Are You Missing Out on Seeing These Iconic Aircraft?

Are you making the most of your hobby and taking opportunities to see some great aircraft?

All too often it seems the day job, family, lack of time or lack of money stops us getting out there and doing what we love.

There are some iconic aircraft either flying or preserved which you need to see. Could you plan to fit in some of these and tick them off your database or grab a photograph of them this year?

Concorde

An Air France Concorde preserved at Toulouse Aeroscopia Museum.

When Concorde retired in 2003 it was a sad day for aviation. However, nearly all of the Concorde aircraft that were produced can still be visited in museums around the world, where you’ll often get the chance to go on board and see what it was like in the sleek, First Class cabin flying at twice the speed of sound.

The easiest ones to see are at Manchester Airport (UK), New York Intrepid Museum (USA), Museum of Air and Space, Paris Le Bourget Airport (France), Museum of Flight (Seattle), National Air and Space Museum, Washington Dulles (USA), and Duxford Museum (UK).

American Airlines Retro Schemes

American TWA Heritage livery. Photo (c) Adam Moreira

American Airlines today is a mash up of so many different airlines that have come about due to mergers over recent years. As a testament to this history, there are a number of aircraft in its fleet which represent the different historic airlines. They’re great to get a photo of before it’s too late, although some look a little odd (like the Reno Air 737!). The aircraft are:

• AirCal (Air California)
  737-800 N917NN
• TWA
  737-800 N915NN
• PSA
  A319 N742PS
• Reno Air
  737-800 N916NN
• US Airways
  A321 N578UW
• Piedmont
  A319 N744P
• Allegheny
  A319 N745VJ
• America West Airlines
  A319 N838AW
• American ‘Astrojet’
  737-800 N951AA

Airbus A380

The ultimate in size and comfort. Airbus’ flagship double-decker airliner is in service with a select number of airline carriers around the world, mainly flying into larger airports. The most common places to catch them are Dubai International (UAE), London Heathrow (UK), New York JFK (USA), Los Angeles LAX (USA) and Sydney (Australia). However, they’re a common sight at a lot of different airports, so there’s no excuse not to go see one.

Boeing 747-800

A 747-8 of Air China

The latest, and probably final, variant of the Jumbo Jet hasn’t sold in vast numbers but they are out there to see with a few different airlines. It features a larger upper deck in the passenger variant and redesigned engines that both make it look a little sleeker.

In Europe you can regularly see them with Lufthansa at Frankfurt and Cargolux at Luxembourg and other big cargo airports.

In Asia they’re flying with Air China and Korean Airlines.

All of these carriers fly to hubs in America like New York JFK and Los Angeles LAX.

European Retro Liveries

Aer Lingus A320 retro livery aircraft

There are lots of them out there and they’re pretty easy to catch. But they tend to disappear without notice as aircraft are repainted. So if you haven’t got a picture of these yet, maybe it’s time to head to one of the Euro hubs like London Heathrow, Paris CDG or Frankfurt to catch some of them.

Some of the best ones include Lufthansa A321 and 747-800, Aer Lingus A320, Air Malta A320, Aeroflot A320, Condor A320, KLM 737-800, LOT ERJ-175, Turkish A330, and SAS A319.

Antonov An-225

By Vasiliy Koba (http://spotters.net.ua/file/?id=95892&size=large) [CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The aircraft is chartered to carry outsized cargo all over the world. Typically it is found in Europe and North America, with a base in Ukraine. But you never know where it might appear!

Hawker Siddeley Trident

The Hawker Siddeley Trident never sold in big numbers, but it was one of the most important airliners to grace our skies.

Built at Hatfield near London, it was the inspiration for the Boeing 727 and featured the ability to land all by itself on autopilot for the first time in airliner history. It was one of the fastest airliners, and a firm favourite.

The last Tridents were retired in the early 1990s in China, but they had disappeared from European skies in 1986. Today a number of them are preserved in places like Manchester, Sunderland, Beijing and Duxford’s Imperial War Museum.

If you could pick just one of these to see today, which would it be? Leave a comment below, or share a link to a photo you’ve taken of that aircraft!