London-Heathrow With the Northolt Nightshoot II set to take place that evening, logic dictated that this would be a good opportunity to spend a day at Heathrow, so at 0515 I set off.
I met up with John "The Ferret" Higgins and Barry Swann at the Esso garage down by 09R and we headed off for Feltham Park, a spot that was supposed to be rather good for topside shots of departing heavies when runway 09R's in use.
The biggest obstacle to face us all day was the horrendous haze that hung in the sky, and while it did improve around noon, it was descending again by 1400. Consequently these have taken a lot of work, so apologies if it shows!
It was the first time I'd shot morning departures since 2005, so there was a lot of nice stuff, so far as I was concerned. Notable highlights were the Singapore and Emirates A380s, the first in-service examples of the type I'd seen.
Paul Dunn joined us late morning and Mark "Shiggeh" Rouse did the same around 1500.
With visibility once again tailing off we decided to head to 09L for some approach shots. In truth the light there wasn't great either, but it was nice to catch the Arik and the Oman Air, both new carriers for me.
Without the Northolt appointment I suspect some rather nice approach shots could've been had with the setting sun providing the backdrop. Something for another time maybe.
And with that we headed off for our evening port of call.