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Post by Jeff on Dec 26, 2017 1:12:11 GMT
Hi all. Yes another year nearly gone, so its time for your yearly reviews, I will kick off with mine The year started badly with me being in hospital for most of January I couldn't even see the helipad  ....I have put a request in for skylights to be fitted in the ceilings for the more discerning under the weather spotter, dont think they were listening thought  was still laid up Feb and March but did manage a bit of spotting from home. Highlight of the year must be the visit on board the USS George Bush back in July, although this was the second carrier Ive had the privilege to have been invited on the size of these vessels still amazes me and the fact that it floats is even more mind boggling!  Airshows this year were limited to RIAT, which was a great day of spotting and chat with Bill and Effects, and Yeovilton where I met up with Graham, which must surely go down as the hottest airshow I've visited for a while, good numbers were made at both. Aero expo at Booker was an interesting if not well thought out show but again lots of reggies were made and I plan to be returning again this year. Number wise this year has seen less go in the book mainly due to the aforementioned hospital visit, still managed to over my aimed target of 2000 though  Total 2189 Jets 1088 Props 74 Bizjets 202 Bizprops 25 Russian 7 Military (excluding trans and heli) 189 Gen Av 452 Heli 152 So all in all a good year, roll on 2018 |
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Post by graham on Dec 26, 2017 11:05:20 GMT
Thanks Jeff, that's a great report to kick things off. My year was nowhere near as eventful with regard to shows visited. I managed the Microlight Show at Popham where as usual, it was great to meet up with several AFA-ers including Jeff, who I bought a cooker from as we were walking the ranks of parked aircraft...;0)
I changed jobs in August meaning I no longer had regular meetings in Birmingham and Stockport, both meeting venues were right beneath inbounds for both airports but at least I filled my boots while I could.
Several of us met up at Lasham for the gliding championships and that produced a healthy log of new frames.
As Jeff has mentioned, Yeovilton was a superb day out, weather was scorching and there were far more aircraft there than I anticipated. The flying displays were wonderful, the highlight for me being the French Navy Rafale. Getting out at the end was a nightmare, took me and the good lady 75 minutes to exit our spot in the field and reach the main road, let's hope the organisers can arrange things better for 2018.
The Lyneham trip was fantastic, as ever thanks to ZZ for organising it, and if I recall, I made all but five of the frames there. I did manage to meet up with Bill at LHR once or twice as well and filled in a good few holes in my fleets there.
The second week of September was spent in the warmth of Kefalonia where our apartment was literally 400 yards from the runway threshold and despite the traffic being considerably less than on other Greek islands we have visited, it was rather good to see the inbounds going over the swimming pool at no more than 150 feet.
Apart from that, there have been regular calls into Kemble, Old Sarum, Thruxton, Middle Wallop and Blackbushe. My new job means I now cover Oxfordshire and Berkshire so hoping that there might be a chance or two to fit in a few more airfields.
"Devizes International" still serves as my primary potting zone, sitting as I do right beneath transatlantic inbounds/outbounds/flyovers with of course the occasional chopper courtesy of the AAC, a few RCH flights in and out of Mildenhall, some decent comings and goings to/from Brize and plenty of GA that seems to enjoy buzzing around the hills of the Pewsey Vale.
I don't have an SBS box so I can't do a breakdown of what I've potted like Jeff has but I have made about 2,400 which seems like a decent result to me. Thanks as ever to all the camaraderie here on AFA and to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to post reports, logs and photos without which we wouldn't have a forum. Very best wishes to all for 2018!
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Post by rh226 on Dec 26, 2017 15:19:46 GMT
As you all know, I am totally military/government oriented, so my haul for the year is nowhere near being as large as many others. However, quite a few long stays at Mildenhall plus trips to Fairford have jacked up my total to what I would regard as very acceptable. "Bumped into" Mark ("bizfreeq") several times during the year - no doubt we will see each other sometime(s) in 2018 - and also "chalkyboy" (and "-girl") parked next to us in John's Field.
The following were the highlights for me:-
January saw the Norwegian Bell 412s at Rollestone Camp on Salisbury Plain.
