Albany, NY Recap - July 1-3

The July 4th holiday weekend brought me up to the sister-in-law's place just outside of Albany, NY. The Albany airport was a 20 minute ride from their place. So after arriving on July 1st, the wife & her sister started off on craft projects while the brother-in-law was waiting for the Space Shuttle to blast off (which we know didn't happen that day), so I grabbed the scanner & camera and headed off to ALB Intl Airport.

I had "scouted" where the best places to shoot from a local up there, Dan Evans. He has many pictures on A.net & JP from ALB, so I knew this was the guy to hit up for info. He kindly sent me a Google map along with a write-up of best times to go to which spot. Briefly, ALB has -6- decent spots to shoot from, all of which are either a dead-end or a designated observation area! I did get to meet with Dan on Monday the 3rd in the morning and extended to repay the favor when he finally comes downstate to shoot at JFK.

Many times while taking pics over the three days, airport personnel drove past me, and most of them gave a courtesy wave. There were -NO- incidents with the local authorities, in fact, one Sheriff did drive by me once, but he too, just waived and left me to my business while he went along on his. Very refreshing change!

Traffic for the airport is for the most part regional jets (CRJ1, CRJ2, CRJ4, CRJ7, even CRJ9's! & E170's). NWA brings in a DC9 and A319 or A320 depending on the day. SWA is in there a few times a day with B737-300's & 737-700's. Picture a busier ISP with no cops to bother you. LOL! The weather was a crap-shoot, the 1st was partly sunny, 2nd was overcast most of the day, but the 3rd was f-ing gorgeous (figures, that was the slowest day of the 3 I was there).

Here are some highlights from the trip, I still have more photos to edit, but I wanted to get these posted.

Air Alliance B-1900 (my first shot of the trip!)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../C-GZGA-PB.jpg

A pair of touchdown shots:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N804CA-PB.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N331UA-PB.jpg

NWA A320 on takeoff roll:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N347NW-PB.jpg

G4SP BizJet on Overcast Sunday:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N702GH-pb.jpg

SWA Takeoff:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...N616SWb-PB.jpg

GoJet Airlines CRJ7 blastoff:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N155GJ-PB.jpg

SWA Landing:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N616SW-PB.jpg

US Express (Republic Airlines) taxi-shot:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N819MD-PB.jpg

NWA Express CRJ4 departing the terminal:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../N8696C-PB.jpg

...and my 3 Jet Photo acceptances so far...
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5764525
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5764529
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5763291

Great shots Jon! You can really get to the action up there, did you get stopped by police at all?

Great shots! Glad to see there's some halfway decent stuff up there...I'll be going to RPI in the fall, which is only 10 minutes away from ALB, and it's good to know that I'll have some stuff to spot while I'm up there.

John,

I've been dying to go to Albany. A couple of Anet guys have some really great stuff from there, and I see you joined that crowd.

Keep up the good work. Really enjoying your photos lately.

Thanks guys...as for the cops, NO ISSUES AT ALL!

There was one sheriff who drove by, but he just waved at me and kept driving. Airport personnel drove by countless times, and not a soul gave me a hard time.

If anyone heads up there, I'll let you know where all the spots are. They are easy to find, yet in quiet enough places to let you do your own thing.

Keep in mind, all shots on the ground were taken through the fence. The first 4 shots in my post were all taken from on top of my car.

i really miss those EMB-170s....

Excellent photos!

Hey john im going up to albany august 19-20. I already emailed Dan and he sent me the map for the spotting locations, 3 of which i already know. But if you could send me a PM of the exact roads and such to take, I would really appreciate it!! :)

Chris, I havent been on the home pc last few days. Either tonight or this weekend, I'll get the info to you. The spots are really easy to find, and pretty much hassle free.

sweet shots John! Where did you take those? No fence?


vivid colors!

Thank You John!!! :D

Love the SWA and NWA ones, brilliant colors!!

Alex

That 1900D is worth the whole trip to me!

Great shots!