Nimrod at SWF

[Iberia A340-600]

2/5

RAF Nimrod MR4* which was flying from England to Tennessee diverted to SWF tonight due to bad weather at the arrival destination. I feel this rare visitor warrants its own thread but since I have only edited one shot so far I'll give you a flavor of the unique aircraft!



I have a few choice words for that stupid a/c unit!

[AA 777]

Holy Crap Gordon! Awesome Catch!!!

[jran225]

NICE CATCH! When I was younger, my dad and I drove from DC to Cleveland, Ohio just to see a Nimrod perform at an air show. I'll tell you - you haven't heard a real aircraft until you have heard a Nimrod take off. Congrats, Gordo! :)

Greets,
-Omar S.

[Tom_Turner]

Gordon - Great work. This aircraft might still be the visitor of the year for our entire area. Been waiting for what seems like forever for a Nimrod to show up in our parts.

Tom

[Iberia A340-600]

Thanks guys, quite a lucky catch for me!

Here is another photo:

[moose135]

What an incredible catch Gordon! Good job!

[LGA777]

Wow, thats rare. One did a flyby at SXM as we where just sitting down at the old terminal resturant so I missed shooting it, boy it was so loud !

Congrats Gordon

LGA777

[SengaB]

Heres my 2 cent contribution.
I wish I had Gordon's shots :) Maxxx props to Gordon for giving me the heads up on this one.

I felt very blessed witness this amazing aircraft in action as well. I have always wanted to get a shot if it since have been in this hobby. Pictures just don't do it justice. When you see it on the ramp during its 5 minute run up its just awe inspiring to see and here those engines wine! The take off roll was pretty aggressive. With a fast acceleration to full power it took in a very short length of runway. I have never seen a plane of this size execute a rotation like that classic F-15 shot that we see a lot when it left the runway in a high AOA and so low to the ground. I think the Nimrod pilots did it for us though. Unfortunately the blasted fence got in the way so I didn't get those shots. Within 1 second it was sucked into a 100ft ceiling cloud base.
I felt honored to be in the presence of such an impressive piece of history.

After hearing conversations throughout the moring between the pilots and controllers I learned alot about this aircraft. Its temporarially based at BNA (Nashville Int). Its a wing icing testbed for the new wing that is being put into production for the Nimrods. They are able to fly this aircraft with 6 inches of Ice on the wings or are trying to.


Prepping for the flight

Run-up

Taxi

Takeoff Roll

Senga

[T-Bird76]

For a second I thought Nick V was back in town, LOLOLOLOLOLOL Nice shots guys.

[wunaladreamin]

Wow great stuff guys! Color me green.

[flyboy 28]

*impressed whistle*

That baby looks fiiiine.

[G-BOAD]

WoW!
Great catch Gordon, and Senga!
BTW, Gordon, I really like the 2nd shot, with the light and rain reflections on the ground!

[nwafan20]

Wow, nice shots guys! Great aircraft!

[MarkLawrence]

Great shots guys!!!...

[SengaB]

Yes it is sure a spectacular looking aircraft. Its definitely a good candidate for the shot of the year!

Senga