which was followed by a 2 hour flight on a Comair 737 to Namibia`s only international airport. Comair operate African services on behalf of British Airways and their airliners sport the same livery.

Air Namibia Airbus A330-243 V5-ANP at Windhoek Airport on 2 September 2015.

On the way back a fortnight later the Jo`burg - LHR leg was served by an Airbus A380. This was the first time I had the opportunity to fly on this massive double-decker state-of-the-art passenger jet (still in the cheap seats though!). At O. R.Tambo Airport there was a good variety of airliners, albeit opportunities for photographs were extremely limited from my seat due to glare. This was also a problem when trying to shoot from within the transfer terminal building. Most of the airliners that were already on stand were parked nose-in and stationary vehicles and ancillary equipment outside the ground floor departure lounge put paid to clear views of aircraft on the apron. Visiting international carriers at Jo`burg on 2 September included `heavies` from Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates.

We flew in to Windhoek on Comair Boeing 737-85R ZS-ZWI.

Our pilot obligingly flew past Windhoek's Hosea Kutako Airport (WDH) to line-up for landing, providing this excellent eagle-eye view. Wildlife sightings began just after touch-down with a Secretary Bird strutting across one of the taxiways, no doubt having first received clearance from Air Traffic Control! The airport is a very laid back place and seems more like a small regional airport rather than the country`s only international one.

Back at Glasgow International, among the noteworthy visitors during the month of September were Airbus 9H-AEI Air Malta (Retro colours), Dassault Falcon 900B N721HM and Cessna 560XLS CS-DXJ (1st); Airbus A320-214 9A-CTJ Croatia Airlines, Boeing 737-8W PH-HZW Transavia, Dassault Falcon 2000EX N659FM, Challenger 300 HB-JGQ (2nd); Polish Learjet 75 SP-AAW and Learjet 35A D-CGRC (3rd); Boeing 737-8K5W PH-TFC Arkefly (5th); Airbus A321-231 D-AIDV Lufthansa (retro colours), A320-214W D-AIZS Eurowings, BAe146 D-AWBA and Pilatus PC-12 VP-CPX (6th); Cessna 750 Citation X EI-LEO (7th); Cessna 560XLS D-CEEE (8th); A pair of Manx-registered first-time visitors on the 11th were Gulfstream 650 M-BADU and Gulfstream 450 M-MAEE. Socata TBM-900 N900TY (12th); Learjet 35A D-CJPG (14th); Boeing 737-75BW D-AGEN Germania, Gulfstream 4SP N478GS, Gulfstream 450 N236FS, Cessna 525 OE-FLG and Cessna 525A D-IWWP (17th); Socata TBM-900 N602MA (18th); Challenger 350 CS-CHC and Bede BD-4 G-BOPD (19th)...

Challenger 350 CS-CHC, Gulfstream 450 N888DC, Challenger 605 9H-VFC (20th); BAe-146-RJ85 SE-DJO Malmo Aviation, Challenger 650 OY-CLP (24th); Raytheon Hawker 800XP CS-DRP NetJets Europe (25th); Airbus A318-112CJ A6-AAM, Cessna 560XLS CS-DXW and G-CHUI (26th); BAE146-RJ100 SE-RJI Malmo Aviation, Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global Express M-MDBD, Eurocopter EC-120B Colibri G-ZZZS and Eurocopter AS350B-3e Ecureuil G-DJSM (27th); Cessna 525A Citation CJ2 9H-ALL (28th); Learjet 45 M-ABEU (29th); Boeing 737-8F2W TC-JVD Turkish Airlines (30th).

With regard to military movements, a very unusual appearance was made by French Air Force Boeing KC-135R 23525 which overshot Runway 23 around 1215hrs on Tuesday 1 September using the call-sign `FAF4012`. Royal Navy EH-101 Merlin ZH841 called in on the 8th, c/s `Navy 504`. US Army C-12U Huron 84-0173 c/s `Duke 17` arrived mid-morning on 9 September and stayed for around 90 minutes. Embraer 135 CE-02 of the Belgian Air Force landed in the afternoon for a night-stop. On Wednesday 30 September, German Air Force C-160D Transall 51+09 arrived at 1630hrs - c/s `GAF946`. It`s arrival was likely connected with the second of 2015`s Joint Warrior military exercises.

Airliners