February was all OTTs; of note being a C-146 Wolfhound on its way to Africa and the Moroccan CN.235 into Brize Norton.
March saw Oregon ANG F-15Cs transit homeward through Lakenheath.
April saw the F-35s arrive in Lakenheath for a two week stay, and homeward deployment transits from “out East” saw F-15Es from Mountain Home and F-22s from Elmendorf through Lakenheath and Mildenhall respectively.
Of note in May were 2 EP-3Es transitting through Mildenhall on swap-over down yonder.
June saw B-52s, B-1s and B-2s at Fairford for Exercise Sabre Strike. Also at Fairford was one of the two very rare C-5M(SCD)s.
July, of course was RIAT, but it also saw A-10s from Moody AFB transit Eastbound through Mildenhall, plus Spangdahlem F-16s arrived at Lakenheath for a three week stay while work was done on their runway. I did not go to see the carrier, but the C-2s from the “Bush” were based at Mildenhall during the carrier’s visit to UK waters.
There was a Saudi F-15 delivery through Lakenheath in August, and Lakenheath and Mildenhall saw half of the Louisiana & Florida ANG F-15Cs transit through them on their way home from Eastern Europe. Exercise Ample Strike saw B-52s and B-1s arrive at Fairford.
September had another Saudi F-15 delivery through Lakenheath. Also through Lakenheath was the start of a protracted “out East” deployment of Seymour Johnson F-15s.
October saw the completion of the SJ F-15 deployment through Lakenheath, which also saw the return transit of Langley F-22s from “out East”. Mildenhall had an E-6 TACAMO for a few days and the homeward transit of no less than six out of the seven VP-46 P-3Cs that were on detachment at Bahrein.
November was back to OTTs, but the Columbian B737 into Stansted and the Westbound Japan-based USN UC-12F stand out.
Sadly, there has been nothing of note for me during December.
USAF – 282
US Navy – 29
RAF – 79
Other AF/Government – 112
Total – 502.
2018 must see me getting out to more RAF airfields. Then my haul of certain types will not seem quite so pathetic. LOL.
Cheers,
Bob
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Post by brizewatcher on Dec 26, 2017 18:01:08 GMT
Been a pretty decent year for me, highlights being a first trip to Biggin Hill and a fantastic RIAT! Was hoping to make a few more frames but, a combination of other commitments, hospital trips and holiday meant I was unable to do so. Hoping for a more productive 2018!
Tend to concentrate on Military aircraft but, if the time is there, I'll try my best to collect some civis.
December: 4 (4 Mil)- Spotting from home.
November: 105 (31 Mil, 74 Civ)- Spotting from home.
October: 46 (19 Mil, 27 Civ)- Spotting from home, Middle Wallop, Boscombe & Kemble
September: 14 (1 Mil, 13 Civ)- Spotting from home, Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow
August: 141 (7 Mil, 134 Civ)- Spotting from home, London Heathrow, Biggin Hill
July: 165 (126 Mil, 39 Civ)- Spotting from home, RIAT, Yeovilton, Swansea
June: 20 (4 Mil, 16 Civ)- Spotting from home, Weston-S-Mare
May: 37 (5 Mil, 32 Civ)- Abingdon, Duxford Air Festival
April: 57 (26 Mil, 31 Civ)- Spotting from home, Keevil, Middle Wallop Gazelle Fly In/Museum of Army Flying, Culdrose, Newquay Airport/CAHC
March: 7 (6 Mil, 1 Civ)- Spotting from home
February: 1 (1 Mil)- Spotting from home
January: 11 (10 Mil, 1 Civ)- Spotting from home
Total for the year: 608 (240 Mil, 368 Civ)
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Post by jerryrowe on Dec 27, 2017 14:54:01 GMT
An uneventful year for me, no shows or fly-ins, nearly all my spotting has been done from home, with occasional visits to FAB and LTN. Lucky to be able to see some LHR 09 inbounds and 27 outbounds from home so am reasonably up to date with regular visitors, but there are occasional surprises.......(edit) such as VP-BCB 320 sharklet Aeroflot making a rare visit on the SU2580/1 this morning! Non-spotting holidays in Gran Canaria and Minorca added several frames which do not normally visit UK airspace, such as LATAM 787s and 350s and Nostrum CRJs. Made more military than usual (mainly Chinooks and Apaches heading up and down the Thames) thanks to the excellent coverage on the various websites. Totals:
Jetliners 722
Propliners. 43
Bizjets. 218
Lights. 67
Military. 48
Total. 1098
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Post by Trevor B on Dec 29, 2017 23:01:16 GMT
Looking back at 2017
After a good year in 2016 with 1162 going in to the book 118 being scrapes, I was looking forward to 2018.
