by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 11/27/2017 at 11:21
by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 11/27/2017 at 11:21
Tags: Planelopnik
STARS: 9
My family spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX, just a stone’s throw from DFW. My older son and I spent each afternoon at Founder’s Plaza, the official observation spot for the airport. Unfortunately, the wind was coming out of the North, so landings were on the far end of the runway, and the takeoffs on the close runway were almost entirely American A321s. My son, who had been scanning FlightRadar24, knew that this Lufthansa A340 was going to be leaving soon, and I got to chatting with another plane spotter who told us of an unofficial spot on the other side of the terminal. So we loaded up and boogied over, just in time to watch this A340 take off for Frankfurt. I had never seen an A340 before, so this was pretty exciting. I’ll have some other photos from the days of spotting when I get more time to edit.
"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
11/27/2017 at 11:28, STARS: 3
S K I N N Y P L A N E
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
11/27/2017 at 11:31, STARS: 0
Nice spot! Do they ever get a -600 at DFW? That’s one of the best-looking modern airliners in my opinion.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/27/2017 at 11:39, STARS: 1
Should be easy to capture, I’m sure it was moving slowly...
"facw" (facw)
11/27/2017 at 11:40, STARS: 0
Loooooooooooooooooooooong plane.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 11:44, STARS: 1
Not sure. Lots of 787s, a few A380s. Founder’s Plaza is right next to the cargo ramp, so there’s a healthy dose of UPS 767s and an occasional foreign 747. Founder’s Plaza is a great spot, but only if you really like AA. Other than AA, the only planes that take off from there are ones headed west. Pretty much anything headed east, and that includes Europe, operates from the runways on the other side of the terminal.
I think my son and I are going to do some homework over the next couple of weeks and find out what interesting airlines and airliners will be at DFW and plan a weekend outing, just to go to the airport. When it’s the whole family, we have to juggle our plane spotting time. I’d like to photograph QF8 again, and try to catch some BA heavies.
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
11/27/2017 at 11:48, STARS: 0
Looking forward to the fruits of your efforts.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 11:49, STARS: 1
Me too! The first day was mostly a wash. High cloud, poor light. The second day was better, and I got a really nice shot of an AA 777 on the third day. I have a LOT of pictures to go through.....
"Spanfeller is a twat" (theaspiringengineer)
11/27/2017 at 12:10, STARS: 0
Really if you want to spot a fancy Lufthansa plane, it must be the A340-500 they used for the longer routes (not sure if still on service?) it had bathrooms in the cargo area and stairs to them!
Here in Mexico City we get:
AirFrance a380&777
KLM 747-4
Lufthansa 747-8
Lufthansa Cargo MD-11.
CargoLux 747-8
AeroMexico 787-9&777-2
British Airways 747-4
JAL 787 (or ANA... not sure)
Iberia a340-300& 340-600.
Interjet Sukhoi Superjet.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/27/2017 at 12:26, STARS: 1
Wow, 4 engines. How quaint! /s
The ideal number of engines is three, as well all know.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
11/27/2017 at 12:35, STARS: 0
Hope you enjoyed the Lodge, too. I’ve never been, but it’s my daughter’s favorite place.
I don’t know if you know, but the AA company store in the terminals a huge bunch of legacy airline goodies, including model kits. I’m talking even from airlines that haven’t been around for a while.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 1
I read an interesting discussion on some airline site where somebody stated that while the A380 was envisioned as a 747-killer, it was really the 777 that made the 747 redundant.
Not many civilian 4-bangers left. I was very happy to see this.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/27/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 0
Yeah, the 747 came about before engines had modern levels of efficiency (and carrying pax was secondary to its cargo-oriented design).
The A340 just came at a weird time, maybe 10 years late. Sales have been tepid except for a few carriers. I’ve heard they’re pretty popular among the Mideast oil guys (as private jets) because operating costs are no issue.
