25th September

[lordevanelpuss]

In the early 1980s I had discovered trail spotting (or dot spotting if you prefer) and I had about three radios monitoring different airways over my home. In those days the Boeing 747 (100 /200 / 300 classic) and DC-10 were the queens of the trans Atlantic routes, and to a lesser degree, the L1011 Tri-star. Of course this was long before computers etc were household items (like TVs & radios) so no such thing as virtual radar websites. Our main airports had viewing terraces and if you were trail spotting at Heathrow you could tie them up at the end of the day by going down to the airline desk and most of them would put the flight number into their computer and come up with the scheduled aircraft. If I was spotting them anywhere else, I had to wait a month until Air Scotland dropped through my letterbox and tie those up then. This publication had an extensive trans atlantic flights section.

In 1983 25th September was a lovely sunny Sunday. Of course you need such weather to trail spot! Here's what I saw over Aldershot that day

DF330  FRA-TPA           DC-10  D-ADPO

SR129  ORD-BOS-ZRH    B747   HB-IGC

AZ669  ORD-MXP-FCO   DC-10  I-DYNB

MAC60198                   C141   660198

LH438   FRA-ATL-DFW   DC-10  D-ADBO

WO103                      DC-10   N103WA

TW741  FRA-JFK          B747     N93115

BW901  LHR-BGI-POS   L1011    9Y-TGJ

ME9712 JFK-ORY-BEY   B747     OD-AGH

SN567    BRU-ORD        B747    OO-SGB

TW743    FRA-JFK         L1011   N31032

LH434    FRA-DUS-MIA   DC-10   D-ADKO

TV742                         B747    N742TV

WO35                         DC-10   N107WA

LT900   DUS-MIA          L1011    D-AERT

SN561    BRU-ATL         DC-10   OO-SLA

MAC50335B                 C141     650335

LH404     FRA-JFK         B747     D-ABYQ

LH422     FRA-BOS        B747     D-ABYJ

LH448   FRA-DUS-YYZ   DC-10    D-ADLO

AF004     LAX-CDG        B747     N1289E

SF5840                       B707     13703      (Canadian Armed Forces)

Fast forward to 2007 when 25th September was on a Tuesday. We were at LGW waving goodbye to Canadian relations. Only a short log but here's what I noted.

G-OOAR   A320  First Choice

G-OOBE    B757    "       "

G-OOBH    B757    "       "

G-JEBF     Bae146  Flybe

G-EZII      A319    Easyjet

G-OXLA     B737    XL Airways

G-MRJK     A320    Monarch

G-EZEO     A319    Easyjet

G-TTIB      A321    GB Airways

G-TTOG     A320     "       "

G-PJLO      B767    First Choice

G-WOWD   DHC8  Air South West

EI-DOF      B767    Flyglobespan

LY-AGQ      B737    Lithuanian Airlines

[graham]

They were the days Phil when the giants ruled the skies. With 747s and A380's rapidly going out of favour with operators, we'll soon be in a situation where the largest airliners are 777s and A350's. Still good though to see the MD-11's buzzing around

[lordevanelpuss]

Indeed they were Graham. Isn't Lufthansa now the only European airline operating pax 747s?