Unfortunately work changed and I had to travel more so after visiting the following places the number should have been good.
Dubai x 2
Abu Dhabi
Washington Dulles x 2
La Palma
Hamburg
Adelaide x2
Perth x 2
Sydney
Singapore
Halifax
Montreal
Melbourne
You would have thought the numbers would be high but as they were business trips my numbers this year fall to 550 with 72 scrapes my lowest in years. I hated missing the NBAA and missing the Dubai Airshow which would have increased the numbers.
One highlight was camping out in our caravan at Popham in August and watching AN12 UR-CZZ drone over the field
Trev
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Post by graham on Dec 30, 2017 11:01:53 GMT
That's a very exotic year's travel Trevor!
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Post by billsamuels on Dec 30, 2017 18:18:13 GMT
Hi Chaps,
Well here’s my 2017 review.... If this year had been a beer, it would have been a Carlsberg!!!
Firstly, the travels... They started in February with a week visiting friends in Las Vegas, this was followed in April for a day trip to Airbus in Toulouse then Malaga/Gibraltar in June, back to Toulouse in October then off to the Middle East in November where we spent time in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat and finally France and Italy over the Christmas break. So all in all a pretty good year...
Major visits included; Middle Wallop Gazelle meet, USS GW Bush/USS Philippine Sea visit, Lyneham (AFA) visit, Popham (April), Booker (AeroExpo), Sywell (LAA), Fairford RIAT, Intl Gliding championships at Lasham....
First visits; Halfpenny Green, Cardington, Gibraltar, Foulmere, Andrewsfield, Barkston Heath, Cranwell, Waddington and Coningsby...
Total pots so far for 2017 is: 3752 frames and 578 scrapes, giving me a grand total of: 57,983 frames and 7,217 scrapes.
Some of my commercial frames now total;
Airbus
A300 = 267
A310 = 209
A319 = 753
A320 = 2111
A321 = 683
A330 = 904
A340 = 350
A350 = 89
A380 = 222
Boeing
727 = 1090
737 = 1710
737NG = 2690
737MAX = 4
747 = 1361
757 = 719
767 = 791
777 = 1289
787 = 382
2017 has been my best year, to date, shame I didn’t quite get to the 4000 mark, but that could be a target for next year. The only travel plans in the diary for 2018 is January 16th with another day trip to Toulouse.... Wifey is trying to plan for another family trip to the Algarve for August and a potential bucket-list trip to China... We’ll see....
Cheers lads. Wishing you all a great 2018 and a Happy New Year.
All the best.
Bill
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Post by jerryrowe on Dec 30, 2017 21:10:05 GMT
Very impressive, Bill! Can’t match you on any of the Boeings though I come close with 1708 737s and 1351 747s. But I am ahead on A300 with 305 and A310 with 233,difficult to make any more of these without visiting the graveyards (or Memphis and Louisville for the FedEx and UPS A300s).
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Post by zz on Dec 31, 2017 12:01:35 GMT
No real exotic visits for me in 2017, but lots of small, interesting visits kept the numbers coming...
January- most interesting was the misty Icicle meet, only making a couple
February - highlight was a day out at Yeovilton and Yeovil making lots of Wildcats and a couple of Norwegian Merlins, albeit with British serials.
March - several fields plus the excellent spotters tour at Weston-Super-Mare. Hadn’t been there for a few years so quite a few new.
April - two trips in a week to Mildenhall/Lakenheath. First to see 5 Saudi F.15s, then back again to make 15 visiting US F.15s, before rushing off to Middle Wallop for the excellent Gazelle event.