The A380, I’m not sure how much longer that’ll be with us. I love that it was built, though. It just makes so little sense on most routes.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
11/27/2017 at 13:20, STARS: 1
I’ve always liked the four-engine aesthetic. But it’s dead because ETOPS.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
11/27/2017 at 13:22, STARS: 0
I never liked the 380 and the concept of putting 600 or 700 people on one is an affront to humanity. IMO.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 13:51, STARS: 1
This was our second trip. I think my boys have just about outgrown the kid aspect of it. We only made one trip to the waterpark, and the wand quests got a bit tedious. The lodge itself is nice, rooms are good, food is a bit spend. Good location for outside events, though. We went to the ice display at the Gaylord. It was cool. No, actually, it was frickin COLD!
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 13:53, STARS: 1
RE: the AA company store. Is it in the terminal, or do you need a ticket to get to it? I’d love to check that out. As you know, I’m more of a history guy. We went to the Boeing store in St. Louis and I bought a North American Aviation hat.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 13:59, STARS: 1
That’s an impressive list. We had a Lufthansa MD-11 land while we were there, but it never came close enough for a good view. I’d like to see that Superjet, too. I snagged this Lufthansa 748 back in 2014 at IAD.
And this BA 744 that I photographed at DFW remains one of my best shots of all time.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/27/2017 at 14:01, STARS: 0
That’s how I feel about large cruise ships, too.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
11/27/2017 at 14:03, STARS: 1
It’s through security near gate C2 . So, you’ll have t0 wait until you fly somewhere. I do recommend browsing. They also have an online store that I haven’t really checked out.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
11/27/2017 at 14:04, STARS: 0
You, me, and Mrs. O.C.. Doesn’t anybody do the arithmetic and realize that a ship carrying 5,000 passengers has deck chairs for all but 4,900 of those passengers?
And norovirus...
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
11/27/2017 at 14:05, STARS: 0
See, my daughter is still young enough to go for the water park and wand quests. In a few years, it’ll probably lose its luster for her. Of course, Grapevine Mills is still good for shopping, and they do have the Legoland and aquarium there. Not that those are worth a drive from Austin.
"haveacarortwoorthree2" (haveacarortwoorthree2)
11/27/2017 at 14:18, STARS: 0
If you were there Friday around 3, you probably saw me land!
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 14:20, STARS: 1
We made the drive to go to Legoland a few years ago, then went again when we came to FW and my wife spent two days in the hotel sick in bed. We tried going to the Perot museum once, but it was so crowded we couldn’t get in. We’d like to try again, though.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 14:25, STARS: 0
Actually, we were. What were you flying?
We were there almost exactly from 3:00-3:30. I got a really nice shot of a 777 arriving from Hong Kong, and a Volaris A320, an airline I’d never seen before.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
11/27/2017 at 14:25, STARS: 0
The Perot is worth visiting. We’re charter members. I still miss the old Museum of Natural History that was at Fair Park, though.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 14:26, STARS: 1
We visited that a few years ago, and hit the Fort Worth Museum of Science and Industry last summer. That was fun.
"haveacarortwoorthree2" (haveacarortwoorthree2)
11/27/2017 at 14:31, STARS: 0
We were on an old AA MD/S80. The joys of flying out of a small city airport.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 14:34, STARS: 0
I took a few pictures of Mad Dogs in the old AA livery just for the sake of nostalgia. Not sure if I got yours, though. If you were coming from somewhere west of Dallas, you probably landed in front of me. Anywhere from the east would have likely landed on the far runway.
"haveacarortwoorthree2" (haveacarortwoorthree2)
11/27/2017 at 15:27, STARS: 1
We were coming from the North — I think we flew over Founders Plaza, but I’ve been on so many planes recently that all the trips tend to run together in my mind.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/27/2017 at 15:30, STARS: 0
If the terminal was on your left, you landed in front of me. If the terminal was on your right, you landed on the far runway (in relation to FP).