United Arab Emirates 747-400 and Saudi A318 at SWF

[Iberia A340-600]

Two special visitors parked at SWF:













The United Arab Emirates 747-400 has become a yearly visitor during the holiday season and the Saudi A318 is a medical plane parked while the Saudi King is recovering from his back surgery.

Both aircraft will be parked for at least a few more days if anyone wants to grab a photo.

[cancidas]

i love that angle on the 747!! nice work gordon.

[gonzalu]

WOW!!! Such access... salivating... did you have time for some HDR? lol...

[moose135]

Very nice work, Gordon! I'm not that familiar with SWF - can you shoot them from outside the fence?

[Iberia A340-600]

Thanks, guys.

Moose, both aircraft are shootable from outside of the fence although the 747 may be obstructed by some light poles. The A318 is parked right next to one of the long-term parking lots (currently closed) and granted you can get a shot through the fence you should be able to get a clear shot of the aircraft. The parking lot is located to right of the passenger terminal. You would be able to get a head on shot of the 747 from the same parking lot although you'd need some zoom. For a more side-on shot of the 747 follow 1st St. to the right of the terminal, past the hangars, the security gate, and turn left onto Recreation Rd. You'll find the fuel farm at the end of the road and there will be a view of the 747 from there, although as I mentioned it may be slightly blocked by light poles but if you move around it may be free of obstruction.

[moose135]

Thanks, Gordon! I may try to get up there the next few days.

[DHG750R]

Apparently the Emirates B777F was also there on the 28th delivering some horses nonstop from Sydney

DUBAI, U.A.E., 29th Dec 2010: Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates airline, has set new records by operating its longest ever non-stop flight - 17.5 hours from Sydney to New York. Emirates SkyCargo’s new generation Boeing 777 Freighter operated the service, which arrived on 28th December.
http://www.skycargo.com/mediacentre/...r=English-2010

[Iberia A340-600]

It was indeed. It arrived on the morning of the 28th and departed on the 29th for JFK. I was tracking the flight to photograph the arrival but while I was asleep the ETA changed from 12:30pm to 9:30am and I missed it. As for the departure they didn't file an ETD until the morning of the departure. I'm sorry to hear that I missed out on a historic flight! I imagine the pilots were pretty surprised to find the UAE 747-400 parked on the ramp.

[moose135]

I took a ride up today to see what I could get. Gordon, I think your suggestions would have worked well, if not for the knee-deep snow surrounding the fence line. And it looks like the Saudi A318 was moved - it appeared to be parked parallel to Atlantic's building, with a small biz jet in front of it, at least that's what I could see between buildings. Besides not wanting to trudge through all that snow, it didn't seem too "stealthy" either.

Again, with the UAE 744, I couldn't get to a good spot with the snow, but I gave it a try anyway...



Since I was up there, I took a look for the old Air France 742, F-GCBA that's parked at SWF. It's parked on the far side of the field...again, the snow limited what I could do.







Once the snow melts (which should be sometime in May or June ) I'll have to go back up and try to get some better shots...



Thanks for the advice, Gordon, I will have to try again in the future when something special comes in.

[Iberia A340-600]

I'm sorry to hear that the snow hampered your efforts, John. I apologize for not taking that into account, I hadn't given it thought. But it looks like you still managed to get some nice shots. Good luck in the future! :)

[moose135]

Not a problem, Gordon, thanks for your help.

[gonzalu]

moose, I am not sure what you mean... your shots are SUPERB!! you must be delirious :-) Great Job!! I need to go up there for something other than an airshow (or shopping at Woodbury Commons ;-)

Thanks for showing what's possible.