I also fitted in visits to Doncaster and Elvington museums and made 2-3 at each, best being the Mirage IV.
May- Popham microlights and a visit to Biggin Hill for the Spitfires. Thoroughly recommend it!
June - Fairford for a B1, Paris air show and a full day at Orly
July - RIAT and another trip to Mildenhall/Lakenheath for A.10s and F.16s.
Also another day at Yeovilton and Yeovil making another 8 Wildcats.
USS G.W.Bush tipped off a superb military month!
August- 2 excellent launches at Bristol, seeing over 100 balloons both times (making over 20 G-)
I also visited the gliding event at Lasham and had my second trip around the museum there.
Visited Barkston Heath for some of the new Prefects, as well as a few of the other local fields.
September- a great day out at an aerobatic event at Conington then LAA Sywell, another at Scampton air show plus a trip to Coningsby to see the German Eurofighters and Tornados.
Also the successful AFA visit to Lyneham.
Longleat Skysafari saw another launch of 110+ balloons, making 26 G-, even more than Bristol!
October- a trip to the North West for civil and military.
Then a family holiday to Orlando from Gatwick meant about 60 airliners made.
November and December very quiet, a few minor visits and OTTs.
Managed to visit the following U.K. airfields in 2017 (that I can remember)-
Blackbushe , Barkston Heath , Booker, Biggin Hill , Birmingham , Blackpool , Boscombe Down , Bristol
Benson , Brize Norton , Bicester Cambridge , Cardington , Chiltern Park , Coventry , Conington , Cranwell , Coningsby
Denham Exeter
Farnborough , Farnborough , Fairford Gatwick Heathrow , Hurn , Husbands Bosworth Kemble Lasham , Lakenheath , Luton , Lyneham , Linton-on-Ouse, Leicester , Lee-on-Solent Manchester, Membury , Mildenhall , Middle Wallop Oxford
Popham Staverton , Shawbury , Syerston , Sywell , Southampton , Sackville Lodge , Scampton Thruxton , Tollerton
White Waltham, Warton , Waddington , Wellesborne Mountford
Yeovil , Yeovilton
Not sure of exact numbers as my logs are only fully complete to 14/08/2015.
At that time I had seen 95,491 registrations/serials, so should be pushing the 100,000 mark now!
Plans so far for 2018
Jan- Icicle meet next weekend
Apr- Berlin airshow on Fri 27th then BBML inflation day on 28th
May- Popham
June- Cosford ?
July - RIAT
August- Bristol
September- LAA, Longleat
Plus have asked for a couple of AFA visits...
Happy New Year all !
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Post by gtf4j2m on Dec 31, 2017 18:10:16 GMT
A very good year for me with a total of 4268 which includes 353 scrapes and 399 OTT. My big trip of the year was to the USA & I picked up 2798 there.
As I am now only working part time I was able to get out more even if only to my local fields of Birmingham & Manchester. EMA was also visited a few times if I knew what was in.
I met a few people at Popham and Sywell, and look forward to going again in 2018.
I hope to meet a few more AFAers around the airfields this year.
Keep up the very good work please Graham, Jeff & Bill.
Graham
GTF4J2M
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Post by zz on Jan 1, 2018 19:00:26 GMT
A very good year for me with a total of 4268.... “Winner” so far... |
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Post by oakleaf1 on Jan 4, 2018 18:53:39 GMT
My 2017 pots by month
Jan - 17
Feb - 20
Mar - 23
Apr - 56
May - 47
Jun - 59
Jul - 150
Aug - 73
Sep - 60
Oct - 993
Nov - 27
Dec - 16
Tot - 1541
Not bad year now up to 61533 frames
Chris
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....I have put a request in for skylights to be fitted in the ceilings for the more discerning under the weather spotter, dont think they were listening thought 
was still laid up Feb and March but did manage a bit of spotting from home.
Airshows this year were limited to RIAT, which was a great day of spotting and chat with Bill and Effects, and Yeovilton where I met up with Graham, which must surely go down as the hottest airshow I've visited for a while, good numbers were made at both. Aero expo at Booker was an interesting if not well thought out show but again lots of reggies were made and I plan to be returning again this year.
